Chase Utley missed Philadelphia’s season opener in Pittsburgh Thursday afternoon to rehab his injured knees in Arizona.
With Michael Martinez on the disabled list and Wilson Valdez being dealt to Cincinnati, Charlie Manuel found himself throwing highly touted 22-year-old Freddy Galvis into the lineup. After speculation by many analysts of the Phillies seeking out-of-system help to fill the void of Utley’s injury, Amaro Jr was unable to get a deal inked during spring training.
This lack of depth took away a lot of options for the injured Philadelphia based club, but left fans with the hope that Philly’s next superstar could take his throne a few seasons earlier than anticipated. The natural shortstop played second base on Thursday afternoon and looked sound in the field.
Jimmy Rollins’ perspective replacement had five put outs at his new position and showed some comfortable footwork around second base when turning a double play in the first inning. His major league debut wouldn’t be nearly as inspiring in the batter’s box.
Blessed by John Mayberry and Carlos Ruiz combing for five hits on the day, Galvis stepped in between the chalk with chances to produce every time he tapped his lumber on the front of his left cleat. The double-A all-star hit into consecutive double plays and grounded out with a runner on in the top of the seventh. He got an alright piece of the ball his second at bat, but consistently peppered the ball to the right side of the infield where it was fielded with ease time and time again.
After Ruiz collected his third hit of the day, Galvis crept up to the plate for his final at bat in the top of the ninth and bunted a letter high fastball foul. The foul bunt evidently threw off his timing and the speedy second baseman didn’t swing at another pitch until he chased a changeup for strike three. Galvis finished the game with five runners left on base.
In the future it’d be nice to see him close his stance and try to spray the ball to the right side of the field. He has the speed to easily turn a single into a double, but he has to put the ball where it needs to be in order to utilize that speed.
Galvis isn’t the first player to struggle in his debut and he still has a tremendous upside. Based strictly off Thursday afternoon’s win, Galvis has a lot of developing to do before Manuel writes his name on the scorecard in pen not pencil.
his play does not warrant that headline, solid in field, that first double play was critical and veteran like, give him time at plate before you bury him, do you and paulman go to same church?
Seemed like he was pressing. Good point,shorten that stance up a bit and it might help a bit.Like the way Ruiz and Mayberry did enough to get us a run. Bedard actually had some great stuff yesterday…all the hits we got and he really buckled down and got outta some jams. I expect them to do well gainst this next guy…9-9 last year and a 3.28. We have enough hitters on this team to do well….pitching is top shelf in the league.
How about those Marlins man!!!Once the Heat start the p-offs noone will care about them down there. Ozzie will snap on the media and lets see Reyes be an All Star when it matters.
Paul….pick the Braves.
Be careful around Noontime today Jake.. may the Wrath of God bestow upon you ..
I Picked the Nationals and will stay with them.. how about that BRad Lidge smokin’ them Cubbies down in the 9th.. 1 Year Deal for $1 Million was the signing of the Off-Season.. He’s back healthy with a chip on his shoulder..
That potent Cubs line-up….lets see how that shoulder does once its warm.
The Nats….get outta here man.
How do you pick the Nats with Roy,Cliff,Cole,and Vanimal? Any other team inthe league wouldn’t mind the bats of Jimmie,Hunter,Shane,and Polly..plus the additions. The problem is everyone is still in the 08-09 mindeset that we have studs up and down the line-up. It’s not gonna work like that anymore.We have studs in the stable now.
Least you didnt use the term “as i’ve state”….
Paul, I’m not messing with Jake around noon today. Not one bit. You don’t make my schedule for me buddy…
But seriously, busting on a rookie after one game in BASEBALL? Wow…
@Paulman
Lidge smoked the Cubs? Really?
In any other park or if it hadn’t been so windy Ian Stewart’s bomb would’ve been a homerun. And he’s lucky they were able to throw out Mather at home.
Lidge barely scraped out a save there
Nats with Strasburg, Gio Gonzales, Edwin Jackson, Wang and Zimmerman is enough to keep the Nats close..(I think Gio will be a Cy-Young Candidate)
Bullpen has Lidge,Clippard as set-up guys once Closer D Storen returns..
