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Kyle Drabek Moves Closer to the Bigs

Jun 2, 2009, 6:10 PM UTC

In serious need of some help on the mound, the hottest pitching prospect in the Phillies organization took another step closer to the show yesterday, as 21-year-old Kyle Drabek was promoted to the team’s double-A franchise in Reading.â†µâ†µI know what you’re thinking, and yes, yes ... that Drabek.â†µ

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â†µâ†µKyle’s dad is Doug Drabek, a 13-year Major League veteran and Cy Young-winner with the Pittsburgh Pirates in 1990. Though he went on to pitch some serviceable seasons in Houston, the elder Drabek always will be a Pirate to me, and that 1990 campaign in particular stands out in my mind because he was untouchable that year 22-6, 2.76. What a team that was for the Buccos with Bonds, Bonilla and Van Slyke in the outfield. Of course, they ran into that Nasty Boys Reds squad in the NLCS that would not be denied. â†µ

â†µâ†µPeople in Pittsburgh must still be shaking their heads about the Pirates mini-dynasty that wasn’t. The ‘90 season was their first of three trips to the NLCS with the same bedrock lineup at the height of the Leyland era, and they never made it through to the Series. One immediately thinks of the heartbreak of the ‘92 NLCS. Francisco Cabrera, innit? And bloody bleedin’ Sid Bream, the first baseman of the ‘90 Pirates, scoring the winning run for the Braves in Game 7, just beating the throw from Bonds in left off that unlikely Cabrera game-winner. â†µ

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â†µAnd that was pretty much all she wrote for the Pirates. The dissolution of that team might as well have been the dissolution of the franchise. Bonilla was already in Queens embarking on his career as a perpetual disappointment, Bonds left for San Fran and hit the roids, and Drabek headed for Houston, where he went into immediate decline. Pittsburgh hasn't had a winning season since.â†µ

â†µâ†µAre sons always embedded with the dashed hopes of their fathers? As a Phils’ fan, let me say that, in Kyle Drabek’s case, I certainly hope so, because about the only thing that Papa Drabek didn’t achieve in his career in the majors was a trip to the World Series. Here’s hoping Kyle sets that omission right and that a Drabek finds his way to the mound come the ‘09 Fall Classic.â†µ

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This post originally appeared on the Sporting Blog. For more, see The Sporting Blog Archives.

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