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Former Phil Shane Victorino delivered the big blow last night, a three-run triple off of Michael Stutes in the bottom of the seventh, as Boston topped the Phils 6-1.

Stutes was charged with five runs in 2/3 of an inning in the game, upping his spring ERA to 9.35. He has allowed seven walks in 8 2/3 innings. It all makes it pretty tough for me to see the Phils giving him a spot in the pen to start the year, but I guess we’ll just have to wait and see.

With Revere and Rollins both in the starting lineup for the Phils, Revere led off with Rollins hitting third. The one run the Phillies scored in the game came in the top of the first. Pete Orr singled with one out, stole second, moved to third on popup that went for an unfielded double by Rollins and scored on a Michale Young ground out.

Rollins was 1-for-3 with an unlikely double. He’s 4-for-15 (.267) with two doubles.

Revere 0-for-3 to drop his line to 313/343/391.

Ruf 1-for-2 with a double in what I assume is a too-little-too-late effort. 226/305/396 with hide-your-eyes ugly defense in left. Ruf and Mayberry have both been terrible this spring.

Mayberry started at first and went 0-for-4 to drop his line to 218/283/309. If Mayberry could have played himself out of his roster spot this spring I think he did. I don’t think it’s likely he could have, though, given the combination of how thin the Phillies are in the outfield and the degree to which Ruf has looked unusable out there.

Galvis started at second and went 2-for-3 with a triple. 288/311/559. He has a team-high ten extra-base hits — six doubles, two triples and two home runs, in 62 official plate appearances. Not quite as much power as Brown and Howard have shown this spring, but a whole lot closer than most would have guessed. Brown’s isolated power this spring is .317, Howard’s .316 and Galvis’s .271. Galvis’s isolated power in 2,179 plate appearances in the minor leagues is .075.

Nix 1-for-2 with a double to up his line to 250/283/364. He’s had a better spring than that, but some of his success has come in games that don’t count as official spring action.

Young 0-for-3 with an RBI to drop his line to 262/292/361. He started real slow, got real hot and now has cooled again.

Mitchell and Iciarte both went 0-for-1 in the game. Incirate’s line is at 238/360/286 in 21 at-bats. Mitchell is hitting 318/375/682 in 22 at-bats.

Carlos Ruiz left the game in the ninth inning with a bruised hand after being hit by a pitch.

Hamels started the game for the Phillies and allowed a run on four hits and two walks over six innings. The run came in the bottom of the second when a leadoff double by Will Middlebrooks was followed by a single that moved Middlebrooks up to third. He scored on a sac fly.

In the sixth inning, Hamels struck Victorino out looking at a beautiful 0-2 curve ball. Still think Victorino takes the day overall, though, what with winning the game for the Red Sox and whatnot.

Hamels has a 1.13 ERA and an 0.81 ratio in official spring action. Opponents are hitting .182 against him and he hasn’t allowed a home run in 16 innings. He got hammered in a start against the Dominican Republic WBC team in an unofficial game.

Stutes started the seventh, got hit real hard, and didn’t finish the frame. He was charged with five runs over 2/3 of an inning on one hit and three walks. He got the first two batters he faced in the inning, then walked three of the next four before Victorino hit a three-run triple. Stutes was replaced by righty Mike Nesseth, who threw to a 2.95 ERA in 76 1/3 innings between Lakewood and Clearwater last year, with two outs and a man on third. Nesseth allowed a double to Dustin Pedroia, scoring Victorino with the run charged to Stutes.

Stutes’s ERA is up to 9.35 after being charged with five runs in 2/3 of an inning.

Horst pitched the eighth. He allowed a one-out single, which was followed by an inning-ending double-play.

Horst drops his ERA to 6.35 and his ratio to 1.32. He’s pitched well after a very ugly start and seems to me to be a lock for the pen.

Adam Morgan is expected to pitch this afternoon when the Phils face the Braves.

