Tonight, we all get to witness the Major League debut of one Antonio Francisco Bastardo, who will go up against Padres ace Jake Peavy tonight in San Diego. Now, it's been well-documented that the Phillies are at least interested in Jake Peavy, and some fans would even be willing to sell the farm for him (assuming he waived his no-trade clause, of course), and tonight Rubes will get an up-close look at Peavy.
But all eyes won't be just on Peavy, as the 23-year-old Bastardo will be getting the eye treatment as well. Let's hope it's not the stink eye, crook eye or, even worse, the evil eye.
This little Bastardo, who Ken Rosenthal called a live arm last night on Daily News LIve, has had quite a successful 2009 thus far in the minors. In AA Reading, Bastardo went 2-2 with a 1.83 ERA, .816 WHIP and 39 strikeouts to just 7 walks in 9 games (5 starts, 4 relief appearances). He also notched 2 saves. Bastardo was then promoted to AAA Lehigh Valley, where he went 1-0 with a 2.08 ERA, 12 strikeouts and three walks in 2 starts. His combined numbers: 3-2, 1.89 ERA, 2 saves, 47.2 innings pitched, 51 strikeouts, 10 walks, .194 opponents batting average. Not too shabby.
Should be fun to see how he fares tonight. Good news for him is he's pitching in a pitcher's ballpark, going against a team that's not exactly known for scoring runs. Bad news is he's going against a certifiable stud, so a good outing may not be good enough to get the win. Something tells me the Phils wanna show Peavy just how much run support he could get in Philadelphia though, even when going against the best, so that's another thing going for Bastardo.
Oh, and yeah, J.C. Romero is going to be activated after tonight's game.
Yes, Mr. Bruntlett, J.C. is about to be freed.
No comments:
Post a Comment