Game chat: Right-handers square off in second act

Following his three-homer, eight-RBI night, Jayson Werth gets the nod and bats second against tough right-hander A.J. Burnett (3-4, 4.91 ERA). For the Phils, Adam Eaton (0-1, 5.40) tries for his first win.

Preview: Carlos Ruiz, who is battling a minor stomach ailment, is out of the lineup, replaced by Chris Coste. Shane Victorino gets the night off, with Geoff Jenkins starting in right. Of note for the Jays, unpopular ex-Phil Rod Barajas will do the catching. Best of the press notes: Eaton led all Major League pitchers in interleague ERA last season (1.40). ... The Phils lead all of baseball in home runs with 62 through 43 games. Last season, they didn't hit 62 until game no. 59. [Live Boxscore]

Comments

[JD]

Is this game a Fox game or is there some weird blackout? It's supposed to be on DirectV, but it's not.

[RT]

Beautiful relay there!

[johnnysanz3]

It's on the schedule to be on right now on the AFN network over here, but they are showing ESPN news instead on that channel...idk.

[Sophist]

I've got it on Direct TV - it's the Blue Jays feed

[J. Weitzel]

It's on CW locally.

[johnnysanz3]

Eaton isn't looking too good so far.

[JD]

It just showed up a few minutes ago. Whew!

[J. Weitzel]

Eaton vs. Barajas. It's what you pay $40 plus parking to see.

[RT]

CW57 feed via CW15. Eaton blows.

[RT]

Okay, when you let Rod Barajas hit a grand slam off you, you don't belong in the majors.

[J. Weitzel]

You've gotta be kidding me.

[johnnysanz3]

It's so fitting that Rod Barajas did that. I hate Eaton.

[JD]

Wow. Barajas! That's just crazy

[bay_area_phan]

If yielding a grand slam to Rod Barajas doesn't get you demoted, nothing will.

[johnnysanz3]

Ya, the game just popped on AFN over here too, strange that it was not on right away.

[J. Weitzel]

Eaton is officially in a "warning." See previous post.

[NCPhilly]

Are you kidding?

[Sophist]

It's too bad we need Durbin for the other SP's lesser starts - would be nice to see if he could do better than Eaton in the rotation. Perhaps Madson could fill that role though.

[RT]

I look forward to seeing J.A. Happ again soon.

[JD]

Who does Barajas think he is? Werth?

[Knight]

Thats just sad. I know no better way to describe it but sad. Perhaps pathetic.

[J. Weitzel]

All started by hitting Stairs up 0-2 on him. Eaton is such a dunce.

[johnnysanz3]

This is the first time I'm seeing Eaton pitch this year on TV but some pitches he throws look pretty damn good and then he just throws some really crappy pitches. What the hell.

[JD]

Good point, J. One pitch away from a K and he plunks him.

[Sophist]

Johnny, there's some truth to that. He actually gets ahead of most of these batters today it seems.

[curt]

It's been fun. A Barajas granny off of Eaton is enough for me to call it quits. Eaton is just pathetic.

[RT]

"It's too bad we need Durbin for the other SP's lesser starts - would be nice to see if he could do better than Eaton in the rotation. Perhaps Madson could fill that role though."

The Ryan Madson experiment didn't work in '06, and he's done nothing this year to earn a second look at the rotation.

Durbin: 0-5 9.42 ERA
Happ: 1-4 3.16 ERA

No brainer.

[johnnysanz3]

I think he meant Chad Durbin RT.

[Sophist]

RT, sorry for the lack of clarity. I meant having Durbin try his hand at starting and having Madson take Durbin's role in the pen.

Of course, Happ is another option to start.

[J. Weitzel]

When forecasting Eaton's season, I bet most people said "He'll start the season in the rotation and pitch himself out of a job by mid-May." And here we are ...

[RT]

Ah, that makes more sense. My bad.

[J. Weitzel]

Eaton has no clue where his pitches are headed.