Halladay will start in a minor league game tomorrow. The linked article also says that Delmon Young worked out in the outfield and is still likely to miss at least the first month of the season.

The Phillies have played two games since Friday, beating the Astros 7-1 behind dominating pitching yesterday after a 15-7 loss to the Rays on Saturday.

The Phils one-hit Houston yesterday. Hamels allowed a run on one hit and one walk over five innings and was followed by four shutout innings from the pen in which the relievers didn’t allow a hit, walked one and struck out six.

Nix homered for the Phils in the game. He second home run of the spring and first in an official spring game. He continued his recent surge with a 2-for-3 day that upped his line to 231/286/346.

Michael Young is also hot and also had two hits. 2-for-3 with a double puts him at 371/405/514.

Freddy Galvis 3-for-4 with a double. 308/325/564. Seven extra-base hits and 11 strikeouts in 39 at-bats. Tied with Fields for second on the team in strikeouts behind Howard. Tied with Frandsen and Howard for the team lead in extra-base hits.

Kratz 1-for-3 with a walk and two RBI. He’s hitting .222.

Frandsen 1-for-5 and hitting 355/375/742. Revere 0-for-3. Mayberry 0-for-2 to drop his line to 225/279/350. Utley is at 167/333/208 after going 0-for-3. Howard was 0-for-3 and struck out twice, dropping his line to 333/357/718.

Ruf left the game after being hit by a pitch, but is, apparently, okay. He’s hitting .188 this spring with a .281 slugging percentage in 32 at-bats despite recent signs of life.

The pitching was fantastic. Hamels allowed a double to the first batter he faced in the bottom of the first, Tyler Greene, and Greene came around to score on a pair of ground outs. That’s the only run or hit Hamels would allow in five innings. He walked just one, dropping his ERA on the day to 0.90 after three starts and ten innings. The start against the Dominican Republic in which he got hammered wasn’t an unofficial outing, so his official numbers are great — 0.90 ERA with an 0.70 ratio and seven strikeouts and one walk in ten frames.

Cloyd, Miner, Horst and De Fratus all threw a scoreless inning after Hamels left. They combined to allow one walk, which Miner issued in the seventh.

Cloyd has been awful this spring, but drops his ERA to 10.80 with the scoreless inning.

Miner has also struggled and also has a 10.80 ERA.

Horst’s ERA drops to 12.00. Ten hits, including four home runs, and three walks over six innings gives him a 2.17 ratio. After striking out two in his frame yesterday he’s struck out four in six innings.

De Fratus drops his ERA to 7.50 after six innings. Seven hits and three walks over six innings gives him a 1.67 ratio. Unlike some of the other relievers who gave up a ton of home runs early (Horst and Valdes especially), De Fratus has yet to allow a home run.

Saturday was a different story as the Rays pounded out 15 runs against Phillie pitching. Lannan, Rosenberg and Bastardo combined to allow 13 runs in five innings. Rosenberg and Bastardo were charged with nine runs and got just three outs between them.

Howard homered, his fourth of the spring.

Brown went 2-for-4 with a pair of singles. He’s hitting 432/523/730. If he strikes out in every one of his next 20 plate appearances, he’ll be hitting .281 and slugging .474.

Revere was 3-for-4 with a double in the game. After going 0-for-3 yesterday, he’s at 325/357/375.

Humberto Quintero had three hits. 3-for-4 with three singles and three RBI has him at 300/333/300 (3-for-10 with three singles and a walk).

Lannan started the game. He threw a 1-2-3 first and a 1-2-3 second. Brown made his first error of the spring in the fourth as the Rays scored four times — all four runs were earned despite the error as the Rays got three singles and a two-run homer in the frame. Lannan allowed a leadoff double in the fourth, but got the next three hitters to keep Tampa Bay off the board.

Overall, Lannan went four innings in the game, allowing four runs on five hits without walking anyone. After three starts and five innings he’s thrown to a 9.00 ERA with a 1.44 ratio. The two-run homer that Sean Rodriguez hit off of him in the four-run third is the only home run he’s allowed, but opponents are hitting .286 against him.

