2007 Topps Heritage #493 Roy Halladay AS

Phillies 6, Blue Jays 3
Spring Training Game 3 - Monday Afternoon, February 28th in Dunedin 

One Sentence Summary:  The Phils beat the Blue Jays as Roy Halladay started his Spring with a pair of scoreless innings and Placido Polanco and Carlos Ruiz each knocked in a pair of runs.

What It Means:  It means another field report from Christopher -

On Day 2 of my 2011 excellent adventure, the Phillies bats showed up and the Phils beat the Blue Jays, 6-3, in Dunedin.

Roy Halladay looked great. Two innings of scoreless baseball made me look forward to Roy pitching in games that count in about a month. The worst part of the day was when Charlie Manuel took Halladay out after two innings instead of letting him throw a third, but I guess there are worse things in the world. What was a great game for Phillies fans was actually somewhat dull for most of the time given that Florida Auto Exchange Stadium (more on that in a bit) was "packed" with less than 4,000 fans.

Getting back to the game, Placido Polanco drove in two runs as did Carlos Ruiz, who got the scoring started with a two-run double off Jays starter Jo-Jo Reyes in the second inning. The newly named Florida Auto Exchange Stadium was filled with Phillies fans who cheered every hit, walk, and run scored. As for the stadium name, I have no idea. Seriously? Can't Dunedin just name their stadium after a bank or an insurance company like everyone else? I won't get on my soapbox about naming rights, at least right now. As the public address announcer said multiple times today, "delightfully different" Dunedin surely is different - at least when it comes to the name of their stadium.

The Phillies are back to the friendly confines of Bright House Field for two games starting tomorrow. First up is the Tigers, who will face Cliff Lee on Tuesday in his first start this spring. I look forward to hopefully seeing Cliff Lee perform just as well as Joe Blanton and Roy Halladay have the past few days. Plus, if the games I've seen here are any indication of how the starting rotation will pitch in games that count, I will be a happy man when the Phillies return north to Citizens Bank Park come late March and early April.

Top Hitters:  Polanco and Ruiz, along with Ben Francisco.  Francisco added another hit and RBI to raise his early Spring average to .571.

Top Pitchers:  Halladay looked sharp and J.C. Ramirez threw two shutout innings while striking out four.  Ramirez was one of the four players acquired from the Mariners in December 2009 when the Phils made the mistake of trading away Lee.

Featured Card:  I still have the 1958 Topps set on my mind, so this is another card from the 2007 Topps Heritage set.  Just like the original set, the last cards in the 2007 Topps Heritage set feature All-Stars from both leagues.

Other Stuff:  Domonic Brown is 0 for 9 so far this spring with six strikeouts . . . Matt Anderson, who signed a minor league deal with the Phils in January, pitched a scoreless eighth inning against the Blue Jays.  Anderson was the overall number one pick in the 1997 amateur draft, and he hasn't appeared in the Majors since 2005 . . . The Blue Jays played sloppy baseball, tallying five errors.