Phillies Pitching, Hitting Defeat Tampa Bay
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The Phillies continue gearing up for the beginning of money time, that is Opening Day. The pitching continued to fall into place as projected ace Brett Myers tossed a dominating 6 shutout innings allowing only 3 hits while walking 2 and striking out 7 to win his final tune-up before his Opening Day start against the Atlanta Braves.
The Phils got good relief pitching and scored 9 runs on 16 hits in pasting the Tampa Bay Devil Rays by a 9-2 score in Clearwater. With all of the runs and hits, the Phils still left 12 on base. Reliever Clay Condrey gave up 2 runs in the 7th inning after the Phils put up a 6-0 lead and Joseph Bisenius closed down the Rays in the 9th inning.
For Tampa Bay, after lefthander Scott Kazmir held the Phils to 1 run on 5 hits through 3 innings as infielder Wes Helms doubled in shortstop Jimmy Rollins, and reliever Chad Orvella held the Phils scoreless in the 4th inning despite walking 1 and giving up a bunt single, the roof caved in on the Devil Rays and reliever Brian Stokes in the 5th inning. Infielder Greg Dobbs capped the rally with a 2 run double and the Phils were up 5-0. Despite giving up only the 1 run, Kazmir was tagged with the loss in his final tune-up before his opening Day start against the Yankees. And Stokes didn’t do his chances of making the Devil Rays squad any good by allowing the 4 runs.
The Phils added a 6th run in the 6th inning as rightfielder Jayson Werth solo homered to leftfield off of reliever Ruddy Lugo.
Tampa Bay sored their 2 runs on Condrey in the 7th on shortstop J. Velandia’s RBI double and leftfielder Dustan Mohr’s RBI single.
The Phils capped their scoring with 3 runs in the 8th inning off reliever Seth McClung as Condrey helped the cause with an RBI double and infielder Abraham Nunez laced a 2 run double to deep center. Nunez and 4 other Phillie hitters collected 2 hits as the team seems intent on backing up Jimmy Rollins who keeps reiterating that the Phils are the team to beat in the NL East. For their part, the Mets, by way of the New York media – namely Newsday.com’s trash-talking slur, seem to be taking notice as they quake in their shoes while looking over their shoulders, and the season hasn’t even begun yet.
The Phils trimmed down their bullpen corps a little more. AP’s Rob Maaddi reports for Yahoo sports;
RHP Jim Ed Warden, a candidate for a bullpen spot with the Phillies, returned to Cleveland after he cleared waivers and had to be offered back to his former team. Warden, selected in the winter-meeting draft, had a 5.68 ERA in seven appearances. “We felt we couldn’t use him right now,” manager Charlie Manuel said. “He needs work. He needs command. He needs to work on his delivery.”
ESPN.com reports on further Phillies roster trimming;
Karim Garcia, trying to make a big league comeback with the Phillies, was released. He batted .305 (18-for-59) with four doubles and one homer in spring training and was competing for a spot as the Phillies’ fifth outfielder.
Garcia, best known for tangling with a Fenway Park groundskeeper during the 2003 AL Championship Series with the New York Yankees, spent the past two seasons playing in Japan. He signed a minor league contract with the Phillies in January.
For boxscores and recaps on this and all of Wednesday’s games, click here.
The Phils play the Pittsburgh Pirates on Thursday. For boxscores and recaps on this and all of Thursday’s games, click here.
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