Phillies 6 - Blue Jays 3. At least we can say that the Jays' bats showed the first signs of life for 2011. Sloppy is as sloppy does. We had more errors than hits through the 7th inning.
I am tired and sunburned. So, here are a few of my notes on Monday's game in Dunedin.
Roy Halladay was warmly welcomed by the crowd of 3,510 in Dunedin today and he threw two scoreless innings for Philadelphia.
Jo-Jo Reyes walked two and gave up two earned runs in two innings of work. Joel Carreno was tagged with four hits and four (three earned) runs in just 1.2 innings of work. Carlos Villanueva, Josh Roenicke, Rommie Lewis, Alan Farina and Luis Perez all showed some good stuff in relief, shutting down the Phillies after the 4th inning. While the Jays suffered five errors, none in particular ended up damaging the day. Jose Bautista showed some great defence at third, saving runs on two occasions. The real damage came in the Phillies' 4th when they scored three runs.
It wasn't until the 7th inning when Toronto finally was able to put some lumber on the ball and a run on the board. By the end of the 9th, Mike McCoy, Eric Thames and Anthony Gose had batted in 1 run each. Out of 8 hits from Toronto, four extra base hits came from the bats of Adam Lind (2B), Mike McCoy (2B), Jonathan Diaz (2B) and Eric Thames (3B). JP Arencibia (0-3, 2Ks, 3LOB) and Mike McDade (0-3, 2ks, 3LOB) struggled today at the plate. Between the two teams, 18 were left on base. I'd conclude that there was much lost opportunity on both sides all day long.
The good news is that many players are getting a look in spring training. According to today's box score, 18 position players and 7 pitchers saw action. And finally today, although belatedly, the team was able to feel, at least a little, what some energy from the bats feels like.