[JD]

Phils kept Eaton over Lohse because?....

[craig_one]

eaton doing his best adam eaton impression.

[bay_area_phan]

Happ is Option No. 1, when it comes to replacing Eaton. The only way I would consider moving Durbin to the starting rotation would be if Happ fails miserably, or if it is determined that another starter also needs to be replaced.

[BushLig]

JD, Sophist: Where are you guys? I'm still not getting it on DirecTV.

[JD]

BushLig, I'm in LA. It appeared about 10 minutes after the game started.

[JD]

That looked like Eaton pitching to himself.

[RT]

Eaton actually does something right, J-Roll slaps one to center. Might actually get a run or two out of this.

[Sophist]

Midwest

[JD]

OK, let's see Utley tie the game.

[RT]

So much for that...

[J. Weitzel]

Not the best ball to swing at there, Utz.

[JD]

A bit impatient there, Uts?

[NEPhilliesPhan]

I like Werth in the 2 hole...its a good fit. Looks like the platoon for Right is now Vic/Jenkins instead of Werth/Jenkins...interesting.

[NEPhilliesPhan]

JD: Phils kept Eaton over Lohse because?....

Because Lohse sucks just as much as Eaton and they were already stuck with Eaton. Lohse had a fluke nice start but he's been brutal even since then.

[craig_one]

toronto's hat logo is a puke stain on the game of baseball's oriental rug.

[JD]

Heads up play by Coste

[RT]

MISSED THE PLATE! Good call.

[drake]

marco scutaro must be trying to get the matt holliday treatment

[JD]

Craig, well said.

[Mark]

Eaton's a Total embarrassment!! Grand slam for... Rod Barajas???? Eaton's gotta be outta here! See Ya, wouldn't wanna be ya!

[NEPhilliesPhan]

Eaton has that special ability to have a 1 run inning turn into a 4 or 5 run inning. Its rare among starting pitchers.

[drake]

jenkins just hit that one off a golf tee

[RT]

Gotta love our bench. We've got to have the best one in the league.

[Bill]

I think they need to keep Durbin where he is but how long are we to suffer watching Adam Eaton. He is terrible. We can't find anyone else to fill that role?

http://myteamrivals.typepad.com/phightin_phils_phorum

http://myteamrivals.typepad.com/turnpike_series

[JD]

Ahh, the mysteries of the strike zone!

[drake]

that's the main thing i like about having a couple of platoons RT, you can plug in the right batter when the pitcher's handedness changes later in the game and it's like having another starter in there.

[NEPhilliesPhan]

We have a great bench...Gillick's strength is getting role players that can contribute and our bench is proof of that.

I think Durbin needs to stay exactly where he is...I don't think his stuff translates well as a starter. We NEED another legit starter if we're gonna compete this year though.

[drake]

maybe the umpire is trying a triangular strike zone instead of that boring rectangle one every other umpire uses...

[NEPhilliesPhan]

Rectangles ARE boring you know...

[JD]

Perhaps he would prefer a trapezoid

[RT]

He's getting it by drawing points from Home plate, left field, and Darren Daulton's brainwaves.

[drake]

i wonder which planets dutch has visited lately... haven't heard from him in a while

[bay_area_phan]

3.16 ERA, 61 strikeouts in 51 innings & a .222 opp. batting average. Those are Happ's numbers at AAA this year.

3.20 ERA, 449 strikeouts in 439 innings, and a 1.23 WHIP. Those are Happ's overall minor league numbers since 2004.

I'm puzzled that everyone is so short on ideas for Eaton's replacement. There is only one reasonable candidate & he is a pretty damn GOOD candidate.

[bay_area_phan]

Speaking of candidates, Taguchi is a pretty good candidate for outright release.

[drake]

we can't lose taguchi, who will run for burrell in the 9th and hit with the game on the line in extra innings? who, i implore you, who?

