Happy Fun Ball: Phillies 5, Padres 1

by WholeCamels on Jun 4, 2009 10:04 AM EDT

The Philadelphia Phillies certainly made themselves at home in San Diego this week... put their feet on the furniture, used the good china, made long distance phone calls, etc. Fun to watch!

Last night it was J.A. Happ who stepped up for the Phillies and their resurgent pitching staff, pitching another strong game for his fourth victory of the season.

Ryan Howard's first inning dead center two run homer turned out to be all the Phillies needed against enormous righthander Chris Young.

In the bad news department, centerfielder Shane Victorino had to leave the game with a hip injury. It remains to be seen how serious it is, but to me the best fallback should Victorino miss time would be a Stairs/Mayberry platoon in right field, with Jayson Werth shifting to center.

The Phillies make the trip up I-5 today for a daunting four-game series against the first place Los Angeles Dodgers.

PLAYER OF THE GAME: J.A. Happ. It's become clear who really should have won that fifth rotation spot this spring...

via www.fangraphs.com

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Michael Taylor time?

I’m not sold on Mayberry as a regular, even in a platoon. No patience and poor contact skills = AAAA mistake hitter. I’d take him as a fifth OF and right-handed bench bat.

Likewise, I’m not sure Stairs will hold up starting 2/3 of the games, nor do I particularly want him playing in the field that much.

I’d call up Taylor. While ideally I’d like him to spend the rest of this year getting additional seasoning in AA/AAA, I really think he’s the best option. He’s clearly better than AA competition (generally considered to have the highest talent level, right?) and is supposed to be a plus defender in the corners.

by phatj on Jun 4, 2009 10:43 AM EDT reply actions

all valid points

Although I wonder if the Phillies don’t want to “expose” Taylor to MLB pitching and have him struggle, diminishing his perceived trade value. Let him keep hammering AA pitchers in a good hitters’ park.

Not that it’s the smart thing to do, but that might be how they perceive things…

http://www.thegoodphight.com

by WholeCamels on Jun 4, 2009 10:59 AM EDT up reply actions