Baseball Chatter 05/06

T.J. Rivera is batting .407 (11 for 27) with six runs, five doubles and four RBIs in his last seven games.

Jose Bautista went 0 for 5 last night, striking out four times. He is hitting .187 on the season

Kolten Wong has a career high 10 game hit streak and batted leadoff for the first time. Dexter Fowler was out with an undisclosed injury

Bud Black does not plan using Ian Desmond to replace Trevor Story at shortstop any time soon. Story sat out two games before he went hitless again last night. He is 2 for his last 17, hitting .155 with a .268 OBP on the season.

Yu Darvish has thrown over 100 pitches in four of his last five starts.

Tim Anderson is the perfect example of what happens when pitchers figure out a hitter. After two singles yesterday his average is up to .207. He is seeing more sliders, which leads to more soft contact, which leads to a .171 average against righties

Matt Bush will continue to serve as the closer in Texas because if they use him earlier in high leverage situations, who would they rely on in the ninth?

You have to have a group of guys in the bullpen who are throwing consistently,If you use your one guy right out of the shoot and then things don’t go well, then you’ve got to go and rescue him. When all of your guys are clicking, you can pick and choose from the best matchups based, not just on right or left, but on what guys are best-suited to do. When guys are going well, you know the consistency of what you are going to see and have a predictability to what’s going to happen.Jeff Banister

The Phillies will not give up on Tommy Joseph just yet

We’re pleased with that but I’m not ready to concede that after 90 plate appearances that Tommy Joseph has forgotten how to hit and we’re going to turn to Rhys at this early stage. That’s not to minimize what Rhys has done, he’s been outstanding, and he’s outstanding in key areas. His pitch recognition skills continue to improve, he hits with power to all fields, he does a lot of the things we want to see. He’s a month into his Triple A career and we’re happy to let him continue to get at-bats there. Matt Klentak
25 innings and only two earned runs over those four. He has a 2.04 ERA, 1.08 WHIP and is striking out 7.9 per nine innings on the season.

Lance Lynn has won four in a row with 22 strikeouts over

Chris Davis hit home run number four on the season after an 18-game homerless drought

Team News

The Mets put an end to their six-game losing streak at home and are now 5-10 at Citi Field. On a brighter note, they have scored at least five runs for the eighth consecutive game overall — the club’s longest streak in 10 years.

The Phillies have struggled with the closer role with no light at the end of this tunnel

The Mets and the Cardinals have combined to score 40 runs over the past four games at Braves new SunTrust Park. Looks hitter friendly to me.

Injury List

Zach Britton returned from the disabled list Tuesday and was unavailable last night due to forearm tightness. We are waiting for the results of the MRI.

Brian Dozier is day-to-day after twisting his ankle last night.

Travis d’Arnaud went to the 10-day disabled list with a bone bruise in his right wrist

Kevin Kiermaier was diagnosed with a bruised hand after X-rays found no further damage resulting from a hit-by-pitch Friday night

Rich Hill will make one more rehab start on Tuesday before he returns to the Dodgers rotation

Cody Bellinger has hit four home runs over his past 10 games. He bought some time with Adrian Gonzalez hitting the disabled list with a herniated disc. This is the first time Gonzalez has been on the DL in 14 seasons.

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