Lol 1 game in and we bury a rookie. Sorry but galvez has upside where utley has been on a dreadful downswing of his career. give the dude a few starts. And im sorry tge nationals will never be good.
Strasburg would be phils 4th starter, others maybe Gonzales and Jackson fight it out with worlley Blanton for fifth, storen to papelbon,not even close, paulman you are certifiable jackass, pompous wind bag,
I honestly we ould like too see strasbug be successful. Sad Tommy John survery took him out way too early. But no way in shape or form is thr nats pitchibg or even offense is close to the phils. We need a hamels deal stat. Pay the man, the only pither on our sta. win a world series, aka w.s MVP also
Maybe right now Jake, but let’s see how it shakes out come July,August..
Gio Gonzales is that off-spped,sneaky fastball type of Pitcher that aleays gives the Phils FIts… Edwin Jackson went 3-0 versus the Phils Batting LIne-up last fall and was a big reason the Cardinals won the World Series…
A good close fight to the end is exactly what the Phils need.. I just don’t seen their everyday line-up scoring enough runs on a consistent basis and the Big 3 are not goint to be pitching shutouts and going into the 8th Inning on everry start
All 3 of them did exactly that last year.7-8 strong….wake up and watch the game instead of playing horse shoes Paul.
Freddy Galvis doesn’t look fast to me — he looks slower than Utley and more like Valdez and Polanco — does anyone else think galvis looks fast?
Galvis is faster then all but Valdez…the dude from the Pirates gunned him down causehes gotta great arm. Im faster then Utley right now. And so is molassis uphill in the winter time.
this is going to be a different, exciting year, wait until the moving parts start contributing, big things for Phils this year, better pitching than last year with a proven closer, Worley one year of big experience, and sloppy Joe Blanton with new fastball, just wait paulman , you will soon be begging to get on the wagon
I hope they do jake, I just don’t see much else on this team outside the Big 3 and RF H Pence and the consistent CF Victorino & C Ruiz …
Everyone else is either too old,too brittle, or injured, or on their way day and or still unprven in my book..
Mayberry,Worley,Stutes and Bastardo are the real key to this Season, I believe.. All came out of nowhere last Season and performed very well and way above expectaions, Can they do it again, if 2 or 3 of these guys play well, then Phils are in good shape, but if the 4 of them struggle, feel the pressure of expecatations, hit a wall, have a sophomore jinx or whatever you want to call it, the Phils are in trouble .. MAyberry is an important Bat in the LIne-up during Howards absence and he needs to perform like last Season and a lot better that he did over Spring Training where he struggles.. Stutes has been shaky sin eclast September and seems to lost his contril and perhaps a little confidence since then.. Bastardo’s been great, los a few MPH off his fastball, so hopefully that’s just a conditioning thing and Worley is the wildcard in the Rotation, he ppitches like last season, then Phils have the best Staff bar non, if he doesn’t, struglles then Phils have Top 3 and then very little.. though Kendrick could be a solid #5 Starter if needed ..
I just wished they Signed 3B Aramis Ramirez this off-season when he was a free-agent and the Phils then could then have had the luxury of Polanco playing 2B until Utley returns .. Is anyone really surprised of Utley’s knee consition .. I am not.. Utley did what he did last year which is sit out Spring training, take April and May to really get in baseball shape and once the the weather is warm for good and play about 100 games for that’s about all he knees can handle..
Bastante!…Leave Galvis be!
Galvis in for his D…He hit .240-50, muy bien…He’ll learn to move runners.
