Injury update: Feliz to rehab in Reading tonight

Third baseman Pedro Feliz has been on the disabled list since July 29 and is hoping to be activated Wednesday.

Feliz was hitting .256/.304/.424 with 12 HR before going on the DL with lower back inflammation, an injury he had been suffering through for weeks. Feliz took the field for Single-A Clearwater yesterday and went 0-for-3 with a walk. Reading hosts Trenton beginning at 7:05 ET tonight.

Beerleaguer: In the last three seasons, the Phillies overcame a fire sale and survived injuries to Chase Utley, Ryan Howard, Cole Hamels and Jimmy Rollins. Pete Happy goes on the DL and you really notice it. Go figure. Eric Bruntlett has been killing them since taking over most of the third base detail.

Comments

[Sophist]

It's the concurrent injury to Dobbs that has made Feliz' injury especially harmful. If a healthy Dobbs starts all those games against RHP it's very possible the offense wouldn't have missed Feliz. But without Dobbs, and Bruntlett being awful even for his standards, the Phils somehow missed Feliz.

[Willard Preacher]

Pete Happy walked yesterday?

No way in hell is he healthy.

[J. Weitzel]

It's the manager, too. He views third base as a position where defense is mission critical.

[Sophist]

True, JW. I was interpreting Manuel's early moves to start Bruntlett over Dobbs in good faith -- that he did so bc Dobbs was injured and not due to some misguided belief in the importance of defense at 3B.

Interesting hit just now in the Mets gamed. Jack Wilson, I think, reached out and knocked a pitch-out attempt into RF for a base hit.

[doubleh]

It's a sad state of affairs when we are pinning our offensive hopes to Pedro Feliz.

[timr]

yeah, unless Feliz comes back hitting .300 its not going to change too much.

[MPN]

Hopefully Burrell is in one of his turbo zones now. He missed a HR by 2' on Saturday night. Last night's HR was impressive, but that base hit was sick. He hit a cheek high pitch with total authority into CF. It wasn't pretty, but damn was it impressive... no uppercut swing, no downward swing, just straight through the ball.

[Brian G]

Parker: You mentioned last thread Kendrick not fitting well in a bullpen role in the postseason. I actually think he'd be great there. He's an ideal ROOGY(or more), which is a role I certainly think he'd be an upgrade over Clay Condrey in.

[BobbyD]

So much for an off day:

With the Phillies off on Monday, Howard will be at the Little League World Series. He'll be working with Subway, reminding kids the benefits of being active and staying and eating healthy.

[NEPP]

Hopefully he doesn't step into the box against any of those 12 year old lefties...striking out against them could really wreck his confidence.

[GM-Carson]

I'm all for getting Pedro Feliz back. He'll help create lineup stability that carries this team into the playoffs. I really think we're going to witness the "turn around" starting this week we've all so desperately been waiting for.

[TK]

So did anyone hear Howard on ESPN radio? I don't think he actually has come on yet.

[Mike]

Hoepfully after the LLWS, Howard goes to another event sponsored by Pearle Vision, reminding kids (and himself) of the importance of vision correction.

[Mike]

*Hopefully. D'oh.

[phila fan in dc]

TK- the ESPN Chat page says that his plane was delayed and the Chat's been rescheduled to 3:45, so I'm sure that affected his radio apperance also.

[Bonehead]

Replacing Taguchi's or Bruntlett's roster spot...Kendrick vs. Happ vs. Condrey...etc. All of these are insignificant fringe moves. No significant moves are happening.
The core of the lineup is not producing, and is not going to be altered. Either it turns around and wins the division, or it doesn't.

[B-Mac]

Pirates just took the lead over the Mets in the bottom of the 8th with the bases loaded still and one out. Hopefully the Pirates can tack on and take this one.

[B-Mac]

Make that 5-2 thanks to Jack Wilson. The Mets bullpen erupts again!

[GM-Carson]

Campaign Cheer allows for the cheering of teams opposing the Mets and/or Marlins. In which case, Go Buccos!!!

