It was a good night for both the birthday boys: Rookie Starting Pitcher Antonio Bastardo, on his 23rd Birthday and his first appearance in the majors, pitched even better than you could have hoped. Bastardo pitched six strong innings, giving up only four hits and one ER, a homerun to the league leader, Adrian Gonzalez. On the offensive side, Raul Ibanez, (celebrating his 37th Birthday), got the Phillies offense going, hitting 2 HR and finishing with 5 RBI on the evening, as the Phillies won their fifth straight game, beating the Padres 10-5.
As a rookie pitcher with all the nerves, one could hope for a quality start, (6 IP or more and 3 ER or less), at the best, but Bastardo gave you much much more. Besides the homerun to Gonzalez, Bastardo looked impressive, throwing fastballs in the mid 90’s, when the scouting report said his fastball ranged from 88-91. Bastardo will have to develop his other pitches, and we’ll see how he does in his next start, but at least in his first start, he looked very good. It looks like he has the chance to have a very good future.
Baseball is certainly an interesting game. The above tells the tale of two very different stories. On the one hand, you have Bastardo, the young, up and coming pitcher just beginning his career, having a good night on his 23rd Birthday, and on the other side, you have LF Raul Ibanez, celebrating his 37th Birthday, who also had a very good night trying to stay in his prime for a few more years before retiring. Ibanez is now in the top five in all three Triple Crown Categories (HR, RBI, and Batting Avg.), and he has certainly lived up to what Phillies fans were hoping for when Ruben Amaro, Jr. signed him, and THEN SOME! The Phils will look to make it six in a row tonight, as well as complete a four game sweep on the road against the San Diego Padres. It should be a good pitching matchup tonight as J.A. Haap (3-0) goes for the Phils, facing off against Chris Young (4-3) of the Padres. Also, look out for J.C. Romero, (left-handed reliever for the Phils), whose 50 game suspension is over, and he will be available to pitch tonight if called upon. Game time is set for 10:05 PM.
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