Phils Win and Some Minor Stuff

Phillies beat Atlanta 7-5 last night and now take aim at starting pitcher Kyle Davies and the rest of 4-5 Braves in an attempt to win their first series of the year. Gavin Floyd takes the ball for the Phillies...3-6 seems a lot better than 2-7, doesn't it? No pressure or anything, Gavin, I'm just saying...

"Maybe we can rattle off five [wins] in a row and show our fans that we're not going to lay down and die," Lidle said. (Phillies.com)

I like Cory Lidle. He seems like a ballplayer who just gets it - gets the on-field aspect of the sport, gets the business side of the sport, gets what it takes to play in Philadelphia. He is not a star, but he is a useful big league starter - an increasingly rare commodity these days. Lidle had a fairly typical Lidle kind of performance last night: 6 IP 10 H 3 ER 0 BB 7 K with 62 of his 90 pitches thrown for strikes. You can get away with giving up 10 hits in 6 innings so long as you don't walk anybody...getting 7 strikeouts doesn't hurt either. Aaron Rowand came up big in two key at bats (the 2-run error on Renteria and his 2-run homer), Mike Lieberthal had an outstanding game defensively behind the plate (not to mention his two 2-out RBI in the second), and Jimmy Rollins extended his latest hitting streak to 5 games with another multi-hit performance (his fourth of the season). The bench still continues to disappoint and Geoff Geary suffered a setback coming out of the pen, but those are problems for another day. For now, we can just sit back and enjoy this second win of the season. That's what I'll do anyway. For now...

On to the minor leagues...how about a sampling of opinions (okay, just 2) on Cole Hamels' latest performance:

Opinion 1:

"You could tell he's pretty polished--he had excellent command of all three pitches," Sarasota manager Donnie Scott said. "His velocity was good, his fastball had running, sinking action, and he showed a great changeup. That was just my first impression, so who knows, but he looked like (Steve) Carlton last night."

Opinion 2:

"He threw OK," Gillick said.

Both quotes seem very optimistic to me when you consider the source. Last night in minor league action...

AAA Scranton-WB (2-5)

• Carlos Ruiz: 2-4, HR, 2 RBI, R, BB
• Chris Roberson: 1-4, R
• Josh Kroeger: 1-4, 2B, 2 K
• Danny Sandoval: 1-5, R
• Chris Coste: 0-5, RBI, R

The homerun by Ruiz was a welcomed sight...it is believed he'll hit with a decent amount of power, but it is seen more as gap power rather than homerun power. One homer doesn't change that, obviously, but it's a start. I'm not trying to put any undue pressure on Ruiz either, but he really needs to dominate AAA pitching this year - it's his big shot to make an impression for '07 and he should be an advanced enough hitter by now to feast on the typically lackluster collection of AAA arms.

AA Reading (1-6)

• Michael Bourn: 1-5, R, K
• Tim Moss: 0-4, K
• Jason Jaramillo: 2-3, 2B, RBI, BB, R, PB
• Bryan Hansen: 0-2
• Angel Chavez: 0-4

Daniel Haigwood: 5.2 IP 6 H 1 ER 3 BB 6 K

No steals for Bourn tonight...he's slipping. Jaramillo just keeps on hitting...Along with the solid pitching line, Haigwood helped himself by going 1-2 with 2 RBI at the plate...good night overall for the kid.

Moss is 0-22 with 14 strikeouts - less said about that the better…Jaramillo’s batting average up to .364

High A Clearwater (4-3)

• Mike Costanzo: 0-3, K
• Brad Harman: 0-3, K

Zach Segovia (L, 1-1): 7 IP 8 H 2 ER 1 BB 3 K

Segovia’s ground out- fly out ratio was 14/4. He is still plenty young enough to make something of himself and he is proving some doubters wrong with two solid starts to open the year. Then again, maybe he isn't proving anybody anything...after all, it's been just two solid starts, right?

Low A Lakewood (0-7)

Greg Golson: N/A
Tim Kennelly: 1-5, 2B, K
Welinson Baez: 3-5, 2 2B, RBI, R, K
Lou Marson: 0-1, R, 4 BB, E

Marson is still looking for hit number one on the season, so it is impressive to see him take four walks on the night - you know it must have killed him to not get the chance to swing the bat and get that first hit, but he took what the pitcher was giving him and helped his team in the process…Baez’ average is up to .360...Golson didn't play last night, but was still the topic in Baseball America's Daily Dish. It's worth a read, though it isn't the most comforting of reports...

"He's got to work on getting loaded better," assistant general manager Mike Arbuckle told the Times. "He wants to hit with an aluminum-bat approach."

Kyle Kendrick: 5.2 IP 8 H 4 ER 3 BB 4 K
Brett Harker: 2 IP 1 H 1 ER 0 BB 2 K

Three good Phillies lefthanders take the mound today - Gio Gonzalez (Reading), J.A. Happ (Clearwater), and Matt Maloney (Lakewood). Hopefully, these guys can put some wins on the board and up that organizational minor league record of 7-21 (.250 winning percentage). The big club is 2-6...also good for a .250 winning percentage...weird.

Scranton is on MiLB.TV tonight at 6:30 Eastern, just click right......here to check out Roberson, Ruiz, and the hot hitting Bobby Scales!