They're Home in Just 4 Days!

Join PhoulBallz.com at the On-deck Series this Saturday, at Citizens Bank Park. You'll get a super sweet schedule magnet, see Pat Burrell in an opposing uniform and you'll get to check out Cole Hamels in his last spring start.

Charlie Manuel announced today that Colbert is definitely out as opening night starter against the Braves. He also announced that Jamie Moyer will start game 2, at home Tuesday night, 4/7. Two key details about the pitching rotation have yet to be made known to the public. 1- Who will start opening night, Brett Myers or Joe Blanton? 2- Who will be the 5th starter, Chan Ho Park or "Jay" Happ? Park made his final start of the spring today. Happ will pitch Thursday. Considering our Phils have 3 days off in the first 10 days of the season, they wouldn't need to use a fifth starter till Monday, April 20th, or so.

Among today's roster moves, Marcus Giles was released. Giles told reporters, "I got every chance in the world. It's not their fault. There's nobody to blame but myself. I would have made the same decision they did to be honest with you. I'm not a guy to make excuses. I had my chance." Miguel Cairo (.286 avg, .830 OPS this spring) can still make the opening day roster as a righty reserve hitter.

Eric Bruntlett had another big day at the plate on Monday, going 3-for-4 with a homerun and 4 RBI. That raised Bruntlett's Grapefruit League batting average to .364 and his OPS to 1.042. Bruntlett is second on the team in total bases and RBI this spring and he leads the team in runs scored and hits.

Raul Ibanez is in great company this pre-season, joining the powerful likes of Emmanuel Burriss, Kazuo Matsui and Mike Bourn as NL players with 70 or more at bats and zero homeruns.

Comments

Amanda said…

I think I'm going to be at the exhibition game on Sat.

Cant wait to see Cole.

March 31, 2009 at 9:51 PM

Lidge Shaky, T-Mac Honored in Trenton

TRENTON, NJ- Brad Lidge made his second rehab appearance for the Double A Reading Phillies on Thursday night and it didn't go as well as the veteran reliever or the team had hoped. Lidge struggled with his command and turned in a rather poor outing for the club that entered the night in a playoff race, 1 game behind division rival Trenton for the Wild Card spot in the Eastern Division. On the disabled list since spring training with a strained right rotator cuff, Lidge experienced an elbow strain when he was working back from that issue in late May. In his outing against the Yankees affiliate in Trenton, Lidge displayed difficulty with his control as he threw three wild pitches, hit two batters, walked another and gave up a single, all while letting up two earned runs on 28 pitches in 2/3 of an inning. After the disappointing performance, Lidge was composed and focused on some positive aspects, having reached 89 and 90 MPH on scouts' radar guns, according to some reports. ...

PhoulBallz Q&A with Mike Stutes

Mike Stutes completes "The Reading Phils Mike Tri-fecta" over three days, here on PhoulBallz.com. Stutes, a 22 year old, was an 11th round selection by the Phillies in the 2008 amateur draft. Stutes, a right handed starting pitcher, helped lead Oregon State to the College World Series championship in both 2006 and 2007. Stutes and teammate Vance Worley are the first players to begin a season at Reading the year after being drafted since Pat Burrell did it in 1999. Stutes was the Phils' minor league pitcher of the month in August '08, when he went 4-1 with a 1.72 ERA in 6 starts. Check out my Q&A with the third Mike below. Can I get you to talk about the coaching staff and how they help you deal with ups and downs? They've been real positive with me. I started out good and then I hit a rough patch. They've stuck with me through it all. I haven't heard any negative words from them. Every day they try to come out, work with me, try to get me turned around...

Jason Knapp Q&A

PhoulBallz .com was fortunate enough to meet with Phillies prospect Jason Knapp just one day after he caught the attention of the baseball world with his 7 shut out innings, 14 strike out performance against the Indians' Lake County team. - I asked Jason, the Lakewood BlueClaw , for some thoughts about his big game... I had pretty good command of three pitches (fastball, curve, change up). I was on the same page with my catcher, D'Arnaud , and I ended up, ya know, I felt pretty good. - In a great performance like that, how much credit goes to Travis D'Arnaud , the catcher? More than you might expect, definitely. I didn't shake him off once. He told me what to throw and I do what I'm told. And if it works out, a lot of the credit goes to the catcher. - Does the lack of run support (Lakewood has scored 3 total runs in his 3 starts), in your few starts, increase your stress level, or enhance your focus? No, I just try to go out and do my job every outing. Ya know, we...

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