Split Squad Games: A Wash for Phillies
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The Phillies played their first split squad games on Saturday and they turned out to be a wash in the won-lost columns.
But spring training is not so much about winning as it is about finding and correcting flaws, as young lefthander Cole Hamels found out on Friday, and honing skills before the regular season begins and before the games are “for tne marbles.”
The Phils split their 2 games on Saturday; losing one of the games to the Houston Astros by a 3-2 score in 10 innings despite Jon Lieber’s 1 run, 5 hit performance over 4 innings, the longest outing by a Phils starter thus far this spring.
AP’s Yahoo recap on the Phils/Astros game reports on Lieber’s performance;
Lieber pitched in and out of trouble, which is what made his outing so worthwhile.
Lieber allowed one run and five hits in four innings, but the Houston Astros beat a Philadelphia Phillies split squad 3-2 in 10 innings Saturday.
The right-hander, fighting for a spot in Philadelphia’s rotation, let six batters reach base but continually worked out of trouble.
“I fell behind a few times, but I was able to work out of some jams,” Lieber said. “That’s the time to work on things, when guys are on base. You have to be able to work out of those situations.”
So far this spring, Lieber has been the Phillies’ most dependable starter. But, this is spring training, so a bit of caution is an order as to regular season expectaions.
But, perhaps the Phils should heed counsel such as was written on Sunday by Inquirer Columnist Jim Salisbury who cautions that the Phils should keep Lieber due to pitching injuries which are quite common. And Lieber makes one heck of an insurance policy as the Phils go hunting for a division title and pennant this season.
Salisbury writes;
Florida Marlins righthander Josh Johnson will be out two months with a nerve problem in his elbow.
Ditto for Atlanta Braves lefthander Mike Hampton, who pulled a muscle near his left rib cage.
Injuries like these can happen to pitchers in an instant - Hampton got hurt while taking batting practice - and when they do, teams have to scramble for replacements.
Unless they have pitching depth.
Like the Phillies do.
The injuries to key starters like Johnson and Hampton show why the Phillies should hesitate when they think about trading Jon Lieber, who appears to be the sixth starter in a five-man rotation.
He also pointed to the Red Sox staff in 2006;
A year ago, the Red Sox went into spring training with starting pitching depth. Curt Schilling, Josh Beckett, Tim Wakefield, David Wells and Matt Clement were set in the rotation. Bronson Arroyo was on the outside looking in, and Jonathan Papelbon was a man without a spot - though he landed in the bullpen and had a sensational year as a closer.
Late in camp, the Red Sox traded Arroyo to Cincinnati for power-hitting Wily Mo Pena, who played in just 84 games.
In Cincinnati, Arroyo made the all-star team, pitched 240 innings, and finished fourth in the NL in earned-run average. In retrospect, the Sox could have used a guy like Arroyo. Wells, Wakefield and Clement spent time on the disabled list.
But back to the Phils and Astros. The only Houston run scored during Lieber’s 4 innings was on leftfielder Luke Scott’s solo homer to left in the fourth inning. The bullpen performed better, although non-rostered reliever J Farnsworth was solved for Houston’s winning run in the 10th inning. Phils infielder Greg Dobbs blasted his 3rd homer of the spring, a solo shot off of Astros reliever Brad Lidge in the 6th inning to knot the score at 2-2.
Meanwhile, the other half of the Phils squad was spotting the Tampa Bay Devil Rays a 4-1 lead after 5 innings as Freddy Garcia got clubbed for a 3 spot in the 1st inning. Garcia’s line for his 3 innings of work was 3 runs, 5 hits, 2 walks and no strikeouts.
But, thanks in part to air-tight relief pitching, a 3 for 4 hitting day by non-rostered 3rd baseman Brennan King and a 2 run homer by non-roster player J.C. Jaramillo, the Phils charged back with 3 runs in the 7th inning to tie and 1 each in the 8th and 9th innings to provide the winning 6-4 margin.
On Sunday, the Phillies are hosting the Detroit Tigers in Clearwater. The box score and recap on the game can be found here. Box scores and recaps on all of Sunday’s games can be found here.
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March 13th, 2007 at 12:32 pm
[…] Notwithstanding the recent post on this blog concerning the possible down-sides of any Phillies trade of 6th starter Jon Lieber, Inquirer staff writer Todd Zolecki writes that if the Phils do find “a valuable enough piece to improve their bullpen, they are willing to take that risk heading into the season.” […]