Game chat: Eaton tries to turn it around in Arizona

A major disappointment so far, right-hander Adam Eaton and the Phillies try to reverse their fortunes tonight against Micah Owings and the Arizona Diamondbacks. Game starts at 9:40 p.m. ET.

Preview: Eaton, who signed a three-year, $24 million contract with the Phils this offseason, is included on the short list of baseball’s worst starting pitchers this season. Through six starts, the former No. 1 pick is sporting an 8.18 ERA. … Owings (1-1, 3.38 ERA) is part of a rising Diamondbacks club peppered with young prospects throughout their lineup. Carlos Quentin is included in that group; Quentin singled home the winning run last night in the eighth inning as the Phillies bullpen coughed up another one … The Phillies need to win the next two games to finish their 10-game road trip at .500 … With Ryan Howard scratched from the starting lineup the rest of this series, it’s up to players like Pat Burrell to chip in with the long ball. Burrell went hitless last night and has just two hits in his last 11 games. PtBB hasn’t homered since April 6.

The good news is the rest of the NL East has been treading water lately. The Phillies (14-18) trail the division-leading Braves (19-12) by 5 1-2 games.

Arizona's lineup is still very young. This should be a nice opportunity for Eaton to get something started in some familiar NL West territory.

Comments

[GM-Carson]

I just got back from Spencer's Gifts and saw they have an "Eaton Beaver" t-shirt. You think if I got a group of guys together for a fan group that we'd get air time?

Anyway, Adamn is bad, but he's not 8+ ERA bad, so I'm expecting a decent outing from him tonight...of course it could get worse and he is actually 9+ ERA bad.

[MG]

Not predicting a shutout by Eaton but willing to bet that Eaton gives the Phils a chance to win tonight. Like Eaton for 6+ innings and 3 ER runs tonight.

[Tray]

Justin Germano, called up for the Padres, facing Atlanta - so far, 2 and two thirds, no hits, no runs, no walks.

[yt]

I expect Eaton will pitch 5 shutout (about 55 pitches) innings, then Charlie will pull him and put Howard in to bunt Nunez to third with two outs.

[GM-Carson]

Not finding room for Germano this spring was a mistake, a big f'n mistake. He's had solid minor league numbers over the years, and really hasn't been given much of a chance at the MLB level. I'm not saying he's Cole Hamels, but he's a far deal better than Castro, Yoel, or Condrey.

[Tray]

Might even be better than Eaton. His line now is five innings, 1 hit, 0 runs, 1 walk. I guess we're lucky we failed to trade Lieber though, then we would've been forced to keep Myers in the rotation and our closer right now would be Geary... it's incredible what little effort was put into the bullpen this offseason.

[AWH]

Germano - 6IP, 3H, 1R. But he wasn't good enough for Seattle Stew. So much for ST sample sizes.

[AWH]

Tray, I'm sure Seattle Stew and Liar, Liar put plenty of "effort" into trying to bolster the bullpen, but between Stew putting effort into his new real estate acquisition in Seattle, and having to fight The Walking Sphincter and The Puppet over the budget (gotta make that $14MM), they didn't get much done.

[Parker]

Arizona has a tough linup. Curt was downplaying them last night, but they have a lot of young talent on that team. Preseason ROY cantidate in C.B. Young, Stephanie Drew, Connor Jackson (.300 plus, 25 HR potential), Orlando Hudson (GLold Glove 2B, and showing some power RBI potential this year, Carlos Quinten (30 HR potential). I'm sure I'm forgetting somebody, but the only weak spot I saw last night was the pitcher and Callaspo.

I of course fully expect Eaton to go 2 Innings, 10 ER, 15 Hits, at least 3 HR.

