Early spring lessons

This week, Trent learned the most important thing about spring training: The games don't matter.

The Red Sox lost to the Phillies 2-0 on Thursday, getting only one hit in the game, off Cole Hamels, in the first - and least important - of the games the two teams will play in 2011.

We also learned that you should take advantage of nice early March weather. We took Trent to a local farm/zoo on Saturday. It was much more fun to watch Trent look at roosters, chase lizards and try to grab a fish than to watch a rare spring Red Sox broadcast. They lost to the Marlins 11-2 (see my first paragraph).

We're still here

So, spring training has been under way for weeks now, and almost a week worth of practice games are over. But still, no updates from SoxandPhills-ville. Bad bloggers.

Greg, Trent and I are definitely looking forward to the upcoming season, but Greg and I just haven't had as much time to read and watch about spring training as we're used to. After we get home from work, feed Trent, eat dinner, straighten up around the house, play with Trent, put him to bed and do whatever else needs to be done on a random night, we don't have time or interest to troll around for baseball stories. So that's why we haven't discussed injuries, rosters and all that other good stuff that happens in February and March.

We hope to start to get back in the swing of things soon. We won't be able to do daily posting, but we'll pop in when some fun little nugget catches our eye. Or when Trent does something adorable, whether baseball related or not. And we'll still provide our game updates this season. Basically, we can't wait for spring to get here, and baseball will be the icing on that warm cake this year.

And, of course, we need to get things ready on this blog for October's Red Sox-Phillies showdown.

Out of hibernation

Wow, I can't believe I've gone nearly a month without posting, but time flies with Trent, especially when all of us have been fighting an assortment of ailments, including routine colds, sinus/ear infections and other not-so-pleasant bugs. Not to mention a weekly blizzard that rolls through the area.

We're finally getting back to normal, preparing to celebrate Christine's birthday, as well as the first for one of Trent's little buddies.

Christine is getting ready for pitchers and catchers. I guess I am too; not so much for the baseball, but because it means this wretched snow and ice may end.

I did have my baseball juices flowing the other day when I saw MLB Network's countdown of the greatest games. It should have been ranked higher, but I enjoyed reliving Game 4 of the 2004 ALCS. I'm not a big Kevin Millar fan, especially as a studio analyst, but I liked listening to his perspective on the game that changed Red Sox history forever.

Peaceful camps

We've had relatively quiet camps for the SoxandPhils this year.

It's been so quiet that this week the Boston Herald's John Tomase dubbed the Red Sox spring training Camp Tranquility.

For the Phillies, it's been going so swimmingly that David Murphy couldn't decide which Phillie starter should get the Cy Young already.

OK, he didn't go that far, but he did post some nice reminders of how much better this spring has been compared with some in the recent past:

* Who will be the fifth starter, Adam Eaton, J.D. Durbin or Chad Durbin?
* Can Brett Myers return from life as a closer?
* Who will be the fifth starter, Happ, Kendrick or Chan Ho Park?
* Is Myers the pitcher we saw in the first half of 2008, or the second half?
* Can Hamels avoid his annual trip to the disabled list?
* Where do Jon Lieber and Freddy Garcia fit in?

That's making this year's Kyle Kendrick-Jamie Moyer battle for the fifth starter position seem pretty benign.

Making the grade

I never get too excited about spring training games, especially on days like today when the competition is college teams, but I am encouraged by the performance of top prospect Casey Kelly in today's 15-0 win over Northeastern:

It's Casey Kelly's world and we're all just living in it. The phenom retired the side on 10 pitches, seven strikes. After falling behind leadoff hittr Tucker Roeder 2-0, he threw three straight strikes. Then came a grounder to second and another swinging strikeout.

That'll be it for Casey, he'll finish his day in the bullpen.

His catcher, Victor Martinez, was impressed:

Victor Martinez said he was shocked when he learned Casey Kelly was a part-time shortstop last year. "You can't tell," he said. "He's very refined."

