D-Brown kills the phenom

We were busy today visiting with grandparents and then trying to find the perfect Halloween costume for Trent.

(We know it's early, but Christine's Mom may handcraft it. We have an idea for something. Non-baseball.)

Anyway, we were still able to follow the first ever major league matchup of the phenoms Domonic Brown and Stephen Strasburg. D-Brown grounded out in the 2nd inning, but Jesus did not survive their faceoff in the 5th inning. He left the game, shaking his arm and grimacing in pain. Nationals Nation, including Joe Wolf's Vertical Jump, who was at the game, may be wondering whether all the hype was worth it.

The Nationals did win the game, 8-1, although I'm sure they would have preferred a loss if it meant their prized prospect's arm were still in tact.

The Red Sox and Blue Jays are tied at 4 in the 11th, but Jonathan Papelbon just came in, so this one should be over shortly. Yup, Paps held 'em, and Jed Lowrie homered in the bottom of the inning to win 5-4. Dustin who?

Brown delivers

After much speculation about trading Jayson Werth for a starting pitcher, the Phillies have a new right fielder. J-Dub's still a Phillie; he's just moved to center field because Shane Victorino is injured.

So the new right fielder is Domonic Brown. D-Brown had a memorable debut, going 2-3 with two runs and two RBIs as Roy Halladay pitched a complete game 7-1 win over the Diamondbacks. The run was Brown's fault as he dove and allowed the ball to bounce past him instead of taking it on one hop and preventing the run.

The postgame noted that this was the first two-hit game for a Phillie making his major league debut since Lou Marson in 2008. Christine and I were at that game. I wrote:

The 22-year-old went 2-4 with a two-run homer in the 8th. It took me a moment to figure out why fans were booing. (They're not booing, they're saying Boo-urns.) One day we'll tell the kids how we were at the big-league debut of the great Lou Marson.

Maybe it was a little overblown, but Christine told the Marson story to Trent tonight. It made me a little emotional, but pretty much everything makes me a little emotional these days.

The Red Sox finished off a four-game sweep of the Angels. That also made me a little emotional.

Shagadelic

There has been buzz this week about the first impressions made in camp by top SoxandPhils prospects Domonic Brown and Casey Kelly, but thanks to the unintentional comedic stylings of Charlie Manuel, they were overshadowed by a minor leaguer ranked the 205th best prospect in baseball.

Mr. 205, Tyson Gillies, made a big impression on Cholly: "He's something, man. He takes shagging to another level."

I don't know much about Gillies or his prospects, but I think he should retire tomorrow. No matter how well he does in his career, he will never have a highlight as good as this one.

Prospectin'

I still have Disney World on my brain. One of the nicest rides we had this weekend was on Big Thunder Mountain Railroad. We really had fun on that one - plus, there was no line so we pretty much walked right on.

The train is in Frontierland, which sets the mood for Baseball America releasing its list of top 100 prospects. I'm pleased with the SoxandPhils representation. I get just as proud with the organizational success of our teams as their on-field accomplishments.

The Phillies Domonic Brown (15) tops the SoxandPhils contingency, followed by the Red Sox quartet of Ryan Westmoreland (21), Casey Kelly (24), Josh Reddick (75) and Lars Anderson (87).

The Phillies also have Phillippe Aumont (93) on the list.

What's more impressive is that they had a decent showing on the list when each team has dealt away prospects in recent years. Former SoxandPhils farmhands include former future Phils Kyle Drabek (25), Michael Taylor (29), Jason Knapp (64) and Travis d’Arnaud (81), and former future Sox Nick Hagadone (44).

Not on the list is Brad Wilkerson, although he was ranked in 2001 (35) and 2002 (63) when he was an up-and-coming Expo. He was in Red Sox camp last year, but retired after two games in the minors. Now, he's with the Phillies. Christine thinks this line explains the move: Wilkerson is "a close friend of Phillies backup catcher Brian Schneider."

In my Baseball Mogul game, team happiness matters, and sometimes you have to acquire a player's friend to make him happy and improve team chemistry. We hope Brian Schneider is happy now.

[Photo credit: CoasterGallery.com]

Spring is on its way

We still have to get through the Super Bowl and some more cold weather, but there are some signs of spring today - 67 days before opening day.

Most notably is the fact that several of the SoxandPhils media have features on young players poised for a bigger role in 2010 or prospects who are a bit further away.

The Daily News took the first in-depth look at Phillippe Aumont, who will be compared with Cliff Lee and Kyle Drabek for the rest of his career. Also acquired with Aumont was Tyson Gillies - how did we not know before that he was deaf? Good human interest story. But Gillies isn't the top outfield prospect on the Phillies - it's still Domonic Brown, who told CSNPhilly.com that this will be the biggest year of his career.

For the Red Sox, Daniel Bard also has big aspirations, but he's glad to serve another year of apprenticeship under Jonathan Papelbon. And he knows the way to a Red Sox fan's heart is by a subtle-but-gratuitous shot at the Yankees:

Papelbon's crazed alter ego is known as "Cinco Ocho." Bard has one, too, but he's not sharing the name. Besides, his mound demeanor probably trends more toward the Mariano Rivera, keep-it-cool end of the spectrum.

"I don't show a ton of emotion," Bard said. "It's more of a focused intensity; not so much Joba Chamberlain-esque. Whatever works for you."

I bet Christine points out that he's also taking a shot at Papelbon.