Not a good start to the week for Los Angeles Angels closer Jordan Walden who blew his third consecutive save, giving him six blown saves for the season. Walden had been perfect in saves through the month of June until his in his last three outings in which he also recorded no strikeouts. Despite the three blown saves, Walden has not gotten pounded so he is lucky to keep the job for now. Veteran left-hander Scott Downs could see some save chances if the Angels decide to make a switch. Downs has five wins on the season with a 1.69 ERA and a .90 WHIP.

June has been a much different month for J.J. Putz of the Arizona Diamondbacks as he has blwon three saves and took a loss last night. For the month of June, Putz has a 4.91 ERA and a 1.18 WHIP. He has held up so far this season but if I owned Putz, I would want to be sure I had David Hernandez on reserve just in case.

Neftali Feliz has been struggling a little bit for the Texas Rangers as he allowed four runs on 6-22 after pitching two innings the previous night, leaving him with a 6.52 ERA and a 1.14 WHIP for the month. This comes on the heels of his control issues in May when he walked nine in 10 1/3 innings. Despite his struggles, Texas Rangers president Nolan Ryan said that reports of the team’s interest in New York Mets closer Francisco Rodriguez was not true because Rodriguez does not offer improvement to the bullpen. A few more rough outings from Feliz in July and that may soon change though.

Just when it looked like Los Angeles Dodgers closer Jonathan Broxton was close to returning, he has now been shut down for three weeks after undergoing an MRI yesterday. If there other closer options on your league’s waiver wire, I would claim someone and dump Broxton as there is a chance he could be out for a much longer period.

2010 Philadelphia Phillies Projected Batting Order:

1.  SS Jimmy Rollins (ADP 20)
2.  3B Placido Polanco  (ADP 217)
3.  2B Chase Utley (ADP 4)
4.  1B Ryan Howard (ADP 10)
5.  RF Jason Werth (ADP 34)
6.  LF Raul Ibanez (ADP 93)
7.  CF Shane Victorino (ADP 63)
8.  C Carlos Ruiz (ADP 320)

2010 Philadelphia Phillies Projected Rotation & Bullpen:

1.  Roy Halladay (ADP 23)
2.  Cole Hamels (ADP 98)
3.  J.A. Happ (ADP 284)
4.  Joe Blanton (ADP 306)
5.  Jamie Moyer / Kyle Kendrick (ADP ND / ND)

Closer – Brad Lidge (ADP 225)
Handcuff – Ryan Madson

2010 Philadelphia Phillies prospects with potential impact this year:

1.  Scott Mathieson – RP
2. Antonio Bastardo – SP

Chipper Jones smacked two home runs and went 4 for 4 with 5 RBI to lead the Atlanta Braves to an 8-7 win over the Milwaukee Brewers. Yunel Escobar went 3 for 5 and drove in the game-winning run in the 8th inning. Rookie Tommy Hanson was taken deep three times in his debut, allowing six runs in six innings with five strikeouts. Ryan Braun went 2 for 4 with two home runs and four RBI for Milwaukee. Braun now has 38 RBI on the season to go with his 12 home runs. In other fantasy baseball news around the diamond on Sunday…

Hitters:

Nelson Cruz moved into a tie in the American League home run race after clubbing his 17th home run of the season. Cruz went 3 for 4 with three runs scored. Since May 20th, he has not gone more than three games without hitting a home run.

Shane Victorino went 2 for 5 with two RBI including his fifth home run of the season. Victorino is now hitting .295 on the season with 29 RBI and 9 stolen bases.

Juan Rivera went 3 for 5 with three RBI and his sixth home run of the year, giving him 25 runs knocked in on the season. Rivera has driven in a run in 7 of his last 8 games, giving him nine RBI during that period.

Aaron Hill broke out of an 0-for-25 rut by connecting for his 13th home run of the season and boosting his RBI total to 40. Despite a roughly 60 point drop in batting average from the beginning of May to the start of June, Hill still hit .307 for the month of May.

Alexei Ramirez went 2 for 5 with three RBI and delivered his fourth home run of the year. After ending May on a high note by hitting .281 for the month, he has started off slow in June batting .174.

Clint Barmes has been on a roll, going 3 for 4 with two RBI on Sunday, which gave him five consecutive games with two or more hits. He has now driven in seven runs in his last four games.

Jose Lopez went 3 for 5 with two RBI and hit his sixth home run of the season. Despite batting only .236 on the season, Lopez has still managed to drive in 31 runs so far this year.

Rookie Andrew McCutchen went 3 for 5 with an RBI and is batting .333 early on since his promotion from Triple-A this week.

Mark Reynolds finally put an end to an 18 inning game, delivering a three-run home run off of position player Josh Wilson. The home run was the 14th of the season for Reynolds who had struck out four times earlier in the game.

Pitchers:

Roy Halladay pitched a complete game shutout, allowing seven hits and no walks with six strikeouts, to improve to 10-1 on the season. More impressive is that the shutout comes on the heels of throwing a season-high 133 pitches in his last start. Halladay has been a true workhorse this season, pitching at least seven innings in every start he has made.

Rookie Antonio Bastardo moved to 2-0 after allowing two runs in five innings with four strikeouts. He had some control problems, as he only managed first pitch strikes to 7 out of 23 hitters, but he pitched well with men on base to minimize the potential damage.

