We interrupt Buddy Hurlock's Blue Rocks travel diary to bring you this bulletin: For one day, at least, J.D. Durbin was "The Real Deal."Durbin, last seen leaping off the mound at Petco Park like he just won Game 7 of the World Series, twirled a complete-game shutout yesterday and the Phillies closed a challenging seven-game road trip with a winning record (4-3). Two of those victories belong to Durbin, whose winding journey through waivers in March and April would've dizzied even Odysseus.
By now, you've probably heard the tale. Once a top prospect in the Twins organization, Durbin strutted around touting himself as "The Real Deal." But he never stuck in Minnesota and was designated for assignment at the end of spring training. The Diamondbacks claimed him but promptly sent him to the minors after he'd allowed seven runs in two-thirds of an inning April 4. The Red Sox claimed him April 9, then waived him the next day. And after the Phillies scooped him up, they waived him and resigned him after he'd gone unclaimed, allowing them to send him to triple-A.
Follow all that?
Anyway, Durbin admits his bravado often got in the way of his pitching. He said several Twins veterans told him to tone down his cockiness, but when he lost his "Real Deal" swagger, Durbin's performance suffered. With the Phillies, pitching coach Rich Dubee has told Durbin to relax, and against the Dodgers and Padres last week, you could see him attempt to calm himself by taking deep, exaggerated breaths on the mound.
In his last two starts, Durbin has allowed one run on 11 hits in 15 innings. Most impressive, though, he's walked only five batters. Can he keep it up? Who knows? But Durbin's success has to make the Phillies feel a lot better about the back of their rotation.
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Good pitching almost always beats good hitting, so I didn't give the Phillies' mighty offense much chance last week against the pitching-rich Dodgers and Padres. I was wrong. Very wrong.
Check out these numbers from the road trip:
Ryan Howard batted .500 (11-for-22) with five homers and 13 RBIs.
Chase Utley batted .379 (11-for-29) with nine runs and seven RBIs.
Shane Victorino batted .343 (12-for-35) with seven runs and five RBIs.
Aaron Rowand batted .355 (11-for-31) with five runs and eight RBIs.
The Phillies pounded 26 hits and scored 15 runs last Tuesday night in LA. They scored seven runs last Friday night in San Diego, exorcising the ghost of Justin Germano, then followed with 12 runs Saturday night and nine on Sunday. In all, they scored a whopping 50 runs in seven games. They also committed only two errors. And the trip could've been even better. Two of the losses came by one run (5-4 in the finale at LA and 1-0 in the opener at San Diego in a beautifully pitched game by Chris Young and Cole Hamels).
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Brett Myers will make his second rehab appearance tonight for single-A Clearwater. Charlie Manuel said Myers may be activated as soon as Thursday.
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At 6:05 p.m., I'll be a guest on The Mike Gill Show on 1450 AM. Tune in and check it out.
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We've got a great debate going on within one of the previous posts. Matt In Philadelphia doesn't believe the pitching-strapped Phillies can realistically compete for a playoff spot, and since the market for pitchers is nearly bare, he doesn't favor trading someone like Michael Bourn. Given how flawed the rest of the National League is, I'm not sure I agree with that.
Care to weigh in?
5 comments:
I don't see the value in available pitching to trade Bourn or Victorino. It might be possible that Kendrick, Durbin and possibly Maloney can pitch well enough to keep us close. We've suffered through too many Todd Jones trades that have cost good players or draft picks that have just not worked out.
The Phillies have several pitchers who could be ready next year: Carrasco, Savery and Mathieson (how is he doing?). Don't trade a play who could be a key position player for the next five years for the risk of a quick fix. This is a young team with the potential to be good for a number of years. Don't trade away a key part for what appears to be available.
Remember 1980. That was not the best yeaar for that team. The Phillies record was 91-71 (.562). They got hot in September and lucky with two rookie pitchers, Walk and Bystrom.
All the NL leaders currently have .560 records. Any number of teams could get hot and pull away. Which pitching in short supply everywhere, a good hitting team has a chance to make the playoffs.
I think as long as Durbin and Kendrick are keeping the Phillies in games, you'd be foolish to make a trade... I guess the 50,000 dollar question is, do you have faith that they will do so?
But if they don't, I'm not enamored enough with the available pitching out there to trade Bourn. Don't misunderstand me, I don't think Bourn is a future MVP, but what's out there to be had isn't necessarily better than what we are getting out of Durbin and Kendrick.
I agree with Tom G - the Phils could only realistically get Lohse, and he's underwhelming at best.
I wouldn't trade any prospects either, not only because of the poor options in the available pitchers but getting one starter probably won't help much. I say that because a new starter would probably replace one of the rookies, but we would then be counting on Eaton to pitch well the rest of the way and I just don't see it happening
there was a blurb by a philly management guy that said that matthieson will stick in the bullpen and be a late inning guy when he comes back. they're only going to let him focus on 2 pitches probably. high 90's heat and his high 80's to low 90's slider. i wish i had heard of his progress lately as its been about a year for his tommy john surgery. i know he's been throwing off of a mound.
There really isn't a reason to trade for average pitching at the moment. the guys that are on the squad are performing better than what we could possibly get. Bourn looks really good as a 4th outfielder for the phillies and the phillies would be insane to trade victorino. he has improved drastically every year of his major league career. he hasn't show any reason to as why he's going to digress. if you happen to trade any of your outfielders then you possibly go into next season hamstringing yourself. if you trade Bourn and then fail to resign Rowand then you are back to square one with a missing man in the outfield. it just doesn't make any sense to trade bourn or victorino or rowand at this point in time. better off just "standing Pat" for the remainder of the season and hope that your two rookies can continue to have success and just pummel your opponents into submission.
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