2012 Phillies Season Thread

[Ben Grimm]

Chase Utley worked out at 3B today. Apparently, it was at his request as a possible option for next season.

They tried this once and it failed miserably. But, Chase has a 3B bat when he's feeling well, and if Galvis simply brings a glove, their middle of the defense won't suffer a beat and maybe Chase can provide 20/80-type numbers if he's fairly healthy next year from the hot corner.

[philliesfiend55]

Vance Worley (finally ) was shut down for the season and was placed on the DL as of 8/29 .He will have surgery next week. - (Corresponding move to Tyler Cloyd's call up).

[philliesfiend55]

For a guy who thought he would be pitching for the Iron Pigs in Scranton that night Tyler Cloyd did a creditable job after he got to Philadelphia. He found out about Noon that he was going up to the Phillies so he had about seven hours to prepare and to travel.
He could have been a winner if the Phillies had hit in the clutch, but they failed to do so in a couple of key situations. A home run given up to Met Lucas Duda was the deciding factor in the Mets' 3-2 win and Cloyd will have to limit those gopher balls in the future to be successful. Hopefully his next start with the Phillies will be a bit more routine and he'll have better run support.

[philliesfiend55]

No HR or RBI for Darin Ruf last night so his totals remain at 37 HR 98 RBI. He did have a couple of hits, however and raised his batting average to .320.
Cody Asche also had a good night at the plate to raise his batting average to .310. Asche now has exactly 500 at bats in his combined totals for Clearwater (High A) and Reading (AA) ,which is high for a minor leaguer. He has just 30 walks fo his two stops, which is rather low. For his combined time in Clearwater and Reading Asche is now 165 for 500 - a .330 batting average.
Cody Ovebeck hit his 13th home run last night for Lehigh Valley (AAA) and now his totals are 13/65/.247 in about 440 at bats.
Lehigh Valley gained a game in the standings and they are now 0.5 games behind Pawtucket (Boston Red Sox) in the International League Wild Card race with five games remaining (Pawtucket has six games left).
Reading holds a three game lead over New Britain (Minnesota Twins) for a Eastern League Wild Card spot with five games to play.

[Ben Grimm]

For a guy who thought he would be pitching for the Iron Pigs in Scranton that night Tyler Cloyd did a creditable job after he got to Philadelphia. He found out about Noon that he was going up to the Phillies so he had about seven hours to prepare and to travel.
He could have been a winner if the Phillies had hit in the clutch, but they failed to do so in a couple of key situations. A home run given up to Met Lucas Duda was the deciding factor in the Mets' 3-2 win and Cloyd will have to limit those gopher balls in the future to be successful. Hopefully his next start with the Phillies will be a bit more routine and he'll have better run support.

He looked a bit better after he settled down (could have just been jitters). He had problems vs LHers as all but one hitter who put the ball in play, either hit a fly or a line drive. Once settled, he did get ahead of hitters - which he must do to be somewhat effective.

[Ben Grimm]

Interesting, albeit sad, statistic.

The Mets are 5-14 on the road vs Atlanta, Miami and Washington.

They're 7-1 at Citizens Bank Park this year going into today.

[Ben Grimm]

Scott Hairston & Brian McCann - Phillie Killers.

Hairston just launched his 6th bomb of the season against the Phils.

[Ben Grimm]

I haven't heard anything about Cole's stomach illness. It sounds like he'll make his next start this weekend though.

He was doing a benefit event in the Crystal Tea Room which is a few floors above my old office. They only serve the highest quality food, so I'm assuming Cole had a bit too much "fun" and his head was marbles yesterday as a result.

[Ben Grimm]

Good job by Kyle in getting the tempo down and not letting the early HRs effect his stuff.

But WTF is up with Rollins now? Second time this month he's come up weak in terms of effort. He was replaced at SS in the 7th today.

I mean, come on. This is not the time to have attitude issues when you have some of these younger kids coming up. Charlie's made it clear - he only has two rules... show up on time and show effort. Jimmy's been getting very lazy, and that's not a good thing with the fanbase when so many are questioning the $33M deal he got heading into this season. I think JRo11 ought to give up the twitter fun and remember he's still got a job to do.

[Blue387]

Scott Hairston & Brian McCann - Phillie Killers.