That's what I like to see. I also like to be reminded of where our teams have come from. When I saw the Daily News feature on the Phillies progress over the last decade, I clicked on the sidebar first that was just a list of their payrolls over the years. I couldn't believe that it was as low as $27 million in 1999, but then I saw that was the gist of the main story:

Curt Schilling and Paul Byrd each won 15 games in 1999, tying for the club lead. Chad Ogea, however, went 6-12. Bobby Abreu was tops in batting average, Mike Lieberthal in home runs and Rico Brogna in RBI. Wayne Gomes was the closer in a bullpen that included Steve Montgomery, Amaury Telemaco, Jim Poole and Yorkis
Perez.

A lot has changed in just 11 years.

Then: Veterans Stadium. Now: Citizens Bank Park.

Then: 77 wins. Now: A team with a roster full of All-Stars that is gunning for its third straight World Series appearance.

Then: An Opening Day payroll of $27,297,000, parsimonious even for that era. Now: A projected payroll of $143,502,500 when the Phillies start the season on April 5.

A lot of change, indeed.

Other games: The Red Sox beat Boston College in a nail biter, 6-1.

Phillippe Aumont isn't helping to quell the fans' pining for Cliff Lee, giving up a three-run homer. He couldn't finish his inning, and the Phils trail Florida State University 5-4 in the 4th.

I miss real games. I don't miss trying to post as they occur.

Live action and unpredictable predictions

We have our first glimpse of baseball circa 2010 today as Kevin Youkilis and some prospects took some hacks and the scribes noted who has bulked up (Clay Buchholz) and who has trimmed down (Daisuke Matsuzaka).

But even though the news is welcomed when our yard is still buried with snow, none of it matters because Baseball Prospecutus has updated its screwy projections for the season.

Although, they still have the Nationals finishing under .500, we like where BP is heading: a Red Sox division championship with the Phillies (always predicted to win the NL East) getting closer to the number of wins we expect from them.

But most interesting is what the statisticians see in store for the NL Central: a three-way tie for first place among the White Sox, Tigers and Twins at 80-82.

Christine and I would love to see that, although we'd settle for seeing our lawn again.

[Photo credit: Boston Globe]

Let the games begin

The Phillies are still more than two weeks away from reporting to camp, but the competition has already begun for the final spot in the bullpen.

It's a hard-fought battle that has started in sports pages via features on long-shot candidates.

Matt Gelb chose a real dark horse who would be a better story - Scott Mathieson is trying to come back from two Tommy John surgeries. And he's been helped by someone else competing for a spot - one of our favorites, Mike Zagurski, affectionately known here as Fattie:

He has spent the off-season working out with Zagurski, who is also rehabbing after Tommy John surgery, and Shawn Fcasni, the Phillies' minor-league strength and conditioning coordinator.

Mathieson and Zagurski play catch five times a week. To prepare, they each ride a treadmill for 10 minutes. No hot tub. No extra stretches. Just playing catch like old times.

And then they go home.

"It's pretty rare - most guys who have a second Tommy John, that's usually the end of their career," Mathieson said. "For me, I'm hoping it's just the beginning."

Scott Lauber, meanwhile, is casting his lot with Antonio Bastardo and takes a more analytical bent from Phillies assistant GM Chuck LaMar:

After getting called up in June, Bastardo threw his fastball 73.8 percent of the time, according to the statistical Web site FanGraphs.com. Even as a reliever, it's tough to make it in the majors with one pitch, so the Phillies wanted Bastardo to work on his breaking ball in the Dominican. Mission accomplished, LaMar said. Bastardo, 24, had a 1.50 ERA and six strikeouts in seven innings for los Gigantes del Cibao during the regular season, then fanned 12 batters over 7-1/3 scoreless innings in five appearances in the championship series against Escogido.

"There's no question he has the stuff to be a very successful major-league pitcher," LaMar said by phone. "He was able to come up last year and show the arm strength, especially from the left side, that can propel him to win a job. Now he's got to do it on a consistent basis. ... It's going to come down to having more than that fastball."