Livan Hernandez improved to 5-1 by hurling seven shutout innings with four strikeouts. Hernandez has dropped his ERA almost 3.5 runs since his only loss of the season back on April 23rd.

Ubaldo Jimenez allowed two runs in eight innings with nine strikeouts to notch his fourth win of the season. Take away his three starts against the Los Angeles Dodgers, a team that has pounded him for a 10.20 ERA this season, and his numbers would be even better.

Rookie Vin Mazzaro improved to 2-0 by pitching 7 1/3 scoreless innings with four strikeouts. Mazzaro has yet to allow a run in 13 2/3 innings since being recalled from Triple-A.

Erik Bedard allowed two runs in five innings with four strikeouts to up his mark to 5-2 on the year. Despite his good record and low ERA of 2.47, he has not made it to the seventh inning in a start since May 5th.

Ricky Nolasco pitched better in his return from Triple-A, allowing two earned runs in seven innings with four strikeout, but was still tagged with his sixth loss of the season.

Closers:

Chad Qualls blew his third save of the season, allowing two runs in 2/3 of an inning. Qualls, who complained of  forearm stiffness this past week has blown two of his last three save opportunities.

With Brett Myers of the Philadelphia Phillies scheduled to have surgery on his right hip that will likely end his season, let’s take a look at some the internal options the Phillies have to fill that void either by call up or via trade.

Carlos Carrasco was the minor league pitcher closest to the majors when the season started, beginning the year in Triple-A. He has been off to a disappointing start so far this season at 0-6 with a 5.40 ERA. In 55 innings, he has allowed 63 hits with 58 strikeouts and opposing batters are hitting .281 against him. He has been better in his last three starts with 7 runs allowed in 19 2/3 innings with 21 strikeouts that the Phillies might be willing to give him a shot while he has momentum.

Antonio Bastardo was recently promoted to Triple-A where he has made two starts, allowing three runs in 13 innings with 12 strikeouts. In 34 2/3 innings at AA, he had a 1.82 with 39 strikeouts while holding batters to a .178 average.

Kyle Kendrick has done nothing to distinguish himself in Triple-A, with a 4.25 ERA and 34 strikeouts in 53 innings, but he could be an option because of his past big league experience.

The longest of long shots is Kyle Drabek in Advanced A ball. Drabek currently holds a 2.48 ERA with 74 strikeouts in 61 2/3 innings. If nothing else, the injury to Myers should have him bumped up to AA very shortly.

If the Phillies look to trade for a starter, they might move shortstop Jason Donald who is currently in AAA blocked by Jimmy Rollins. Donald has been off to a slow start with a .234 average with one home run and four steals. In AA in 2008, Donald hit .307 with 14 home runs and 11 stolen bases.

Outfielder Michael Taylor in AA could also be a trade target of other teams. Taylor is hitting .342 with 9 home runs, 37 RBI and 8 stolen bases with a low 19 strikeouts in 152 at bats.

In other minor league news from week 8…

Tommy Hanson continues to dominate in Triple-A, allowing one run in seven innings with nine strikeouts. Opposing hitters are batting a paltry .164 on the season against him.

Gordon Beckham was promoted to Triple-A and is seeing time at third base. It looks like the White Sox are intent to get his bat into the line up at any position they can. Beckham hit .299 with 4 home runs and 22 RBI in 38 games in AA before the promotion. He has gone 3 for 7 in two games with the Charlotte Knights.

Wade Davis should be next in line the next time the Tampa Bay Rays need a starting pitcher from the minors. Davis in Triple-A currently has a 3.40 ERA in 53 innings with 32 strikeouts. His AAA numbers were actually better in 2008 following his promotion from AA.

2008 ERA – 2.72 Innings – 53 Hits – 39 Strikeouts – 55
2009 ERA – 3.40 Innings – 53 Hits – 44 Strikeouts – 32

The Cleveland Indians have several promising arms they could turn to in AA in the second half of the season. Jeanmar Gomez has a 1.29 ERA in five starts with 0.57 whip ratio and 3o strikeouts in 35 innings.
Teammate Chuck Lofgren was just promoted to Triple-A after posting a 1.42 ERA with 31 strikeouts in 42 2/3 innings.

Mat Latos (Padres) tossed seven shutout innings with seven strikeouts and could see a promotion to Triple-A in another month or two. Latos has a 0.50 ERA with 38 strikeouts in 36 1/3 innings on the season.

Madison Bumgarner (Giants) is heating up in AA, running off four straight wins since his promotion. Between his two minor league stops, Bumgarner is 7-1 with a 1.14 ERA with 47 strikeouts in 47 1/3 innings with zero home runs allowed.

Brad Lincoln (Pirates) should be ready for a move up to Triple-A in the near future. Lincoln has a 2.05 ERA with 45 strikeouts in 52 2/3 innings of work. He has allowed only two home runs and 12 walks on the season.

Alcides Escobar (Brewers) has been working at second base since the injury to Rickie Weeks and his hitting has taken off. He has boosted his average to .290 with two home runs and 21 steals. It remains to be seen whether the Milwaukee Brewers promote him the second half of the season or use him as the main trade bait to try to get Jake Peavy from the San Diego Padres.

Catcher Carlos Santana is hitting .292 with 7 home runs and 29 RBI in AA. He also has a 31 to 22 walk to strikeout ratio. If the Cleveland Indians go into fire sale mode and trade Victor Martinez or Kelly Shoppach, Santana could see time in the second half of the season.