Between my service being down and my real job keeping my busy, a lot has happened since last we spoke. Rather than catch up with everything, here are some points of interest from the last few days.
Ryan Howard hit his 200th career home run, achieving this feat in just 658 games, making him the fastest ever to 200. Ryan is set up now for his "annual second half run" in which he compiles the big numbers and carries the team for a month or so on his back!!
Michael Taylor has been given his well-earned promotion to AAA-Lehigh Valley. Mike hit .333 for Reading during the first half, hitting 15 homers, driving in 65 runs, and stealing 18 bases for good measure!! Tuffy Gosewisch has been placed on the DL in Reading and Tim Kennelly has been promoted from Clearwater to catch some games (and maybe get some more of Taylor's ABs). Kennelly made his Reading debut Friday night, and hit a home run in Reading's 6-4 loss to New Britain. Kyle Drabek suffered the loss, his first after 5 wins with the R-Phils. Jeremy Slayden continues to pound Eastern League pitching, getting a double and a home run (his 7th since arriving in Reading), raising his average to .375 Now, if the Phillies just promote Slay back to the Pigs, they can play Taylor, Spidale, and Slayden everyday, and see what that could produce!!
Until then, Slayden stays with Berry and Milner in the Reading outfield. This could all get stirred up some more, as Freddy Galvis and Dominic Brown have been spotted playing in GCL games, getting their batting eyes back in preparation for a return to the Clearwater Threshers. They have both now been activated to the roster and are eligible to play tonight. Julian Sampson and Jesus Villegas have been put on the DL, but there are still too many outfielders there.
A word or two about the home team, the BlueClaws. While it has not been showing up in the win column at the same rate it did during the first half, there are certainly bright spots with this team. Offensively, there are getting contributions from everywhere. Gose, Garcia, d'Arnaud, Murphy and Hanzawa have all been very hot, and Mattair, Collier, Myers, Hamilton and DeLosSantos have all had big hits and/or defensive plays when called upon. The new delivery of Jacob Diekman has been the big surprise. The lanky lefty has completely changed his delivery and has been terrific since he started using it in games. Jason Knapp has been disabled with "shoulder soreness" and will miss a few starts, but Jesus Sanchez, Heitor Correa and Trevor May have all showed that they are comfortable pitching at this level and could give this team the foundation to make a run at the second half. Now if Justin De Fratus could only find his rhythm, we could be in business!!
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