The Hog Blog

WELCOME TO THE CLUB...

Quick, name the major league pitchers with 18 or more victories this summer.

C.C. Sabathia? Check. Adam Wainwright? Check. Felix Hernandez and Justin Verlander? Check and check.

Justin Lehr? Huh?

Yes, Justin Lehr is a member of that group. OK, so 13 of them came in the International League. But add the five more he had with Cincinnati -- he dropped his last start 3-1 to the Pirates on Friday night -- and he finishes the season with an 18-6 record.

The first five of those wins came in an IronPigs uniform, and there's still those fans out there who are upset that the Phillies gave the veteran journeyman away for nothing when Antonio Bastardo bumped him out of Lehigh Valley's rotation in early June.

At the time it appeared as if Lehr would be spending the foreseeable future in the IronPigs bullpen, which didn't set too well with the 32-year-old. He had originally signed with the Phillies as a minor league free agent because they promised him the chance to start, and as he told me on the day Bastardo joined the club, "If I have a future in the majors I think it's as a starter, not as a reliever."

Instead, however, the Phillies found an organization -- Cincinnati -- that was short on Triple-A starters and sent him to the Reds in a minor cash transaction a few days later

No one, of course, knew that Bastardo would be gone within 10 days, promoted to the Phillies. And who knows how differently the IronPigs season might have turned out if Lehr had been around to plug back into the rotation. Instead, the Phillies had to bring in Brian Mazone, who had been relieving for the Dodgers, and spend several weeks stretching him back out, taxing the bullpen and affecting not only those starts but others as well.

The move, obviously, worked out tremendously for Lehr, who was extremely grateful to the Phillies organization for being willing to seek a situation where he would be a starter. No matter how well Lehr had pitched with the IronPigs had he stayed, he had no shot at ever getting the same opportunity with the Phillies that he got with the Reds -- a team seeking back-to-back world championships just isn't going to give an untested non-prospect the same opportunity that a team far out of the playoff race would. Lehr made the most of his opportunity with the Reds, and if he stays with the organization -- and I'm not all that familiar with its pitching situation -- maybe goes into spring training with a chance to win an Opening Day roster spot.

Either way, I'd say 2009 turned out pretty good for the guy.

EATING THEIR WORDS...

There's an individual in the Morning Call office who had tickets to Sunday afternoon's Phillies-Mets games who cringed when discovering that Kyle Kendrick would be starting the game for the Phillies.

I'm sure that's the response many fans around the region had.

But Kendrick is making those people eat their words so far by carrying a five-hit shutout into the eighth inning.

A two-run homer by Anderson Hernandez knocked out Kendrick but his end line -- 7.1 IP, 7 hits, 2 R, 2 ER, 1 BB, 3 Ks -- is more proof of what many, including scouts and coaches, have said -- that the summer at Coca-Cola Park has been a productive one for the 25-year-old, who has 21 major league victories over 2007 and 2008 before losing his confidence late last season.

TRACY GETS THE CALL...

For much of the last week or two Andy Tracy has been watching the happenings in Philadelphia and wondering why there wasn't room on the roster for him.

Well, not necessarily him. But with Greg Dobbs on the disabled list and Matt Stairs 1-for-July/August/September, Tracy has been wondering why the Charlie Manual couldn't use another left-handed bat, either his or David Newhan's, on the his bench.

Wednesday, the Phillies came to the same conclusion, adding Tracy to the roster for the last several weeks of the season.

Tracy's good news came at the expense of IronPigs teammate Rodrigo Lopez, who was released to make room on the 40-man roster.

Tracy had a streaky but highly productive season this year. Although he hit under .236 in three months (April-May-July), the 35-year-old hit .254 overall and finished second in the International League with 26 home runs and 96 RBIs. He was also named the IL's post-season all-star first baseman.

Tracy also drew a league-leading 74 walks.

The Phillies also recalled Sergio Escalona from Reading and sent Scott Eyre back to Philadelphia from Washington to have his sore left elbow checked out.

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It also sounds like Kyle Kendrick will get his first major league start since last Sept. 28 on Sunday.

Unless he's needed in relief between now and then, Kendrick is expected to start one of the two games against the Mets that day.

Kendrick will get the chance because J.A. Happ will miss his second straight start with an oblique strain. Jamie Moyer, who has rebounded nicely since being removed from the rotation (2-0, 4 ER, 10 hits in 19.1 innings over four games), will again fill in for Happ, but the doubleheader gives Kendrick -- who like Moyer lost his starting spot in early September last year when he was struggling -- an opportunity to show what he worked on during the summer with the IronPigs.

TAYLOR'S SEASON ISN'T OVER...

Michael Taylor is going to get a few more at-bats this summer ... and Phillies fans can get their first look at a Taylor-Domonic Brown outfield.

