Philadelphia Phillies

Given Chase Utley's and Phillies' handling of prior injuries, do we really know what's going on this time?

With Ruf dinged and other choices not as viable, Phillies think Michael Martinez offers them the most options.

With Chase Utley on the disabled list and Ryan Howard on the precipice of injury with his hurting left knee, there has been an outcry from some fans for the Phillies to call up. To some, the Ruthian-type hero from last year who blasted 20 home runs in one month, and 51 between three leagues is the obvious choice for a team which so desperately needs an offensive boost. But to others, his recent 0-for-21 slump warrants some more minor league seasoning before joining the Phils. In talking with Ruf today at Lehigh Valley, it was clearly evident that he, nor anyone else is particularly worried about his recent skid. He does not feel like it is a mechanical issue, pressure to perform, or a lack of confidence at the plate. In fact, Ruf is extremely sure in his abilities and makes absolutely nothing of his struggles of late. To him, it is just the natural ebb and flow of the game. Here is some of what he had to say about dealing with his slump: “Everybody struggles in baseball at some point. In a six-month season you’re going to go 0-for-20, 0-for-30- that just happens. You just have to shorten [the slumps] and try to get into a rhythm as quickly as possible.” If Ruf will get everyday playing time, it makes sense to call him up. Photo by: Ian Riccaboni “You just have to stay positive and just have to keep working and doing the same things day in and day out that you have been doing all year and the things that have made you successful in the past, and try to get back to that…A key hit or something like that could trigger prolonged success, but more so just maintaining your routine and not straying from the stuff you are doing.” In baseball, if you are not getting better you are getting worse. You have to put what happened in the past behind you and try to get better, try to work hard every day to ultimately get to the big leagues and help the team win there.” He said a lot more, such as squaring up balls and not being worried about power numbers, but this was the parts I wanted to get at. What does all this mean? It means that he needs to keep getting out there, playing every day and getting at bats to work his way out of his rough patch. He thinks if he can get out there and find a routine and stay consistent with his approach he can heat up at any time. And he really could, it could happen in the blink of an eye. Remember, Ruf hit .262 last July and had some 0-fers, which is not terribly better than his .256 average this May. But remember what happened once July 2012 came to an end? he hit .370 with 20 homers and 36 RBI in August. The point is, is Ruf will be an every day player with the Phillies and get at bats consistently, it makes sense to have him up there. It may not be so much where he is playing as much as making sure he is playing to help him break out this year. However, if he is going to only start once in a while and have to have his only at bats be late in games, perhaps in tough situations against tough relievers, it might not do him or the Phillies any good. And while Howard is playing, there really is no spot for him to start every day. It would be tough to use him in left, because then you have two sub-par, slower outfielders at the corners, and Domonic Brown in center (where he struggled mightily in LHV last year). Keep Ruf in Lehigh Valley…for now. Once he starts swinging a hot bat, give him a shot. Especially if Howard needs to miss any chunk of time or if (when?) Delmon Young continues to be as unimpressive both offensively and defensively as he has been.

WASHINGTON - The Washington Nationals are finding out the difficulties that come with earning front-runner status. A trendy preseason pick to win the World Series, the Nationals(25-23) are just two games ahead of the Phillies after Friday's 5-2 win at Nationals Park.

The Phillies fell to the Nationals, 5-2, at Nationals Park in Washington, D.C.

Kyle Kendrick was out of sync all night (PHOTO: AP) Kyle Kendrick struggled for the second straight outing on Friday night, and the Phillies dropped the first of their three game series with the Nationals, 5-2. Kendrick and the defense had a very tough time in the fifth inning, giving up four runs in that frame alone. The inning started off with a Bryce Harper single, and the scoring began with an RBI triple by Adam Laroche,  followed by an RBI single by Kurt Suzuki, and a 2 RBI double by Steve Lombardozzi. The Phillies runs came from an RBI single by Domonic Brown and a sac fly by Erik Kratz. STRUGGLING KENDRICK Kendrick’s line was 5 IP, 8 H, 5 R, 4BB, 1 K. That’s two straight starts where he gave up at least four runs, bringing his era up to 3.29. His defense didn’t do him any favors tonight, but he did struggle with his command, and didn’t miss many bats. This isn’t a good sign for the Phillies, because Kendrick has been arguably their best pitcher so far this year, and two straight poor starts might be a sign of regression. Hopefully he can snap out of it. FREE SWINGERS The Phillies walked zero times Friday night. None. Zip. Zilch. Nada. They only collected six hits, and grounded out 15 times, including two GIDP’s–one that absolutely killed a rally in a promising fifth inning. The only Phillie with multiple hits was Domonic Brown. THE RETURN OF STUTES Michael Stutes got his first in-game MLB action since April of 2012. He threw two scoreless innings while striking out two batters. He threw 16 strikes in 21 pitches. It was very good to see him back out there again. The Phillies return to action on national TV tomorrow at 7:15 with Jonathan Pettibone and Dan Haren squaring off against each other.

Shaky fielding didn't help Kyle Kendrick, who was unable to rebound from his recent poor start against the Reds. He allowed five runs, eight hits and five walks in just five innings of work as the Phillies fell quietly to the Nationals, 5-2. It was apparent from the second inning when Kendrick couldn't put Kurt Suzuki away that he didn't have his best stuff. After pitting Suzuki in an 0-2 hole with two called strikes, Kendrick began missing low and...

