Drabek Shut Down

Phillies top pitching prospect Kyle Drabek was placed on the inactive list yesterday. He isn't hurt but reached his innings max, throwing 158 innings this year in Double A Reading and Single A Clearwater. He was also 12-3 with a 3.19 ERA for both teams combined. He is not scheduled to pitch in either the Arizona Fall League or the Florida Instructional League either.

This is smart because he is recovering from Tommy John surgery in 2007. They don't want to risk hurting him. He will see his time next year with Reading and hopefully Lehigh. If he develops well enough, he may see time on the Phillies 40-man roster late next season.

News 7/17/09

Howard belts 200th: article

Ryan Howard became the fastest player in MLB history to hit 200 home runs last night as he took Chris Volstad deep in the sixth to give the Phillies a 4-0 lead in which they won. It was his 658th career game, 48 fewer than Hall of Famer Ralph Kiner (706 games).

"That's pretty cool," said Howard, who was able to retrieve the historic ball. "It'll hit me later on. I'll kind of come down a bit later. It'll be something I can look back on and just kind of cherish a little bit."

Taylor called up to AAA: article

One of the Phillies top prospects, Michael Taylor, was called up to AAA Lehigh yesterday. In AA Reading, he was batting .333 with 15 homers and 65 RBI's,

"It was the right time," said Steve Noworyt, Philadelphia's director of minor league operations, in regards to the Taylor promotion. "If you look at the numbers he put up last year at Clearwater and then he came here and never looked back. Let's let it go now and see what happens."

If you look at what he's done over the last two years, he deserves it. He's never really slumped and right now there is no rush. He'll be a step away. If he does well, great. If he has to be a repeater next year, so be it. But it will be a nice chance to see what he can do for a month and a half."

Knapp placed on DL: article

Phillies prospect Jason Knapp was placed on the 7-day DL with shoulder fatigue. For Class A Lakewood, he is 2-7 with a 4.01 ERA but has struck out 111 and walked just 39 in 85 1/3 innings. He gives up a lot of runs but he does shut down hitters too.

Drabek, Flande in Futures Game

Kyle Drabek and Yohan Flande are the top two pitching prospects in the Phillies organization. Their efforts will be recognized when they represent the Phillies organization in the USA vs the World's prospects. The All Star game will be at 2 PM ET in St. Louis on July 12.

Drabek pitched for Single A Clearwater and AA Reading. He went 4-1 with a 2.48 ERA in 10 appearances (nine starts) in Clearwater. He was then promoted to Double-A Reading, where he entered Thursday 3-0 with a 2.08 ERA in four starts.

Flande, the 23-year-old left-hander from the Dominican Republic is 6-1 with a 2.45 ERA in 12 starts for Clearwater. Flande has walked 22 and struck out 64 in 77 innings.

Howard Had Sinusitis, Improving

Ryan Howard was diagnosed with acute sinusitis. The club stated that his 104-degree fever is gone and he's at home resting. Howard could possibly be in the line up as early as Tuesday when the Phillies go down to Tampa Bay to face the defending AL champion Rays.

In other news, Brad Lidge could be activated this week. He will make his second rehab appearance in Class-A Clearwater and could be activated Wednesday or hold off and pitch on Friday for a third rehab outing. Lidge allowed one hit and struck out two in a scoreless inning in a rehab outing with Double-A Reading on Saturday night.

A few notes

I'll start this off with saying that Andrew Carpenter, the 24-year old called up to make his first career start last night versus the Nationals, wound up getting the win. He originally wouldn't have recorded the win because he didn't go 5 innings but the MLB said because the game was ended in the top of the 6th, Carpenter pitched enough to earn the win. He went 4 1/3 innings, giving up 5 runs on 8 hits and striking out 4. Clay Condrey picked up the save.

In other news, the Phillies sent Carpenter to the minors, calling up Sergio Escalona from AA Reading. He had a 2.08 ERA with 10 saves in 17 1/3 innings. He pitched today, going 1 inning and giving a hit and striking out 1. Ryan Howard flipped him the ball after the inning, giving Escalona a souvenir.

With the call ups/downs of the pitches, Miguel Cairo became the odd man out. He got optioned to AAA Lehigh for assignment, which will lead to the Phillies either trading or releasing him, if he isn't signed by another team first.