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Rosenberg, image- MiLB.com The Phillies continued to trim their 40-man roster on Monday, announcing that B.J. Rosenberg cleared waivers and had been outrighted to Triple-A Lehigh Valley. Rosenberg, who was a 13th round draft pick by the Phillies in 2008, appeared in 13 big league games this past season, sporting a 6.75 ERA with the Phils. Overall, in 57 big league contests during his career, the 29-year-old has a 4-2 record with one save and a 5.72 ERA. In 20 minor league games this year, Rosenberg posted a 2-1 record with a save and a 5.73 ERA. Rosenberg can elect to become a free agent as a result of the move. Following the recent move involving Andres Blanco , the team's roster now stands at 38 players.

To begin their final series of the 2012 season, the Phillies (80-79) will travel to Washington, where they'll face the playoff-bound Nationals (96-63), who have a magic number of one, to clinch their first National League East division title. Just one win by the Nationals or a loss by the Braves will lock down Washington's division crown and Atlanta's wild card placement.  This will mark an end to the Phillies' run of five consecutive division titles, a franchise record.  Not only is the division title on the line, but the Nats are also tied with Cincinnati for the best record in the league, which would determine home field advantage throughout the playoffs. Read ahead for more about the pitching match ups as well as plenty more statistical information from this series. Monday, 7:05 PM. Kyle Kendrick (10-12, 4.08 ERA) vs. John Lannan (4-0, 4.23 ERA). The lefty Lannan earned a win against the Phils last week, when he allowed 2 earned runs...

Today we're taking a glance at Phillies developmental talents playing for the Scottsdale Scorpions in the Arizona Fall League, through Sunday, November 6th. First baseman/third baseman Cody Overbeck has been excellent, posting a .339 average with 2 doubles, a triple, a HR and 6 RBI through 17 AFL games. The 25-year-old Overbeck, also sports an on-base percentage of .451. The righty batting slugger mashed 24 regular season homeruns, combined, for Double-A Reading and Triple-A Lehigh Valley in 2011. Outfielder Tyson Gillies has played in 19 games and posted an unimpressive .197 with 2 doubles and a homerun, 5 RBI and 12 walks. The 23-year-old Gillies, who has been sidelined with hamstring and foot injuries over the past two years, has only made one stolen base attempt in AFL play. Darin Ruf , a first baseman, has slugged 3 homers and driven in 13 runs, but has had a tough time overall, batting just .223 in 16 games. The 25-year-old was a 20th round draft pick in 2009...

Autumn is here and the Arizona Fall League is in full swing. The Phillies have several players assigned to the Scottsdale Scorpions, where they merge with prospects from the Giants, Red Sox, Angels and Nationals organizations to fill out a roster that does battle with other clubs' talents. Below is a list reviewing all of the Phils' players that are seeing action in the annual fall developmental league. Through 8 games, outfielder Tyson Gillies has gone 5-for-21 (.238 avg) with no extra base hits, 7 walks and 1 stolen base. The Vancouver native, who turns 23-year-old at the end of this month, missed a great majority of the 2011 regular season with hamstring and foot injuries after playing just 28 games in 2010 due to his recurring hamstring problem. He is using this time in the Arizona Fall League as an opportunity to make up for some of the time missed since joining the Phillies organization in the 2009-2010 off-season as part of the return from Seattle for Cliff Lee . I...

Here are a few exclusive insider updates on some players in the Philadelphia developmental system. -The Double A Reading Phillies have made a move with their pitching staff, moving 26-year-old Canadian Chris Kissock into the bullpen this week, after he surrendered 6 earned runs in 3 innings in his last start. Kissock had posted a 1-4 record and a 6.81 ERA in 7 starts this season. Filling the void in the team's rotation will be 25-year-old BJ Rosenberg, who previously helped solidify a strong bullpen for the R-Phils. Rosenberg, had never started as a professional, but Reading manager Mark Parent expressed some confidence in the decision to switch the two righty hurlers' roles. "Well, we want to get Kissock back in a role that is comfortable and that he was real successful in. BJ will be able to throw more innings and continue to improve his secondary stuff, which is improving all the time," Parent said on Friday. In his first start on Friday night, Rosenberg, who was s...