Things started well enough, new Ace Kyle Kendrick was starting so here's a chance to overtake the Nats in the standings. After a ho-hum first, Ryan Howard led off the second with a screaming double. Two batters later Dom Brown doubled to Right and scored Howard. Hey, we're winning! Well, until the bottom of the 3rd when KK got a little Walky and after a lead off out from Span walked the bases loaded. One sac fly later and and tied game. Kendrick managed to get out of the inning without further damage. The team's been hitting though, and it's tied, so things will be fine. So to start the Fifth, Dom Brown led off with a Single. Following a wild pitch to Galvis, getting Brown to Second, Freddy then singled, getting Brown to Third. Erik Kratz flew out, but it was plenty deep to score Brown from Third. Then KK helped his cause with a hit hit. That was followed by a single from Rollins. Bases loaded, one out. Here's where we break things open... Then Revere managed to Valdez the Phillies out of the inning. Still, one run lead. I was right about things breaking open in the Fifth, by the way. Bryce Hunter of the Detroit Tigers led off with a single and was driven in by a LaRoche Triple. Tie game, but Getting Desmond out in the next AB meant it was now 2 outs, so we can probably get out of this down by one. Suzuki singles in LaRoche. It's alright, we're getting to the bottom of the lineup, just need a grounder to wrap things up. Tyler Moore accommodated with a soft, routine grounder to Michael Young. Actually, with Young is there any such thing as a routine grounder? Young fielded it cleanly enough, but clearly mistook his palm for the baseball and by the time he grabbed the actual ball, everyone was safe. Lombardozi then smoked a double into the gap clearing the bases. 5-2. Cutesy Stutesey took over for Kendrick in the 6th, and performed fine in the 6th mowing through the heart of the Nats order with 2 groundouts and a weak popout. And cruised through the 7th striking out the first 2 batters and getting a fly out from Suzuki. Now, Stutes isn't the bee's knees or anything as a Pitcher, but swapping him out for nice guy Durbin and maybe the first month of the season is less painful (I'm full of crap there, as Stutes was every bit as awful as Durbin the first few weeks of the year. I'm just venting nonsensically). I would now like to talk about how awesomely fun it is to watch Galvis in the field. He turned in a play of the week in the 8th behind BJ Durbin Rosenberg. Ball hit somewhat softly up the middle, Galvis slides, scoops it with his glove to Rollins covering second for one of the snazzier 4-6-3 double plays you may ever see. That also ended Rosenberg's night and brought on Jeremy Horst. At this point I acsolutely stopped paying any attention so I could watch to see if Anibal Sanchez could pull off a No-hitter. Oh well, Joe Mauer singles with one out in the 9th. So I'm back to this. Harper grounds out to end the inning, after Horst gave up 2 hits to Leties. They were grounders and not hit all that well, but if Cholly wanted to go LOOGY, why not Tony Bastard who's actually tougher on Lefties than Horst? The Phillies went down weakly in the 9th. Game over. Fangraph of devastation below. Source: FanGraphs

WASHINGTON - Chase Utley believed it was prudent to inform the Phillies moments after pain shot through his right side during batting practice Tuesday. Rather than play through it, an idea a twenty-something Utley might have embraced, Utley was confident in his caution.

Michael Martinez has hit .188 in 354 plate appearances over two seasons with the Phillies. He hit .239 in 121 plate appearances this season with Triple-A Lehigh Valley. But he took Chase Utley’s spot on the 25-man roster when the Phillies placed Utley on the disabled list yesterday because of a strained right oblique. (They placed Roy Halladay on the 60-day disabled list to make room for Martinez on the 40-man roster.) Utley is eligible to be activated June 5, so Martinez is unlikely to be around long. But why Martinez and not somebody like Darin Ruf, who could provide a little help offensively? Or somebody like Triple-A infielders Pete Orr or Cesar Hernandez? I got a ton of questions about this move, so here is the explanation from the Phillies. “We could always use somebody to run,” Charlie Manuel said. “If we take Delmon (Young) out of the game, we might want to keep (John ) Mayberry back to hit. Things like that. Michael is a switch hitter. He can play a lot of positions. Hopefully we won’t have to run Cliff (Lee) no more.” Ruf is hitting .262 with 13 doubles, five home runs and 23 RBIs with Triple-A Lehigh Valley, but he had just three hits in his last 29 at-bats entering today. But Ruf also only plays left field and first base, which means there would be little opportunity for him to play. He is unlikely to take away starts from leftfielder Domonic Brown or first baseman Ryan Howard. The Phillies play two interleague games Monday and Tuesday in Boston, but bringing him up for essentially two games didn’t make sense to them. “I think the better fit was someone who could play all over the field,” assistant general manager Scott Proefrock said. “We’ve got two (interleague) games. It would be hard to find (Ruf) a place to play (otherwise) and it probably wouldn’t be the right fit. At this particular point in time Michael would step into what Freddy (Galvis’) role is and play all over the field. He can play some center field if he had to. He’s been here before. That seemed to make some more sense than something like that. It was more Michael’s versatility and just the really short window of interleague play.” Proefrock said Martinez’s versatility probably helped him over Orr. Hernadnez, who is hitting .312, is primarily a second baseman. “Freddy is going to play ahead of him, so it didn’t make a lot of sense to bring him up,” Proefrock said of Hernandez. “He’s not as versatile as Michael. He’s pretty much limited at second base right now at least from playing on any kind of regular basis.”