The Phillies played two games with the Blue Jays this weekend, winning one and losing one.
Toronto hammered the Phils 10-2 yesterday in a game memorable because Hamels and Contreras combined to allow nine runs in 3 2/3 innings.
Hamels got the start and didn’t fare well, allowing five runs on eight hits and no walks over 3 1/3 innings. Only four of the runs were earned thanks to a fourth-inning throwing error by Mayberry at first. Eight hits is a lot to allow in 3 1/3 innings — opponents are now hitting .322 against Hamels in official Spring Training action. His ERA is 3.86. Qualls followed Hamels and he pitched very well, facing six hitters and retiring five of them (the other reached on an error by Frandsen, his fourth). Contreras started the sixth and things didn’t go well. He faced five hitters, striking out one and allowing two singles, two doubles and a stolen base. After he left, Herndon promptly allowed a two-run homer to Jose Bautista, with one of the runs charged to Contreras and leaving Contreras with a 108.00 ERA after one official appearance. Herdon went 1 2/3 frames, allowing a run on two hits and upping his ERA to 2.57. Opponents have hit .310 against Herndon so far. Bastardo threw a scoreless eighth, allowing a single and a walk to the first two men he faced but keeping the Blue Jays off the board.
Montanez started in left and went 3-for-4 with a double, raising his line to a monster 448/452/655. Pierre was 1-for-1 to raise his average to .267. Podsednik 1-for-1 and has a 371/450/514 line.
Mayberry started at first, went 0-for-4 and left four men on base. 195/250/268.
Saturday the Phils beat the Blue Jays 4-3 in ten innings.
Worley got the start and threw four scoreless innings, dropping his Spring Training ERA to 1.80. Papelbon was next and allowed two hits, but kept Toronto off the board in his inning, also dropping his ERA to 1.80. Aumont pitched the sixth and was charged with a run on two hits and three stolen bases. Sanches threw a 1-2-3 seventh. Purcey pitched the eighth, allowing a leadoff homer to JP Arencibia before retiring the next three batters. His ERA is up to 3.00 with the run. Stutes surrendered a single and a home run in the ninth, pushing his ERA to 4.50. Raul Valdes set Toronto down in order in the top of the tenth, keeping his ERA at 0.00.
Luna was 2-for-2 and drove in two runs, including the game-winner in the bottom of the tenth when he singled home Podsednik. Podsednik was 1-for-1 with a walk and a double, raising his line to 353/436/500 with a team-high five extra-base hits (all doubles). Polanco was 1-for-1 to up his average to .529.
Polanco hurt the ring finger on his left hand on Saturday. The linked article suggests he will miss a few days. This says it is not broken.
Ryan Madson still seems to think the Phillies made an offer that may not have been made. Whatever happened, the Phillies would be a whole lot better off with Madson for one-year, $8.5 million than they are having signed Papelbon to a four-year, $50 million deal.
Jim Thome played first base in minor league games over the weekend. The linked article also says that Nix hopes to play today against Detroit. Scott Elarton will start that game.
March 19th, 2012 on 11:24 am
And.. Utley left camp to have his knee checked out.
I thought I was kidding about having 8 copies of Wilson Valdez on the field. But we don’t even own the original anymore.
March 19th, 2012 on 11:59 am
Yep. I’m having trouble feeling optimistic about Utley. Seems like things could be better. John Mayberry and Freddy Galvis seems like it’s not as good a right side of the infield as Ryan Howard and Chase Utley.
http://sportsillustrated.cnn.com/2012/baseball/mlb/03/19/chase.utley.ap/index.html
March 19th, 2012 on 1:16 pm
The axe-man cometh again:
http://tracking.si.com/2012/03/19/phillies-release-sp-joel-pineiro/?eref=sircrc
March 19th, 2012 on 1:37 pm
You know, I am a Phillies fan and alway root for the jersey above any single player. But they are bothering me with this ‘nothing to see here’ approach to injuries and than all of a sudden, BAM! probably gonna start the season on the DL. If he’s hurt, says he’s hurt. I want Utley to play as much as the next person but if he cant, lets see who else will. I guess I dont see this huge advantage you gain by being all snide about it and really RAJ comes off as arrogant about it. I guess, on the other hand though, there really is no reason to have to tell us either so eh, whatever.
anywho, I was really pulling for Willis and was happy about the Pinero signing. I guess either didnt work out very well. Podsednik look to really have a good shot at the team and playing too.
I would have went with Madson first but signing Papelbon doesnt bother me. At the time of the signing, the Phils were gonna set the mark. I dont recall any other team that was gonna fork out big money for a closer at that time. The Phils were gonna pay either one big money and apparently settled on Paps. I’m not sold on the fact that if the Phils signed Madson to big money that Papelbon still gets 50 mil.
March 19th, 2012 on 2:11 pm
I agree it seems like they could have worked all this Utley stuff out sooner. Would have been nice to know. The Phillies really don’t have anyone who can come close to replacing him. I have little confidence in Martinez, Galvis, Frandsen and Orr to be passable offensively.
I’m glad to have Papelbon, too. The Phils sure paid him a lot, though.
March 19th, 2012 on 3:11 pm
Well, as I said before, given the issues this team faced at first-second-third-left, Papelbon’s signing was a serious miscalculation. They spent the money on the wrong position. Madsen would have done just fine. Given the guys who are missing from this team, the odds of having a ton of leads to protect are long indeed. The money should have been spent on the line up.
March 19th, 2012 on 3:21 pm
So given all the health issues…what do we think Scott Posednik’s chances are of making the team…I remember being pretty high on him when the signed him and he seems to be doing of in ST.
March 19th, 2012 on 3:36 pm
I think Podsednik’s chances of making the team are good.
He can definitely help the team if he’s going to keep on hitting .371, but that might not even happen.
March 19th, 2012 on 5:15 pm
What if, guys, we do not see either Utley or Howard this year? I have several friends who are docs who tell me that this is looking more and more likely.
March 19th, 2012 on 9:37 pm
I think it’s nearly a lock that Howard is going to be out for a long time at this point. I think Utley is the question mark. I would guess the Phils will trade for someone if it proves to be the case that Howard is out until after the break and Utley is going to miss a lot of time before it. Let’s hope so at least.
At least the big number of places where they can improve gives them a bunch of flexibility if they’re looking to add players that can help them get better.