3/4 Wrap
The major stories of the day have been blogged along the way, but to quickly revisit them: Cole Hamels' 2009 debut went smoothly, as the ace threw 24 pitches in two scoreless innings. He allowed two hits to Team Canada and walked one. After the game, Rich Dubee said that Hamels will start five more times before opening day. Much more on Hamels in a column from Jim Salisbury tomorrow.
3/4 Wrap
Andy Martino
The major stories of the day have been blogged along the way, but to quickly revisit them: Cole Hamels’ 2009 debut went smoothly, as the ace threw 24 pitches in two scoreless innings. He allowed two hits to Team Canada and walked one. After the game, Rich Dubee said that Hamels will start five more times before opening day. Much more on Hamels in a column from Jim Salisbury tomorrow.
The Hamels news is expecially positive for the Phillies given the spring that Johan Santana is having. It occurs to me that the NL East could come down to whose ace gets injured, and whose stays healthy. We’ll have to keep our eye on Hamels all season because of the 787 billion innings he pitched last year, and the Mets are probably very nervous about Santana, who keeps waffling on the severity of his injury (or disagreeing with the team about it). If either of these guys misses serious time, their team will be in trouble. Santana is clearly the bigger concern at this moment.
The next most newsworthy development was that Jayson Werth is swinging harder in BP, and Charlie Manuel says he’ll start Werth in a B game Friday.
And a somewhat surprising item moved on MLB.com today. Buried in the middle of this story, Jimmy Rollins says that he has been experiencing discomfort in the left side of his back since late last season. But Rollins then played nine innings today for Team USA against Toronto and went 1-for-5 with a double, a run and an RBI, so don't freak out. He's due to face the Phillies in an exhibition tomorrow, and he will be asked about this.
Oh, and here's a weird one for you: because the Phils played Team Canada, today's game was considered an exhibition within the exhibition season, so the stats and result don't count. Now for a zen riddle: if Cole Hamels makes his spring training debut in a game that wasn't a spring training game, does Cole Hamels still need to make his debut?
Some of you have requested reports on the minor leaguers who are in big league camp right now, so don’t say I never did nothing for you.. Here’s a partial list, with more to come in days ahead:
John Mayberry: Well, we know he has power. Mayberry launched a home run really, really deep into left field today, during the Phils’ 9-2 win over Team Canada. Pitchers in the bullpen time told me that the ball bounced once on the pedestrian walkway at the very back of Bright House Field and skipped out of the park. Mayberry is making a case to be a righthanded bat off the bench, but before we draw any conclusions, let’s remember that he is facing a lot of minor league pitching, and hasn’t proven he can get on base, hit offspeed pitches consistently or avoid striking out too much. I’m not saying he can’t do these things; I’m just saying we haven’t seen it yet. Mayberry posted a .330 on-base percentage in four seasons in the Rangers system, and struck out more than 100 times in each of the past three years. So we’ll see.
Jeremy Slayden is swinging well. He went into today’s game 5-for-10 this spring with two doubles and a home run. He hit a three-run homer in his only at-bat today. I didn’t see today’s dinger because I was in the clubhouse talking with Scott Eyre after he came out of the game, but I feel confident in telling you that he hit it well and it cleared the fence.
Anthony Hewitt continues to struggle, with no hits in four at-bats. He waved at a third strike today in his only time up, which is pretty much the issue: he doesn’t make contact. A terrific athlete who Phils’ scouting exec Chuck Lamar raved about Monday, Hewitt, 19, has a long way to go, if he ever gets there. But he’s 19.
Jason Donald is having a quiet camp, hitting .133. Donald is often mentioned as a prospect, but he will be 25 in September. This is an important year for him, because most players are who they are by the time they turn 26. Not all of them, but most.
We’ll keep this going as camp continues. Have a good night.
Comments (11)
Hewitt never hit decent high school pitching. Athlete shashlete. If the kid can't hit, he can't hit. Hand-eye, make contact. Can't do it. Don't want to give up on a 19 year old (not that I have any say, and, even if I did, it would be shuffled under the rug in the hope that there's hope). But has all that discomfort of the Jeff Jackson drafting.— OlMaster- I thought the days of drafting baseball players who have trouble playing baseball were over? Chad McConnell, the aforementioned Mr. Jackson, Greg Golson, and now this kid. Next time, take a look at the slow fat kid who can rake. He has a name like Youkilis, Gwynn, Boggs, Rose, etc...— bcsk
- I just had to chuckle at: "...and hasn’t proven he can get on base, hit offspeed pitches consistently or avoid striking out too much". I thought you were talking about Ryan Howard for a moment there!— randy_w
- One minute Jason Donald is the future, the next second he's washed up. Yeesh.— Frank Lloyd Wrong
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- Bill Conlin was just spotted at the $7 all-you-can-eat buffet. But someone told me he's been there since Tuesday.— stoky
- Defensively today I was disappointed that Donald could not go in the hole and make a strong throw to first. Seems to have an arm for second base. Impressed by Marcus Giles at third making several strong throws. Would like to see more of Marson behind the plate. But the real stories of spring training have been Mayberry and Slayden. I agree that it is hard to judge them with the pitching they are facing but Jenkins and Stairs today faced the same type of pitching and did little with them while Mayberry and Slayden hit tape measure home runs.— Dull
- good stuff so far, andy. you are beating murph, which is like saying the F train is better than the J.— jb99
- I dun understand this game but it seems cool when people can target the ball that are throwned very hard. I even cannot catch it. If people are great at catching this ball that mean he is a good keeper at Football games too... He just dun realise or not interested in. haha.. My Site come have a visit ^^ Contemporary Furniture,Web Design Ipswich,Wall Clocks— perryper
- Jenkins' much heralded new approach at the plate seems to be another failure....may be time to go packing, Stairs is proven one shot deal and in the late innings, that's who you want up there PH, he's a keeper even if he is 65 yo!......I'd keep both Mayberry and Slayden at this point especially if they continue to hit deep into spring training on the better pitchers......— Mark1npt
- 'don't say i never did nothing for you', yeah he's a New Yorker...— Patman
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The Phillies Zone is the place for up-to-the-minute Phillies coverage from the Inquirer.
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