Christine is just waiting for someone to wise up and start touting Fattie. {Oh no, what do we call him if he has lost weight?}

A St. Patrick's Day tradition since ... ?

Last night Christine and I had a civil debate about whether the Phillies were the first team to wear green on St. Patrick's Day. I knew the Red Sox had done it for quite a few years, but I wasn't sure if some other team had done it first.

A Northeastern journalism professor, Charles Fountain, writing about spring training history for the Boston Globe, credits the Reds with being the first in 1978. That sounded almost right, until I read that he had the Red Sox as the second team in 1990.

There is no reference to the Phillies or Tug McGraw.

A 2004 MLB.com story on the Tugger places his St. Patrick's Day baseball tradition at McGraw's first Phillies spring training - 1975:

St. Patrick's Day: McGraw's favorite holiday. During his first Spring Training with the Phillies, he donned a uniform dyed green. Since then, the Phillies celebrate each March 17 by auctioning off green hats for their ALS charity. During the 2003 season, the Phillies hung a green No. 45 jersey in the dugout for each game.

So I guess that settles that. I hope the luck of the Irish is with Cole Hamels, who is reportedly fine but doubtful for opening day.

{And I bet some professor will soon claim that the Rays in 1998 were the first team to wear green on St. Patrick's Day.}

[Photo credit: Associated Press]

The battle of the Phillies beat writers continues

The other day, the Inquirer's new guy, Andy Martino, reported the Phillies made an offer to Will Ohman, which was promptly shot down by MLB's Todd Zolecki, who reported the rumor was probably just Ohman's agent trying to drum up interest.

Today, the Phillies did sign a lefty who once pitched for the Padres, but it wasn't Will Ohman. It was Rodrigo Lopez. Both scribes had the news, but Zolecki got the big scoop first, posting the move at 3:23 p.m. Martino had it up at 3:32 p.m.

In today's more substantial news: Kyle Kendrick took a step back in his quest for redemption. Josh Bard hit 100 mph during a game today. And Alex Rodriguez's hip injury is worse than expected and could miss months. I won't mention steroids.

Random thoughts

I woke up this morning to screaming headlines about Brad Penny's bum shoulder. I was terrified. But then I remembered: This isn't 2003. The Red Sox don't always choke in October, and the Phillies no longer end their seasons in September.

Plus, we have ample depth at starting pitcher: John Smoltz, Clay Buchholz, Michael Bowden or even Justin Masterson could be the team's fifth starter if needed.

Now, if J.D. Drew's back doesn't respond to these injections, then you can write off the season. I'm just kidding. It's just nice that these tidbits would have seemed disastrous five years ago, but after championships there's a calming sense that the front office has it all under control. Ditto for the Phillies.

He's fallen that far: Scott Lauber notes that Matt Stairs and Geoff Jenkins have become redundant and that one of them won't be in Philadelphia this year. I wonder whether Jenkins would have been considered one of the Phillies' worst free agent signings ever if Jayson Werth hadn't picked up his slack.

Showdown: We have some disagreement between current and former Philly.com writers. This afternoon, the Inquirer's new guy, Andy Martino, reported that the Phillies made an offer to free agent reliever Will Ohman. He cited the lefty's agent as the source.

Two hours later, Martino's predecessor, Todd Zolecki, reporting for MLB.com, shot him down: "A Phillies source told MLB.com today that they 'are not on Ohman.' The source indicated that Ohman's agent might be trying to generate interest in his client."

An hour after that, the Daily News' David Murphy reported that the Phillies have kicked the tires on Ohman all offseason but that a deal is unlikely.

I can't wait to see whether Zolecki or his replacement is correct.

Pat Burrell reunion, Part 1

For the first time in his 12-year professional career, Pat Burrell faced off against the Philadelphia Phillies - the second team that drafted him and the only one he has been with until this season.

Burrell finally won over the fans last year as he became the quiet, venerable leader of the World Champions. He could have used that stock to bash ownership for not bringing him back, but he was all class yesterday:

"From the beginning, I have nothing but good things to say about the organization, the way I was treated," Burrell said. "I've known Ruben a long time, and he was very upfront with me. It wasn't a situation where I felt mistreated. He did mention that he wanted to change things up, and hey, sometimes you need that."

