catching up

Due to maintenance on the site, I was unable to post on Friday, but I have to go back to Thursday, when a few significant things transpired.

With the Phillies enjoying an off-day, Chase Utley, Carlos Ruiz and Roy Oswalt were all in the line-up for Clearwater. Ruiz was activated immediately afterward, and has returned to the big club. The word on Utley is that he could play this week for Philadelphia, and Oswalt is expected to make his next scheduled start. With Oswalt and Joe Blanton back in the mix, Vance Worley could be returned to the IronPigs.

Utley homered in the game, as did Leandro Castro (.282, 5th HR, single, 2 RBI), and Sebastian Valle (.326, 2 for 2 in relief of Ruiz) and Jeremy Barnes (.444, 3 hits, 2 RBI) also had multi-hit games for the Threshers, who beat Palm Beach 7-5. Joe Esposito was the winning pitcher, throwing 2 scoreless innings after Oswalt's 5. Eric Pettis also threw a scoreless inning.

But for me, the moment of the night came in the top of the 8th inning in Reading. Let me set the stage for you. New Hampshire and Reading are battling for first place, and former BlueClaw Anthony Gose has had some good games against Reading. Travis d'Arnaud has had a tough start, and had been on the DL for 13 days. The inning began with Reading ahead 5-4, and after New Hampshire had tied it at 5, Travis unloaded a 3-run game-winning bomb. He is now 9 for 21 (.429) since returning to action.

I apologize for jumping ahead but lets get to yesterday. In Atlanta, the Phillies beat the Braves, 5-4. Cole Hamels started the game and went 6, allowing 4 runs on 8 hits and 1 walk, striking out 7. Then the 7th inning started and the stage was set. J.C. Romero came on and loaded the bases with one out before yielding to Mike Stutes. Stutes struck out Dan Uggla and Antonio Bastardo came on to fan Freddie Freeman and the Phillies were out of the inning without allowing a run. Bastardo was the winning pitcher when Ryan Howard doubled and scored the winning run in the top of the 8th. Howard had hit a 3-run home run in the first inning and now leads the majors with 35 RBI. Vance Worley tossed a scoreless 8th, could he be making a temporary shift to the bullpen to stay in the majors?

The win for Bastardo was his 2nd of the year, and #21 in the majors for former BlueClaws this season.

In Houston, the Mets defeated the Astros, 6-4. Michael Bourn had 2 hits for Houston, and stole his 14th base of the year- which leads the majors! Taylor Buchholz (1.35 ERA) recorded 2 outs for New York to get the game to the closer, and was awarded his 5th "hold". The teams will meet again Saturday, Jay Happ will pitch for Houston, looking for his 3rd win.

In Birmingham, Quintin Berry had a single and a walk, drove in a run and scored 2 more for Carolina, but the Mudcats lost to the Barons, 5-4. "Q" is hitting .300, with an OBP of .500 for the Mudcats..............In Kodak, Darren Byrd had his first bad outing, giving up 4 runs and able to record just 1 out for Huntsville in the Stars 4-1 loss to the Smokies. Darren had allowed just 4 runs in his previous 12 appearances...............In Reading, the R-Phils and Fisher Cats split a doubleheader that left New Hampshire in first place, 0.5 game ahead of both Reading and New Britain. With Trenton just 2.5 back, the race is shaping up in the Eastern Division. Carlos Rivero had 2 home runs and Freddy Galvis drove in a pair of run to lead Reading to the 8-3 win to gain the split. Tyson Brummett was the winning pitcher, throwing 5 very good innings, allowing just 2 hits and 1 walk to get his first win, and lower his ERA to 1.50. Jacob Diekman struggled through 2 frames and gave up 3 runs. Travis d'Arnaud had 2 more hits in the opener, a 7-1 victory for New Hampshire. Chris Kissock's days in the rotation may be numbered as he continues to search for his rhythm. Chris gave up 6 runs on 7 hits and a walk in just 3 innings, and his ERA has ballooned to 6.81. In his 7 starts, he was great once, good once, and not so good the other 5.

Big news out of Memphis is Michael Taylor has made his season debut for Sacramento, going 1 for 5, driving in a run and scoring another in Sacramento's 9-3 win over the Redbirds. Red hot Adrian Cardenas (.364, 7 for his last 9!) had 3 more hits, including a double and also scored a run for Sacramento........In Reno, Robinson Tejeda pitched another scoreless inning for Omaha, and has allowed just 4 hit, NO walks in 5 innings of work on this rehab assignment.


In Louisville, Matt Maloney reaped the benefit of his team scoring 7 times in the first inning and parlayed that into an 8-inning in which he scattered 8 hits, NO walks, and recorded his second win in the Bats rotation. The thoughts here are maybe Maloney is going to return to competition for a spot in the Red's rotation!...........In Indianapolis, Jason Jaramillo had 2 hits, incuding a 2-run double for Indy, as the Indians defeated the Clippers, 9-5. There is video of this hit and the main page of milb.com if you want to see it.