The Fightins » On Carlos Carrasco and the JV Phillies

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Jul

2009

On Carlos Carrasco and the JV Phillies

Posted by beelove at 2:15 pm ET 17 Comments

Son of a bitch. This “rough spell” is like an expanding tar pit and the Phillies are getting stuck in it one by one like sabertooth tigers. I laughed when I saw Chamo’s tag but jesus god that was two weeks ago and it’s still true: DEAR GOD THIS IS BRUTAL.

With the Phillies all of a sudden having one of the farm systems most stacked with future stars, there has been plenty of alternative to watching the Frightenin’ Phils an hour and a half’s drive away in Reading and Allentown. The R-Phils are 45-33, good for second in the Eastern League’s southern division. Their rotation is loaded with Joe Savery, Kyle Drabek and now Yohan Flande, and Michael Taylor is mashing it to the tune of .349/15/59, with 14 stolen bases for good measure.

Up in the Lehigh Valley, the IronPigs are 39-40, trying to push above .500 for the first time in the franchise’s short history. Jason Donald is looking to return from knee surgery and maybe light a fire under J-Roll’s ass. Lou Marson is biding his time as the everyday catcher until Ruben Amaro realizes that two backup catchers in their late 30s should not be on the roster of the defending champions. Drew Carpenter is playing off that one ugly pro start with a 7-1, 2.75. And this guy?

He’s settling in. Carlos Carrasco was the #1 Phillies prospect in 2007 and 2008 according to Baseball America, and this year he’s 2nd, behind only Dominic Brown (who is nursing a fractured pinky in Clearwater).

The 22 year old Venezuelan was, along with JA Happ and Chan Ho Park, one of the finalists for Phillies fifth starter coming out of spring training, and with Antonio Bastardo injured (and probably not going to stay in the rotation anyway), he was strongly considered for a promotion to start tonight’s game against the Mets. His IronPig teammate and former Oriole/Rockie/Padre Rodrigo Lopez got this promotion, though, so Carrasco pushes onward in AAA till he gets the call.

Last night he shut down the Syracuse Chiefs (Nats affiliate) for his fourth straight victory after a glaringly shaky start to his season. The only major mistake he made was hanging one over the plate to former Bucco Brad Eldred, who smoked one into the woods beyond Coca-Cola Park. Otherwise, Carrasco was solid, scattering five other hits and striking out four over six innings, despite getting drilled in the ankle with a line drive. His fastball had good movement and hovered around 93 all night. His run support was good with a five-run outburst in the fourth inning, Miguel Cairo missing a grand slam by about five feet.

As the post-game fireworks were exploding overhead, the feelgood evening came to a screeching halt when we turned on the radio for the drive home, just in time to hear Ryan Madson’s latest meltdown. Goddamn.

beelove (a/k/a R. Bradley Maule) is the proprietor of the fantastic Philadelphia photography/architecture site, PhillySkyline.com. He went to the Lehigh Valley IronPigs game. He reported. He took pictures.

Some photos from the evening — IronPigs 5, Chiefs 1 — after the jump.

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Read More: Carlos Carrasco, Lehigh Valley IronPigs, Lou Marson, Philly Skyline

17 Comments on “On Carlos Carrasco and the JV Phillies”

PhiPhan5648 Says:
July 3rd, 2009 at 2:34 pm
I don’t understand how Carasco hasn’t been called up yet. I want to see what this kid can do in the Bigs. Just like Mitchy Poo has been saying since the begining of the year. It’s time to see what this kid can do. I want to see Carasco Pitch.
fuck the mets Says:
July 3rd, 2009 at 2:52 pm
um….in the picture with Carlos sitting on the ground, and the entire Phillies organization around him…WTF happened?
will.H Says:
July 3rd, 2009 at 3:04 pm
PhiPhan, Gavin Floyd haunts their dreams
PhiPhan5648 Says:
July 3rd, 2009 at 3:05 pm
@will.H

I guess… but it’s still no excuse.
gm-carson Says:
July 3rd, 2009 at 3:30 pm
It’s Carrasco with a double “r”.
PhiPhan5648 Says:
July 3rd, 2009 at 3:42 pm
@gm-carson, whoops. My bad. Thanks for the correction.
bigmyc Says:
July 3rd, 2009 at 3:47 pm
You mean, Carrasco, the messiah and season savior?

We can only hope.

But, for now, I’m just look’n for some solid help for the rotation.
SJ Says:
July 3rd, 2009 at 3:50 pm
What the hell is “Philli”?
PhiPhan5648 Says:
July 3rd, 2009 at 3:58 pm
@SJ, maybe they were short on Y’s?
Tug Haines Says:
July 3rd, 2009 at 4:56 pm
@SJ

‘Philli’ is short for Phillis Wheatley (c.1752–84), American poet; born in Africa. She was sold as a slave at age eight to the John Wheatley family of Boston. She was educated by them and then accompanied a member of the family to London, where her first volume of poetry, Poems on Various Subjects, Religious and Moral (1773), was published.
PhiPhan5648 Says:
July 3rd, 2009 at 5:21 pm
@Tug Haines… wow dude. That’s just… wow. That’s a long way to go to make a referrence joke.
Pete Roast Says:
July 3rd, 2009 at 6:04 pm
who’s that charming little rascal on the phanavision jumbotron? someone Please confirm that’s not the goddamn rally monkey…
otherwise, always good to see the AA/AAA pictures beelove!
Lynniemac Says:
July 3rd, 2009 at 6:37 pm
Actually, they’re trying to get BACK to .500. They reached that milestone for the first time in franchise history on Sunday the 28th.
PhiPhan5648 Says:
July 3rd, 2009 at 6:41 pm
@Lynniemac, correct. Franzke and LA were talking about that the other day during the gamecast.
Rudy Says:
July 3rd, 2009 at 8:19 pm
@fuck the mets

I’m assuming that was the part of the game that influenced the “despite getting drilled in the ankle with a line drive” part of the blog entry.
beelove Says:
July 4th, 2009 at 8:20 am
FTM, rudy is right – that was right after carrasco got hit. he was down for a bit before getting back up, tossing a few practice pitches and deciding he was ok to stay in the game.

pete, thankfully that was not a rally monkey but was instead … the “can you make this face” game on the scoreboard.

lynniemac, that’s right but they they’ve never been above .500, so to do so would be the first time for LHV to ‘push above .500′ … they’re gonna need a few more days to do it since they got swept in both games of yesterday’s doubleheader and are three games under .500 now.

thanks errbuddy!
Lynniemac Says:
July 4th, 2009 at 1:28 pm
Sorry beelove, I didn’t mean my comment as a correction to what you said, but I can see why it read that way. All I meant was that they had been at .500 and were trying to get back to it after slipping under.