June 2: Arroyo vs. Kendrick
by dajafi on Jun 2, 2008 5:57 PM EDT
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PrintCincinnati Reds at Philadelphia Phillies, Jun 2, 2008 7:05 PM EDT
The Phillies hope to continue their successful homestand as the Reds come to town for a four-game set. Kyle Kendrick faces Bronson Arroyo tonight in the opener; at least initially, he won't have to worry about Ken Griffey Jr., who is not in the starting lineup owing to "general soreness." Griffey, of course, is one home run away from becoming just the sixth player ever to reach 600 for his career.
But the Reds have enough other dangerous bats, including veteran slugger Adam Dunn, second baseman Brandon Phillips, rookie first baseman Joey Votto and phenom Jay Bruce, who has begun his big-league career with 13 hits in his first 22 at-bats (.591), including three doubles and two home runs. He's also drawn six walks and struck out just once.
The Phils can hit a little as well. Chase Utley won NL Player of the Week honors and brings a streak of four straight games with a home run into tonight's contest. Shane Victorino has hit in 13 straight games, one off his career high, and is batting .435 with a stunning 12 runs scored over his last six games.
The Phillies lineup tonight is:
1. Jimmy Rollins SS 2. Shane Victorino CF 3. Chase Utley 2B 4. Ryan Howard 1B 5. Pat Burrell LF 6. Geoff Jenkins RF 7. Pedro Feliz 3B 8. Chris Coste C 9. Kyle Kendrick RHP
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499
I remember when Griffey came to town sitting on 499 in 2004, the same night Thome was at 399 (and hit 400). Griffey sat out.
Then it started to rain, and naked streakers hit the field. Great fun!
I don’t even want to think about it. I am trying desperately to erase it from my memory. Ugh…really churns my stomach.
weird…so Manual leaves starters in longer than he should and he takes them out curiously early. Is there any reason that Kendrick had such a short leash? He only threw 70 pitches.
I have a bad feeling about the rest of this game. I hope I’m wrong. The momentum seems to be just sapped out of the team after the Feliz GIDP to end the 5th inning.
The Reds that have to be faced are 2-7. That’s their 6 toughest hitters. Ugh. Maybe Flash can give Bruce the IBB so that Lidge gets 6-8 in the 9th. The thought of Gordon pitching to Bruce makes me very scared. Bruce reminds me of a fearless Francoeur, who has just killed Flash.
Bruce is a better hitter than Francoeur. He drew six walks in his first 28 plate appearances; I think Yay Guys (as we like to call Francoeur) didn’t reach six BBs until his second year in the bigs.
But yeah, I’m with ya.
Well, I have the bucket ready if I feel the need to vomit in the next 2 innings. Let the games begin.
I know you’re exaggerating, but try to keep in mind that even under a best-case scenario for this good-but-not-great team, the Phils are going to lose 40 to 45 more times between now and the end of September. And some of them are going to go down like you smacked your big toe with a hammer. That’s just how baseball works.
That said, I’m a little nauseated too. This has just felt to me like a game that will get away since about the fifth inning. Let’s hope we’re wrong.
Probably right—he might just have been rusty yesterday.
I saw in one of the philly.com articles today that he’s on pace to pitch 58 innings this year. That’s low for a setup guy, but probably about perfect for Gordon given his age, health issues and past tendency (not last year, but in his Yankees period) to slump in the second half.
I’m no expert on swing mechanics, but I’d love to see Utley’s and Dobbs compared. Chase’s swing is so short and quick and fluid; Dobbs seems to lunge and flail, and when he’s going bad it gets long.
But you can’t argue with the results.
I wasn’t trying to bash Feliz for his GIDP, that’s one of his negatives, but compared to what we’ve had at 3rd base over the last few years, I’m elated with Feliz. I didn’t get to see his GIDP, but it sounded like bad luck. Had Burrell stopped maybe they’d have scored a run, but like I said didn’t see the play.
That was just a turning point in the game. The fact that Feliz was batting was immaterial.
WOO CHASE UTLEY.
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