Wednesday brought double bad luck for the Phillies. By "double" I am not referring to the two losses in one evening, but the Phillies double double-losses: two games lost, two key players injured. In Wednesday night's clunker against the Cincinnati Reds. Both outfielder Domonic Brown and starting pitcher John Lannan left the game with injuries.
For Lannan, the injury supposedly went back to his start in Miami. Matt Gelb reports that Lannan "tweaked" his knee while attempting to bunt during his last start against the Marlins. Lannan indicated that he had some tendinitis above the knee.
As for Domonic Brown, he dove for a ball in the first inning and something "popped in his back", according to Gelb's report. Brown ended up leaving the game a few innings later and was replaced by Ezekquiel Carrera. Brown will have an MRI in the morning.
So, who could replace each of them should the Phillies have an injury? At this point, I am not sure. The Phillies released all of their AAA veteran inventory, so no one is stashed there. Some starters with some upside are in AAA including Jonathan Pettibone, Ethan Martin, and Adam Morgan. B.J. Rosenberg is also at AAA putting in time as a starter, and Tyler Cloyd is still at Lehigh Valley. Of the five, the only starter who has not gotten shelled to this point is Adam Morgan. Does that mean they will call him up? Perhaps.
As for outfielders, the 40-man roster options are Tyson Gillies and Darin Ruf. By default, Ruf has to be the one who would come up. Ruf hit is first home run of the season on Wednesday night, to add to his five doubles and seven RBI. Gillies is scuffling at Lehigh Valley, hitting just .111 in the early going.
Simply put, without either, the Phillies are screwed.