He even brought along Elvis, Christine's favorite World Series-winning bulldog, for a visit. And, although we knew Pat would be reunited with his former mates during spring training, the on-deck series in Philadelphia and a regular-season series in Tampa, we learned yesterday that Burrell plans to attend the ring ceremony on April 8 when the Phillies play a day game and the Rays play in Boston at night.

In true SoxandPhils spirit, we can hope that Pat eats a bad cheese steak before hopping on his plane to Boston. {I have no idea what he's talking about. I hope Pat the Bat hits a game-winning home run off Jonathan Papelbon.}

And in non-SoxandPhils fashion, the Phillies seem to have finally given up waiting for Nomar Garciaparra.

[Photo credit: TampaBay.com]

And they're off

Last year, the big competition in SoxandPhils camp was between Coco Crisp and Jacoby Ellsbury for the Red Sox starting centerfielder job. But you had the feeling that it was Ellsbury's job to lose.

This year, the only big competition is Phillies fifth starter, and while Kyle Kendrick seems to be the favorite, I have the feeling anyone could grab it. The two most untested candidates, Carlos Carrasco and J.A. Happ, went today.

Scott Lauber declared it a draw, although Carrasco had the prettier line - three strikeouts in two innings with no baserunners. Happ also tossed two shutout innings, but he allowed a hit. It's good to see the youngsters show some desire to grab the job and take it. Unlike last spring when Adam Eaton pitched poorly but kept his job anyway.

Games on

Spring games finally started today. I got caught up in something and didn't get to watch the beginning of the Sox as planned (I watched an inning so far and will try to watch some more after posting this), but I did hear the last couple innings of the Phillies game on the radio.

I liked this exchange for some reason:

Scott Franzke: How's that pretzel?

Larry Andersen: Salty.

Salty indeed.

The Phillies dropped their first game of the spring; the Red Sox beat Boston College in the afternoon but are losing to the Twins tonight. I don't put much credence in spring results. We're still about 190 regular-season wins and 14 postseason wins away from the SoxandPhils World Series.

Wake me in October.

{Boo! I liked October 2008, but I want this spring and summer to last for a nice long time.}

[Photo credit: NaturalNews.com]

'Twas the Night Before Baseball ...

It's probably the cold getting to me, but I've never wanted spring training to start as badly as I do this year, even though it could mean the end of the greatest two-year stretch of SoxandPhils baseball ever.

I'm very excited that games begin tomorrow. We even have lineups already. Be sure to tune into MLB Network tomorrow night to see Gil Velazquez, Dustin Richardson and Josh Bard lead the charge against the Twins.

The Phillies will have several regulars playing, plus Matt Stairs at DH, in an untelevised game against the Pirates. Question: If Stairs homers, does that mean six more weeks of winter?

Christine and I practiced watching baseball last night, popping in the DVD of the opening World Series game. We chose the Phillies radio broadcast. It was funny because some portions don't line up with the pictures from the Fox broadcast. For instance, there was dead silence when the Rays starters announced their lineup, and there were pictures of real rays swimming when Larry Andersen was discussing mechanics of the game.

Spring training circus

Four years ago, the aftermath of the 2004 World Championship brought us Fever Pitch, Queer Eye for the Straight Guy and a bevy of books from the likes of the acclaimed (Stephen King) to the barely literate (Johnny Damon).

This year, the Phillies are experiencing a little of the media crush that comes with a championship afterglow.

It's only a few days into spring training, and there have already been more guests in Clearwater than usual, highlighted by Big Sexy Kevin Nash. Um, yeah, I can't decide which is worse, this or Carson Kressley.

HBO is also in camp, doing its much-anticipated feature on Charlie Manuel.

The Phillies are talking a good game:

"Everyone's the same," Jimmy Rollins said. "Nobody's walking around with their chest out or a ballooned head. Everybody's still working. ... Like I said, we're still trying to win respect. We know we're winners and people know we have a good team, but we're fighting for respect as a champion."