I also predict Charlie Manual to run out of ant-acids in the 3rd inning, go crazy, trade for Chad Bradford, and declare unrestricted submarine warfare on the kneecaps of the Diamondback hitters. Bob Melvin will counter with the unleashing of the remainder of Doug Davis' gas left over from last night, on the Phillies bullpen. However, Manual, having an uncanny awareness of Davis' gas prowess (As posited by Kdon last night), will have emptied the bullpen except for Alfonseca. The Philly Phanatic will then emerge, previously hidden behind Alfonseca, and proceed to strangle Doug Davis. This would represent a drastic, and not unwanted, change in the entertanment value of this series.

[AWH]

Speaking of Eaton, I had a conversation with a friend of mine today about the state of Phils pitching, and Seattle Stew's inability to get anything back in many trades. One of the players that came up was the enigmatic Vincente Padilla. We were comparing Eaton's ability to Padilla's.

The consenus was that while Padilla was a wild card and you never knew what you were going to see when he took the mound (the source of the team's frustration), he does have the ability and the high 90s 'stuff' to completely dominate the opponent. Eaton doesn't. The best we can hope from him is to keep the score close, and maybe the offense will score enough for the team to win.

[AWH]

Parker, I'd love to see it.

[Parker]

What was John Kruk's number before he wore 29?

[clout]

As the leading proponent of Justin Germano on this blog since the day the Phillies acquired him, I am pleased with his debut. He won't ever be a #1 or #2, but he's going to be a a fine #4 or #5 in my opinion. It's frustrating the Phillies could not find space for him, but Gillick has a bias toward big strong fastballers who lack command over smart strike-throwing junkballers like Germano. While there's a long season ahead of us, I am beginning to wonder if Gillick's streak of personnel decisions might be far worse than any similar streak that the hated Ed Wade had. The number of just plain bad judgments is really starting to mount.

[Parker]

That looked like Bonds hit it. Byrnes hit it right over the scoreboard with Eaton's name on it, and right into a group of Philly fans eating at a table. Good grief.

[clout]

Parker: You are right on the money about the D'backs. Keep in mind Chad Tracy is the regular, not Callaspo. Put him in the lineup and their only weakness is at catcher.

[Parker]

473 feet on the HR from Byrnes, Wow.

[Rich]

Adam Eaton is quickly becoming one of the worst Phillies pitchers of all time. It won't be long before the boo birds at Citizens Bank get a hold of him and make his life parallel to the way he is pitching for the Phillies!

He seems oblivious to what's going on around him is my best observation. He's just out on the mound getting a paycheck and doesn't seem to much care about ball placement or velocity.

Boo, Pat Gillick ... He's the one who signed up Eaton - he should face the music for his pitching as well. Can we get someone who cares in the GM role? Not just an old paper shuffler rewarding all his old cronies with big contracts.

[AWH]

clout, I have the same concern. If this 'streak' continues, this team could be a cellar dwellers or close to it for a number of years.

Of course, that has never happened to Seattle Stew's teams before.

Oops, I forgot. It happened to all three teams that he was GM for, the Jays, the O's and the Mariners. No wonder he has a reputation for getting out of town before things fall apart.

[curt]

Well, stats say the D-backs 12th in the league in hitting. But of course they haven't had a shot at Eaton yet...

Abreu hit 7th for the Yanks tonight. Looks like Vic will turn out to be an upgrade in RF.

[Parker]

The beginning of tonights game would make a great Red Stripe Commercial.

Antonio Alfonseca could substitute for the Jamaican guy.

Boo, unexpected Eric Byrnes 473 foot homerun off Eaton.

Hurray, Beer!

[AWH]

curt, I was thinking the same thing about Abreu/Vic myself. It's a long season, and Bobby is likely to revert to form, though maybe with a slight decline because of age. That said, he'll probably outproduce Shane in most offensive categories this year, except stolen bases - Davey Lopes seems to have instilled a new confidence in Vic.

Boy, they are hitting balls hard off of Eaton.

[slackerjoe]

I wonder what Rollins thinks about hitting 3rd tonight. I imagine this only a 1 game thing and he'll be back at leadoff tomorrow.

Rowand certainly isn't a leadoff hitter. It would have been more interesting to see Bourn in CF hitting leadoff.