[Inside/Outside the Parker]

Brian G: The shocking truth (might be to some) with Kendrick is that his numbers against RH are getting worse. Regardless of the side of the plate, he is allowing almost a .300 BAA (.298 and rising).

Yes, the BAA against RH may be around .270, but there are less LH batters in baseball. The ugly truth is that Kendrick nibbles around the zone, and when he goes over the plate, he usually gets hammered. Almost every exception to the normal Kendrick appearance have come against very poor offensive teams, or have been the product of luck.

The concept of having a ROOGY on a playoff roster is not feasible. You simply cannot afford to have 3 guys that are basically only effective against hitters from one side of the plate. It is too taxing on the rest of the bullpen, and eventually will put the team in a position of having very unfavorable match-ups. If you have a guy that can get guys out on either side of the plate, he is much more valuable in the playoffs.

[Curt]

Curt Schilling on Everything-
www.dearcurt.com

[Inside/Outside the Parker]

"Kendrick would be an upgrade over Condrey"

I'm not so sure about this. In any event, there are any number of minor league pitchers that that statement could be applicable to.

[Willard Preacher]

Wow, last week we were talking about this inept offense is going to cost the Phils a playoff spot after the Dodgers sweep.

Now we're discussing where to put Kendrick when the Phils make the playoffs? Those were 6 powerful runs in the San Diego series.....

[The Doctor]

At least the Mets lost today. We've got to sweep this upcoming series. I will be there tomorrow night, anxious to see the reception the fans give Jimmy.

[GM-Carson]

If I have anything to do with it, J-Roll will be getting a standing ovation for his 1st plate appearance of the game.

[NEPP]

MVP MVP MVP MVP MVP!!!

[Wanks]

J-Roll is going to get demolished during his first AB tomorrow night. I would imagine that would be the end of it. It is absolutely imperative that they sweep the Nationals. The upcoming schedule is just brutal.

[Lake Fred]

The Phillies gain ground by not playing. I smelled a Muts loss when they lifted Maine after he pitched 5 shutout innings. Their bullpen sucks so bad that their starters have to go longer than 5 innings.

I, too, am concerned about Kendrick, but with Eaton gone, Kendrick is no. 5. We don't need to place the weight of the worl on his young shoulders. We've got four older arms to do the heaving starting lifting.

[joe l]

carson - do you guys have giant "We're #2" finger signs?

[clout]

It's always nice to see smart posts on Beerleaguer (kind of like finding a water hole in the desert) and my hat's off to Morty, Avery and lekh who (in the prior thread) actually seem to get it about what's wrong with Howard. His walks have fallen off a cliff. Interesting speculation on why that's happened, too. The shift, perhaps? Frustration? Was he told to be more aggressive? When he was going good he often seemed frustrated when he didn't get strikes. He may have had some success against bad pitches and that may have led to a downward spiral. Clearly, he is all messed up now, his pitch recognition is way off. He needs to go back to fundamentals: Recognizing when pitches are out of the strike zone and taking them, even if he walks 4 times a game. Until he does that, he will continue to struggle. Good posts guys.

[dick allen-15]

Kind of interesting to see that what everyone thought was a strong point, our bench is actually mediocre at best with only Dobbs contributing. It boggle's the brain to think we have players in the minors that can outplay our bench players yet we refuse to bring them up due to monetary or other reasons.

[JZ]

Clout, I also think it's his squat. He looks off-balance and not happy to be at the plate. When he used to crouch, man, I'd be afraid for the ball he was about to murder.

[Tony D]

MVP chants when Rollins is up at tomorrows game would be hilarious. We have to spread the word.

[Willard Preacher]

clout, any thoughts on why the shift would hurt Howard so badly? He seems to be most succeptible to K'ing on that low and away pitch. Instinct would tell me that if he could recognize that pitch (we all know its coming) and go with it the other way, there's no one there to field the ball. Sooner or later they'd have to either stop shifting, or stop pitching him away. Is that too simplistic?

[Inky]

Howard's participation at this ESPN chat is mimicking his 2008 season: absent.

