Phillies and Reds should be an interesting series starting today. We split with you guys last time, I’m hoping we can at least do the same this time around. Watch out for a kid named Jay Bruce…and put him on your fantasy team if he’s available in your league (if you play).
Anyone want to play a drinking game tonight? Every time ESPN mentions Joba Chamberlain during tonight’s game, take a drink.
I’ll probably be passed out by the 2nd inning!
Keep the beer on ice, game’s tomorrow.
Cool story on SI.com about the drafting of 30 Negro League players before the Amateur Draft.
Like the minor detail of him not pitching will cause his name to be mentioned less.
In other news, the Mets are sucking a bit less since the non-firing (Can we bring back Davey Johnson?) of Willie. Who knew that Ryan Church would be a savior? Still hate that trade though.
It’s nice to see them getting things right occasionally. Nice story. I hope the teams do something with these former players besides a single photo op.
Something? Heck, I’ll bet Ned Colletti is already planning to install Joe Scott, 87, in place of Matt Kemp.
The Blue Jays are planning to insert Bobo Henderson into the lineup as their regular right fielder and leadoff hitter. This will be a significant offensive upgrade.
Damn Bronson Arroyo and his crappy pitching! Almost got by the Phils…almost. We’ll try again tonight with Harang.
Damn Tigers have pitched much better yet still find ways to lose.
If anyone is wondering about the Indians…well they left May with shitty bats and entered June with shitty bats.
We had a fantastic game yesterday (the second day of June) vs. Texas where good bats overcame shitty pitching which has not happened any other time this year, so I am going to consider it an anomaly until it happens a few times more.
Ooh, Papi is out for minimum of 2 weeks. The only silver lining is now Manny doesn’t have to play left field. 
So the Big Joba Show lasted less than three innings. He kept walking guys, and was saved from letting the game away by virtue of it being the Blue Jays; most other teams would have scored five or six runs off him.
Maybe there’s some history in the Joba Story I don’t know, but this babying thing is bizarre. I’m all for not overusing a young pitcher’s arm, but Jesus, is he made of spun glass?
Sitting here watching the game, I’m wondering the same thing. Maybe he has some weird history of injury that they’ve kept under wraps or something. I mean, 62 pitches? Pulling him in the middle of an inning? It’s really a strange situation, particularly when they were rolling along nicely with him in the 8th inning.
Yankee fans, I’m curious: with the benefit of hindsight, would you now make a Melky Cabrera & Phil Hughes for Johan Santana trade? With Santana in the rotation, Chamberlain stays in the eighth inning and maybe never becomes a starter at all.
Meanwhile, Pedro pitches in San Francisco tonight, so I’ll be stumbling into work sleepy tomorrow morning.
Yankee fan here with two answers.
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Joba was not going over 75 pitches tonight, so no sense running him out after 62 I guess. The 75 was a hard fast top limit with several exclamation points on it.
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I still would not have made the trade, the Yanks need to get younger and Melky is a good CF and I still think Hughes will become a good starter and we still would have had to pay Santana $20m per year for a long time. It was not a particularly good trade.
As a Yankee fan I am willing to see us chance missing the playoffs to get stronger in the future. The Farm is looking good and we drop about $80 million in salaries at the end of this year. If the Yanks can stay the course, we should be in much better shape going forward.
Jim
Oddly enough, this represented no deviation from Brian Sabean’s drafting style.
He did a good job pinch running for Griffy Jr. tonight. (That was funny.) I really loved that the Citizens Bank Park crowd gave such a huge ovation for Griffey’s at bat. (I didn’t catch all of his at bats, but the last one he got a big cheer.)
pat
Expanding on what pricciar said, May was a really good month for the Phillies. The offense (especially at the end of the month, when they scored 20 runs against the Rockies–I was there!) got a lot of credit, but the pitching was key. The Phillies have the lowest bullpen ERA in the bigs (really shocking, since their 'pen was dreadful last year), and the starting pitching seems to keep them in every game. The Phillies, after the first game of the year where they (and Tom Gordon especially) got shelled, haven’t allowed an opponent to score in double digits since. Also, the Phillies are fortunate because, even when the pitching doesn’t exactly show up, the offense is so prolific that they can climb back into the game.
Chase Utley is having an absolutely incredible, breakthrough year. For those who don’t see him on a daily basis, let me assure you that he isn’t a fluke; he’s probably the smartest baseball player I’ve ever seen. You can see the adjustments he’s making even during his at-bats: two weeks ago, I saw him get out in front of a curveball and rip it foul. On the next throw the pitcher tries to sneak another curve past him, but Utley waits on it this time and pulls it inside the line. Obviously, that’s just one small example, but Utley is a real professional hitter. Also, as evidenced by last night’s plays, he plays with the most heart of anyone I’ve seen: last night he made two diving catches on line drives, and ran over the catcher. It seems like fewer and fewer people run over the catcher anymore, but seeing Utley do it seemed natural.
Howard, although his average is up to .209, still hasn’t found his groove. Granted, the past couple weeks seem to have shown some improvements, but he is nowhere near the threat he was 2 or 3 years ago. Case in point: tonight, in the bottom of the seventh with runners on second and third, Baker walked Utley to get to Howard. Howard made an out (I forget how). If Utley stays on the pace he’s currently on–and I expect he’ll continue to play like this for the rest of the season–Howard needs to provide protection for him and make teams pay if they don’t pitch to Chase. If he can provide just 75% of what he did in 2006, the Phillies will be unstoppable.
Also, Burrell has cooled off considerably since his hot start, but he still seems to be getting big hits in key spots. Tonight’s two-run homer put the Phillies ahead for good, as did his two-run double on Sunday.
Finally, a lot was made out of Aaron Rowand’s departure this past off-season. Although I’m not in love with him, Pedro Feliz is doing a nice job of putting up numbers that are comparable to Aaron’s. Rowand, I believe has 8 homers; Feliz has 7. Also, Chris Coste has been platooning with Carlos Ruiz and has added 6 homers.
If the bullpen continues to pitch the way it has, and if the starting pitching keeps keeping us in games (and there’s reason to believe that it will get only better if Myers can start pitching better), the Phillies should start to run away with this division soon.
Tigers lose in 9. Next day they lose in 11. I sense a pattern. 22 walks in last nights game. A timely hit or two and the game would have been different.
Cubbies still rolling along. 