"I'm actually proud of the guys, how they've come into camp," Chase Utley said. "It would be very easy to look back on last season and say, 'We're the world champions,' and sit on it. Brett looks like a new person. Ryan looks
extremely strong - and scary."

Fonzie quotes aside, I'm sure the 2005 Red Sox expressed similar sentiments, but we all know how that season went - followed by an even worse 2006.

I do think the way the Phillies have won the past two seasons that they will be able to block out these distractions. They may get off to their usual slow start, but I think they'll turn it on once they've given the Mets (aka the Coyote) false hope that this will be the year.

While things are tamer than the 2005 Red Sox, the 2009 Phillies camp is raucous compared with this year's Red Sox, who are playing with children, challenging each other to ping-pong games and playing golf to raise money for charity.

It's sort of nice that they are flying under the radar a bit this year. It's very nice that they're not wasting their time doing this:


[Photo credits: Slam Wrestling, Star-Ledger]

Spring surprises

There were mild surprises from each camp yesterday - not that they were unexpected given the histories of the players involved, but surprising in that they happened so quickly.

J.D. Drew's back is hurting, and Kyle Kendrick is the front-runner to be the Phillies fifth starter.

Drew, a hero of the 2007 ALCS and last year's All-Star game, which made it possible for Christine and me to attend the World Series clincher {J.D. Drew is not a hero, I don't care what he did in any All-Star game}, says his stiff back will be fine:

"I'm not concerned that I won't be at full capacity to play," Drew said. "If we had to go out there and play a game today I could do that. It wouldn't be a problem. That being said, I have battled with this the entire offseason, just as far as stiffness goes. Not really mobility as much. You wake up ... you move around, you do a few things, you sit down for a while, you get stiff."

Let's hope so. I like Rocco Baldelli, but given his health concerns, I'm not prepared to pencil him in for 140 starts in right field.

Kyle Kendrick has no health issues, but he struggled toward the end of last season and was regulated to the bottom of the pitching depth chart and eventually to cheerleader during the Phillies playoff run. Despite that, pitching coach Rich Dubee said he has an edge over J.A. Happ, Carlos Carrasco and Chan Ho Park to be the Phillies fifth starter.

"I can't walk away from 21 wins," Dubee said, referring to Kendrick's 21-13 record over the past two seasons. "To me, he's the leading candidate going in as the fifth starter because of what he's done."

Trashy last word: Everyone is making a big deal of Francisco Rodriguez proclaiming the Mets the team to beat. Yawn. Jimmy Rollins did this in 2007. Carlos Beltran did this in 2008. And even K-Rod already did this two months ago.

The Mets can't top the Phillies on, or off, the field. Phil Sheridan easily dismisses this latest volley:

It was fun while it lasted, but the war of words between the Phillies and Mets won't have quite the same spirit this year. The Phillies' World Series championship kind of makes boasts like Rodriguez's sound even more hollow than usual.

A spring in their steps

In the early part of spring training, everything is rosy, cheery and cheesy - unless your team is dealing with steroids and book controversies. Everybody is in the best shape of their lives, and every team is looking forward to a deep run into October - unless your team plays in Pittsburgh, Kansas City, Washington or some other desolate small market.

It's good to see that two of the heftier Phillies, Ryan Howard and Brett Myers, didn't get fat and lazy off their first World Championship; each lost more than 20 pounds this winter.

Myers:

Winning the World Series was great, but personally I had a bad taste in my mouth this winter because of how badly I pitched in the first half of the season. I needed to get in better shape so we don't have to fight to get into the playoffs the last three weeks.

I wanted to feel like I was in better shape and show my dedication to this team so I can go out and pitch better. I need to start stronger. I lost nine games in the first half. It would have made a big difference if I had pitched better.

How did Brett Myers lose 30 pounds in three months? Did he give up Cheetos? Switch to light beer? Not stay on the couch for hours on end playing video games?

