Mackanin will keep healthy Kendrick in shop window
PHILADELPHIA » Until the end of July, Pete Mackanin will find a way, every day, to include Howie Kendrick in his starting lineup.
By August, he no longer expects to have that duty.
Kendrick, the 33-year-old utility player making $10 million on a one-year deal, was activated before the Phillies’ 6-1 victory over the Milwaukee Brewers Friday. He’d been on the disabled list since June 28 with a strained left hamstring.
Oddly, though he’d played a night earlier in a rehab game for Reading, he reported soreness upon reaching Citizens Bank Park, requiring Mackanin to keep him from the starting lineup for one more day. Kendrick pinch hit for Pat Neshek in the ninth, grounding a sharp single through the middle.
With the Phillies determined to flip Kendrick for just about anything before the trade deadline, he is likely to receive many more innings off before July 31.
“We want to show that he is healthy,” Mackanin said. “If there’s interest out there, and I’d have to think there is, we want to make sure that he’s healthy. I want to go slow with him. But after tomorrow, if he’s good, I am going to play him as much as he can.”
Kendrick was signed as a free agent for multiple reasons, none more important than his projected trade value at the deadline. Versatile, he could have helped the Phillies at multiple positions and might have been a welcome veteran clubhouse voice. But an early-season oblique injury rendered him unavailable from April 15 through May 29.
Kendrick has played in just 34 games, hitting .354 with two home runs. He is ready, though, for the lateJuly push.
“I feel good,” he said before the game. “I played last night, got four at-bats. Everything felt good today.”
With Cesar Hernandez back and contributing at second, and with Maikel Franco sizzling at third, Kendrick will have to be an outfielder. But Odubel Herrera, Daniel Nava and Nick Williams have been warming recently, too, thus complicating Mackanin’s task.
“I can get him enough playing time,” Mackanin said, “and also keep Nava in there.”
Nava, 34, is also a strong candidate to move at the deadline. He started Friday but left after six innings after straining his hamstring while running the bases. He is day-to-day, Mackanin said.
Kendrick is expected to take Nava’s spot in left. He knows the trade deadline is near.
“I’m not even really thinking about that,” Kendrick said. “All I’m thinking about is playing baseball. Whatever trade is going to happen is going to happen. I can’t control it, can’t worry about it. All I can do is go out and play baseball.”
*** To clear roster space for Kendrick, Brock Stassi was optioned to Lehigh Valley.
Stassi, a 2011 33rd-round draft choice, was celebrated for winning a major-league job at age 27. But he had only 78 at-bats and hit .167.
“It was tough,” Mackanin said. “He’s a better hitter than he showed up here. But not many guys can do that job well.”
*** Exactly two years after making his major-league debut, Aaron Nola Friday pitched one of the best games of his career.
In improving to 7-6, Nola struck out nine and walked two in seven innings. At one point, he fanned eight of nine Brewers.
“I didn’t even know that,” said Nola, who tied his career high for strikeouts. “I was just trying to get early outs. It was kind of hot at the beginning of the game. I was just trying to get in and out.”
In each of his last six starts, Nola has struck out at least seven, generating a 1.70 ERA during that stretch.
“He’s full of confidence,” Mackanin said. “And we’ve got a lot of confidence in him.”
*** NOTES » Jeremy Hellickson (6-5, 4.44 ERA) will oppose Milwaukee left-hander Brent Suter (1-1, 3.09) Saturday night at 7:05. Sunday at 1:35, it will be Jerad Eickhoff (1-7, 4.83) and right-handed Junior Guerra (1-3, 4.77). … Including a two-run, first-inning jolt Friday, Freddy Galvis has hit five home runs in his last nine home games. … Williams has a six-game winning streak. … The Phils have won their last three and four of their last five. … Neshek pitched a scoreless eighth. He has not allowed a run in his 22 innings at Citizens Bank Park this season. … Herrera has walked in four consecutive games.