Game chat: Polanco out again in South Florida

Juan Castro, and not Greg Dobbs, will start at third against a right-hander.

Preview: Placido Polanco continues to battle soreness in his left elbow joint stemming from an April 21 plunking at the hands of the Braves. Polly, who reportedly will have an MRI Sunday, sits for a second-straight game as right-handed aces Roy Halladay (2-2, 2.22) and Josh Johnson (5-1, 2.43) square off in the second of three from Sun Life Stadium. First pitch is 7:10. Beerleaguer: Interesting situation developing among the third-base pecking order. Juan Castro, who is hitting just .237 against right-handers, starts at third over Greg Dobbs. Dobbs, who has had a miserable season in ever possible way, has just one hit in his last 25 plate appearances dating back to May 5 and is hitting .133 on the season. Wilson Valdez gets the start at short and will hit second for a second-straight game, so it appears that Dobbs, who was once this team's top reserve, has moved to the very end of the trough.

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Comments

[Greg V.]

Wouldn't suprise me in the slightest if Dobbs is DFA'd before long. He's been awful since '08.

[MG]

Surprising too since Dobbs is 4-9 vs. Johnson in his career.

Hopefully Polanco doesn't miss much time because of an INF with Castro & Valdez starting is the worst in the NL East even with Utley & Howard.

[GTown_Dave]

Duh. Just realized the Phils are facing a RHP. I guess we might want to look into the Dobbs thing after all.

[GTown_Dave]

philliesnation (via Twitter): "Tonight's Phillies Lineup: Victorino, Valdez, Utley, Howard, Werth, Ibañez, Castro, Ruiz, Halladay"

[BloodStripes]

Smoked fish Roy.

[dob]

Roy is 6-3 JW.

[GTown_Dave]

Matt Gelb (& others): "Polanco is having an MRI on Sunday. His elbow is sore and the worry is that there is a bone chip or tendon problem."

And the hits just keep on comin' ...

[Chris in VT]

Castro's hitting ahead of Ruiz? That's mildly surprising.

[Chris in VT]

I'd rather see the 7/8/9 as Castro/Halladay/Ruiz, but that's way too "outside the box" for UC I'd guess.

[king myno]

Ugh. We can speculate about Cody Ransom all day on Beerleaguer; it's all in good fun. But if Placido hits the DL and we have to actually see him on the roster/getting starts at third...bone-chilling.

[MG]

Polanco since his elbow got hit on April 21:

30 G, 123 ABs with a line of .268/.313/.390 for an OPS of .704 with 3 HRs & 9 RBIs. Modest numbers at best. He has also made 3 errors since then.

If Polanco is out for an extended stretch, it will be a platoon of Dobbs/Castro at 3B. Somewhat similar to '07 with the Dobbs/Nunez platoon although I really wonder if Dobbs can produce at any where near the same level or if Castro is as good defensively as No-Hit was. Tend to doubt both can happen.

In fact, Castro won't even hit as well as No-Hit did.

No-Hit as a starter:

06: .231/.330/.297 (.627 OPS) in 273 ABs
07: .261/.345/.317 (.661 OPS) in 180 ABs

There is no way that Castro's OBP is that high because he almost never takes a BB. No-Hit was a disaster at the plate as a PH and a weak hitter but the man did take his share of BBs.

Castro's rank of 4.7% BB/PA and his 3.31 #P/PA are among the lowest among the 155 players in the NL who have at least 50 ABs or more this season. Dude is a hacker who I hate watching hit.

[MG]

Dobbs/Ransom/Castro = Dobbs/Helms/Nunez

Back to 2007!

[Chris in VT]

That doesn't sounds like progress to me

[Jimmie J.]

Play Dobbs. Just play him vs. RHPs. If Bruntlett was allowed to start when Feliz was out, play Dobbs and give him a shot at getting his stroke back.

[A-Train]

Dobbs needs to start hitting if he wants to play. He's not going to be in there for his defense.

[MPNPhilly]

Jimmie J.: you realize that Roy Halladay throws more groundballs than flyballs, right? Think that has anything to do with Charlie's decision making? I do.

[Chris in VT]

In the phormer phillies phile...

Carlos Silva's about to go to 7-0 on the season with the Cubs.

That might just be the primary example of the difference between AL and NL play...

