Even though his control was better, he kept falling behind hitters.  Also, even though he did throw more offspeed pitches, he could have used still more along with better command of them.

There were many times last night where I was looking for/hoping he would throw something offspeed, either because he had the hitter set up for it or because he just had to get away from his fastball.  I was very nervous during several at-bats where he just threw one fastball after another and they kept getting fouled off.  Sometimes he was able to “get away with it” when some hard hit balls——-deep fly balls, the hot shot that backed Rollins up onto the outfield grass——-were turned into outs by our defense.   Sometimes he was not, as he started to give up some hits.

While part of me wants to give Bastardo credit for doing what he has done so far, there is another part of me that wonders how much is due to him and how much is due to the fact that he is an unknown quantity.  I say that because the Dodgers hit him better in start #2 than the Padres did in start #1.  Also, the Dodgers kept hitting him better each time through the lineup.  Bastardo breezed the first time through, gave up a run in the 4th the second time through, and most likely would have given up even more than that the third time through were he left in any longer in the 6th.

I don’t mean to sound like I’m hammering the kid because I’m not.  I’m actually encouraged.  The Phils know where he’s at and what he will need to do to remain successful in the bigs and seem to have made some progress toward that end already.  It will be up to him to develop quicker than the hitters can figure him out. 

In the meantime, he’s got the stuff to get over on guys who have never seen him before, at least for a little while, and buy us some time to make a deal for a top of the rotation starter.  This is not to mention the experience he is getting now will hopefully accelerate his development and get him ready to become a solid member of our starting rotation in the near future.

Love your site and will add a link to mine if you don’t mind.

thanks,

~Matt

Tough to lose a 12-inning game on 3 solo home runs.  Blanton pitched well.  Madson pitched well.  I thought Durbin pitched very well.  Durbin was really sharp, except for that 3-2 fastball the Ethier of course.  Still, you can’t blame this loss on the pitching.

I’ll give credit to the Dodgers’ pitching, but our bats have to do better.  Kuroda, Broxton, and Wade kept us in check.  It turned into one of those games where it is only a matter of time before somebody does something.  Unfortunately for us, they did something before we did.

Let’s hope Bastardo can baffle them tomorrow, our bats wake up,  and we can at least salvage a split.

You know, I was just thinking that we could do something about our lack of a 4th outfielder right now.  Jack Taschner has not pitched since May 27th.  Prior to that, he last appeared in a game on May 20th.  Manuel appeared to lose confidence in him a month ago and I doubt he’s going to get anything more than spot mop-up duty, for which we can use Park,  now that Romero is back and Eyre is pitching well.  Why bother to keep his unused, unproductive spot on the roster?  Wouldn’t we be better served by bringing up an outfield prospect?  I think so.   I mean, defensively there is no question it’s the way to go and even if they’re not up to par offensively(read: not as productive as they’ve been in the minors), I think it would still be an upgrade over what we’re getting from Bruntlett.