[craig one]

parker, i think krukker was both no. 11 & no. 19 before being no. 29.

[Parker]

Thanks Craig, I knew about 11, but I also thought 19 when I saw Dobbs wearing it tonight. Maybe starting at first and wearing 19 will channel some of the Kruker tonight.

[curt]

Just our luck to run into Micah Owings.

AWH - don't forget about defense. Offensive numbers might be close - reversion to form for Abreu would be lots of singles and walks - he left his power at the HR derby 2 yrs ago. Anyway, Vic is likely to be our CF before long.

[clout]

On the drive home tonight I was listening to Glen Macnow who reminded us that Gillick had no interest in Suppan during the offseason. Eaton signed 3 years for $24.5M, Suppan 4 years for $42M. No one will want either of those contracts in the final year, but so far this season Suppan looks like the better bargain.

[The Reverend]

The Arizona announcers are makeing fun of the size of Dave Hollins head. Other then that they are absolutely terrible, even Mark Grace.

[fljerry]

Actually Eaton is pitching pretty good tonight. The HR - it looked like a pretty good pitch to me - low and it was golfed out over 473 ft. Pretty good golf hit.

[madubbs]

Is it me, or do the phils look
non-emotional tonight?

[bathtubhippo]

dobbsy mcdobbserson!!

[curt]

Re Dobbs, face it: Cholly = genius

[AWH]

curt, agreed on the defense. I was going to mention it, ut I wanted to make my other point.

IMO, if Vic keeps playing RF the way he is, and he finishes the year there, he will deserve the Gold Glove. I can't think of a better defensive RF in the NL right now, maybe in MLB.

[Sad Panda]

Nunez should buy a lottery ticket!

[John]

Well, that was a bizarre series of events.

[The Reverend]

He just wanted to lull the pitcher into a false sense of security. Good job No-Hit.

[curt]

Give it up for Eaton -- thats 5 full.

[AWH]

Ok, curt, but this was completely unexpected.

[John]

If the Phils can get a win here for Eaton, he's well on his way to being 2007's Eric Milton.

[joe]

this is the part of Eaton's pitch count that is supposed to be dominant...

anybody want to take bets?

[curt]

6 full - wasn't sure we'd ever see that.

[AWH]

7, do I hear 7?

[AWH]

7, do I hear 7?

[bathtubhippo]

nunez will go deep in this game, i can feel it in my bones!!!

[curt]

Chase puts in an appearance.

Then all move up to the edge of their seat for the mighty PtB...

[bathtubhippo]

three cheers for abe!!

[THe Dude]

ok I've about had enough of Wheels talking about Burrell's high on base percentage. This is the most over rated stat in baseball and means absolutely nothing in my opinion.

His high OB% is only cause he is getting walks. First he is not getting any Extra base hits and he's clogging up the bases. Nothing is worse than your one dimensional player (with no speed) not doing the only thing he's ever been able to do (HR's).

[joe]

Eaton is supposedly a Long Arm (tm) Guy.

Let's see how long it is.

[bathtubhippo]

people, behold!!!

A. Nunez 3b 3 0 1 0 0 0 1 .271

.271!!!!!!!!

[Ribbies]

I think Nunez might be playing himself into a starting job. It shouldn't take much to overtake Helms. Only one error a game and a pulse at the plate should do it.

[yt]

Abe is lobbying for a new nickname this series.

These announcers are total idiots "they want to get to this bullpen, their missing their two best arms, Tom Gordon and Mike Madson" ya, Myers is worse then a washed up Gorden and some guy who isn't on the team... Where's Sarge when you need him?

[pete]

Adam Eaton will now attempt to bat and drive in the winning run....

I should just quit now & become a Royals fan as well.

[AWH]

"a pulse at the plate"....hehehehehehe!

[Bedrosian's Beard]

Kinda funny how earlier in this thread Eaton was one of the worst Phillie signings ever, now he's gone 6 full, the calls for his head have quieted. Baseball blogging in a nutshell. Long season.