[GTown_Dave]

MPN: Agreed. Not that Castro is gonna remind anyone of Brooks Robinson, but Dobbs has been looking positively Helmsian out there lately. Still, if it turns out Polanco is gonna miss 2 wks. or more, I'd rather see Dobbs getting starts than Castro or (Heaven forfend) Ransom.

[MPNPhilly]

Gtown: Well, if Placido goes on the DL then I think Ransom will be up. If he's up, I wouldn't be shocked by a Ransom/Dobbs/Castro three headed monster until Jimmy came back. But once Jimmy is back, you probably go with the hottest glove at 3B. (Of course this all goes against the grain of clout's maxim #439 which is that 3B defense doesn't matter.)

[BloodStripes]

Can anyone update how Jimmy is going?

[gobaystars]

We all already took care of Turkey this afternoon. Good showing by the team and the 55,000 plus in the seats. The Phillies have this game on lockdown with Roy on the hill. And if the Flyers can handle thier stuff, this will be a pretty great day for Philadelphia sports. We are a almost a lock to get a piece of the 18 or 22 World Cup. This has to be the best sporting city in America.

[mikes77phillies]

Chollie is doing the smart thing in starting Castro over Dobbs tonight. Dobbs is a butcher, and his defense seems to have declined along the same line as his offense. Dobbs seems to cost the Phillies at least 1 run every game on defense that he starts lately. He isnt hitting enough anymore, to make up for that.

[GTown_Dave]

MPN: Maybe I have ridiculous expectations after growing up watching Schmitty, but mediocre defense at 3B is a particular irritant to me. I'm just hoping that Polanco isn't hurt badly enough, or Jimmy is back fast enough, to make the Ransom thing a moot point.

[BloodStripes]

If Polly is out when Jimmy comes back would it be out of the question to play Valdez at 3rd?

[MPNPhilly]

Gtown: I hope not, too. Losing PP would be a twofer loss: bat & defense.

[BloodStripes]

Amaro just said Jimmy is jogging on the treadmill and feeling good. Happ gonna throw live next session, coming along strong.

[bay_area_phan]

More fine clutch hitting from the Phillies

[GTown_Dave]

And Exxon & Castro each get a Double. Unreal.

[holy mackerel]

two inning...

two men isp

no runs

[BloodStripes]

Their goin' toe to toe

[holy mackerel]

pp must be hurt pretty badly to kept out of lineup for 2 straight games

[BloodStripes]

Exxin 2 for 2. I wanna see him steal one here.

Corey Hart with a salami in 1st. 4 - 1 brew crew over mutts

[pm_mac]

Wheels: "What's a Chewbacca?"

[bay_area_phan]

That ridiculous misplay by Maybin prevented me from writing a post about how truly awful St. Utley has been over the last week.

[Old Phan]

It says "Rqan Howard" is up.

[BloodStripes]

A break goes the Phils way. Exxon hittin!

That should be enough for Roy. Strikeouts galore already

[GTown_Dave]

After this past week I'll take 'em any way they can get 'em.

[bay_area_phan]

And still more fine clutch hitting by the middle of our lineup.

[holy mackerel]

three inning...

four men isp

one run(s)

[GTown_Dave]

It could always be worse for the Phils ...

Morales Hurts Leg Celebrating Slam

[Old Phan]

It;s awesome to hit a game winning grand slam, but it's not worth getting injured over it.

[bay_area_phan]

This ump is calling one of the more charitable strike zones that we've seen this year. Both Halladay & Johnson have gotten strike calls on pitches that were well outside and low.

[philwynk]

Halladay: 5 strikeouts, 3 innings. On track for a 15-strikeout game (the rate of Ks is bound to change, but I'm just sayin'...)

[GTown_Dave]

Old Phan: Kendry probably wishes his teammates had limited themselves to the traditional celebratory "ass pounding".

[Old Phan]

GTown, exactly. Maybe he wouldnt be able to sit down for awhile but at least he could walk to his car afterward.

[Old Phan]

I'm assuming doc hasn't had many bunting lessons.

[Scott]

Good to see Milt has really helped Halladay with his bunting.

[GTown_Dave]

The Phillies employee currently in charge of bunting instruction should be fired. Literally. From a cannon.

[Old Phan]

This Doc guy isn't bad.

[Lincoln Hawkes]

12 of 27...

[kilbillrain]

4 innings of a no no....there I said it lets get on with the game...

[pm_mac]

Chewbacca through four!

[kilbillrain]

Johnson @ 80 thru 4 1/3. Early exit ?

