It was a tough outing for J.A. - he lasted four and a bit, but gave up 3 HR and 5 RBI as the Phillies fell to the NL East leading Mets. According to the team website, we’ve got the following moves to report:
With a roster move needed to activate Saturday’s starter J.A. Happ, the Phillies optioned Geary to Triple-A Ottawa and decided to keep J.D. Durbin in the bullpen, as they sort out who, Durbin or Happ, will remain in the starting rotation.
“It didn’t [cross my mind], and it’s so wrong for me to think that way,” Geary said. “But I guess in the past, I was always on top of stuff. But this year, I let my guard down. The grim reaper got me.”
While Geary’s one Minor League option made him easier to send out — rather than risk losing a live arm such as Durbin — general manager Pat Gillick said the move was largely based on performance.
“He needs to get straightened out to where he was,” Gillick said. “There’s nothing wrong with him physically. He just has to work out a few mechanical problems, and we think he’s better served working them out in Ottawa. We’re not in a position where we can allow people to work their problems out in games.”
And then this from the same release:
Move No. 2: In essence, Geary was sent down for righty Anderson Garcia when the team optioned Happ to Triple-A Ottawa after the game and replaced him with Garcia.
Garcia, 26, pitched with Double-A Reading and Ottawa this season, compiling a combined 3.09 ERA and limiting opponents to a .216 average.
Happ allowed five runs in four-plus innings, three of which came on two first-inning home runs by Paul Lo Duca and David Wright. Because the Phillies don’t need a fifth starter until July 17, Happ was sent to the Minors, and the team will go with Cole Hamels, Jamie Moyer, Adam Eaton and Kyle Kendrick until then.
Durbin, who got hit hard in the first game of Friday’s doubleheader, survived and will pitch out of the bullpen.
“That’s fine,” Durbin said. “I’ll pitch wherever they need me.”
For Happ, 24, he’ll just wait for his next opportunity.
“I’ve been working for years to try to get here, and I was just excited to get the chance,” Happ said.
Is everyone keeping up? The guys in the Lynx clubhouse responsible for the uniforms will be working overtime this weekend. For those who missed it, J.C. Romero was sent directly to Philly from Florida - he’s already figured into two games this weekend.
It was a fun night at the park last night, despite the loss. One thing that a rain delay does is force people together into areas seeking shelter; we met a nice couple, up from Whitby for Saturday and Sunday with their two boys. After the brief delay, we made our way back to our seats and spent the rest of the game fielding questions about the team and comparing notes on our kids’ Little Leagues. Apart from movies and, to a lesser extent church-going, in Ottawa, Lynx baseball is one of the few things left that people participate in as part of a “community”. Sens games don’t count IMO - really, how much of a conversation can you carry on with the person sitting beside you, let alone a row down?
The boys wound up in the picnic area, fielding foul balls and playing “run-down”, while Bekah compared missing teeth with the Trash Monster and tied the Gatineau Olympiques oversized shoe-laces. A 6.05 start, hot dog, new friends, family and baseball on a Saturday night - really, I don’t need much more than that.
Finally, for this morning, a quick check on a couple of FLP (former Lynx players) who’ve crossed paths on the West Coast:
One reason the A’s decided to dump OF Milton Bradley and keep DH Jack Cust is Cust’s Moneyball approach. Since being plucked from the Padres’ system in early May, Cust is second on the A’s in walks and on-base percentage and his power numbers have offset his high strikeout rate. Bradley’s health remains a bigger concern than his notorious temper. He failed a physical (oblique) that would have sent him to the Royals. (Yahoo Sports)
Minor League Beat had a good article on Jack which I meant to post some time ago. Here’s some of it:
“But at the age of 24, with nothing left to prove at the minor league level, Cust’s career was about to take a turn for the worse. The Baltimore Orioles have a reputation of burying talented young players in their minor league system, and Owner Peter Angelos has a history of signing aging veterans instead of giving talented young players a chance (see also Calvin Pickering), and unfortunately for Cust, he too would fall prey to this. Cust did not make the Orioles opening day roster and, heartbroken and admittedly discouraged, he spent his forth straight season at AAA, and struggled for the first time, hitting a career worst .235. Following the season, upon being granted free-agency, Cust vowed he would having nothing to do with the Orioles organization for the rest of his career…
After sitting on the bench for his first two games in an A’s uniform, Cust finally got his shot in the series finale May 6th versus Tampa Bay, starting at Designated Hitter, and he sure made the most of it, belting a solo home run over the center field wall. Cust’s home run, which came off of a low and away fastball, traveled an estimated 420 feet, and drew the envy of his coach Bob Garen, who said “Cust showed incredible power, almost to straightaway center field.” The home run seemed to be the symbolic culmination of every long bus ride and every organization that had passed on Cust, and every opportunity that was just out of his reach. It was seven years late, but Cust was finally getting his big league chance, and he was going to make the most of it, saying “I sat for seven years in Triple-A, and you just have to stay positive, [and believe] that good things are going to happen.”
The rest, as they say, is here.
early this morning in 
