Phillies acquire Russell Branyan
August 9 2007
The Phillies have
acquired 31-year-old Russell Branyan from the Cleveland Indians for
cash. He's a low average guy with legendary power and just as
legendary strikeout numbers. He takes a lot of walks and can't field.
Branyan, who bats left-handed, hit 197/322/426 in 122 at-bats for the Padres
this season. He hit seven home runs. He played 24 games at third base and
12 in left field.
The Padres released him in July and the Indians signed him on Tuesday and
sent him to Triple-A.
In 2006, Branyan appeared in 54 games in right field for the Devil Rays.
Assuming the Phillies believe he can play right field, they would have the
option to platoon Branyan and Werth in right until the return of Victorino.
They could have done the same thing with Werth and Dobbs (or Helms and
Dobbs), too, but chose not to. Branyan has not been significantly better
against righties than lefties over his career, he has hit 220/302/481 (783
OPS) against lefties and 231/331/479 (810 OPS) against righties.
The linked announcement suggests Branyan will be put on the 25-man roster
for tonight's game, which means somebody is headed elsewhere. The Phillies
currently have 13 pitchers on their roster, including relievers Myers, Mesa,
Alfonseca, Gordon, Durbin, Romero, Condrey and Geary.
Chris Roberson's hold on
his roster spot can't be too secure, but I expect the Phils will keep him on
the roster till Victorino or Bourn returns.
Love this move. That said, he really can't play defense and he really
strikes out a lot. In 2,119 career plate appearances, Branyan has struck
out 734 times. That's about 34.6 percent of his plate appearances. Pat
Burrell, by comparison, has struck out 1,094 times in his 4,540 plate
appearances, about 24 percent. Howard has struck out 427 times in his 1,526
career plate appearances, or 28 percent of the time. Howard leads the NL in
strikeouts this season, having whiffed 133 times in 432 plate appearances,
or 30.8 percent.
After spending much of the year hitting at Petco, Branyan must be excited by the
possibilities of the cozy confines of Citizens Bank Park. He's pretty much
one dimensional. But it's a nice dimension.
Phils wihn
August 9 2007
There is fun to be had
with that h.
Kyle Lohse got his first win as a Phillie last night. He got a lot of help
from the bullpen -- Alfonseca, Gordon and Myers combined to allow just one
hit over 2 2/3 innings while striking out four. Aaron Rowand gave the Phils
a three-run lead with a two-run homer in the sixth.
All of the sudden the Phillies' bullpen is lights out. The blast that
Gordon gave up to Fielder in Milwaukee on Saturday cost the Phils the game,
but since then the pen has gone 12 1/3 scoreless innings over three games.
Every member of the Phillies' eight man pen has pitched during that
three-game stretch.
The Phillies beat the Florida Marlins last night, winning 6-4 to improve to
60-53 on the season. A win tonight would put them eight games over .500 for
the first time this season. They are in second place in the NL East, four
games behind the Mets and a half game ahead of the Braves. In the Wild Card
hunt, they trail just one team, the Padres. The Phils are a game behind San
Diego for the Wild Card and have won three in a row.
Lohse got the start for the Phillies and went 6 1/3 innings, allowing four
runs on six hits. Four of the hits went for extra-bases, two doubles and
two home runs. He walked three and struck out three.
Hanley Ramirez started the first with an infield single to short. Rollins
made a nice play moving towards third, but the speedy Ramirez beat his throw
to first. Ramirez was caught by Ruiz trying to steal second and Dan Uggla
and Miguel Cabrera both popped out behind him.
Lohse threw a 1-2-3 second.
Alejandro De Aza hit a ground-rule double to left with one out in the
third. Pitcher Dontrelle Willils was next and he laced a 1-1 pitch from
Lohse over the wall in right, putting the Marlins up 2-1. Ramirez and Uggla
went down behind him.
Cabrera started the fourth with a towering home run to center that cut the
Phillies' lead to 4-3. Todd Linden drew a one-out walk and stole second on
the pitch that Jeremy Hermida struck out on for the second out. Matt
Treanor grounded to third to leave Linden stranded.
Ramirez walked with two outs in the fifth, but Lohse made a nice play on a
ball back to the mound hit by Uggla to end the frame.
Lohse walked Cabrera to start the sixth, but got Mike Jacobs on a fly ball
to right field for the first out. Linden hit into a double-play to end the
inning.
With one out in the seventh, Treanor lined a ball into left field. Burrell
made a dive-like offering in the direction of the ball, missed, and the ball
skipped past him. Treanor was given a double, but it was a bad play by
Burrell, especially with the Phils up three runs. De Aza moved Treanor to
third with a single, putting men on first and third with one out for the
pitcher's slot. Righty Jason Wood hit for Justin Miller and Manuel brought
in Alfonseca to pitch to him. Wood hit a ground ball in between short and
third. Rollins made a fantastic diving stop and threw to second in time to
force the speedy De Aza. Great play by Rollins to get an out on that ball
to help control the mini-rally by Florida. Treanor scored from third to
make the score 6-4. Ramirez was next and he hit a fly ball to short left
that Burrell caught after a long run.
Gordon pitched the eighth against the heart of the Florida order with the
Phils up 6-4. I was certain at the time this wasn't going to work, but
Gordon shut down the Marlins with a sparkling 1-2-3 inning. He got Uggla
and Cabrera on ground balls to third and struck out Jacobs to end the frame.
