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Phillips Finally Gets Promotion to Dunedin
Story URL: http://bluejays.scout.com/2/653900.html
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Chad Hillman
InsideTheDome.com | Jun 23, 2007 |
The Lansing Express is pulling out of the station once again. This
time, it
will have closer Paul Phillips on it as a passenger as Phillips learned
after earning his 11th save on Friday night.
Phillips was told he would be leaving
for
Dunedin and reporting to the D-Jays for Saturday’s game against the
St.
Lucie Mets.
Although this promotion was long over due, Phillips has
always
taken a positive approach when asked about his repeat performance of
the
Midwest League this season.
“I was sent back here to work on some things and it took me the first
half
to work on them,” stated Phillips. “In the meeting, they told me
that they
felt I did what I needed to do and it was time to go”.
Work on them he did. After a 2006 season that saw Phillips earn 14
saves,
and a 2.01 ERA in 31 appearances, it was a bit of a surprise that
Phillips
even started the year in Lansing. His statistics this season were
pretty
much a carbon copy of his performance of 2006 as he has 11 saves in 25
games
with a 2.45 ERA. Still when asked earlier in the season about his
repeat,
Phillips seemed to indicate that there was a numbers game that led to
his
repeat as well.
“Our organization has a good problem in that we have a lot of great
pitchers
and there is not a whole lot of movement," stated Phillps. “There
are
great pitchers that are in Dunedin that should probably be in New
Hampshire,
there are great pitchers in New Hampshire that should probably be in
Syracuse and so on."
The move to Dunedin should be familiar for Phillips. After all, he did
spend some time there mid season last year before being sent back to
Lansing
to finish his season. The experience was one of learning for Phillips
as he
struggled in his time in the Florida State League attaining a 1-3
record
with an ERA of nearly 7.00. Hitters in the FSL seemed to have Phillips
number however as they hit a lofty .314 against the right hander,
something
that Phillips remembers vividly.
“Every level you go up, they hit your mistakes harder and father”,
said
Phillips.
“I can get away with some mistakes here better than I
could last
year. Last year down in Dunedin I was very inconsistent. This year,
I’m
going to work on my consistency and throwing my pitches down in the
zone and
hopefully I have a lot better results this time around.”
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