Papelbon and Diekman both threw scoreless innings in the game, which is especially welcomed in Papelbon’s case. Papelbon drops his ERA to 27.00 in his first spring appearance that’s been non-terrible. Diekman has struck out ten in six innings while throwing to a 3.00 ERA.

Durbin pitched the sixth and allowed a run on two hits and a walk. He has a 9.00 ERA and a 2.00 ratio after four innings. Opponents are hitting .438 against him.

Bastardo started the seventh. He faced eight hitters and was charged with four runs, only one of which was earned, on three singles and a walk. He hit a batter and another reached on a Mayberry error at first while getting two outs. JC Ramirez took over with two outs and men on first and second and got the final out on a fly ball to left.

Bastardo’s ERA rises to 3.86 after five appearances.

Rosenberg started the eighth. He faced six batters, getting one out, which came on a bunt, and allowed five runs, only four of which were earned due to an error by Martinez at second to start the inning. After the error to start the frame, Rosenberg allowed two singles, a double and a two-run homer. He ends the ugly outing with a 24.30 ERA and a 4.50 ratio. Opponents have hit .571 in his 3 1/3 official spring innings.

Kyle Simon took over for Rosenberg and got the last two outs in the eighth. He faced five batters and was charged with one run, allowing two walks and a single, which upped his spring ERA to 6.00.

The Phillies do not play today.

This article suggests that Aumont, De Fratus, Stutes, Diekman, Horst and Valdes are at the front of a competition for three spots in the pen.

Many transactions. The Phillies released Joe Mather. Mather was 1-for-11 with a walk for the Phils this spring.

Adam Morgan reassigned to Minor League camp, as were JC Ramirez, Kyle Simon, Tommy Joseph, Cody Asche and Michael Martinez.

I appreciate the effort from the Phils, but for me it’s still too little, too late on Martinez.

This article says: “Four players who are on the 40-man roster were optioned to the minors: Pitcher Joe Savery, pitcher Ethan Martin, pitcher Jonathan Pettibone, outfielder Zach Collier. Savery’s option was immediate. The options of Martin, Pettibone and Collier won’t take effect until Monday.”

The Phillies allowed 15 runs on 28 hits yesterday, losing 15-2 to the Dominican Republic’s WBC team. Cole Hamels allowed eight runs in 2 2/3 innings.

Laynce Nix homered in the game for the Phils. 2-for-4 in the game and 1-for-15 in official spring training games.

Kevin Frandsen continues to hit. He was 2-for-4 with a double. His line in games that don’t count that count is 364/391/727.

Cody Asche 2-for-3 with a pair of singles.

Galvis 1-for-4 with another extra-base hit, a double. He’s got two doubles, a homer and a .524 slugging percentage in the games that don’t count that count.

Ruf was 0-for-4 and struck out three times. He also misplayed a ball in left. This suggests he will not be in the lineup this afternoon against the Nats.

Hamels started the game for the Phillies and threw a scoreless first. That was as good as it got, though. He allowed four runs on six hits in the second. In the third he faced seven batters and was charged with four more runs — he gave up two singles, two doubles and a two-run homer (to Jose Reyes) before getting pulled with one out.

Overall, Hamels went 2 2/3 innings in the game, allowing eight earned runs on 12 hits. Didn’t walk anyone.

Hamels has struck out six in five scoreless innings in official action.

Martin faced two hitters in the third, allowing a single before retiring Nelson Cruz on a ground ball to second to end the frame. He came back to toss a scoreless fourth but was hit hard in the fifth, allowing a two-run homer to Robinson Cano and an RBI-single to Miguel Tejada.

Overall he went 2 1/3 innings in the game, allowing three runs on six hits, including a triple and a home run, and a walk.

Martin has just one official appearance in spring training in which he allowed one hit over two scoreless innings.

