2012 Choice Lehigh Valley IronPigs Update #1 Phillippe Aumont

Phillies 10, Yankees 5
Spring Training Game 7 - Friday Afternoon, March 1st in Tampa
Record - 3-3-1

One Sentence Summary:  The Phils downed the Yankees again as Roy Halladay continued his spring tune-up.

What It Means:  The Phillies accomplished back-to-back wins for the first time this spring, on the strength of both good pitching and timely hitting.

What Went Right:  Halladay pitched 2 1/3 innings, allowing a run on three hits while striking out three. It seems most of the chatter after the game surrounded Phillippe Aumont and his inning of scoreless work.  Aumont's velocity was in the mid-90s and he displayed good command.  He, along with Pete Orr and Tyson Gillies, departed camp after the game to report to Team Canada in preparation of the upcoming World Baseball Classic.

Jimmy Rollins had a two-run double and John Mayberry, Jr. knocked in three runs.

2012 Topps Heritage
Minor League Real
One Autographs #ROA-SV

Featured Cards:  My feelings on the World Baseball Classic are similar to my feelings on the annual pre-All Star Game Home Run Derby.  Meh.

Maybe it's different for the fans of other competing countries, but I don't know any American baseball fans who are thrilled with the upcoming tournament.  I suppose its intended purpose is to unify the world through baseball, but the cynical side of me sees it as as nothing more than a money grab by Bud Selig.  And like it or not, we baseball card collectors can expect to see a glut of WBC-themed cards in upcoming Topps products.  Meh again.

For the record, here are the members of the Phillies organization participating in the WBC which kicked off last night in Taiwan.  Selfishly, I'd rather Aumont continue his spring in Clearwater but I wish him well in the tournament.

Australia - Tim Kennelly (c)
Brazil - Lucas Rojo (inf)
Canada - Phillippe Aumont (rhp), Tyson Gillies (of), Jay Johnson (lhp) and Pete Orr (inf)
Dominican Republic - Juan Samuel (coach)
Mexico - Rodrigo Lopez (rhp) and Sebastian Valle (c)
USA - Jimmy Rollins (ss)
Venezuela - Cesar Jimenez (lhp)

Ernie Whitt, the Phillies minor league catching coordinator, is the manager for Team Canada.