Mesa, Arizona is the autumn home to seven Phillies minor leaguers as well as players from the Angels, Mets, Pirates and Cubs. Seven players from each of those organizations make up the 35-man roster of the Solar Sox, who sit in 2nd place in the Arizona Fall League's East Division. As recently as Friday, the Sox were tied for first in the division with Scottsdale as both teams sported a 9-6 record, but a head-to-head battle between the 2 teams for the top spot in the division went to the Scorpions in a 9-1 rout on Friday. Following a 15-1 mashing of the Peoria Saguaros on Monday, Mesa has a 10-8 record and sits 1 game behind Scottsdale. In the game, 24-year-old first base prospect Matt Rizzotti went 3-for-5, with a double, a walk and 2 RBI to bring his batting average up to .412 in 9 AFL games. Rizzotti, an Eastern League all-star in 2010, is also averaging more than a walk per game in Fall action and has posted a stunning .545 on-base percentage. Some familiar pitchers also shined...

A pregame conference, between starting pitcher Drew Naylor and catcher Kevin Nelson, on how to handle Thunder lead-off man Justin Christian didn't prove as successful as the pair from Reading would have liked. Christian bested the Reading Phillies battery, delivering a 3-run homerun to lead Trenton to their third straight victory over the R-Phils, by a score of 4-3. Naylor and Nelson were able to force Christian to ground out to shortstop Freddy Galvis in each of his first two at bats, but their game plan didn't stop Christian from pulling a long drive over the left field wall that gave the Thunder the lead for good on Saturday night. Christian drove in Marcos Vechionacci and Jack Rye, who began the Trenton half of the 5th inning with back-to-back singles. Reading bagan the scoring in the second when Kevin Nelson laced an RBI single that scored Cody Overbeck. Trenton clapped back in their half of the frame when Daniel Brewer singled to drive home Brandon Laird, who led off the ...

Here is your tour around Phillies news land... After yesterday's game, BJ Rosenberg was sent down to minor league camp following his scoreless inning against the Tigers. Rosenberg spent time as closer for both the single A level Lakewood BlueClaws and the double A Reading Phillies in 2009. JC Romero threw some batting practice today. Facing live batters, while mixing in his slider is a positive step, but the lefty reliever still is not game ready and appears to be a considerable amount of time behind another rehabbing Phils pitcher, Brad Lidge. There's no doubt, however, that the Phillies and their phans would gladly sacrifice missing Romero for 2-3 weeks, to start the season, if it means he can stay healthy for the remainder of the 2010 campaign. Lidge is scheduled to face minor leaguers on the Phillies' off day tomorrow. Combined, Cole Hamels and Roy Halladay have put together the following stats this spring- 6 games, 20 2/3 innings pitched, 3 earned runs, 1.31 ERA, 23 st...

A bit of early spring training news landed in the laps of phans everywhere this afternoon when the Phillies announced the names of 13 non-roster invitees to this year's spring training in Clearwater, Florida. Some of the players' names should be familiar to regular PhoulBallz.com readers. Top prospect OF Domonic Brown , relief pitcher BJ Rosenberg and starting pitcher Joe Savery lead the list of prospects invited to train with the big club this spring. Also invited are two of the players that the Phillies acquired in the deal that sent Cliff Lee to Seattle, Phillippe Aumont and Tyson Gillies. BJ Rosenberg Also invited were 20-year-old infield prospect Freddy Galvis, 26-year-old infielder Ozzie Chavez, catchers Tuffy Gosewich, John Suomi, Dane Sardinha and Kevin Nelson, right handed pitcher Ryan Vogelsong, who GM Ruben Amaro stated has a shot at the 5th starter spot, and right handed reliever Ehren Wasserman. The obvious catching depth is simply so the Phillies have enough g...

Last week PhoulBallz updated you on some final numbers from the land of the Arizona Fall League. There's another offseason hot spot for baseball and it's known as the Mexican Pacific League. Phillies minor leaguers John Mayberry Jr., BJ Rosenberg, Michael Taylor and Neil Sellers are playing there for the Yaquis de Obregon. Right now, the Yaquis are 20-18, in 4th place. Sebastian Valle is also playing in the league. In 32 games in the Mexican "Winter" League, Mayberry Jr. is batting .314 with 7 homers, 23 RBI and a .910 OPS. Against lefties, Mayberry Jr. is batting .500 (14-for-28) with a 1.319 OPS. Mayberry Jr., a former first round draft pick of the Rangers, batted .211 with 4 homers in 39 Major League games with the Phillies this season. Sellers, who played third base for double A Reading this year, batted .371 with 3 homeruns, 18 RBI and a .953 OPS in 23 games with Obregon. Taylor, the Phillies' 3rd best prospect (as ranked by Baseball America), batted .308 wit...

