In the first inning today, with Adrian Cardenas on second base, the South Atlantic League's Hagerstown Suns gave Ryan Howard the sort of treatment he receives regularly in the majors. They walked him.Howard ripped an RBI double in his second at-bat and struck out looking in his third. I'm guessing Hagerstown pitcher Yunior Novoa will be telling his friends about that later today.
UPDATE: Howard hit a three-run homer in the seventh inning. He finished 2-for-3 with four RBIs. I'll have more in the 50-cent edition Thursday, and if Charlie Manuel or Ruben Amaro Jr. have any comment, I'll post it here.
4 comments:
Hey Scott,
What do you think of Adrian Cardenas? I've hard some pretty rave reviews about the guy and am wondering how good he really is/can be.
I made it out to Reading the other day for a game and it seems like the cupboard is pretty empty. Outside of Maloney, Kendrick, Constanzo and Moran it doesn't seem like there is much to get excited about there.
Also, you mentioned Mike Jacobs is a real nice guy. I'm curious as to who on the Phillies you would consider to be some of the nicer players and conversely who are some of the less friendly guys.
here's a nice blurb about cardenas posted today on http://www.phuturephillies.com
* Adrian Cardenas has been miserable against LHP. This isn’t uncommon, for a player getting his first taste of full season ball, against good pitching, to struggle against lefties. Cardenas’ batting average has been constant from day 1, around .272, but his OB% has gone from .297 in April to .326 in May, that’s a step in the right direction, but more importantly, his slugging jumped from .388 to .481, a vast improvement. Cardenas is also hitting much better away from pitcher friendly Lakewood, with an away line of .333/.370/.533 compared to his home line of .194/.234/.306. I’ve detailed it before, but Lakewood is basically the toughest hitting park in the SAL.
Hey Scott,
How about Bourn finally getting a start tonight? I love it. It'd be nice to see him get an occasional start like this once every week or two. Meanwhile, Freddy "The Chief" Garcia still can't seem to keep his pitch count down. I wonder if he'll be moaning and groaning again when Charlie has to yank him in the 6th, again.
Hey, Matt: I haven't seen enough of Cardenas to have an informed opinion. But I've talked to some of the Phillies' player-development people, and they all tell me they're encouraged by his progress so far. If his biggest problem is hitting lefties, it's a common problem for single-A players. I'm hoping to get out to Lakewood to see him before he gets called up to Clearwater.
It was nice to see Bourn get a start today, and he showed some of what he can do in the first inning. Drawing a walk, stealing a base, forcing the errant pick-off throw that sent him to third and scoring on Utley's homer is exactly what the Phillies want to see from Bourn. I'd expect him to get a few more starts next month when the Phillies play inter-league games at AL sites. Burrell likely will DH for those games, leaving Werth and/or Bourn to play left field.
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