Spring Training Game 5 - Wednesday Afternoon, March 7th in Clearwater
Record - 2-3
One Sentence Summary: Vance Worley was touched for two runs in his first start of the spring and the Phils were held to just five hits as the Astros won easily, 10-3.
What It Means: Dontrelle Willis is seriously hurting his chances of making the club after his second rough outing.
What Went Wrong: Bullpen hopefuls Willis and Pat Misch got roughed up by the Astros, allowing a combined 8 runs (5 earned) over their 2 2/3 innings pitched. (After the game, it was revealed that Willis' arm is bothering him and he'll be examined today. He told reporters that he's battling arm fatigue.)
Lou Montanez accounted for two of the Phillies three runs with an eighth inning double. The red hot Hector Luna added a home run in the ninth. And Scott Podsednik is now hitting .500 on the spring after his double yesterday.
Featured Card: I rarely feature non-Phillies baseball cards, but I made a few exceptions during Spring Training last year* and I’m willing to bend the rules again this year. Michael Martinez may be getting a little nervous about his spot on the roster as the team’s utility infielder. Luna now leads the team with 5 RBIs and he’s hitting .375 (3 for 8) so far this spring with a double and yesterday’s home run. Based on the Beckett database, Luna has had his share of baseball cards, having been most recently featured in the 2007 Upper Deck set. This is his base card from the 2005 Topps set, which is the only card I have of the guy. If he manages to usurp Martinez, there’s a chance he’ll be featured within the 2012 Phillies Team Issue set, but he would be guaranteed to appear in the 2012 Chachi set.
*See non-roster hopefuls Josh Barfield and Delwyn Young from last year's spring coverage, neither of whom ever made it up to the big club.
At least Delwyn got a Phillies Team Issue card for his troubles. One of these days I will get around to a post about the cards of Phillies who never actually appeared with the team. I'm not referring to the minor league busts that appeared so frequently over the past 15 years -- rather, I'm talking about the likes of Young, Ronnie Paulino, Curt Flood, Mike Sandlock (see 1954 Topps). Those are just the ones off of the top of my head.
ReplyDeleteTim Lahey comes to mind too.
ReplyDeleteI had to check on Lahey, and you're right to include him. According to Wikipedia he had a "phantom ML baseball career" -- he was on the active roster but never appeared in game. I just remembered Tim Gradoville. He exists in that weird special category too. He was on the active roster and in the Phillies dugout for three weeks in September 2007. I wonder if the Phillies hadn't been fighting for a playoff spot then he might have gotten a Travis Chapman token appearance before the end of that season.
ReplyDeleteI better stop before I end up with half of that planned post as a comment here.