KRUK ON PAP
-On Thursday afternoon, Mike Missanelli spoke with ESPN Sunday Night Baseball analyst and former Phillie John Kruk about the Jonathan Papelbon situation from over the weekend. Kruk didn’t pull punches and ripped Papelbon for his inability to be ready, and the possibility that he was out the night before, thus unable to perform his duties as closer.
“I don’t know how you can look teammates in the eye and say, ‘I know we’re a couple of guys short in the bullpen but I can’t go.'”
That pretty much tells you all you need to know. Kruk eluded to the fact that if guys were sore or even slightly injured, they played through it. Darren Daulton was a guy who did that often, according to the former Phillies first baseman.
You can look at it two ways. One, siding with Papelbon, guys go through this sort of thing so many times during the season that the media, and fans, likely do not notice. The only reason they did in this situation is because the bullpen blew a three-run lead with three outs to go, which is not Papelbon’s fault.
On the other hand, as he saw Antonio Bastardo imploding, Papelbon could have called Sandberg and said let me fix this and close it out. He did not. And many are upset about it. Which side are you on?
MAG THROWS
-Miguel Alfredo Gonzalez pitched at Clearwater last night and tossed five innings. MAG allowed three earned runs while walking two and striking out just one. Ruben Amaro has stated they see him as more of a starter right now than a reliever, although you could make the case they need help with both.
As of a week or two ago, MAG was hitting 94-95 on the gun, showing the team why they inked him to a three-year contract.