Hairston just launched his 6th bomb of the season against the Phils.

David Wright has 26 career home runs against the Phillies with 16 at CBP alone.

[Ben Grimm]

Juan Pierre has passed through revocable waivers. FOXSports is reporting a trade could be completed as early as today.

[philliesfiend55]

Juan Pierre has passed through revocable waivers. FOXSports is reporting a trade could be completed as early as today.

If Juan Pierre gets dealt then it just goes to show that you can't trust anything Ruben Amaro Jr. says. Just a couple of weeks ago he was saying for publication "why would I move Pierre?" and he went on to extil Juan's virtues as being a player who was terrific in the clubhouse, a leader by example ,a great team player, someone who works extremely hard and one who is always prepared. I think Juan has had a great season in Philly under the circumstances he found himself in. I'd hate to see him go, but if there is an opportunity out there for him to be a regular again, or at least get more playing time than he is currently seeing with the Phillies, then a move may be for the best.
My attitude in a nutshell: Juan - Si; Ruben - No!

[philliesfiend55]

The Phillies two top minor league affiliates appear to be headed in opposite directions regarding the post season.
Lehigh Valley has slipped to three games out of the Wild Card Race (behind Red Sox affiliate , Pawtucket) with just four games to play. Besides being on the brink of elimination, it means thata few Lehigh Valley players could be called up to the Phillies as soon as September 1 or by September 4 after the International League schedule concludes.
Conversely, Reading (AA) is in the exact opposite situation with a three game lead for the Eastern League's remaining Wild Card spot with four games to play over rival New Britain (Minnesota Twins affiliate). Leading the way in last night's Reading victory was Darin Ruf who blasted a three run homer in a big inning where Reading scored six runs. Ruf broke the Reading franchise record for home runs with his 38th. He drove in another run later with a single and the 4 RBI increased his season's total to 102 RBI.
Should Reading win the opening round of the playoffs and the League championship series stretch to the max. it would still end by September 15. The Phillies haven't called up anyone directly from AA ball, without some AAA experience for several years now ( I believe Kyle Kendrick in 2007 was the last to come to the Phillies straight from AA) but with Ruf's amazing season the Phillies front office ought to make an exception in his case. They would still have the last 2 1/2 weeks to get a look at Ruf hitting against major league pitching.

[philliesfiend55]

It was Good to see catcher and lefthanded hitter, Steven Lerud make his major league debut at age 27 yesterday (8/30/12) after nine years in the minors. Lerud caught the entire game and went 1 for 4 with a sharp line drive off Jonathon Niese, that dropped in front of the centerfielder for a single. His mother was in attendance and he later gave her the base hit ball. Hard work and preparation often pays off.

[philliesfiend55]

The Phillies have got back to within five games of .500 (64-69) for the first time in about a month and a half. (An over .500 finish is still possible.)
Outfielder Nate Schierholtz, on a rehab stint with (AAA) Lehigh Valley, was activated from the DL. Lehigh Valley pitchers Josh Diekman and Justin De Fratus were also recalled yesterday.
De Fratus was on the Disabled list the first half of this season and in the minors for the second half. His first appearence in a Phillies game will be his 2012 Phillies debut. He made his MLB debut last Sept. 18 and pitched in five games for the 2011 Phillies.
Lehigh Valley was eliminated from the International League playoff picture yesterday, Sept. 1. Another few player recalls are possible by Sept.4 after the LV regular season ends.
(AA) Reading's lead for the last Eastern League Wild Card spot has shrunk to one game over New Britain (Minn. Twins affiliate) with two games remaining. A one-game playoff will be played if the two teams finish the regular season in a tie.

[Blue387]

Chipper Jones hit his 49th career home run against the Phillies on Sunday.

He also has 49 career home runs against the Mets.

[philliesfiend55]

Reading (AA) won Sunday but still hasn't clinced a playoff spot. They hold a one game lead over New Britain (Minn. Twins) for the last Wild Card spot. A Reading loss today coupled with a New Britain win would force a one-game playoff.
Tyson Gillies has raised his batting average to .306 for Reading and he hit his 8th triple yesterday. Ethan Martin acquired from the LA Dodgers in the Shane Victorino trade pitched seven shutout innings to go 5-0 at Reading. Combined wih his work for the Dodgers (AA) farm team at Chattanooga (Southen League), Martin has gone 13-6 for the year.
1B Cody Overbeck had a four RBI game yesterday for (AAA) Lehigh Valley. He enters the season finale with 14 HR, 71 RBI and a .249 batting average in about 460 at bats..

