On Thursday in Atlanta, the Philadelphia Phillies are rolling out their top pitching prospect, and their second overall prospect (according to Baseball America), Carlos Carrasco. The Venezuelan is a right hander, who utilizes his mid-90’s fastball and lively changeup to get through innings. He does mix in a curve as well, but going into this year his third pitch was still a work in progress. Judging from his numbers in AAA this season, his “stuff” is in question because he sports a 4.92 ERA, and an 84:22 K:BB ratio.
Those walks, accompanied by the 93 hits he has allowed, have lead the way to a 4 – 7 record. Here at The Sports Idiot, we do not put a lot of stock into win/loss records, but we do put stock into a pitcher’s ability to go deep into games and keep his ERA down. Neither of these things are being done by Carrasco, who has 15 starts under his belt, but only 86 total innings pitched. A little math tells us that is less than six innings per start.
The good news is that he gets to go against the Atlanta Braves, who currently hold the honor of being 25th in all of MLB in regards to runs scored, and are hitting a club aberage of only .256. Carlos Carrasco has long been regarded as one of the best pitching prospects in baseball, but has a reputation for being soft and giving up big innings. Yes, he has a history of striking out a lot of batters, but this season he does not seem to be clicking on all cylinders. Carrasco is not a must add, but if he gets his feet under him and gains some confidence he could be an asset in the second half. If he keeps a rotation spot, that is.
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Well, according to Heather Dinich he is. Of course, here in Wolfpack Nation we feel that he is the best player in the entire country, but what do we know? He has only played one year under center for the Pack, and he already holds the record for most passes thrown without an INT. As a matter of fact, he only threw one to the enemies last season overall. Hopefully his time playing baseball this Summer does not effect his ability to find the open man or thread the needle. Of course, if it does, Mike Glennon is willing, ready and able to step in.
Wilson is only the 3rd member of the NC State football team to make Heather’s list of the top 50 players in the ACC, joining Willie Young at #9 and Nate Irving at #19. Expect the number of Pack players on this list to increase next Summer, as head coach Tom O’Brien is tearing up the recruiting trails and building his program the right way. The trenches are going to be a battle in the future, and the ex-Marine knows something about winning in the trenches.
John Smoltz will make his debut for the Boston Red Sox tonight against the Nationals in Washington, D.C. Get him in your lineup, because there is no reason to believe that he will have trouble with the Nationals.
Go here to read a nice piece by MLB.com’s Ian Browne about Smoltzie.
How close? Very close. Consider that Lidge is currently rehabbing in Clearwater while the Phillies are in Tampa playing the Rays. That is how close he is to returning. Then there is also the fact that Charlie Manuel said before Wednesday’s beatdown by the Rays that they would most likely activate Lidge today, Thursday the 25th of June. Get him in your lineup, because he will immediately resume the role of the Hammer.
Put Joey Votto back into your active lineup. Dude is back, and after explaining why he has been away from the game he took the field and went 1 – 4 with a single and two strikeouts. It may take him a game or two to get back into raking mode, but we fully expect him to ignite the Reds’ lineup once more. This is great news for Brandon Phillips and Jerry Hairston, and hopefully for Jay Bruce as well.
So why did Votto have to take some time away from the game? As speculated, he has some issues with depression. Best of luck to Votto in dealing with his issues, and we hope that he has turned the corner and is on the road to recovery.
Well, according to Matthew Hayes of The Sporting News they are. He has Florida at number one, followed by Oklahoma, Texas, Mississippi and then the Wolfpack of NC State. He only has one sentence about the Pack, and claims that Mike Glennon may steal the starting job from Russell Wilson. That would not make Todd very happy, or our good friend Heather Dinich, who pointed us to this link to begin with.
If you are counting, that is two straight entries thanks to Heather.
Well, according to the lovely Heather Dinich he is. As she counts down her list of the top 30 players in the conference, we will continue to alert you to the NC State Wolfpack players on the list. Young, a 5th year Senior DE, is the second player to make Heather’s list Nate Irving was number 19. So go to the entry and give both Willie and Heather some love in the comments section. At least until we see where she puts Russell Wilson (top three is expected Heather).
With baseball being the only sport going right now, other than the occasional golf tourney worth watching, we know a lot of you are pining for the fall and the start of football. NC State’s upcoming season is looking like it could be a pretty good one, and it is nice to have that to look forward to. Of course, here at The Sports Idiot we love baseball with a passion, so we do not want the season to get here too quickly.
Keeping with the theme of me whining about bad calls by umpires, the Philadelphia Phillies got absolutely hosed yesterday. In the bottom of the eighth inning, with one out on the board, Jimmy Rollins made a fantastic slide on his way to first base, eluded the tag of Baltimore Orioles’ one bagger Ty Wigginton. Only blue did not see it that way, and called him out. The next batter, Shane Victorino, doubled to left and that hit could have possibly sent Rollins from first to home tying the game. Unfortunately, Rollins was busy pacing back and forth in anger in the dugout.
When Rollins was called out, Phils Manager Charlie Manuel went ballistic. Okay, Charlie does not go ballistic, but he came out and argued the call, thus getting the gate from first-base umpire Larry Vanover. Vanover should have released the call to another ump, but refused to do so because he has an ego the size of Hasim Rahman’s swollen forehead.
So instead of being in position to tie the game with one out and Rollins on base, the Phils had two outs when Victorino laced his double. Instead of Chase Utley entering the batter’s box with one out and either runners on second and third down by one, or a tie game with Victorino on second and still only one out, he stepped up to the plate with two outs. Chase then hit the ball to O’s reliever Jim Johnson to end the inning. The Phillies then got sat down in order in the ninth for O’s closer George Sherrill’s 15th save of the season, thus wasting a 10 strikeout effore from Cole Hamels.
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