Pettibone was next and he got hammered as well, allowing four runs on nine hits over 2 2/3. Two-run homer to Hanley Ramirez in the seventh. Three of five hitters he faced in the eighth singled and two of them came around to score.

Nine is a lot of hits to allow in 2 2/3 innings.

Pettibone was hit in his only official spring appearance, allowing four runs on three hits, including two home runs, in two innings.

Justin Friend got the last four outs of the game. He faced six batters, allowing a single and a walk, but wasn’t charged with a run.

He had allowed a run over two innings in official spring action.

Halladay is expected to pitch this afternoon as the Phils face the Nationals.

This article suggests that Galvis, Betancourt and Frandsen could be competing for two bench spots. I’m going to be real surprised if Frandsen doesn’t start the year with the team.

If we’re bringing stuff back from the great beyond, I’d like to put in a vote for the pig-footed bandicoot as well. Mostly just cause it has a cool name. I’d hate to think we were able to do that kind of thing and I forgot to put in a vote.

I love the notion that there are so many bandicoots out there that humanity just wouldn’t have been able to get by without differentiating some of them as “pig-footed.” Not the regular bandicoots. The pig-footed ones.

Second win of the spring for the Phils yesterday as they topped the Braves 10-5. Ryan Howard doubled home a run in the first and hit his first spring homer in the fifth. His 2-for-3 day ups his spring line to 533/556/933 (8-for-15 with three doubles, a home run and two walks) and he leads the team with five RBI. Howard obviously isn’t going to double in 20% of his at-bats in 2013, but he hit 11 doubles for the season in 2012 and his results early in 2013 remind that there was a time when a hot and healthy Howard could put the Phillies on his shoulders and carry the offense himself.

We might have forgotten those days, but if we did it’s our own fault. Because they happened and it wasn’t that long ago.

From August 22 to the end of the season in 2008, Howard got 151 plate appearances in which he hit 15 home runs, had 27 extra-base hits, 42 RBI and 20 walks, OPSing 1.216 in that stretch. 2009 he OPSed 1.078 over his last 216 plate appearances with 19 home runs. In 2010 the tear came earlier, a 50-game stretch from the start of June to July 27 — 323/387/651 over 217 plate appearances.

Mayberry homered yesterday as well. 1-for-1 with a walk in the game and extra-base hits in two straight games after an ugly start. Utley was 2-for-3 with a double. 3-for-6 so far.

Ben Revere got the job done in the leadoff spot for the second straight day, going 2-for-3 with a walk, a double and two more runs scored. Don’t look for him to deliver a walk and an extra-base hit in the same game too often, though. His average is suddenly up to .385 (5-for-13).

Brown 1-for-3 with a single and a walk to drop his average to .417 (5-for-12 with a double, two home runs and three walks).

Inciarte finally made an out. He struck out to start the seventh and is 1-for-2 with three walks so far.

Michael Young had his first hit. He was 1-for-2 with a walk and two RBI, making him 1-for-10 in the early going.

Galvis 2-for-2 but with yet another error. Ruf got a hit but also made another error, his second in limited time in the outfield. He was 2-for-3 with a double and is now a walkless 2-for-12 in official action.

Hamels started the game for the Phils and allowed an unearned run on four hits over three innings while striking out five. He allowed one hit and struck out four through the first two innings. He started the third up 3-1. Ramiro Pena singled with one out, took second when Ruf misplayed the ball for an error and scored on a single by Tyler Pastornicky.

In two starts, Hamels has now allowed one unearned run over five innings, throwing to a 0.00 ERA with a 1.00 ratio and striking out six. He hasn’t walked a batter yet.

Mike Adams followed Hamels, making his Phillie debut, and threw a scoreless fourth. He allowed one single and struck out one.

Diekman threw the fifth. He gave up a leadoff walk, but got the next hitter to line into a double-play before Jason Heyward grounded to Utley to set the Braves down.

