Pat Neshek ready and willing to make his return soon
PHILADELPHIA » Fresh off a third rehab appearance Friday night, Pat Neshek says he’s ready to finally begin his second tenture as a Phillies reliever.
Well, he thinks ready. Sort of ... close, anyway. “I can kind of see the progression, I think that’s going to keep happening,” Neshek said of his injury, originally a shoulder issue which later progressed to a flexor problem in his forearm. The combination has kept him off the active roster since the end of March.
“I think it’s good enough to play,” he added. “I know the team needs me, too. So I’m trying to do it a lot quicker and if I have to take some lumps early on that’s fine with me.” Lumps? Not sure anyone would want that. Nor would anyone want a reliever who hasn’t pitched all season preparing for his debut by thinking about “taking lumps.”
“Neshek had a very successful rehab outing yesterday,” manager Gabe Kapler said. “He feels strong and healthy.”
Kapler said he planned to trade ideas with pitching coach Rick Kranitz and athletic trainer Scott Sheridan before deciding whether Neshek needed another rehab outing or whether to activate him, perhaps as early as Sunday.
But Neshek seems ready to go. Well, kind of ready...
“I wanted to see the velocity and I saw that last night,” said Neshek, who struck out the side in an inning for Double-A Reading. “So I’m just going to say, ‘Hey, I’m good to go.’ But it’s tough. I know I’m hurt, too, and you can’t push it. I’ve been through that a couple of times in my career. It’s really rough. There are nights where you sit in the dugout and you feel kind of depressed. But there’s nothing you can do.
“Hopefully I come back and I can pitch well. I he’s don’t know what’s going to happen when (I) get out there, but I like the way (the ball has) been coming out of my hand, and it should help that the starters have been pitching really well here, with the exception of a few games.
“We’ve been winning games. I like where we are, where we’re at as a team and hopefully I can contribute to that.”
Maybe he can . ... Someday, anyway. Someday soon, even.
*** After being recalled from a short stint at Triple-A Lehigh Valley, former closer Hector Neris appeared to have gotten himself together with a couple of breezy outings last week. Then came Friday night, a game the Nationals had blown open early.
Neris came on to pitch the ninth, the Nats’ lead at 12-7 then. He promptly gave up five earned runs on four hits ... and amazingly, three of them were home runs. That amazing job was rewarded Saturday with another demotion to the minors for Neris.
“I think last night it was just, what a shellshock, you know?” Kapler said of Neris. “There were flatter fastballs and some splits that didn’t do a whole lot and we know that for this team to be as successful as it can be we need ... the strong Hector Neris down the stretch to help us get in the playoffs.”
That’s a long way off, of course. It remains to be seen if Neris can work his way back at all. Kapler had some cheery words about allowing Neris to “work in a pressure-free environment” and other such niceties.
But he also had some strong messages underscoring the nice words.
“We saw some signs of this guy coming back and being special and unique again, but we really want him to feel dependable more than anything else,” Kapler said. “It’s hard to imagine that right now when he goes on the mound, he feels dependable. Because that would lead to us being able to depend on him.” Ouch. “The frame of mind before was, ‘I’m going to go work on my craft. I’m going to be extremely positive and I’m going to be a great teammate.’ I’m not 100 percent sure what his frame of mind is this time around,” Kapler added. “But the message is similar: ‘We need you, we expect that you’re going to be back here contributing.
“We believe that you can be an important piece in this bullpen and we would like you to go work in a pressure-free environment where results don’t matter and the only thing you need to be thinking about is working on your craft.’” BLUE JAYS 4, TIGERS 3 » Justin Smoak led off the bottom of the ninth inning with a home run and the Toronto Blue Jays beat Detroit, handing the Tigers their 11th straight loss.
Smoak connected against reliever Joe Jimenez (3-1) for his 11th homer of the season.
Seyunghwan Oh (4-2) worked one inning for the win. Randal Grichuk also homered for the Blue Jays, who have won 10 of 11 at home.
John Hicks hit a solo homer in the Detroit second off Sam Gaviglio and Nick Castellanos made it 3-0 with a two-run shot in the third, his 12th.
Randal Grichuk hit a two-run homer to cap Toronto’s three-run fifth that tied the score. RAYS 5, ASTROS 2 » Wilson Ramos drove in four runs in the first two innings against Justin Verlander, and Tampa Bay won for the seventh time in eight games.
Matt Duffy finished with three hits, including two in the first two innings, to help the Rays move to .500 (41-41) for the first time since June 1. Tampa Bay has held opponents to two runs or fewer in five straight games for only the second time in franchise history.