Spring Training Game 11 - Saturday Afternoon, March 8th in Clearwater
Record - 2-8-1
One Sentence Summary: The Phillies managed an impressive victory over a less than impressive, split squad Astros team, 11-3.
What Happened: It's a start, but you have to take this win with a grain of salt given that the Phils were playing half of the possibly worst team in baseball. Both Cody Asche and Carlos Ruiz hit three-run home runs and John Mayberry, Jr. drove in three runs. The probable third starter, Roberto Hernandez, allowed a run on two hits in his 3 1/3 innings of work.
Featured Card: Spring stats mean nothing of course, but it's encouraging to see Chooch swing the bat well. He's played six of the team's 11 spring games, going 5 for 13 (.385) with two doubles and two home runs. This is his base card from the Topps flagship set.
Camp Head Count: 58 - 7 = 51. Before the game, relievers Michael Stutes and Luis Garcia were optioned to the minors. I was very surprised to see Stutes in the first round of cuts, but he had definitely struggled in his three spring appearances. Stutes was one of the team's most reliable relievers in 2011, but he's fallen off the radar a little the past two seasons due to lingering shoulder issues. Following the game, top prospect Jesse Biddle was also reassigned to minor league camp.
Joining Biddle in minor league camp will be outfielders Aaron Altherr, Leandro Castro and Kelly Dugan, along with catcher Sebastian Valle.
2 comments:
I have to check my 2014 Phillies calendar--hopefully they will be playing the Astros split-squad for several home series during the regular season.
Sigh.
Until this afternoon's game, things were starting to look much better.
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