Taylor, who did enough in Reading before his all-star promotion to the IronPigs to be named Eastern League's rookie of the year, was activated from the disabled list and assigned to the R-Phils for the Eastern League playoffs.

The best-of-five playoffs open with two games at Akron, beginning tonight. Game three is scheduled for Friday at FirstEnergy Stadium.

Joining Taylor, who was sidelined with an oblique strain, also got catcher Tuffy Gosewisch back from the IronPigs but lost reliever Sergio Escalona, who was promoted to the Phillies and infielder Carlos Leon, who was transferred to the IronPigs roster.

Leon is being replaced by Fidel Hernandez from Clearwater.

Catcher Jorge Guerra was sent back to Clearwater to make room for Gosewisch.

Baseball America isn't the only publication that ranks Phillies prospects.

Mike Drago, the Reading Phillies beat writer for the Reading Eagle, puts together a post-season ranking based on the opinion of writers, broadcasters, announcers and public relations officials who cover or work in the Phillies minor league system, including yours truly.

Drago released his ratings Sunday, with Kyle Drabek, Michael Taylor and Domonic Brown taking the top three spots in the voting.

The complete Top 20 list, with with age, position, and highest level achieved this season

1. Kyle Drabek 21 RHP Reading (Double-A)

2. Michael Taylor 24 OF Lehigh Valley (Triple-A)

3. Domonic Brown 21 OF Reading (Double-A)

4. Anthony Gose 19 OF Lakewood (Low-A)

5. Travis d'Arnaud 20 C Lakewood (Low-A)

6. Mike Stutes 23 RHP Reading (Double-A)

7. Freddy Galvis 19 SS Reading (Double-A)

8. Antonio Bastardo 23 LHP Philadelphia (majors)

9. B.J. Rosenberg 23 RHP Reading (Double-A)

10. Joe Savery 23 LHP Lehigh Valley (Triple-A)

11. Andrew Carpenter 24 RHP Philadelphia (majors)

12. Yohan Flande 23 LHP Reading (Double-A)

13. Scott Mathieson 25 RHP Reading (Double-A)

14. Quintin Berry 24 OF Reading (Double-A)

15. Sergio Escalona 25 LHP Philadelphia (Majors)

16. Michael Schwimer 23 RHP Reading (Double-A)

16. Trevor May 19 RHP Lakewood (Low-A)

18. Vance Worley 21 RHP Reading (Double-A)

19. Sebastian Valle 19 C Lakewood (Low-A)

20. Neil Sellers 27 3B Reading (Double-A)

A few thoughts...

* Clearwater should be in for a pretty good season next summer when those prospects who have helped Lakewood get into the South Atlantic League playoffs arrive.

* We should be seeing a fairly steady progression of prospects coming through Coca-Cola Park for the next few years.

* Once again, pitching dominates the rankings. Now it's up to the Phillies to fully develop those arms.

* Keep an eye on Gose, who stole 76 bases in his first full season and has yet to turn 20. He's very outspoken, bordering on being cocky, but the Phillies love his potential and physical tools. He did strike out 110 times this summer but as he told me in June, he'd rather be aggressive than passive. "They can always teach you to be patient," he said. I'm not sure if that's the case -- the Phillies have been trying that with Jimmy Rollins for years -- but the Phillies have time to try.

* Although Galvis, who turns 20 in November, reached Double-A in his second full season, don't look for him in an IronPigs uniform anytime soon. He hit just .197 in 63 at-bats with the R-Phils.

* Even before Lou Marson was shipped to Cleveland in the Cliff Lee deal, Travis d'Arnaud had been mentioned as the Phillies catcher of the future. The 20-year-old overcame a slow start at Lakewood to hit .255 with 13 home runs in 126 games. And right behind him is Sebastian Valle, who hit .307-5-40 in 50 games at Williamsport before joining d'Arnaud at Lakewood.

* Anthony Hewitt, last year's No. 1 pick, hit .223 in 61 games at Williamsport, with seven home runs but 77 strikeouts and only 52 hits in 233 at-bats.

* At 27, Neil Sellers doesn't have the future that a Brown or a Taylor have. But all he's done in two years at Reading since the Phillies took him from Houston in the minor league phase of the Rule 5 draft is hit 36 homers, knock in 164 runs, and hit .297 in 1001 at-bats. That should earn him a Triple-A roster spot next season.

TRACY A LATE SCRATCH...

Just got late word from the dugout that Andy Tracy is a late scratch from today's lineup.

We're told that Tracy is feeling "under the weather," and the team did cancel a pregame presentation to him for being named an International League all-star.

But with the current state of the Phillies offense, and their lack of punch off the bench, obviously there's a lot of other speculation.

The scratch means Gus Milner will be hitting clean-up in his first Triple-A game. David Newhan will play first and Carlos Leon will move into the lineup, hitting seventh.

