Happ to start against Mets Friday

According to philly.com, J.A.Happ will start for the Phillies Friday night in Philly against the Mets.

Carlos Carrasco and Greg Golson were both to see the doctors in Philadelphia today. For Carrasco, it has to do with his shoulder discomfort last night. For Golson, it was a scheduled visit to check on his wrist.

update on Carrasco

According to the Reading broadcast last night, Carlos took 2 warm up throws off the bullpen mound and told pitching coach Tom Filer he felt something wrong in his right shoulder. Filer immediately shut him down and got Brett Harker into an emergency start. Harker, Pat Overholt and Justin Pope shared the 9 innings in Reading's 9-2 win. Jason Donald (.299) drove in 5 runs for the R-Phils (42 RBI) with 2 hits, including his 10th home run. Brad Harman also hit his 8th dinger.

Carrasco misses start

Carlos Carrasco experienced soreness in his pitching shoulder while warming up for tonight's game, and Brett Harker made the start. Hark fanned 2 in the first inning. I will see what I can find out about Carlos.

Another former 'Claw goes to the show

The Phillies have purchased the contract of R.J. Swindel from Lehigh Valley to take the roster spot of Brett Myers. This will give Philadelphia one more arm in the bullpen for the next few days. I am assuming, due to Pat Gillick's insistence that Chad Durbin will stay in the bullpen, that Swindel will stay with the Phillies for today, tomorrow and Friday. On Saturday, which would have been Myer's turn in the rotation, I am betting Swindel will be sent back to Lehigh Valley in favor of J.A. Happ, who should get the start against the Mets Saturday night. After that is anybody's guess.

Threshers walk off with win

John Urick singled in Quintin Berry with the game winning run in the bottom of the 9th inning on Tuesday as the Threshers topped Lakeland 6-5. Berry (.240) had 3 hits to lead the shark attack, and Adrian Cardenas (.315, steal #13 in 13 tries), Michael Taylor (grand slam previously mentioned), and shortstop Jesus Villegas Andino (.333 in 9 games for Clearwater) all added 2 hits to the offense. Joe Savery had a good outing, tossing 6.2 innings, and allowing just 2 unearned runs on 4 hits and 2 walks, striking out 6 and lowering his ERA to 4.48. Matt German gave up a walk and a 2-run homer, getting just 2 outs, and Brian Schlitter (4-3, 2.47) picked up the win after blowing the save. The 2 teams will meet again tonight in Clearwater, I believe Drew Naylor will make the start.

The Phillies have announced the signing of first round pick Anthony Hewitt (19) and will have him report to the complex in Clearwater later this week. Philadelphia has now signed their top 5 picks from last month's draft and 27 of the 53 players they selected.

In Reading last night, Javon Moran (.277) had a single, a triple, 2 walks, and scored a run in Reading's 7-3 victory over New Britain. Mike Spidale also had 2 hits and raised his average to .301 after a terrible start. Reading got the long ball from Jeremy Slayden (#11, 60 RBI, .299), Joey Hammond (his 3rd, .282) and Lou Marson (#3, 40 RBI, .322). Fabio Castro (5-1, 4.94) made the start for the R-Phils, going 6.2 innings, giving up 3 runs on 8 hits and 2 walks, with 4 strike outs. Joe Bisenius (2.35) struck out all 4 batters he faced. Carlos Carrasco gets the ball on Wednesday.

In Rochester, Jason Jaramillo (.254) belted his 5th home run of the year in the IronPigs 12-5 win over the Red Wings. Randy Ruiz (.304) had a hit and a walk for Rochester. In Norfolk, Mike Costanzo (.254) had his 9th home run and a double in the Tide's 4-3 win over Richmond. Chris Roberson (.251) added a hit and stolen base #14 to the Norfolk effort.

In Tacoma Monday night, Andrew Baldwin threw 8 strong innings for the Rainiers to post a 4-2 victory over Colorado Springs. Baldwin gave up just 2 runs on 6 hits and 2 walks, striking out 5 to improve to 5-4, 5.16 on the year. Andy has settled in after a very rough start to the season. In his last 3 outings, he has pitched 22 innings, giving up just 4 earned runs on 16 hits to pick up the win in each game.

Former BlueClaws Scott Mitchinson (Oakland), Kevin Howard (Los Angeles) and Mike Dubee (Chicago) are all on the DL and not currently playing.

Taylor comes through;Floyd wins 9th

Michael Taylor belted a grand slam home run in the first inning tonight in Clearwater to give the Threshers a 4-0 advantage after 1 frame. It is his first home run for the Threshers after bopping 10 earlier for Lakewood. The 4 RBI gives him 5 for Clearwater, 55 overall.

Meanwhile, last night in Chicago, Gavin Floyd registered his 9th win of the season beat Cleveland, 9-7. Gavin threw 6 innings, allowing 4 runs (3 earned) on 7 hits and 2 walks, striking out 10 to improve to 9-4, 3.45 for the year.

For those who are wondering, C.J. Henry is hitting .250 for Tampa in 10 games so far this season.

Brett Myers to Lehigh Valley

The Phillies have optioned Brett Myers to Lehigh Valley to work out his mechanical problems. Myers, who was great as a closer last season for Philadelphia, has not been doing the job since his return to the rotation. So far, no announcement has been made, but I suspect J.A. Happ will get a start or 2 in the next few times around the rotation for Philadelphia.

The Lakewood BlueClaws have completed a sweep of this afternoon's doubleheader in Hagerstown, winning both games by identical 4-2 scores. Zack Segovia was the starter and loser for Hagerstown in game 2. Zack pitched 5 innings and was charged with all 4 runs on 8 hits. An interesting side note here is Zack is playing for Darnell Coles, the Hagerstown manager, who just happens to be his father-in-law!! A real family affair going on in Maryland!! Anyway, now that the BlueClaws are leaving town, we wish Zack much success.

Dominic Brown had 2 hits in each game this afternoon to lead Lakewood's attack, and threw out a runner in each game. Jay Miller had 2 hits in the opener, and another hit in game #2 and gave the BlueClaws the lead with 1st inning RBIs in each game. Julian Sampson pitched 6.2 innings in game 1 to improve his record to 5-1, and Jared Simon came on to notch a 1-pitch save, his 13th. In game 2, Moises Melendez made the spot start, going 4 innings, allowing 2 runs on 7 hits. Zack Sterner picked up another win with a scoreless 5th inning to improve his mark to 5-1 and Sergio Escalona picked up his first save of the year, striking out 4 of the 6 hitters he faced. Lakewood as now won 4 in a row, and is 7-6 in the second half of the season, 45-38 overall. They head to Lexington for 4 games beginning Wednesday night.