A Few Notes and News

Bastardo impresses in debut:

I'm still tired from watching these 10 PM starts but hey, that's what a true fan does. Besides, I didn't want to miss Antonio Bastardo's debut. And boy did he put on a nice little show. He went six strong innings and threw 101 pitches, eclipsing the 75 pitch handicap Charlie Manuel and set for him. In his six innings, he surrendered four hits and one run, a homer hit by Adrian Gonzalez in the 6th, and struck out an impressive five batters.

Another impressive fact about his first start was that he threw 77 strikes (out of 101 pitches), just under 80%. Now that number will decrease as he should be mixing his stuff up with more sliders and curve balls. A 4-0 head start was also a nice touch which definitely boosted the 23-year old's confidence. He'll face the Dodgers

The return of JC:

No not Jesus Christ, but JC Romero. Romero is officially off his 50 game suspension for "substance abuse," and will be activated for tonight's game verses the Padres. I found this out when perusing the Phillies Nation like I always do as PN writer Tim Malcolm got the news via David Murphey's Twitter page that with the activation of Romero will be the sending down of Sergio Escalona back to AAA.

Eyre talks retirment:

Scott Eyre is about 90% sure he'll retire after this season. The 37-year old lefty has been dominant for the Phillies this year in the absence of Romero. Eyre is 0-1 with a 2.84 ERA in 12 2/3 innings this year. He is 26-30 with a 4.33 earned run average in 632 innings lifetime.

A snippet from Philly Inquirer writer Andy Martino:

"My wife is probably ready for me to be home," said Eyre, who has two sons, ages 8 and 10. "I've been playing for 13 years, and it's basically all she's ever known. We'll talk about it at the end of the year, but as of now I would say, yeah, I'll retire."

OTHER NEWS: Johnson seeks 300:

One of my favorite players to watch growing up, Randy Johnson, will be chasing history tonight. He is set to take the mound versus the Nationals to try (well not really) to win his 300th game, becoming the 24th player in baseball history to do so.

Johnson, currently with the Giants, is 299-164 with a 3.29 ERA and 4843 strikeouts. His strikeouts numbers are 2nd all time and 1st among lefties. His k/9 is a historical 10.7, which leads every player to ever step on a major league mound. He started his career in Montreal and then played in Seattle, Houston, Arizona, and New York (AL).

That game versus the Nationals is at 7:05 ET tonight.