Phillies Prospects Tearing it Up in Last Place of Arizona Fall League

As you’ve undoubtedly noticed, the World Series is a horribly uninteresting affair, not even worth giving the slightest glance between AMC and FX HorrorFests.  So to get your baseball fix, you should be turning to the far more accessible Arizona Fall League, where Phillies prospects you know and love are keeping it real as members of the Scottsdale Scorpions.  Why don’t we call them Philorpions.

The annual Arizona Fall League Rising Stars Game, an annual event that in no way reassures/condemns an entire franchise’s hope for its young folks is right around the corner.  Is there a mugger waiting around that corner, waiting to brain the Phillies with less confidence in their young stars?  Or is there a puppy of hopefulness, chasing adorably after the leaf of happiness?

Offensively, the Philorpions have been inoffensive.  Darin Ruf very recently wandered past a .200 average, but kept getting on base because of walks and then being struck by the ball once.  Notable is CF Tyson Gillies, who is in the midst of hamstring and foot repairs, and is in the AFL to shake the rust off.  Unfortunately, he’s playing in the outfield between Bryce Harper and Mike Trout, so by MLB.com’s comparison he may kind of look like a piece of crap.

The Nationals seem to think Bryce Harper has some sort of future in baseball, so they’re happy.  But that’s only if you keep comparing him to other players like some kind of insatiable parent.  The hell’s their problem.

Assistant GM Benny Looper has been repeating that after two years of injuries, its just nice to see Tyson out there walking around with intact muscles, let alone playing baseball with them.

Freddy Galvis has recovered so nicely from his recent cyst-draining that the Phillies have unsuspiciously asked for him to come home by December. So if you ignore all the suspicious stuff, everything is totally fine.  Go ahead and get those hopes all the way up.

Then there’s our pitching corps; Colby Shreve, Jake Diekman, B.J. Rosenberg, and Tyler Cloyd.  They’re all still alive.  Cloyd got his first win the other day.

But Diekman is our sole representative on the Rising Stars East team, hurling against such names as Matt Dominguez, that guy who was told the Marlins’ third base job was his to lose but didn’t come through in the shadow of Florida Baseball Legend Wes Helms; and Anthony Gose, that powerhouse who seems to be doing just fine despite being emotionally destroyed by his tearful departure from the Phillies farm system.  But because Diekman has showed some stuff, he may be snatched as a Rule 5 pick by some other suck-ass bunch.  Like Cardinals or something.  Jerks.

Yes, the Arizona Fall League offers  a bittersweet taste of the game we’ve spent the last six months basing our lives around.  Of course, if you just look at the numbers, we’re probably tasting more “bitter” than “sweet.”  But when do people in baseball ever focus on the numbers?