EXHIBITION GAME
RECAP: Phillies Top
Astros 5-4
Nobody knows where it will go once the regular season starts,
but the Phillies are showing some pop in their bats this spring. Cesar Hernandez hit a leadoff home run in the first
inning in Sunday afternoon's 5-4 victory over the Astros in a Grapefruit League
game at Bright House Field. It was Hernandez's first homer of the spring and
the Phillies' 29th. They entered the afternoon with the second-most home runs
of any team in Spring Training. Hernandez finished the day with three hits and
three RBIs. He singled to drive in Cedric Hunter in the fifth and doubled to
score David Lough in the seventh. Hernandez scored the game-winning run on a
safety squeeze by Freddy Galvis later in the seventh. The Phillies
scored twice in the fifth inning against Ken Giles, who is
Houston's likely closer. It was the first time Giles faced the Phillies since
they traded him in December. Phillies right-hander Jeremy Hellickson,
who is in line to start Opening Day, allowed no hits and three walks and struck
out six in five scoreless innings. Astros left-hander Wandy Rodriguez, who is
battling for a job on the team, allowed two hits and one run and struck out
five in four innings. The Astros took a 4-3 lead in the sixth inning when Colby Rasmus hit a three-run home run to right
field off Phillies reliever Hector Neris.
PHILS PHACTS:
- Phillies outfielder Odubel Herrera has not played since March 12 because of a bruised left finger. He said he plans to hit again Tuesday. Mackanin said the Phillies are being "very careful with him," which makes sense because they are very thin in the outfield without Aaron Altherr and Cody Asche. "We're going to give him time to get 100 percent," Mackanin said. "He's a big part of our offense, and we don't want to take any chances with him. He'll be ready for the opener."
- The Phillies have had two successful squeezes in the last two games. Charlie Morton executed a safety squeeze Friday and Freddy Galvis executed a suicide squeeze to score the game-winning run in the seventh Sunday. "That's the kind of offense we're going to have to utilize," Mackanin said. "We're going to have to do a lot of different things to make the other team nervous."
- Left-handers Daniel Stumpf (4.00 ERA) and Bobby LaFromboise (0.00 ERA) each threw a scoreless inning. Both are competing for a bullpen job.
- The Phillies celebrated Alumni Day before the game, honoring former Phillies like Darren Daulton, Dick Allen, Dave Cash and Ron Clark.
NEXT
GAME:
Right-hander Aaron Nola is scheduled to start Monday's Game against the Tigers in Lakeland,
Fla., at 1:05 p.m. ET. The game can be heard with a free, live exclusive
webcast on MLB.com. Nola is on schedule to start the second game of the season
and the home opener April 11.
PHILS PHACTS:
Facing A Former Phillie – Ken Giles flashed
a smile and shook a few hands on Sunday morning at Bright House Field. A couple
hours later his fastball flashed 101 mph on the scoreboard. During the
Phillies' 5-4 win on Sunday, Giles faced his former
team for the first time since it traded him to Houston in December. The
Phillies sent Giles and Minor League infielder Jonathan Arauz to
the Astros for five pitchers: right-handers Vince Velasquez, Mark Appel, Thomas
Eshelman and Harold Arauz and left-hander Brett Oberholtzer.
Velasquez is the favorite to be the team's No. 5 starter, while Oberholtzer is
expected to open the season in the bullpen. "I think it's great,"
Giles said about being the key piece in a seven-player trade. "I didn't
think I was that valuable to begin with because I'm just a reliever. Nobody
thinks a reliever is that valuable. The market's changed for a reliever. I feel
humbled that they thought of me as that valuable, and hopefully both teams get
the best benefit." Giles seemed a little fired up to face the Phillies.
His first pitch to J.P. Arencibia, who
led off the fifth, hit 101 mph. But the Phillies still got him for two runs.
Rule 5 Draft pick Tyler Goeddel hit a 99 mph fastball to center field
for a one-out single. Pinch-hitter Cedric Hunter then hit an 86 mph slider for
a two-out double down the right-field line to score Goeddel to make it 2-0. Cesar Hernandez followed, hitting a 97 mph fastball to
left field for a single to score Hunter. "They said he throws hard,"
Goeddel said. Phillies manager Pete Mackanin liked the fact Goeddel squared up
the fastball from Giles because he had been tardy on them lately. "I was
just trying to get on top of something," Goeddel said. "You've got to
hit the fastball in this game to be successful. I've been trying to shorten
everything up." "He's been working on a little flaw in his
mechanics," Mackanin said. "It was good to see. "I like Hunter a
lot. He's an aggressive hitter. The guy comes up there to do damage. I like
aggressive hitters. We've tried with a few guys the past few years to be
aggressive early in the count, but they haven't been. They're starting to get
the hint." Hernandez went 3-for-4 with one double, one home run and three
RBIs. He is hitting .390 (16-for-41) with three doubles, one triple, one home
run and eight RBIs this spring. "Thank God it's gone well," Hernandez
said about his spring through Arencibia, who translated for him. "I'm a
lot more relaxed. Now I understand I'm an everyday player so I know I'm going
to be out there every day."
Ready For Opening Day? – Phillies
right-hander Jeremy Hellickson is on target to start Opening Day. The
Phillies have made no official announcement, but Hellickson's pitching schedule
lines up with an Opening Day start on April 4 against the Reds in Cincinnati.
He allowed no hits, three walks and struck out six in five scoreless innings
Sunday in a 5-4 victory over the Astros at Bright
House Field and is scheduled to pitch Friday and again March 30. Aaron Nola is
on schedule to start the second game of the regular season, which would put him
on track to start the home opener April 11 against the Padres at Citizens Bank
Park. "We're not going to commit to anything right now," Phillies
manager Pete Mackanin said. "We haven't said anything to anybody." Hellickson,
28, would love the opportunity. "The first dream is to make it [to the big
leagues]. The other one is to be the Opening Day starter," he said.
