Game 129 - Tuesday Night, August 28th in Philadelphia
Record - 61-68, 3rd Place, 16 1/2 games behind the Nationals
One Sentence Summary: Reliever B.J. Rosenberg allowed four unanswered runs in the top of the 10th as the Mets won in extras, 9-5.
What It Means: Just when I thought that maybe the Phillies were getting ready to go on a nice little run . . . this happens.
What Went Wrong: Vance Worley couldn't escape the fifth inning, quickly turning the evening into a bullpen game. Worley now has a 6.75 ERA in his last five starts and it's definitely time to start wondering if it would be best to shut him down for the duration of the season. Antonio Bastardo surrendered a two-out double in the eighth to Kelly Shoppach, allowing the Mets to tie up the game 5-5. Shoppach added a two-run home run in the 10th off Rosenberg, putting the game out of reach and helping Rosenberg's ERA reach 12.66.
Ryan Howard's first inning grand slam and Chase Utley's solo homer in the fifth were all for naught.
Featured Card: Down on the farm, all attention this month has been on Double-A Reading prospect Darin Ruf, who hit his 19th home run of the month last night. Let me repeat that - Ruf has hit 19 home runs in the month of August. His 37 home runs for the season has tied the single-season Reading mark set by Howard back in 2004.
Ruf will hopefully get the call when rosters expand on Sunday. To date, he's been featured in the 2010 Bowman Chrome Prospects and 2010 Topps Pro Debut sets, as well as a handful of Phillies minor league issues.
I saw him hit one of those 19. He's 26, but still, you can't chalk up 19 HRs this month (with 3 games left) to his being a bit older than the rest of the league. I hope he comes up--although with the Phillies season over, I hope they keep him down there long enough to play for Reading in the playoffs (and to go for 40 HRs, as Reading still has regular season games through this coming weekend).
ReplyDeleteI read somewhere that they'll keep him in Reading for the play-offs and then he'll join the big club!
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