BBTF's Game Chatter Discussion :: Phillies (19-19) @ Cubs (15-22), Thursday, May 17, 2012, 8:05pm

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Thursday, May 17, 2012

Phillies (19-19) @ Cubs (15-22), Thursday, May 17, 2012, 8:05pm

PHI:Roy Halladay (35, RHP, 3-3, 3.20)
CHC:Chris Volstad (25, RHP, 0-5, 6.92)

The Primer Chimp Posted: May 17, 2012 at 10:00 AM | 32 comment(s)
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1. Brian C Posted: May 17, 2012 at 11:52 AM (#4133889)

Cubs season HR pace: 109
Starlin Castro NL dWAR rank: 1
Bryan LaHair MLB OPS+ rank (minimum 3.1 PA/team game): 4
Ian Stewart MLB OPS+ rank: t148, out of 183 official qualifiers
Ryan Dempster MLB ERA+ rank (minimum 1 IP/team game): 2
Chris Volstad MLB ERA+ rank: t118, out of 120 official qualifiers
Team defensive efficiency (NL rank): .710 (4)

It was nice of Mike Minor to get shelled for the Braves last night, to keep Volstad out of last place.

2. Pops Freshenmeyer Posted: May 17, 2012 at 08:15 PM (#4134392)

Volstad sure has an ability to filthy nasty one on pitch and completely inept on the next.

3. SteveM. Posted: May 17, 2012 at 08:38 PM (#4134413)

Volstad is just painful to watch. How much longer will this experiment continue? Who in the minors can replace him in the rotation?

4. Pops Freshenmeyer Posted: May 17, 2012 at 08:52 PM (#4134429)

Volstad is just painful to watch. How much longer will this experiment continue? Who in the minors can replace him in the rotation?

Travis Wood has been pretty decent in Iowa, K:BB wise. Jay Jackson and Randy Wells are off to fairly bad starts.

5. McCoy Wilfong for Money Posted: May 17, 2012 at 08:53 PM (#4134435)

How about the mascot? Anything has got to be better than Volstad. Perhaps they can hold a nightly contest every 5th game in which a lucky fan in the stand gets to come down and pitch in a major league game.

6. Meatwad denied pope, reveals he faked it at mass Posted: May 17, 2012 at 09:03 PM (#4134442)

Wtf happened coleman is pitching now. Was volstad get traded mid game?

7. SteveM. Posted: May 17, 2012 at 09:07 PM (#4134445)

Volstad threw two extremely painful innings. He looked like he had no clue out there.

8. Brian C Posted: May 17, 2012 at 09:38 PM (#4134470)

Well, this was the worst I've seen Volstad look all year. I wouldn't be shocked if they gave him one more start before making a change, but the quick hook tonight makes me wonder if their patience is at an end.

By coincidence, TWood had a pretty good game for Iowa tonight, and in his last three starts has allowed only 5 runs in 17 IP. Plus, his K/BB ratio for the season is now 3.55 (the game's still in progress, but I doubt he'll come back out for the 8th inning).

In other good news, Rizzo has another HR tonight, and Brett Jackson is 3-for-3 with a triple and homer.

9. SteveM. Posted: May 17, 2012 at 10:22 PM (#4134517)

Is Parker a highly regarded prospect? I had never heard of him until today.

10. Brian C Posted: May 17, 2012 at 10:25 PM (#4134519)

Is Parker a highly regarded prospect?

No, he's been in AAA for years and is in his age-27 season. He was an NRI this spring, which was the first I had heard of him, frankly.

He did a hell of a job to get himself out of that inning, and then literally threw it away. Too bad.

11. SteveM. Posted: May 17, 2012 at 10:29 PM (#4134526)

Geez do we suck.

12. Brian C Posted: May 17, 2012 at 10:29 PM (#4134528)

This Michael Bowden guy is not working out.

13. McCoy Wilfong for Money Posted: May 17, 2012 at 10:32 PM (#4134530)

Defensive efficiency is going to be taking another pounding tonight.

14. McCoy Wilfong for Money Posted: May 17, 2012 at 10:34 PM (#4134533)

You know the minors are in terrible shape when the best option for helping the bigs is a NRI.

15. SteveM. Posted: May 17, 2012 at 10:34 PM (#4134534)

This Michael Bowden guy is not working out.

The problem is neither is the rest of the bullpen. They lack a guy like Marshall who was the glue who held it all together the last few years. There is almost no one down there you can rely on day after day.

16. Brian C Posted: May 17, 2012 at 10:38 PM (#4134537)

You know the minors are in terrible shape when the best option for helping the bigs is a NRI.

Is that true? I mean, Brett Jackson was an NRI, too. It just means that he wasn't on the 40-man roster before the season.

