Monday, September 29, 2008

Sox up against the wall

The Chicago White Sox are a half game behind the Minnesota Twins this morning, and the Sox will face the Detroit Tigers in the make up of a rained out game from earlier this month. If the Sox win, they will play the Twins in a 1 game showdown for the right to play Tampa Bay beginning on Thursday.
With the whole season on the line, Chicago will give the ball to Gavin Floyd this afternon. Floyd is 16-8 on the year, and the game can be seen on ESPN2 beginning at 2:00 PM.

Sunday, September 28, 2008

LOUUUUUU

Lou Marson made his major league debut for the Phillies on Sunday, getting 2 hits, including a home run in the season ending 8-3 win over Washington. Greg Golson also started and went 0 for 4, with Kyle Kendrick, J.A. Happ and Ryan Howard all making appearances.

The Phillies make their second consecutive playoff appearance beginning this Wednesday against Milwaukee, Cole Hamels getting the game 1 assignment.

Wednesday, September 17, 2008

Happ zips Braves, notches first win

The Phillies defeated the Braves, 6-1 on Wednesday night, and J.A. Happ was the starter and winning pitcher. Happ threw 6 shut out innings, allowing just 3 hits and 1 walk en route to his first major league win. Happ becomes the 8th former BlueClaw to win a major league game this year joining Floyd (16), Hamels (13), Kendrick (11), Buchholz (6), Korecky (2), Tejeda (2), and Outman(1).

Sunday, September 14, 2008

More HomeSide wins Saturday

Cole Hamels picked up his 13th win with a solid outing against the Brewers Saturday. The victory pulls the Phillies to within 2.5 games of the Mets in the East, and within 2 games of Milwaukee in the wild card race. Philadelphia can draw even with the Brew Crew with a doubleheader sweep on Sunday. Ryan Howard drove in 2 runs in Saturday's 7-3 win, giving him 131 RBI for the year.

In Baltimore, Randy Ruiz (.283) was 1 for 5, driving in his 7th run since his call-up in Minnesota's 12-2 win in the second game of the doubleheader against the Orioles. Bobby Korecky was the winning pitcher (#2 for him), recording 7 outs without allowing a run.

Meanwhile, in Cleveland, Robinson Tejeda made a spot start for the Royals, pitched 5 good innings and recorded his second win of the year.

Saturday, September 13, 2008

Outman wins first


Josh Outman adds to the former 'Claws with major league wins, throwing 5 innings in Oakland Saturday against the Texas Rangers. Josh gave up just 1 run on 4 hits and 2 walks, striking out 3 to earn his first major league victory. Outman threw 74 pitches, 46 for strikes as the Athletics beat the Rangers, 7-1.

Wednesday, September 10, 2008

HomeSiders take both Owens awards again

The Phillies announced the winners of the Paul Owens Awards for 2008, and both the player and pitcher awards went to former BlueClaws. Lou Marson capped off a tremendous 2008 being named the top position player in the system for 2008. Marson played in the future stars game at Yankee Stadium in July, in the Eastern League All-Star game later that month, won a bronze medal in Beijing with team USA, and was called up to the Phillies on September 1st. Now add the 2008 Owens award to that impressive list of accomplishments.

The award for the top pitcher went to J.A. Happ, who made a couple of appearances with the big team this year, and was named the top pitcher on the AAA Lehigh Valley IronPigs earlier this month.

Congatulations to both former BlueClaws!!! They will be honored before the Phillies game on Monday, September 22 at Citizens Bank Park.

Saturday, September 6, 2008

Hannah pre-empts Outman's start

Hannah blew through the eastern seaboard this afternoon, cancelling this afternoon's Oakland-Baltimore game. Josh Outman, originally scheduled to pitch tonight's second game was delayed from making his first major league start when Oakland decided to use Greg Smith, who was supposed to go in game 1.

However, when Baltimore starter Daniel Cabrera got into trouble, the Orioles brought in Alfredo Simon, making his major league debut. So another HomeSider makes a major league appearance.
Alfredo gave up 3 runs in 1.2 innings of work, so a not-so-good debut for him.

In Chicago tonight, Gavin Floyd pitched 7 innings for the White Sox, allowing 5 runs on 7 hits, 3 home runs, to the Angels. Gavin (15-6 on the year) left the game with the score tied at 5.

Friday, September 5, 2008

Outman makes major league debut

I missed this one HomeSiders, so I apologize for the lateness, but Josh Outman made his debut for the Athletics pitching 2 scoreless innings Tuesday night at Kansas City, allowing just 2 hits, striking out 2.

The A's have announced Josh will start the 2nd game of the doubleheader at Camden Yard in Baltimore Saturday night.

Wednesday, September 3, 2008

Golson debuts, swipes second!!

Greg Golson made his major league debut tonight, entering the game in the top of the 8th inning as a pinch runner for Pat Burrell. While Greg Dobbs was batting, Golson stole his first major league base. In the game Ryan Howard has hit 2 2-run home runs, #38 and 39 on the year, and now leads the NL with 119 RBI. The Nationals beat the Phils, 9-7.

In Louisville, the International League playoff are underway, and the Durham Bulls defeated Matt Maloney and the Louisville Bats, 3-0 in game 1 of their series. Maloney gave up 3 runs on 4 hits in 6 innings of work. All 3 runs were the result of solo home runs by Durham.

In Winston-Salem, the Myrtle Beach Pelicans defeated the Warthogs, 6-4 in game 1 of their Carolina League playoff series. Mike Dubee pitched in relief for the Warthogs, logging 2.2 innings, giving up 1 run on 3 hits.

In Modesto, Scott Mitchinson will get the start for the Stockton Ports against the Nuts in game 1 of the California League playoffs.

Tuesday, September 2, 2008

Above and beyond

The Lakewood BlueClaws had a great season, going 80-60 overall, and amassing the best record in the northern division of the South Atlantic League. Due to the split season, Lakewood finished in second place in both halves and missed the playoffs. I will do a recap of their season in the coming days, but I want to talk about 2 of our guys, Michael Durant and T.J. Warren. These two players took it upon themselves to spend over 2 hours of their own time to show up at the Lacey Lightning practice last week, working and joking with the little league team. You can't overestimate what this meant to these youngsters, who worship these guys. At the end of the practice, the team coach gave Mike and T.J. each a Lightning tee shirt and hat. The players wore these shirts under their uniforms that night at First Energy Park.

These guys did not have to do this. It speaks volumes to me about the type of men they are, and I will always be proud to know them and grateful to get time to talk with them. It is a reminder of what is good about the game of baseball and how some of the guys are always willing to give back to the community. Way to go, Mike and T.J.!!!

Monday, September 1, 2008

September call ups

The Phillies have called up J.A Happ, Lou Marson and Greg Golson to the major leagues. For Marson and Golson, it is their first major league experience during the regular season. We will keep our eyes open for their debuts.