Friday, April 24, 2009

p is for pitching

The Phillies have this beautiful p on their hats, which I am sure stands for Philadelphia, but it could stand for pitching so far this season. I'll start in Lakewood because I was there. Start with the starter, Jesus Sanchez. He got his first career win, throwing 5 scoreless innings, striking out 9, allowing just 4 hits and 2 walks. Great Job!! Walter Tejeda did give up a run on 2 hits and 2 walks, but he struck out all 4 of his outs. Jacob Diekman recorded 5 outs, 2 by K, and Santos Hernandez struck out the side in the 9th. That's a total of 18, and this morning, the BlueClaws lead the SAL with 136 strike outs.

Two 'Claws deserve my praise this morning. I start with D'Arby Myers. D'Arby had the key hit in the game, a 2-out, 2-run single to give Lakewood the lead, and then he stayed in the rundown long enough for Troy Hanzawa to score all the way from first with the 3rd run. Good base running got us another run!!

Anthony Gose now has an 8 game hitting streak, and is hitting .371 during that stretch. He had 3 more hits on Thursday, including 2 doubles he absolutely smoked, 2 runs scored, an RBI and stolen base #10. If speed kills, this kid is lethal. Lakewood has won 7 of 10 and, as young as they are, are playing pretty well right now.

Jon Velasquez will move into the rotation Friday night for Lakewood. He is 3-0 with 1.86 in 4 games out of the bullpen.

There will also be a rotation change in Reading as Antonio Bastardo will be put back in the rotation. He will make his first start Saturday night in Reading.

Speaking of Reading, Michael Taylor had 4 hits, including 2 home runs, the last a walk-off in the bottom of the 11th to give the Phillies a 7-6 win over Bowie. They were his first 2 of the season, after he hit 19 last year. Mike is up to .293. Catcher Kevin Nelson had 2 more hits, including a home run. Vance Worley started and went into the 7th, allowing just 4 runs, 3 earned, on 4 hits and 2 walks. Pat Overholt struggled through 5 hitters, allowing 2 runs, but Matt German continues to get outs. In 6 outings, German has thrown 9 innings, 4 hits, 3 walks, NO runs, 15 strike outs.

Reading has now won 5 of 6 with Mike Stutes (2-0) scheduled Friday night.

The pitching for Clearwater came from Chance Chapman Thursday night. Drew Naylor only managed to get through 2 innings, so Chapman was thrown in to the fire. "Chappy" went 4 perfect innings, striking out 4 on the way, and was the beneficiary when the Threshers scored 3 times in the 6th to take the lead. 2 of the 3 runs came on a home run from Dominic Brown. Dom also had a single, a stolen base (#4), 2 runs scored and a total of 3 RBI. Freddy Galvis had 2 hits and a walk, 2 stolen bases, and scored 3 runs, and Tim Kennelley had a single, a double, a walk, a stolen base, a run scored and an RBI. They survived a shaky 9th inning by Jared Simon to win, 7-6. The Threshers are 8-5, and tied for first place as they head to Tampa to take on the Yanks tonight. My calendar says Julian Sampson should pitch today.

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