I’d pitch against the Mets tonight? But first…
It really was a wacky little game in Philadelphia on Tuesday, though it seems the lot of us at CSTB were too busy/drunk/depressed/euphoric to recap.
By far the most interesting moment IMO was when Phillies’ catcher Carlos Ruiz ended up at third in the ninth inning–that is to say, as the third baseman–putting 13th-inning hero Chris Coste behind the plate, and saving Eric Bruntlett for his bottom-of-the-ninth game-tying hit.
David Murphy of the Philadelphia Daily News ties up a few more loose ends that he couldn’t get into a deadline story, and ends up looking like a prophet:
1) Kyle Kendrick threw about 40 pitches while warming up in the bullpen last night. Charlie Manuel was all set to bring him in had Chris Coste not won the game with a walk-off base hit in the bottom of the 13th. Rudy Seanez could not pitch more than an inning, Manuel said. It did not come to that, and both Kendrick and Manuel said the young righthander should not be impacted at all when he starts tonight against Johan Santana. I’d expect the Phillies to bring up another arm anyway. Maybe. . .
2) As Kendrick was warming in the bullpen last night, I was cruising MinorLeagueBaseball.com trying to figure out who the Phillies would end up starting tonight if Kendrick got into the game. J.A. Happ started last night, Carlos Carrasco started recently, as did minor league veteran Brian Mazone. The two options I came up with? Andrew Carpenter, who pitched well in his lone spring training appearance and has seemed revitalized since returning to Double A from a brief demotion.
Carpenter, who pitched a perfect game a year ago today (on the same night that the famous four-game Phillies-Mets series began) has been called up, getting the nod over both Adam Eaton and Mr. Anna Benson.
By the way, while I would not exactly put that game on Pedro (if nothing else, he outpitched Moyer), it was certainly unsporting of him to go blame his lousy final inning on “this band box.” Right, it was the stadium that gave up a lead-off double to Clay Condrey (his first hit since 2003!).
Besides, the thoughtful folks at PhilliesPhans.com note that according to ESPN’s “park factor” ratings, the oft-maligned Citizen’s Bank Park has been middle-of-the-road for offense this year (and less of a factor than its reputation every year except its first).
Which doesn’t stop the likes of Sports Illustrated‘s Jon Heyman from summing up the Phillies’ Pat Burrell thusly:
He’s come back nicely from a brutal year of a few years ago to reestablish himself as a pretty good offensive player. He’s had a lot of big hits this year. Of course, many of them have come in Citizen’s Bank Jokeyard.
Burrell’s stats as of yesterday (also pointed out initially at PhilliesPhans, and, since he was an uncharacteristic 0 for 7 in the game, still relevant today):
Home: 10 HR 33 RBI .228 BA 0.769 OPS
Away: 20 HR 42 RBI .305 BA 1.112 OPS