Game 4: Post-Game

— Sorry for the delay in getting this posted, but I needed to take a little time for myself to watch the Rangers season come to an unfortunate end.  Oh well.  With that said, now is probably the best time to tell you that I’ll be taking a few days off over the next few weeks to travel for playoff hockey, as well as to cover Somerset Patriots spring training.  I do not anticipate being in Trenton on Tuesday or Wednesday, and may not be around to update the blog with press releases sent while the team is on the road…I’m heading to Boston, Buffalo, Newark and Philadelphia for first round playoff games, I just couldn’t tell you what dates those games are just yet.  The Tuesday plans could change based on who starts…but you’ll read about that in a bit.

— OK, things you care about.  If your name is David, you play for the Thunder, and you’ve gotten off to a great start in Double-A, raise your hand…I see two hands.

David Adams continued his season opening tear, knocking in two runs on an eighth-inning double and going 2-for-4 on the day, keeping his average at an even .500 on the season (8-for-16).  But you know about him…Phelps was most likely the story today.

Pitching at 88-93 MPH on the radar gun, he struck out the side in the first inning…he got hit around a little bit the second time through the order, but made an adjustment and got his way through it having given up only one run.

Phelps gave Josh Norris and I few minutes of his time after the game, and I’m going to give you all his quotes…I loved how he really delved into the specific changes and exactly what he’s trying to do out there, and I want to share all of that with you guys:

“Definitely a lot of nerves going into it, but obviously when it’s all said and done, I go back and I like the way the box score looks. The double I gave up was a bad pitch. I can get kind of frustrated with some of those things. All in all, I was really happy with the way it went. It was good to get some of those nerves out of the way and be successful early on. It was good.”

“That first batter, I went eight or nine pitches. I know that I have to make my pitches or I’m going to get hit. Go out there, try to make pitches. Do your job.”

“When we originally got to the second time through the lineup, we were successful going with the fastball early, so we tried to go with the same thing. And I wasn’t really commanding my changeup very well the second time through. Gilly did a really good job of making me throw it. I’d get behind 1-0, and they were jumping on the fastball, so we’d go 1-0, then go changeup and they’d be way out in front, and that’s one thing really helped me be successful in the last couple innings. I gave up the run in the third…it was a hanging curveball, and the guy made me pay for it. The sequence on my part, I shook to get to a pitch I shouldn’t have and they got a couple ground balls and a run. It’s frustrating because they hit a double, don’t hit a ball out of the infield, and score a run. But it’s OK, I’ll take it.”

“The secondary stuff…at times, I felt like I threw some really good curveballs today, but then at other times I’d leave it up. I’d rush out, and I’d leave it up in the zone. The slider felt really good today. I got it in on a couple lefties. It’s not to the point where I’m getting on top of it, I like to get it down to where it’s on their back foot. I’m more leaving it waist high and kind of jamming them. It’s definitely small adjustments I need to make to continue to be successful. First time out, everyone’s a little rusty.”

“The first strikeout, was 3-2, and we had been working fastballs. We went slider in to try to put him away and he took it, so we off of that, we went with a two-seamer down the middle. It started on the inside black and ran back. The second guy was fastball in. The third guy, the righty, was fastball away.”

— As for Adams…Josh and I were debating this, and I seem to think that Romine and Laird are the two position players that most Yankee fans know and that David Adams has largely been overlooked.  Josh correctly points out that Laird is not in the Yankees BA Top 30 while Adams is…but I just never really see Adams talked about that much.

If I’m right, that needs to change.  ASAP.

“I don’t know how they missed him,” Franklin quipped.

“The kid’s a pretty good player.  It’s pretty evident that he’s pretty business like about what he does and that he’s a pretty good player as well.  Those other two have certainly put a lot of good numbers up on the board, but he was on that (Tampa) club with them last year as well, and he was a big part of their championship season.”

— Until I hear otherwise, Lance Pendleton is starting on Tuesday.  But I’m not entirely convinced that I won’t hear otherwise.  Tampa starter Manny Banuelos did not make his scheduled start today, but considering Tampa is an informational black hole, there’s no word as to why. 

Pendleton was spotted charting pitches in the stands today, and that’s not something relievers do…so we approached him after the game,

“Sure you’d love to have a set (role), but you don’t live in a set world,” Pendleton said. “Realistically, you’ve got to do what you’ve got to do, and it’s pitching when it comes down to it.  One way or the other, it’s the same mound, the same plate. I’ve done it in the past. Last year I went to the pen for a couple of weeks, went back and forth. Year before that, started in the pen and went into the rotation, so it’s not that big a deal.”

— I’d be willing to bet that people are a bit higher than they should be given the Thunder’s 4-0 start.  If you ask me — and you didn’t, I know — the real litmus test for what this team is comes when they play Akron starting tomorrow.  Akron is a much better team than Erie, and they should give the Thunder a much better challenge.

— As a team, Trenton is hitting .258.  The pitchers have got a 0.67 ERA.  Erie, Akron, whoever…you can’t take that away from them.

— Today was the second time in four games that Wilkins Arias came into the game in the middle of an inning, it was a one-run game, and he shut the SeaWolves down.  He’s already got two holds on the year.

— D.J. Mitchell’s much-anticipated Double-A debut comes tomorrow. 

— Christian Garcia, according to Tony Franklin, was not at the ballpark today.  He was under the weather, but is still with the team.  Again, as I reported earlier, he has not been placed on the disabled list yet.  Additionally, Franklin says there is no additional news on Garcia other than what I have already reported.

Mike Ashmore, mashmore98 AT gmail.com