"Either way it doesn't matter, but it would be an honor." Sunday was
Hellickson's first start in a Grapefruit League game since March 4. He missed
some time because of the flu and then had Saturday's start against the Blue
Jays rained out. "It's been an odd schedule, but I got four innings in a
Minor League game (March 13)," Hellickson said. "But it felt like
forever since I pitched up here." Hellickon said his goal this spring is
simple: return to the way he pitched earlier in his career. He went 27-21 with
a 3.06 ERA in 70 appearances (64 starts) the first three years of his career,
which included winning the American League Rookie of the Year Award in 2011.
But he is 22-27 with a 4.86 ERA in 72 appearances (71 starts) in three seasons
since. "I think I was giving in to guys too easy," he said. "I
was throwing a lot of 2-0 fastballs, 2-1 fastballs. If I walk a guy, I walk a
guy. It's just not giving in anymore. If I locate my fastball it's a different
story. I just couldn't get my fastball down when I needed to. I was getting
hurt a lot with guys in scoring position. My first couple years if I walked a
guy on a 3-1 changeup, I'll just went after the next guy."
Starter Moves To Bullpen – Brett Oberholtzer can read between the lines. But he can
read the Phillies' pitching schedule, too. He will pitch back-to-back games as
a reliever later this week, which is a good indication he will open the season
in the bullpen. "I guess the writing is on the wall," Oberholtzer
said Sunday morning at Bright House Field. "Literally." Oberholtzer,
26, is out of options, so he had a guaranteed spot on the Opening Day roster.
The Phillies acquired him in the Ken Giles trade in December, so they obviously
had no plans of losing him. But the storyline entering Spring Training is that
he had a chance to be the Phillies' No. 5 starter because he has a 3.84 ERA in
42 big league starts. The Phillies need quality starters. Phillies starters not
named Cole Hamels, Adam Morgan,Aaron Nola or Jerad Eickhoff posted a combined 6.19 ERA in 106
starts last season. That cannot happen again. But while everybody acknowledged
Oberholtzer deserved consideration to start, the belief remained that he would
open in the bullpen because of his versatility and because the Phillies also
liked Vince Velasquez and Morgan. Oberholtzer threw eight
scoreless innings in Grapefruit League action, plus three scoreless innings in
a Minor League game, while Velasquez has a 3.21 ERA in 14 innings -- including
allowing just one run and striking out seven in his last start, which saw him
go five innings -- and Morgan has a 2.00 ERA in nine innings, plus five
scoreless innings in a Minor League game. Velasquez or Morgan will be the
Phillies' No. 5, assuming Jeremy Hellickson,
Nola, Charlie Morton and Eickhoff open the season healthy. Oberholtzer
said he is OK with the situation. "Absolutely," he said. "Once
the roster is set and we head up to Philly, there's going to be moves just
because guys get hurt and things happen. For me, it's just go out there and be
prepared for any role." Oberholtzer could be the first option to start
should somebody get injured early in the season. Because of his versatility, he
has experience with having his role fluctuate throughout the season. "I've
been in the bullpen and up and down and used in different roles at different
times, so I've been accustomed to not throwing, throwing, different schedules
and all that stuff," Oberholtzer said. "It's just really getting used
to a routine and going about it that way. Being prepared to be used every other
day or every day, three innings, maybe one batter. I for sure think I have the
mentality for it. To be able to go out there and get outs whenever my name is
called. But again there's nothing that's set in stone." Nothing is
official, but Oberholtzer also has been around long enough to know what's
happening. "I haven't gotten a start officially," he said. "So
yeah, I feel like I kind of got the hint that maybe it's the role they're using
me in."
Lucky Play – Ryan
Howard turned
an unassisted double play during Sunday's Phillies-Astros Grapefruit League
game. Now, there are two ways it could've gone down. If you watch the clip, it
looks like Howard dropped Colby Rasmus' fourth-inning
liner by
accident, and then haphazardly turned it into an unassisted double play amid
the chaos and confusion at first. And that may very well have been the
case. Or, it could've all been part of his plan. After all,
Howard's played almost 1,400 MLB games at first. He's fielded a lot of liners.
He could've flubbed the catch on purpose, knowing he'd be able to nab Carlos Correa taking off for second. He could be a
master of deception. Either way, he ended the inning, so it doesn't matter in
the grand scheme of things. But whichever you believe probably says a lot about
you as a person, just saying.
Today In Phils History - In a bipolar show of affection the Phillies honored Robin Roberts with a cocktail party to retire his number the same night following an exhibition game during which they roughed him up but lost to his new team, the Yankees. 15 years later, the Phillies paid their respects to cross Commonwealth rival Roberto Clemente by traveling to Puerto Rico to play a two-game exhibition series against the Pirates to benefit sports programs honoring the late superstar. Finally, it was 2 years ago today when Freddy Galvis was diagnosed with an infection form antibiotic-resistant bacteria causing Galvis to be placed on the DL and the Phillies having to disinfect the entire clubhouse.
THE BEGINNING:
The
Phillies have begun the spring with a 13-5-2 record (14-5-2 if you include the
exhibition game against the University of Tampa). With the Phillies having
finished the 2015 season with a spectacularly awful record of 63-99 it will be
interesting to see what kind of team new President Andy MacPhail and GM Matt
Klentak put on the field. At the same time I am definitely looking forward to
the games against Boston with former GM Ruben Amaro on the field. Given the
departures, lingering contracts, a history of injuries, bipolar
performances, and unproven talent, it should, at the very least, be an
interesting season for the Phillies. Who knows, maybe they can avoid 100
losses... hopefully by more than one game!
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