Some of you guys aren’t satisfied with anything. It’s the f^#@ing season opener, for God’s sake. He’s a rookie in his first major league game. Did you guys ever play any high level sport, or any sport for that matter? It’s called butterflies, & squeezing the bat. I went 0-8 in first College Baseball game & threw up for both days. Give the guy a break for 6-12 games, then you can rip him. He is a great glove & has a lot of upside & improvement to do on offense. Paul, you are becoming as big as a fraud as the 76ers & Stinkadala. How can you pick the Nationals? COME ON! Lidge!? Really? REALLY!?!? Have you watched him even pitch the last 3 years? I wouldn’t have given him 2 cents, after the $$$ he stole off of us the last 3 years. Give it a rest dude. The National won’t even finish second! Even though we will continue to have offensive issues, & IMHO, Howard & Utley are not going to give us anything this year, we still have chips in Blanton, Kendrick, Brown, & a few kids in the minors to get us another bat if needed. Gonna be tough, but I think Amaro can get something done. If not, we will be a quick out in the playoffs again. But our pitching is going to have to carry us again.
1- Phils
2- Braves
3- Nats
4- Marlins
5- Mutts
if your going to write an article at least know who you are talking about. no one has ever claimed Galvis was the next “superstar” and he was a flat out horrendous hitter every year of his career until last year. he’s going to struggle at the plate, period. if you think otherwise your just plain unintelligent. the guy is there for his defense, which was top level major league SS caliber when he was 19 years old. he improved as a hitter last year after he put on some muscle in the offseason. he’s also not all that fast, never has been a base stealer, so again, learn the facts. how do these people get these gigs to write on this site? they’re half clueless.
Galvis has “good” upside, because he will be a gold glove caliber SS when Jimmy moves on. but that upside has nothing to do with his hitting, which is still very much a work in progress. Charlie could help the kid out by switching him to 7th in the order so he doesn’t get so much junk up there. usually it’s hard for such a young kid who is not an advanced hitter already to have enough discipline to take walks in front of the pitcher.
furthermore, if you don’t follow the minor league system, im talking looking at every box score of the phillies teams almost every day, and then reading what others have to say about the prospects who do closely follow them, then DO NOT WRITE ABOUT THE PROSPECTS. because you just look like an uneducated jackass.
A type of game and loss I am afraid we will see a lot this year from the Phils,
They waste a great Starting Performance by their Starting Pitcher only to lose the game late due to an anemic Offense and a suspect Bullpen..
This everyday Line-up is not going to get it done over the course of a Season and I don’t care how well the Big 3 Pitch..
By the way, the Nats and Mets both won taking a 2-0 Records for 1st place..
Another Loss today to the high-powered offense of the Pittsburgh Pirates..
Phils blow another good Starting Pitching Performance and lose the lead by it’s shaky Bullpen.. Getting from the 7th to the 9th Inning until Papelbon can be used will be an issue most of the Season… Bottom Line, Phils score 6 Runs in 3 games versus the Priates, Team Batting is about .200 for the Season as a Team which has them tied for last in the NL with Pirates..
What’s going to happen when the Phils start playing some better Teams
Last Year I dubbed the Phils as the “Phillie’s Lite”, this year I am searching for a name for this anemic Triple AAA type of Offense that the Phils have out there, maybe the “Phillies 0 Carbs” nah, that’s too wordy… Good Grief …
Mets are in 1st Place with a 3-0 start,
Here’s a Stat to think about
Phils are 1st in Pitching in the NL but last in Hitting which gives them a losing Record, Sooner or later, you have to score more runs than your opponents
The way the Phils LIne-up is and how Offensively challenged they are, will in essence, keep more of the crappy teams in games longer which gives the crappy teams a better chance to steal some Victories from the Phillies..
I am downgrading this Team to 90-92 Wins at best..
The bullpen might be a bigger issue!
The 7th/8th Innings are going to be issues all Season with this Bullpen,
Papelbon will do fine, the problem is that with the crappy offense the Phils have,
they probably wont have many leads going to the 9th to be able to use him
Reports all Spring stated that Bastardo’s Velocity had dropped to below 90 MPH.. If he can’t get it back to the mid 90’s level, he will get hammerd by Big League hitters..
Stop the panic, phils have terrible record at pnc park, three games in and paulman up to same dire predictions as last year, let’s see where they are after 40 games, although Manuel made some bone head decisions yesterday, and for as much as Pierre looks promising, nix, thome and wigginton suspect
New Updated NL East Predictions
#1) Mets
#2) Nats
#3) Miami
#4) Braves
#5) Phils