[clout]

WP: Someone suggested that the shift may be causing him to be overanxious, trying to do too much with it.

[bay_area_phan]

For some reason, every time I go to type a post about the shift, I have this tendency to accidentally omit the "F" from the word "shift." Eventually, I'm going to make this mistake and I'm not going to catch it -- leading to a rather embarrassing post. I'm just warning everyone in advance because one of these days it's going to happen.

[Inky]

And Howard definitely isn't alone in his overanxious approach. Rollins, Utley, Werth, Jenkins, Ruiz, even Victorino and Dobbs all seem like they're trying to hit 6 run home runs every at bat. Come to mention it, have we ever seen Chase hit so many weak pop-ups before? He's like Shane redux.

[AWH the RBP]

Gosh! Morty, Avery and lekh, you must be absolutely elated, hardly able to contain yourselves, and just brimming with pride to get such effusive praise from BeerLeaguer's own self-appointed

Great Arbiter of Smart Posts".

[BobbyD]

Clout - if that's the case I would hope the hitting coach would tell Howard to ignore the fielders, just focus on the picher, and hit the ball where it's pitched. And like others have said.. take more walks.

[Willard Preacher]

If PtB can make the adjustment over the last couple of years, I'm not ready to write off Howard just yet (although just slight signs of improvement would be welcome). If you remember, before PtB become a walk machine, he had some AB's so frustrating that it would make Howard look like he had Barry Bonds' batting eye.

[clout]

AWH: Now, now, I've praised your posts in the past too. I'm just trying to be nice.

[Deutsche Phan]

Isn't it great to see Clout already enacting Campaign Cheer!?!?!?

[BobbyD]

Howard learned a lesson from Jimmy:

Tim (Port St Lucie): Are the Phili fans really as bad as everyone talks about?

SportsNation Ryan Howard: (5:23 PM ET ) I think they get a bad rap. Are they passionate? Yes. Do they have a different way of showing it? Sometimes, but they're not nearly as bad as everyone makes them out to be.

[TK]

NOT the right answer to this question:

Andrew (Philly, PA): I need to hear it from a players perspective why the Phillies offense has been struggling for the last couple months with all the fire power we have?

SportsNation Ryan Howard: (5:28 PM ET ) It's just baseball. There's things that happen in the game that you can't explain, but we're only a game and a half out right now. We'll hopefully come out of it sooner rather than later.

[wilson]

From Ken Rosenthal:

"The Phillies could be looking to add another catcher.

David Ross, placed on release waivers by the Reds on Monday, is drawing interest from Philadelphia according to major league sources.

The Philles could sign Ross as an immediate replacement for Carlos Ruiz. Or they could stay with Ruiz, send Ross to AAA, and summon Ross when rosters expand on September 1.

In 52 games this year, Ross is batting .231 but owns a robust .381 OBP.

Ruiz is batting .220 this year with a .322 OBP in 81 games"

[Brian G]

This is encouraging. Howard picks out as his favorite player a guy who sabotaged his team bc he was unhappy that a contract he willingly signed and was paid $160 mil over the life of also had a couple options tacked on.

Chris (Philadelphia, PA): Ryan, your the man keep doin what your doin. I was wondering, whos your favorite player in the majors today whos not on the phillies?

Ryan Howard: (5:24 PM ET ) It's been fun watching Manny Ramirez doing what he's doing this year.

[clout]

You bet Deutsche fan! Let's turn those frowns upside down everybody! The pitching, especially the bullpen, has been way better than any of us thought, the team is better positioned to make the playoffs this season than it was at this time last year and the offensive stars are so far below their career norms that the odds of a return of hittin' season are very, very good.

That's how I feel today. Check back with me after the upcoming series against the Dodgers, Mets, Cubs, Mets again, Marlins and Brewers. I could feel differently.

[Brian G]

AWH: Haha, well done...

[clout]

wilson: Ross is a pretty good defensive catcher who's got some HR power, but, sadly, is a .223 lifetime hitter. Still, he'd be an upgrade over Taguchi on the bench because of the power threat.