/still not an Eaton fan.

[bathtubhippo]

seriously, nunez batting .271 is like anyone else hitting .400. for him, it's a freaking incredible feat, even 30 or so games into the season.

[curt]

3 doubles in 2 days -- Abe may be -- and probably should be -- cleanup tomorrow.

[Malcolm]

So Garcia throws less than 75 pitches and gets pulled for a pinch hitter in the 6th inning in a situation where they didn't need a pinch hitter.

And Eaton throws 90 pitches — after giving up a run in his most recent inning — and gets to pitch seven innings even though he's hitting in a situation where they should use a pinch hitter.

Yeah. Anyone?

[Malcolm]

*sarcasm* Oh look, the D'Backs just took the lead off Eaton. */sarcasm*

[Sad Panda]

Last night I said that Philly teams are blue balls teams. Again--bring it, but don't finish the deal. Come on, Fightins, get the lead, hold the lead and put it away already.

[madubbs]

Well, that was predictable

last night he pinch hits, tonight he doesn't and eaton allows the home run!

GAME OVER
*again like i always say, everytime the phillies score, or fail to score more then one run in a inning the other team always scores the very next inning, NEVER FAILS!!
I HATE THIS

[brother]

It actually made more sense to PH for Eaton the last half inning than for Freddy last night. Eaton's thrown 90 pitches, probably only has an inning left, and there were two outs in the inning with the go-ahead run at third. However, with the way the pen has been going, anything to avoid it, I guess.

[yt]

I didn't see Abe's error, but that play he just made must have made up for it.

Made Clark's blast a solo at least.

[AWH]

Can someone please explain to me why you would pitch inside to a dead pull hitter with power like Clark? Please?

[joe]

is howard available tonight?

[Mike]

Wasn't supposed to be inside. He missed his spot by a foot and a half. Ruiz reached across the entire plate going after that one.

[AWH]

OK - I predict Brandon Lyon is going down.

[AWH]

May I amend that predicton?

[Chris]

I have already been telling my roommate (a Mets fan) that I am investing in a throwback Brewers hat and hiding as a Milwaukee (sp?) until the Phils turn this thing around. We have 8 errors combined at Third base (9 maybe with Nunez tonight? Not sure if mlb.com updates that fast) with absolutely no power on the offensive side of the ball. Now I for one despised every inning David Bell played, but I'm starting to miss him.

[joe]

3 runs, 7 innings.

That's a good job, no matter how it went down.

[curt]

joe - yes. I take it you still believe in Santa Claus.

[Malcolm]

Right. Should've been 2 runs, 6 innings though.

[curt]

joe -- that was in answer to your Hoaward question.

[curt]

What is it with Rollins & Vic ? Either one base 10 times a game, or none.

[bathtubhippo]

for sure, a good effort from eaton all in all. losing this one after losing last night behind a solid game from garcia would be...err...bad. you can't waste quality starts like this. it's not as if the offense has been pulling it's share, but at least yesterday they gave the team a couple leads. (of course, that's why they invented this thing called "bullpen." i think they have them out west.)

[yt]

A couple of ties I think BTH.

Geary can't even hit Dobb's glove tonight.

Why do stay up for these games?

[curt]

Bad teams always find new ways to lose.

[Sad Panda]

Somebody buy Nunez a steak!

[brother]

Brilliant play by the Phils, just like they drew it up.

[yt]

Damn, if you can't play good play lucky I guess.

[bathtubhippo]

yeah you're right yt. last night was a classic philly game where they tied it and gave it back a couple times. the offense is stupid, except for my boy abe nunez who is on track to have a pujols-esque season of glory now.

[brother]

The radio broadcast is playing as bad as the ball club. They just cut to commercial before the inning was over.

[curt]

Does Howard ph for Burrell or Dobbs? I say Burrell.

[brother]

Let Burrell draw a walk, then put Bourn in to run for him.

[brother]

Never mind.

[curt]

This team has no chance of doing anything as long as PtB is in the lineup.