Second outing for Diekman. This one better than the first, but he still needs to stop walking so many people.

Pettibone followed Diekman and allowed four runs on three hits and a walk over two frames in his first spring outing. He allowed a solo homer in the sixth. In the seventh, the first two Braves reached on a walk and a single before Pastornicky hit a three-run homer.

Ethan followed Pettibone, also making his first appearance, and threw two scoreless innings.

Manuel suggests he wants Mayberry to be more aggressive in this article from the Phillies web site.

Halladay is expected to pitch this afternoon as the Phillies face the Yankees. He allowed a run on one hit, a solo homer, over two innings his first time out.

The Phillies have played three games since the last post. They played an intrasquad game on Friday, Houston on Saturday and Detroit on Sunday.

Yesterday the Phils and Tigers played to a 5-5 tie in ten innings. Howard was 2-for-3 with a pair for doubles. Frandsen also had two hits, including a solo home run in the fourth inning. Domonic Brown got just one at-bat in the game, but hit a solo home run pinch-hitting for Ruf in the top of the eighth to tie the game at 5-5. Ruf was 0-for-3 with a strikeout.

Pitching-wise, Halladay was the story of the game as he allowed one run on one hit, a solo homer by Victor Martinez, over two innings. Rodrigo Lopez threw three scoreless innings late in the game, striking out three. Bastardo, Savery and Justin Friend all tossed a scoreless inning. Savery got out of his inning with the help of a double-play after allowing two singles in the frame.

JC Ramirez and Diekman had less luck. Ramirez was charged with three runs in the fourth on a walk, two singles and a double. Diekman pitched the fifth and allowed a run. He gave up a leadoff walk and the pinch-runner came around to score on a two-out single after stealing second.

In 2012 with the Phillies, Diekman walked 20 in 27 1/3 innings.

On Saturday the Phils made four errors as they lost 8-3 to the Astros. Ruf’s was the most memorable, misplaying a single to allow an extra base, as his first chance to impress with his defense in left didn’t go so well. Kratz, Martinez and Revere also had errors in the game.

Pete Orr hit a solo home run for the Phils. Yuniesky Betancourt started at short and was the only Phillie with more than one hit. He went 2-for-3 with a pair of singles.

Hamels was rather impressive, throwing two shutout innings to start the game. He allowed just one hit, an infield single, and threw just ten pitches. Rosenberg was next and was hit hard, allowing two runs on five hits and a walk in two frames. Zach Miner allowed two runs on three hits in the fifth, only one of which was earned due to Revere’s error in center. Horst allowed a run over two innings and De Fratus was charged with single runs in both the eighth and the ninth, walking a batter early in both frames.

On Friday, Ruf was 2-for-2 with a pair of doubles and Brown 1-for-2 with a double in the intrasquad game. Lefty Adam Morgan also threw two scoreless frames.

Over two official spring training games, Ender Inciarte is 1-for-1 with a single and two walks. Ut oh. Be afraid. Be very afraid.

The Phillies traded Michael Schwimer to the Blue Jays for first baseman Art Charles. Charles is 22 and hits left-handed. He’s spent three years in the low minors, hitting .239, but with a 101 walks and 28 home runs in 706 plate appearances. 239/358/482 so far in the minor leagues.

The Phillies signed 24-year-old left-handed hitting 1B/3B/LF Austin Gallagher to a minor league deal and released Andres Blanco. Gallagher hasn’t made it to Double-A yet, but has hit 285/360/430 over 2,173 plate appearances at various stops in the Dodgers organization. He will begin to serve a 50-game suspension for taking a banned substance on April 1.

Delmon Young will see a doctor this week in the hopes of being cleared for more activity.

The Phillies play the Tigers this afternoon with Cliff Lee expected to pitch.

Game Score is an enormously flawed stat, but looking at the Start Log data for 2012 does help demonstrate part of what was wrong for the Phillies last year.

