Utley, Hamels Shine as Phillies Crush Twins
|
|
|
|
|
After 3 previous rough outings, young lefthander Cole Hamels sparkled in 6 2/3 innings of work and All Star 2nd baseman Chase Utley went 3 for 4 with 2 homers and 3 RBIs as the Phillies bats awakened to the tune of a 10-2 drubbing of the Minnesota Twins in Clearwater.
Hamels, although giving up solo blasts to leftfielder Rondell White in the 2nd inning and 2nd baseman Luis Castillo in the 3rd for Minnesota’s only runs, was excellent in his best performance of the spring striking out 6 with no walks while giving up 5 hits to earn the win. The Yahoo AP recap reports that Utley’s 2 homers gives him 6 for the spring with 16 RBIs and a club leading .370 batting average for the spring exhibition games. Hamels even helped his own cause with the stick going 2 for 3 with an RBI.
In addition, the bullpen tandem of Antonio Alfonseca, Ryan Madson, Matt Smith and closer Tom Gordon shutdown the Twins allowing but 2 hits over the last 2 1/3 innings in one of the best, if not the best Phils relief performances of the spring.
Minnesota starter and losing pitcher Ramon Ortiz was tagged by the Phils for Utley’s 3 run shot in the 3rd inning, and gave up outfielder Karim Garcia’s solo shot in the 4th and only made it through only one out in the 5th giving up a run amidst the Phillies 5 run onslaught. 2 Twin relievers finished up the final 3 2/3 innings giving up 4 more runs to the Phils.
The boxscores and recaps for this and all Sunday games can be found here.
In the meantime, in Port St. Lucie, MLB.com’s Marty Noble reported that a 41 year old Tom Glavine of the aging New York Mets glanced in the direction of teammate Julio Franco’s (nearly 49 yo) locker and accepted Phil’s Jimmy Rollins’ challenge about the team to beat in the NL East. But the Phils will win the NL East anyway!
On Monday, the Phils travel to Tampa to play the Yankees where Philly.com’s Jim Salisbury reports that Zack Segovia will start against the Bronx Bombers. The scores, boxscores and recaps for this and all Monday games can be found here.
del.icio.us |
digg |
Furl |
Reddit |
YahooMyWeb |