[JD]

BAP-Hopefully, they'll bring him up sooner than later.

[JD]

Let's see a little more patience this time, Uts

[bay_area_phan]

If he's not up by the end of the weekend, I'll be pretty displeased. A starting pitcher's minimum job requirement is to give his team 6 innings. Eaton has made 9 starts this year, & he's failed this minimum job requirement 5 times. That just can't be.

[JD]

Wow. There goes that trapezoidal strike zone again.

[bay_area_phan]

If the bullpen can shut the Jays out for the rest of the game, we've still got a chance. But, with Madson coming in, is anyone confident that the bullpen is going to shut the Jays out for the rest of the game?

[drake]

that umpire is a jerk, it was like he waited till utley started taking off for first so he could be like, 'haha, it's really a strikeout!' if it's a strike (which that pitch wasn't) then call it when it's caught, jerk! sorry, one of my pet peeves is umpires with slow strike calls.

[RT]

It's like the Jays have no clue how to run the bases...

[JD]

Drake---good point. Bad call and a slow call. Frustrating. He was probably pissed that Utley knew it was a ball, but went to first before the call was made.

[bay_area_phan]

Great throw by Werth . . . but that was just a stupid base-running decision.

[JD]

Howard is being fooled on every pitch tonight.

[drake]

the last thing i want to hear announcers talk about is aj burnett's sweat

[JD]

Nice play by Howard

[drake]

definitely didn't see two scoreless innings from madson, nice job!

[JD]

Nice to see Burnett out of the game.

[joe l]

JRoll!

[Tony]

RT that was the single greatest post i think i have ever ready, i was laughing for about 5 mins

[JD]

J-Roll...Clutch as usual!

[RT]

GO JIMMY, GO GO!

[Knight]

Ugh, that strikeout hurts alot. Have to at least give Rollins a chance to score there.

[RSB]

Sorry - but until and unless Werth finds a way to get that bat started quicker against right-handers' hard stuff, I will continue to look at him as Jason Michaels, Jr.

[BAP predicting what some misguided fan will post if we come back to win this game]

Eaton is a frequent target of criticism on this site, but it's highly unlikely that the totally inexperienced J.A. Happ would be an improvement. The bottom line is that Eaton kept us in this game & we came back to win because of that. He has gone 5 innings or more in 7 of his 9 starts & we have a winning record in games that he starts. If you expect more than that from your No. 5 starter, you're not being realistic.

[JD]

Oh, swell. Utley gets hit in the hand.

[drake]

charge the mound! we can't have that hand getting hit by a pitch anymore!

[Jack]

Ugh, Utley + hand HBP = scary.

[drake]

that was the perfect opportunity to get rid of eaton... send him in to tackle scott downs or anybody else who hits that hand with a pitch

[JD]

Drat! Howard's first nice swing of the night.

[johnnysanz3]

At least Howard smacked that one hard, I honestly was fully expecting a strikeout.

[bay_area_phan]

RSB: Werth has 9 homeruns in the first quarter of the season. Michaels never hit more than 10 homeruns in an entire season. Werth is also way faster, plays way better defense, has a way better throwing arm, has a slightly better career OBP, & has a significantly better career slugging pct & OPS. And those career numbers are dragged down by a few years when he was playing through injuries. There is no comparison between the 2.

[JD]

Crap. FLA up 7-3 in the 8th

[RT]

That might be acceptable on most teams, BAP, but the Phillies have at least three starting pitchers right now who should qualify as #5's. I'd like to take a chance on one of our young guns who's consistently performed in the minors. If he doesn't work out, oh well. After two or three starts, we can go back to the guy who barely keeps us in games.

[Knight]

....

What the hell Barajas. What the hell.

Thats probably as many homeruns as he hit all year with the Phillies.

[JD]

I could have lived without that run, that's for sure. Barajas, the Phillies killer!

[drake]

if i were barajas, i'd run the bases with my middle fingers fully extended...