The Lakewood BlueClaws are one win away from winning the South Atlantic League Championship. Game 3 of the best of 5 series is tonight in Greenville, SC at 7:05pm EST. Games 4 and 5, if necessary, would be played Friday and Saturday at 7:05. Ahead are some key quotes from this week, some links to get you ready and some additional notes on the series. The Greenville Drive is Boston's single A affiliate. Catcher Travis D'Arnaud, a supplemental 1st round draft selection in 2007, is in the midst of a 24-for-57 stretch. That's a .421 average. The BlueClaws were 41-25 (.621 winning pct) on the road in 2009. Tonight's starting pitcher for Lakewood is 2008 4th round draft choice Trevor May . The 19 year old has gone 14 straight starts without a loss. BlueClaws pitchers have allowed just 5 runs over the first 4 playoff games...all wins. Greenville's starter is righty Stolmy Pimentel who was 10-7 with a 3.82 ERA in the regular season. Pimentel is 19 years old and was signed a...

I'll lead with the link to our article about the Harry Kalas Wall of Fame plaque misprint that was updated yesterday. Story is here . I notified the Phillies and apparently no one was aware of the error. Phillies VP of alumni relations Larry Shenk took blame, saying he was responsible for the copy that ended up immortalizing the broadcasting legend. He stated that replacing the plaque would take a lengthy amount of time, but the team would consider the fix. Cliff Lee has won his last 7 starts, after losing his previous 3. During the 7 game win streak, Lee has a 1.09 ERA and 48 K's in 58 innings with 4 complete games. Since July 29th, when the Phillies acquired Cliff Lee from the Indians, Lee is 5-for-13 (.385 avg) as a hitter, while Greg Dobbs, Eric Bruntlett and Matt Stairs are a combined 3-for-33 (.091 avg). Phillies pitcher Joe Blanton has a 7-6 record this season. In Blanton's six losses, the Phillies average 1.33 runs scored. Jamie Moyer has an 11-9 record. The Phillie...

Brad Lidge blew his league leading 7th save of the season, his 6th on the road, Tuesday night in Chicago. Lidge has surrendered earned runs in 20 of his 46 outings this season....that is 43% of his games. In 2008, Lidge was only scored on in 18% of his outings. Lidge's ERA is up to a MLB worst 7.29. Reports out this week state that Brett Myers is still ahead of his initial schedule for a return to the majors, following his simulated game, thrown on Sunday. When Myers was the Phillies' closer in 2007, he was only scored on in 20% of his relief outings. Manager Charlie Manuel continuing to state that 'Lidge is the closer' and refusing to deal with the sheer uncertainty that is Lidge the closer, needs to stop. With Brett Myers en route to a return, perhaps a change can be made, although it may not be soon enough. -------------------------------- BJ Rosenberg locked down his first double A save Tuesday night for Reading in a win against Trenton. Rosenberg, was promoted tw...

I spoke with Lakewood pitching coach Bob Milacki recently. Just a couple quick questions, mainly about his visit to the double A all star game and the BlueClaws' pitching prospects. Here is what Coach Bob had to say. Coach Bob, can I get some comments on your experiences at the Double A all star game in Trenton this month? It was fun. It was fun. I went over there, they called me, 'cause I was born in Trenton...and threw out the first pitch. And they also wanted me to participate in the home run derby (Coach Bob threw pitches to Phillies minor leaguer Michael Taylor in the derby), which is different for me. But, it was fun. I got a chance to see some guys who I coached in previous years with the Pirates, so it was kind of neat. Big crowd. Were you a choice of Michael Taylor's at all, or did the organizers assign you to pitch to him? He didn't know I was going to be throwing. He probably would have wanted somebody else. But he did hit one homerun, so it was nice. It was...

BJ Rosenberg is half of the closer tandem for the Phillies class A Lakewood BlueClaws. BJ splits the duties with Ryan Bergh . A 13th round selection out of the University of Louisville in 2008's amateur draft, Rosenberg was one of six all stars from the Lakewood team this season. Through 29 appearances this season, Rosenberg is 7-2 with a 1.15 ERA, 1.08 WHIP and 14 saves in 39 innings pitched. BJ took time to answer some questions for me the other day and here's how that went down... Speak a little about your success so far this season, including your all star experience. Right now, I'm kind of on a roll for a little while. Been pitching pretty well. I've been working on some things, like, fix my mechanics a little bit. Been going good. Gonna keep it going, and the season's just over half way done, still a long way to go. The all star game was fun. I didn't get to pitch, but I guess they were saving me for extra innings, since it was such a close game. It was a ...