[Sad Panda]

This team sucks. I hate to say it, but they plain suck.

[brother]

Down like sheep. No fight at all. Very dispiriting.

[Reed]

This team has no chance of doing anything with current ownership, general manager, and manager

[yt]

Nothing like a watched third strike to really kick you in the gut at the end.

Goodnight Beerleaguers.

[SJPhil]

Why doesn't Howard pinch hit for Dobbs there? We just lost the game with our best home run hitter standing in the on-deck circle instead of getting a chance to tie the game. Is Dobbs really that good?

[davthom73]

G Dobbs - HR or no tonight, the guy watches a called third strike to end the game -- I say Coste in that situation would have taken his hacks.

[curt]

Now that it's clear that PtB isn't some new and improved version, why won't Cholly give Bourn a try? How much worse can he do??

[AWH]

I don't think you'll ever see Coste in a Phils uniform again. Seattle Stew will never be able to swallow his pride and admit he made a mistake.

[madubbs]

right handers are batting .067 against PENA, so charlie elects to let burrell bat!!! THEN to make the decision even worse, he elects to put howard in the on deck circle After dobbs!!!!!!!!!

CLUELESS...TEAM IS GOING NO WHERE, They don't care so why should I

[Malcolm]

I think we were destined to have this franchise.

[Reed]

Somewhere in Louisville, Chris Coste is smiling. 2007 Phillies: The Curse of Chris Coste narrated by Chris Wheeler and Ruben Amaro on DVD and on sale throughout Citizens Bank Park for $10.00. Purchase is good for a free appetizer at Harry the K's.

[Tray]

This is the dumbest post I ever read:

"ok I've about had enough of Wheels talking about Burrell's high on base percentage. This is the most over rated stat in baseball and means absolutely nothing in my opinion.

His high OB% is only cause he is getting walks. First he is not getting any Extra base hits and he's clogging up the bases. Nothing is worse than your one dimensional player (with no speed) not doing the only thing he's ever been able to do (HR's)."

Yes, he's "clogging up the bases." You know what, I think it would be better if he just made some productive outs like Honest Abe. It's not as if any of those base-clogging walks ever translate into runs.

[timr]

Look, I think we'd all rather see Burrell walking than striking out. But the only difference between all those caught looking Ks from last season and the walks this season is that pitchers are throwing him more balls. Okay, thats obvious, but he just seems so relieved to get a walk even in game-on-the-line situations--thats not the attitude you want from one of your so-called power hitters. And once pitchers start throwing him more strikes, that OBP will come back down to earth. Until then, Pat's walks are just leaving it up to some other Phillie (with a much lower salary) to disappoint us.

[davthom73]

Coste, catching tonight, was three-for-five in the cleanup position, with a double and a two-out RBI in a 10-4 Ottawa win over the Louisville Bats.

After a slow start in Ottawa, Coste has 9 hits in his last 15 at bats -- a.600 clip -- and he's now hitting .260 for the IL season.

AWH -- you said, "I don't think you'll ever see Coste in a Phils uniform again. Seattle Stew will never be able to swallow his pride and admit he made a mistake."

Unfortunately -- that is Seattle Stew's MO -- and I suspect you're right. Gillick's arrogance is surpassed only by his incompetence in player evaluation and transactional decisions. Whatever PG had going for him in Toronto is long over with now.

[AWH]

Reed, this franchise has a history of crapping on guys that perform, and being "cursed" because of it. See Amaury Telemaco.

Now it's Chris Coste. This team badly needs a shakeup. But what can Seattle Stew do? Except for Coste there's no one in AAA that he can bring up. A trade? For who?

[AWH]

When you really think about it, the signing of Helms (a good guy, lousy fielder) was Seattle Stew's dumbest offseason move.

He had someone already on the team that didn't cost $5MM+ over 2 seasons(could have spent it on the bullpen), played 3B at least as well as Helms, and based on Helms performance this year at the plate, is just as good a hitter.

He's now catching in Ottawa