I have tried to be as excited about him as everyone else has been; I have been psyched to see these five tools just burst out all over the place. His long suit seems to be his eye and what seems to be remarkable patience at the plate. I do not have the stats, but my sense is that he sees more pitches than anyone else on the team, and I include Polly in that. Reminds me of Werth in that way.

I do not expect him to be accomplished with the bat at this point. But as of now that long swing of his will always make him vulnerable to off speed pitches. (Just what teh Phillies need.) He seems to have power somewhere, though I would like to see flashes of it from time to time. He is fast, though, really fast; plus speed is for sure. I like speed LOT.

But in the field. OhMyGod, he is awful. His arm is all over the place; no one will ever be afraid to run on his arm. And he cannot catch worth a damned, nor keep the ball in front of him. These are the things that ought to be in place by now if he is a real 5 tool guy. He is clumsy out there like a Saint Bernard puppy, looks far too casual given his errors, has lousy instincts, and regularly costs his team runs by his play. I frankly doubt he will ever be the player that Pence is and if we want the Series this year, we cannot afford to wait to find out.

But having said all of that, I will be absolutely blown away of RAJ moves him, and someday I am sure I will have to eat my words. I just hope that not getting Pence does not cost us this years Series. Given his fielding, keeping Brown just might.

I still think Stutes can be good. But I don’t have a lot of confidence in him right now and don’t think the Phils will be giving him the ball in big games they need to win. We’ll see.

I’d be disappointed if the Phils traded Brown in a deal to get Pence.

Had completely forgotten Perez. He is THIRTY THREE? Geez. I thought he was mid-20s. When he is hot, though, he is filthy. too bad he isn’t reliable. I bet he feels the same way.

Stutes makes you feel queezy, huh? Interesting. I assume that is because he is so new to the Bigs and you’re afraid that will catch up with him. But he sure has been pretty so far, hasn’t he. I have started to relax when he comes into games, like I am expecting good things down deep. I have a hunch we will find out about him on the post season. Big stage. Young guy.

The other thing that makes me queezy is that the Giants have their Bat now and the Braves sound like they will have theirs too, no matter what they have to sacrifice. It is now that I wish RAJ would surface with something magical. I admit that I really like John Mayberry. I just like how he handles himself in the field (he and Vic are really good out there). And he keeps looking better at the plate. But I know that I like him more than he merits so far. And both the Braves and the Giants, if they increase their run production by not-all-that-much, will pose real threats to us getting to the Series. Watching our guys against Matt Cain yesterday gave me flashbacks and really, reeally bad dreams and cold sweats in the dark of night last night. RAJ needs to pull another rabbit outta his hat. And yes, I would trade Brown to make a Hunter Pence happen.

Lidge looked shaky to me last night. I hope he can contribute. The bullpen makes me pretty nervous, and by that I mean Herndon, Carpenter, Perez and Stutes. Did you guys know Perez is still on the team. He is. Looked it up myself just to be sure. Ditto Herndon. He and Perez have combined to get one out in the last nine days. Perez turns 33 in September — I had forgotten he is that old.

On the plus side, the pen hasn’t been charged with a run in seven of the last eight games.

Tentative “Yippee” on Lidge so far. Better than I expected after two appearances.

Now, in light of the Giants’ new acquisition, and the Braves’ focused hunt for the Big Righty Bat, how about that right handed five hole hitting corner outfielder?