The move leaves only back-up catcher Tim Gradoville, who has no at-bats ANYWHERE this summer, and Jorge Velandia, who is 4-for-21 this year in between stays on the disabled list, on the IronPigs bench.

REVOLVING DOOR STILL SPINNING...

Apparently, the Phillies decided they couldn't wait two days to add John Mayberry Jr. and Kyle Kendrick to their bench for September.

The IronPigs duo was recalled late Saturday night, costing Kendrick his final start of the season and Mayberry the final eight or so at-bats of the season.

Instead of Kendrick the IronPigs will trot Joe Bisenius to the mound tonight against Buffalo.

And instead of Mayberry playing right and hitting fifth, those spots will be filled by Gus Milner, who is hitting .239 with three homers in 111 at-bats after hitting .226 with three homers in 85 games at Reading.

Milner, a 14th-round pick in 2006, hit .261 in 132 games last year for Clearwater.

Kendrick was 9-7 with a 3.34 ERA in 24 starts this summer for the IronPigs, and I'll try to post his thoughts on the season and his quest to return to the major leagues sometime over the next few days after I take care of some season-ending obligations for the daily paper.

Mayberry hit .256 in 89 games with the IronPigs, hitting 13 homers and knocking in 43 runs.

Kendrick's spot on the roster is being filled for the final two days by Patrick Overholt, promoted from Reading for the third time this season.

PROCEDURALLY SPEAKING...

One roster "move" today that really doesn't affect anything -- Joe Bisenius was removed from the Phillies' 40-man roster and outrighted to the IronPigs to make room for Brett Myers.

Bisenius had already cleared waivers earlier this month so is eligible to pitch this weekend.

I haven't got an answer on Steven Register as of yet. Register had been designated for assignment Thursday to make room for the return of Antonio Bastardo from the 60-day disabled list, and the thinking is that his season is over since the waiver period runs for three business days, which with the Labor Day holiday weekend means he wouldn't clear waivers until Tuesday, the day after the season ends.

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The IronPigs quietly went over the 600,000 mark in attendance last night, and will fly past last year's total of 602,033 with Friday night's crowd. GM Kurt Landes is expecting close to capacity crowds Saturday and Sunday, and the last of the seats for Monday afternoon's finale were sold earlier this week, meaning only lawn/standing room only tickets remain available. Landes projects the IronPigs will finish the season with an attendance of between 635,000 and 640,000, roughly a six percent increase over their inaugural season.

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Clay Condrey's rehab appearance with the IronPigs, scheduled for Saturday night, has been scratched due to a setback in his recovery from an oblique strain. There's speculation that the injury could keep Condrey out for the rest of the season, which could put ex-IronPig Tyler Walker on the postseason roster.

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Justin Lehr won his fourth game for Cincinnati the other night. With his 13 wins he has in the IL between Lehigh Valley and Louisville, the veteran has four more weeks to pick up three more victories and reach a combined 20 for the season.

REGISTER DESIGNATED...

The Phillies have designed IronPigs pitcher Steven Register for assignment to make room on the Phillies 40-day roster for Paul Hoover.

I'm going to have to check this, but that could signal the end of the season for the right-hander; I think he can't play while on waivers, and the waiver period is three BUSINESS days, which would be Thursday, Friday and next Tuesday.

The Phillies also designated Clearwater catcher Joel Naughton, who is also on the 40-man roster, for assignment to make room back on the roster for Antonio Bastardo, who was activated and optioned back to Reading. Bastardo, who was on the 60-day disabled list (which does not count on the 40), had to be added to the 40-man roster first before being reassigned.

TAYLOR, DRABEK BEST IN SYSTEM...

It shouldn't surprise anyone that Michael Taylor and Kyle Drabek were named the best players in the Phillies system this summer.

The two are the recipients of the annual Paul Owens Awards, which go to the top hitter and pitcher in the organization.

Taylor, named the Eastern League's Rookie of the Year earlier in the day, hit a combined .320 with 28 doubles, five triples, 20 home runs, 84 RBI and 21 stolen bases in 116 games between Reading and the IronPigs, including .282 with five homers and 19 RBIs in 30 games at Triple-A. He's ending his season on the disabled list with a right oblique strain but the organization expects to send him to winter ball.

Drabek, only 21, was a combined 12-3 with a 3.19 ERA in 25 games at Clearwater and Reading before being shut down last week to avoid overwork. He's thrown 158 innings in his first full season since undergoing Tommy John surgery in the 2007 season and has 150 strikeouts while walking only 50. He was 8-2 with a 3.64 ERA in 15 games at Reading.

The two will receive their awards prior to a Phillies game at Citizens Bank Park on Sept. 15.

The award is named for the late Paul Owens, who spent 48 years in the Phillies organization as a scout, farm director, general manager, manager and senior advisor.