[Ben Grimm]

I really, really hope Ruben's not fooled by Frandsen's spike in his offense with quite a few lucky hits finding spots and has instead noticed how he's lost a few games simply with his glove (or lack of one) at 3B. He cannot be considered a viable option as a starting 3B next year whatsoever.

[philliesfiend55]

Reading clinched a playoff spot with a win on the final day of the season.
Some Reading Phillies individual stats.
Darin Ruf led the Eastern League with 38 HR and 104 RBI. He was runnerup in the batting title race with a .317 final average.
Tyson Gillies .304
Cody Asche .300 in Reading after hitting .349 on High A - Clearwater. Asche had a total of 518 at bats between his two stops in 2012 (unusally high for the minors shorter schedule.
Tommy Joseph .257
Troy Hanzawa .249.

Near .300 hitting performances resulted in the callups of Steve Susdorf and Cesar Hernandez to AAA late in the season. Catcher Sebastian Valle also moved up to AAA in August.

Trevor May 10-13
Justin Friend 24 Saves (tying the team record).
Ethan Marin 5-0 for Reading 13-8 for full year.

[philliesfiend55]

Reading(AA) clinches the final Eastern League playoff spot on the final day of the season.
A few Final individual stats:

Darin Ruf 38 HR/104 RBI/.317 B.Avg. (led league in HR & RBI, runner-up in batting average).
Tyson Gillies .304
Cody Asche .300 (after hitting .349 in Clearwater (High A) - 12 HR overall.
Tommy Joseph .257
Troy Hanzawa .249
Leandro Castro 10HR/ 71 RBI/.285 Batting Avg.

Trevor May 10-13
Ethan Martin 5-0 (13-8 0veraLL)
Justin Friend 24 Saves (Tied Franchise Record). 0.25 ERA.
Julio Rodriguez 7-7/ 4.23 ERA.

Lehigh Valley (AA) - 3rd place in their division - elimnated from a playoffs spot in the final days of the season.
Some Individual Stats:

Cody Overbeck 14 HR/71 RBI/.249
Jason Pridie 5HR/22 RBI/ .298
Steve Susdorf 1HR/26 RBI/ .282
Kyle Hudson 0 HR/25 RBI/.264/ 22 SB

Tyler Cloyd 12-1, 2.35 ERA (15-1 overall) - Major league debut 8/29 - earned first major league victory today 9/3.
Tom Cochran 9-5 3.96 ERA
Jon Pettibone 4-1 2.55
J.C Ramirez 3-2, 4.28 ERA
Jake Diekman 1-1, 1.69 ERA - spent half the season with the Phillies and got the win in relief in his major leagues debut 5/15.
Phillippe Aumont 3-1, 4.28 - earned his first major leagues Save today 9/3.
B.J. Rosenberg 4-2, 2.00 ERA.
Mike Cisco 2-0, 2.67 ERA.

-philliesfiend55-

[philliesfiend55]

Through 9/3/12 Jimmy Rollins needs one base hit for 2,000 H for his career and needs two stolen bases for 400 SB for his career.

[philliesfiend55]

With 27 games remaining in 30 days the 65-70 Phillies need a closing kick of 17-10 to finish above .500. (82-80).

[Ben Grimm]

Through 9/3/12 Jimmy Rollins needs one base hit for 2,000 H for his career and needs two stolen bases for 400 SB for his career.

He'll have both by year's end.

[Ben Grimm]

Yay! That's what we were all shooting for back in April. #totalfailseason

[philliesfiend55]

An 82-80 season would keep a streak going of 10 straight and 11 of the last 12 seasons above .500. Considering all of the injuries to key personnel (Howard, Utley, Halladay, Worley, Stutes, Contreras, Polanco, Ruiz etc., etc. - the list is almost endless), getting over .500 would be a salvaged season. The team was a miserable 54-65 two and a half weeks ago, but has won 11 of their last 16 to improve to 65-70, to make an above .500 finish seem more plausible.