Myers struck out Linden for the first out in the ninth before Hermida
singled to right. He struck out pinch-hitter Miguel Olivo and De Aza to end
the game.
Great job by Alfonseca, Gordon and Myers. They went 2 2/3 innings, allowing
just one hit, a single, and striking out four.
The Phillies' lineup against lefty Dontrelle Willis went (1) Rollins (2)
Taguchi (3) Burrell (4) Howard (5) Rowand (6) Werth (7) Ruiz (8) Nunez.
Helms has pretty much become a non-factor -- I think you need to play him
against lefties at least. Ruiz continues to start behind the plate, I'm
still hoping for Coste to see more playing time.
With one out in the first, Iguchi dribbled a ball towards Willis. Willis
threw wildly to first, Taguchi had a single and took second on the error.
Burrell and Howard both walked, loading the bases with one out for Rowand,
who struck out. Werth grounded to short to end the inning. Big strikeout
for Rowand as the Phils get nothing out of bases loaded with one out.
Nunez singled with one out in the second and Lohse bunted back the pitcher.
Again Willis threw wildly to first. Lohse was safe at first on Willis'
second error in two innings and Nunez went to third. Rollins hit a long fly
ball to center field for the second out. Nunez scored easily to put the
Phils up 1-0. Iguchi moved Lohse to second with a single, but Burrell
followed and grounded to short to end the inning.
Rowand blooped a double down the right field line with one out in the third
and moved to third on a single by Werth. Ruiz hit a soft ground ball to
third for the second out. It allowed Rowand to score and tie the game at
2-2. Willis uncorked a wild pitch while trying to walk Nunez intentionally,
allowing Werth, who had gone to second on Ruiz's ball, to go to third.
Nunez walked intentionally, putting men on first and third with two outs for
Lohse. Lohse lined a single over second. Werth scored and Nunez went to
second. 3-2. Rollins singled to center, Nunez scored and Lohse went to
second. 4-2. Iguchi grounded out to the pitcher for the third out.
Burrell started the fourth with a ground ball to short that got past the
weak effort of Ramirez for a single. The next two went down for the Phils
before Werth was hit by a pitch. Ruiz grounded to short for the third
out.
Nunez was hit by a pitch to start the fifth and Lohse bunted him to second.
Great job with the bat by Lohse, who twice got the sac down and lined an RBI
single into right in the third. Rollins and Iguchi went down to leave Nunez
stranded at second.
With one out in the sixth, Howard hit a ball down the left field line he
apparently thought was going foul. Stayed fair and Howard had to hold first
when he should have had two. Didn't matter, though. Justin Miller relieved
Willis and Rowand lined his first pitch out to right-center to put the Phils
up 6-3. Werth struck out for the second out before Ruiz hit a blast off the
top of the wall in right for a triple. The Marlins again walked Nunez
intentionally, putting men on first and third for Lohse. Manuel let Lohse
hit for himself. Lohse struck out swinging. Manuel's fear of his pen shows
itself again, I think you need to hit for Lohse there. Lohse had thrown 92
pitches on a hot night and would get one more out in the game. Also, any
team that intentionally walks career 244/314/317 hitter Abraham Nunez twice
in one game deserves to lose.
Rollins singled to start the seventh and went to second on a ground out by
Iguchi. Burrell walked and Roberson pinch-ran for him. It put men on first
and second with one out for Howard. Howard struck out and Rowand popped to
first.
Werth started the eighth with a triple to center. Ruiz was next and he hit
a fly ball to shallow right. Hermida made the catch in right but went to
the ground to do so. Werth tried to score from third but Hermida got up and
threw him out on a close play. Unfortunate, but I think they made the right
choice in trying to score Werth after Hermida left his feet. Nunez lined to
second to end the inning.
Rollins was 2-for-4 with two RBI. Great defensive play in the seventh.
Iguchi was 2-for-5 and left four men on base.
Burrell was 1-for-3 with two walks, but I fear the magic may be gone or at
least slowed. Last night's single had some help from Ramirez and he's
striking out more than he did in his torrid July. He's
1-for-his-last-8 with three strikeouts.
Howard was 1-for-4 with a walk.
Rowand was 2-for-5 with a double and a home run. He struck out twice and
left six men on base. He has six hits in August, four of which went for
extra-bases (a double and three home runs).
Werth was 2-for-4 with a triple.
Ruiz was 1-for-5 with a triple.
Nunez was 1-for-2 with
two walks. He's 2-for-5 with a double and three walks in his last two
games.
Kyle Kendrick (5-2, 3.88) faces righty Sergio Mitre (5-5, 3.67) tonight as
the Phils go for the sweep. Kendrick will be making his first start against
the Marlins. In ten starts for the Phillies this season he has allowed
three or fewer runs eight times and has yet to allow more than five.
Lefites are still the problem for him, they're hitting .333 with a 1.82
ratio. Righties are hitting .211 with an 0.87 ratio. He's been better at
home so far, throwing to a 3.29 ERA in his six starts at Citizens Bank
Park. Mitre started against the Phillies on
April 6,
the fourth game of the season, and allowed five runs in five innings. Only
one of the runs was earned. Jimmy Rollins hit a home run against him in
that game. He was very strong early in the season, but has 3-3 with a 5.19
ERA over his last 11 starts. On the season, righties are hitting .312
against him, lefties .243. He has been good at preventing the long
ball, allowing just seven in 117 2/3 innings.