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On Sunday, the Class A Lakewood BlueClaws got a dose of a pitcher destined for bigger things in the near future.  Following righty hurler Matt Barnes' 5 2/3, 8 K, 0 BB, 3 H, 1 ER performance for the Greenville Drive at FirstEnergy Park, the 21-year-old was reportedly promoted to Class A Advanced Salem. According to Lakewood manager, former big league All-Star Mickey Morandini, his BlueClaws haven't seen anything near the likes of Barnes in the South Atlantic League this season. "He's one of the best pitchers in the league. We knew that- we saw him when we first opened, down there in Greenville, so we knew the stuff he had and we knew it was going to be a tough game for us," Morandini said. "So far he absolutely is (the best pitcher we've faced thus far), hands down.  He obviously has a real above average fastball, he was throwing 95, 96 out there with an excellent change up.  He didn't have his real good breaking ball today, but he didn't...

Brad Lidge, in what was slated to be his final rehab appearance in the minors before the Phillies activate him to the MLB roster, tossed a 1-2-3 inning for the Class A Lakewood BlueClaws against the Greenville Drive (Red Sox affiliate) on Wednesday afternoon. In a scoreless 8th inning, it took Lidge 10 pitches to retire all three batters he faced. He induced a ground out from lead-off batter Wilfred Pichardo, struck out speedster Felix Sanchez with a slider and got Philadelphia area product Sean Coyle to ground out as well. Unfortunately for Lidge, who has been clear about his desire to add some velocity before he makes his big league return, his fastball again peaked at 88 MPH on Wednesday, which is where it has been since early in this rehab process. Following the outing, Lidge expressed his relief regarding being finished with the recovery from his shoulder and elbow strains as well as some excitement about rejoining his teammates in Philadelphia. "It's crazy. It's ha...

Phillies phans will remember him best as being the player acquired in the deal that sent Darren Daulton to Florida in 1997. Currently, Billy McMillon is the manager of the Greenville (SC) Drive, Class A affiliate of the Boston Red Sox. In his first season as a manager, McMillon has led the Drive to the South Atlantic League Championship Series against the Phillies' affiliate, the Lakewood BlueClaws, who are trying to become the first club to repeat as league champs since 1994, when Savannah won their second straight title. A South Carolina native, McMillon played collegiate ball at Clemson University, where he still holds the best lifetime batting average, at .382. I spoke with Billy prior the postponement of game 3 of the SAL championship series. Check out the media player below to listen to the full interview. _______________________________________________________________ Be sure to follow PhoulBallz.com on Twitter by clicking HERE .