May 30, 2009

How to make six or four equal five

Both of our teams have pitching decisions in front of them.

The Phillies, seemingly keeping trade options on the back burner, are deciding among their own minor leaguers to get the first shot at replacing Brett Myers. The two favorites seem to be Kyle Kendrick and Antonio Bastardo.

Why is no one mentioning Adam Eaton? He won't cost anything beyond what the Phillies already pay him.

The Red Sox, meanwhile, have to fend off questions about a six-man rotation, which leads me to wonder: Why is a team with such a stacked rotation looking up at the Yankees, who were written off weeks ago?

Red Sox: They blew a second straight game against the Blue Jays, 5-3. Wasn't it last week we started them on a nine-game skid that crushed their early-season hopes? Possible Phillie Brad Penny scattered 10 hits over six innings giving up three runs (two earned). The news of the game wasn't another 0-fer for David Ortiz, but that the loss went to Ramon Ramirez, who gave up two runs in one inning - doubling his total for the year.

After the game, Terry Francona said:

It's one of the first tough innings we've seen. He just looked like he was having a hard time. Just looking at his body language, he looked like he was out of sync.

Papi, meanwhile, is now on a 2-31 stretch (.064).

Phillies: A big game for the big man, Ryan Howard hit two home runs, including a monstrous grand slam. Not such a big game for the Phillies big man on the mound. Except for hitting an RBI double, Cole Hamels had a rough night - six earned in six innings on eight hits and a walk. But the Phillies won in the end, beating the Nationals 9-6. Brad Lidge had his second straight save.

Etc.: I bought a new bike today. One of the store employees who saw my hat said "Yeah, Bosox," and had me bump his fist. He wasn't the guy handling my sale, so he wasn't buttering me up for a bigger commission.

Update 10:41: As soon as we posted this, Comcast SportsNet reported that Bastardo will be called up and will start on Tuesday.

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