The average Game Score for a start by a Phillies pitcher in ’12 was 54.2, which is the lowest it has been since 2009. There were only two starters for the Phils in 2012 who posted an average Game Score for the year better than the team’s average of 54.2 — Hamels averaged 59.74 in his 31 starts and Lee averaged 58.93 in his 30. Halladay, notably, joined Worley, Blanton, Kendrick, Valdes, Cloyd and Rosenberg in the group of starters under the team’s 54.2 average.

In 2011, Halladay, Hamels and Lee all averaged Game Scores above 60.

The Phils had six games in 2012 in which their starter threw to a Game Score better than 80. Here are the teams six best starts for 2012 by Game Score:

April 5, Halladay 83. Phillies beat the Pirates 1-0 on Opening Day as Halladay allows two hits and no walks over eight shutout innings.

April 18, Lee 85. By Game Score, this is the second-best start of the year for the Phillies in 2012. Lee strikes out seven in ten shutout innings. Bastardo started the bottom of the eleventh in a scoreless tie and the Giants got an unearned run on two singles and a Wigginton error.

May 3, Blanton 87. Best start of the year for the Phillies by Game Score. Blanton throws a complete-game, three hit shutout and the Phils top the Braves 4-0. He threw just 88 pitches in the game.

August 7, Hamels 83. Best start of the year for Hamels as he throws a complete game, allowing five hits and no walks while striking out six. Howard hits a two-run homer in the top of the first as the Phils score three runs on their way to a 3-0 win over Atlanta.

August 10, Halladay 82. The only pitcher to make two starts with Game Scores over 80, Halladay allowed a run on two hits and no walks while striking out eight as the Phils topped the Cardinals 3-1, breaking a 1-1 tie in the bottom of the eighth on a two-run shot by Utley.

August 19, Kendrick 82. The third Game Score of 80 plus in a 12-day period for the Phils. Kendrick makes his best start of the year, allowing three hits and a walk over eight shutout innings while striking out seven. The Phillies score five runs charged to Randy Wolf in the first three innings and roll to an 8-0 win.

For the Phillies it was their first season since 2008 in which they didn’t get a start with a Game Score better than 90.

In 2011, Lee threw a complete-game shutout of the Nats on April 14, allowing three hits and a walk while striking out 12 and posting a Game Score of 92.

Halladay threw a perfect game on May 29, 2010 with a Game Score of 98.

There were two starts with a Game Score above 90 in 2009. On August 19, Lee struck out 11, walked none and allowed two singles in a complete game against the Snakes. The Phils won 8-1 and Lee’s Game Score was 92. On September 1, Hamels allowed two hits and a walk while striking out nine in a complete game shutout as the Phils topped the Giants 1-0. 91 Game Score in that start for Hamels.

This Q&A from the Phillies web site speculates that Michael Young could play some first base against lefties this year if Howard continues to struggle against them. Mayberry and Ruf seem like good candidates as well. Mayberry seems like the one of that trio who would not be terrible defensively at the position he was playing (left field, presumably) if he was in the lineup and not at first, which presumably makes it less likely he would be there than Ruf or Young if Howard was on the bench against a lefty.

This suggests that the Phillies and Bastardo have avoided arbitration by agreeing to a one-year, $1.4 million deal.

Article on 22-year-old lefty Adam Morgan here. Morgan threw to a 3.35 ERA in 158 2/3 innings over 27 appearances, 26 of which were starts, between Clearwater and Reading in 2012.

This article discusses the possibility that Michael Young will hit between Utley and Howard in 2013.

This article suggests the Phillies are seriously considering signing Delmon Young.

Update: The Phillies signed Delmon Young to a one-year, $750,000 deal. I would have guessed he would get more money than that. At least on paper, that’s a really good deal for the Phils to land the MVP of last year’s ALCS. No word yet they plan to play on paper next year, though. So brace yourself for the possibility there might be a bump or two ahead.

This says Young could earn as much as $3.5 million if all incentives are reached.

Young earned $6.75 million in 2012.