17. SteveM. Posted: May 17, 2012 at 10:39 PM (#4134539)

Does Soto have a homerun yet? I am looking forward to the Castillo/Clevinger platoon after the All-Star break.

18. McCoy Wilfong for Money Posted: May 17, 2012 at 10:40 PM (#4134540)

He's 27 years old and was not on the 40 man roster to start the season. That isn't a good sign.

19. Brian C Posted: May 17, 2012 at 10:42 PM (#4134542)

Soto has 3 HR.

He's 27 years old and was not on the 40 man roster to start the season. That isn't a good sign.

Well, that may be true. But being an NRI as such isn't that big of a deal.

20. Brian C Posted: May 17, 2012 at 10:44 PM (#4134544)

His minor league numbers aren't really all that bad, though. If he turns out to be average-ish or slightly better, it wouldn't be all that much of a surprise.

21. McCoy Wilfong for Money Posted: May 17, 2012 at 10:47 PM (#4134546)

I'm not sure if you are just trying to be pedantic or what but all I said was that you know the minors are in terrible shape if the best option is a NRI for the pen and that is largely true. Today is the first day Parker has been on the 40 man roster. Theo and Jed scanned their rosters everyday and a) never thought to put Parker on it despite the fact that it isn't at 40 and b) looked at their 40 man roster and said I don't want any part of that.

22. SteveM. Posted: May 17, 2012 at 10:52 PM (#4134551)

This is the pitching staff at Iowa.

16 Jeff Beliveau P L L 6' 1" 195 01-17-1987 Active Yes
40 Esmailin Caridad P R R 5' 10" 195 10-28-1983 Active No
50 Manuel Corpas P R R 6' 3" 210 12-03-1982 Active No
22 Frankie De La Cruz P R R 5' 11" 210 03-12-1984 Active No
20 Jay Jackson P R R 6' 1" 195 10-27-1987 Active No
13 Rodrigo Lopez P R R 6' 1" 185 12-14-1975 Active No
15 Mike MacDougal P S R 6' 4" 180 03-05-1977 Active No
24 Scott Maine P L L 6' 3" 215 02-02-1985 Active Yes
29 Nate Robertson P R L 6' 2" 225 09-03-1977 Active No
18 Ryan Rowland-Smith P L L 6' 3" 240 01-26-1983 7-day DL No
21 Chris Rusin P L L 6' 2" 195 10-22-1986 Active No
36 Randy Wells P R R 6' 5" 230 08-28-1982 Active Yes
30 Travis Wood P R L 5' 11" 175 02-06-1987 Active Yes

23. SteveM. Posted: May 17, 2012 at 10:56 PM (#4134553)

And ti finish my point, the Cubs have a whole bunch of crap at AAA.

24. Brian C Posted: May 17, 2012 at 11:00 PM (#4134555)

I'm not sure if you are just trying to be pedantic or what but all I said was that you know the minors are in terrible shape if the best option is a NRI for the pen and that is largely true.

I'm just not sure it is. Not many teams have ace prospects on tap for every bullpen spot, and Parker seems like a pretty typical back-end-of-the-bullpen candidate to me. He's just not unusually horrible for the position he's being chosen to fill.

If he wasn't on the 40-man, it's because there was no need for him to be until the team decided to call him up. It's not like teams sit around and add guys to the 40-man just for the hell of it whenever they find themselves with an open spot.

So, no, I'm not being pedantic - I just think you're wrong.

25. Brian C Posted: May 17, 2012 at 11:03 PM (#4134556)

Stewart looked like he needed to be told that pitch hit him.

26. McCoy Wilfong for Money Posted: May 17, 2012 at 11:04 PM (#4134557)

So the the Cubs minor league arms aren't in terrible shape? A 27 year old mediocre pitcher with 13 innings under his belt is the best bullpen option at the moment and that is a good thing?

But thank you for feeling the need to really over think and argue a sentence written down in the game chatter section. Nope, not being pedantic at all.

27. McCoy Wilfong for Money Posted: May 17, 2012 at 11:11 PM (#4134562)

We got ourselves a good old fashion rally!

28. SteveM. Posted: May 17, 2012 at 11:11 PM (#4134563)

I will admit that I did not see this comeback coming,.

29. Brian C Posted: May 17, 2012 at 11:11 PM (#4134564)

Well, I'd rather be accused of overthinking than underthinking!

Anyway, enough arguing, this game has gotten interesting all the sudden.

30. SteveM. Posted: May 17, 2012 at 11:13 PM (#4134565)

So close.

31. McCoy Wilfong for Money Posted: May 17, 2012 at 11:14 PM (#4134567)

And then we don't.

32. Brian C Posted: May 17, 2012 at 11:15 PM (#4134568)

Damn it. Would have liked to see Johnson reach and DeJesus get another chance with the way he's been hitting lately.

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