I think Brett should offer the details in a book or video marketed as the Brett Myers World Series Weight Loss System. And maybe it could be a joint project with Ryan Howard:

I basically just wanted to come and get right. Not so much a target, but drop 10 pounds or so and see how I felt. And drop another 10 and see how I felt to get to a playing weight and feel good, feel light, feel fast, strong, and go from there.

Do you get the feeling that if one of them puts on five pounds during spring training that we'll be seeing a Phillies jazzercise class?

Red Sox: Everything is hunky dory. The lead story is how the new generation of young guns is following around Jon Lester, just as he tailed Josh Beckett in recent springs. And that Terry Francona loves baseball.

Yeah, it's chee-zy with a capital Z, but it sure beats being a Yankee fan when the big cause for excitement is that your veteran stars are going to attend the roiders news conference.

Sweet sights of spring

Finally, the 2008 World Champion Phillies and the 2007 World Champion Red Sox have begun to take the field.

In a surprise, one of the first Phillies working out was Chase Utley - hopefully that means Marcus Giles won't set foot in Philadelphia.

The Inquirer has a nice photo gallery of the Phillies first unofficial day of spring training. And as usual, Utley wouldn't quit gabbing, this time about how his first fielding session went. He answered two questions from David Murphy with two words and five letters: No. Yes.

Ah, baseball is back.

{P.S. The Zo Zone is back, too.}

In Red Sox camp: The day was topped by news that Josh Beckett didn't show up fat and bloated like he did last year. There were also optimistic reports on Brad Penny and Mike Lowell and David Ortiz, but I just consider that spring optimism. I'm not ready to count on those three having healthy seasons yet.

But it was a day so positive that news of a Manny Ramirez book barely made a blip. After Alex Rodriguez's steroids, the AIDS lawsuit against Roberto Alomar and Joe Torre's book, who cares that Manny thinks the Red Sox elderly traveling secretary is rude? Or that Manny is liked by his friends?

[Photo credits: Philadelphia Inquirer (Utley), Boston Globe (Beckett)]

We're getting closer ...

Players are stirring, reporters have started writing again and a whole mess of chewing gum, T-shirts and baseballs will soon depart from Philadelphia to Clearwater. All that's missing is Jimmy Rollins dissing on the Mets. But J-Roll, who did a conference call on the World Baseball Classic, wasn't interested in talking about the past:

"Being on the same team, you actually get to see and admire what a guy is like when you're in the same clubhouse," said Rollins, who will play for Team USA next month in the WBC. "You're not representing New York or Philadelphia. It doesn't matter who the guy on your left or right is. It's just Team USA. So, as for the Mets, that has nothing to do with the World Baseball Classic. I'll address that in spring training."

C'mon, J-Roll, I'm dying here. Give me something to work with.

Not even Theo Epstein gave me anything to chew on in a radio interview (not that he ever provides good blog fodder).

The only thing we learned today is one possible reason the Red Sox unexpectedly signed Brad Wilkerson - our fifth outfielder/backup first baseman, Mark Kotsay, needs back surgery and will miss at least one month. The season is ruined.

{As for me, I'm getting desperate for baseball to start. I am absolutely not a Led Zeppelin fan, but I listened to all 8 minutes and 28 seconds of Kashmir on the ride home from work, just because it reminded me of being at the ballpark.}

Encouraging signs of spring

Although we're in midst of the largest snowfall of the season and Punxsutawney Phil saw his shadow yesterday, there are some sure signs of spring in SoxandPhils-ville.

First, Scott Lauber, who by default is now the premier newspaper reporter covering the Phillies, has stirred from his hibernation and says his paper and blog will begin full team coverage soon. That's good news, but hard to believe when his newspaper company is crumbling.

Second, a certain young, left-handed, World Series-winning ace has arrived for spring training. No, not that young, left-handed, World Series-winning ace, but this one. It can get so confusing with all the championship-caliber talent on our two rosters. Jon Lester reported early and seems ready to build on a breakout year.

Oh, and in a complete surprise to me, we signed Brad Wilkerson. I might be happier if it was Curtis Wilkerson.