[bay_area_phan]

Since I didn't see yesterday's game, they've still been shut out 3 straight games as far as I'm concerned. And this cheap, unearned run in today's game doesn't count as ending the shutout streak either.

[MPNPhilly]

b_a_p: below the hard deck counts!

[Old Phan]

BAP, good thing the official score says otherwise.

[bay_area_phan]

MPN: I'm just giving full disclosure about my perspective. I wasn't here to see last night's 3-run offensive onslaught so, to me, this just looks like a continuation of the sheer ineptitude I had been watching for the 5 days before that.

[Old Phan]

If a tree falls in a forest and BAP isn't there to hear it, does it make a sound?

[MPNPhilly]

b_a_p: Yeah, they are still looking a little anemic, but guys are hitting the ball harder, so the bats are progressing.

[NEPP]

Castro and Valdez are carrying the offense.

[GTown_Dave]

If a tree falls on Danys Baez do the Phillies still have to pay him?

[BloodStripes]

Lidge threw an inning at Clearwater. No hits, 1 strikeout.

[MPNPhilly]

NEPP: Juan Valdez are making a statement.

[Old Phan]

They are having Juan hell of a game.

[NEPP]

Great arm on Valdez.

[BloodStripes]

nice Old Phan. crack me up.

Juan hell of a play there too

[Old Phan]

Another Juan Two Three inning for Doc.

[johnnysanz3]

Halladay is actively hurting this team

[BloodStripes]

for Valdez of course. He is ripping it up today.

[Lincoln Hawkes]

18

[GTown_Dave]

These bench guys are great. They'd probably be All-Stars if they played more regularly.

[Old Phan]

Kendry Morales actively hurt himself.

[philwynk]

Until Vic just spoiled it (!) Castro, Valdez, and Ruiz had 6 hits, and the rest of the team may as well have stayed home. (Well, Utley hit that one ball well enough to fool Maybin and score Valdez, but I won't let that get in the way of a good whine...)

[bay_area_phan]

That looked more like the Wilson Valdez that I had come to know and love.

[GTown_Dave]

b_a_p: You spelled "loathe" wrong. Also, Old Phan is on the fast track to winning Post of the Night honors w/ his Kendry Morales line.

[MPNPhilly]

Nnnn-nnn-nnna-nineteen.

[MG]

It is fitting so far that the difference is the Fish defense so far. They seemingly have had a crummy defensive team the last several years . . .

[MG]

I have having Wheels back in the 7th. Actually have someone who knows something about pitching.

[Old Phan]

One more inning and I can call this game a "gem" by Halladay.

[NEPP]

SIT DOWN HANLEY!!!

[MG]

Sit down Ramirez!

[GTown_Dave]

Hanley totally dogged it on that last pitch.

[BloodStripes]

Smoked fish Roy

[johnnysanz3]

Charlie better take Halladay out at 100 pitches, no exceptions! Gotta save his arm!

[bay_area_phan]

Halladay has been significantly overworked already this year and he's at 92 pitches. It's time to go to the bullpen.

[Lincoln Hawkes]

The ump is into this. You can tell. Figures it comes on a night when I've got to listen to dueling radio feeds. AtBat app playing the Phils, my laptop streaming the Flyers.

[MPNPhilly]

thankfully the site software must've filtered my reaction to Tmac's call at the end of last inning...

[GTown_Dave]

I'm watching the Phils & listening to the Final. The Flyers scored just as Hanley struck out. That was pretty awesome. :-)

[Oliver]

Why won't Franzke shut up? I kind of want L.A. to yell at him for jinxing things if this goes south

[GTown_Dave]

MPN: Oooh, I love a good TMac bashing. What did he say this time?

[MG]

It seems like the Fish should be better than their 24-25 record with the overall talent level they have. Maybe a case where the seperate parts are not greater than the sum.

[MPNPhilly]

he said something about Roy Halladay and his performance this evening...

[NEPP]

So, its 2-1 Flyers now? I lost the TV to my SO...watching Phillies online on laptop instead.

[Old Phan]

Flyers 2-2.

[johnnysanz3]

flyers 3-2*

[NEPP]

Juan and gone.

[Scott]

Dobbs doesn't make that play.

[johnnysanz3]

IT'S THE YEAR OF THE JUAN!

[Old Phan]

Oops. 3-2

[SEANOFDEAD]

Rollins Esque