Youngsters Carlos Carrasco and lefthander J.A. Happ showed why the spring competition for the Phillies 5th starter job promises much spirit and excitement.  They gave up a combined total of 1 hit in 4 innings.  But the Phillies offense continued it’s spring slumber again scoring only 2 runs as the Toronto Blue Jays got a 2 spot in the 5th and rallied late for four 8th inning runs against 2 unrostered relievers to beat the Phils by a 6-2 score in Clearwater.

Carrasco was awesome pitching to perfection in the first 2 innings and striking out 3.  Happ followed with scintilating performance in the 3rd and 4th innings allowing only 1 hit.

The Phils got an early 1-0 lead on a 3rd inning RBi single off of Bryan Bullington by shortstop Jimmy Rollins.  But Toronto notched 2 runs including a leadoff solo blast by rightfielder Travis Snider,  off of non-rostered reliever Justin Lehr in the 5th inning and scored 4 more 8th inning runs due to wildness by another non-rostered reliever Blaine Neal who walked 2 and gave up 2 hits in 2/3rds  of an inning.  Two other non-rostered relievers, Gary Majewski and Youman Bazardo gave up a total of a hit between them and striking out 3 in 3 1/3 innings before and after Neal.

The Phils scored their 2nd run in the 6th inning on a 2-out RBI sing by  Greg Dobbs off of lefthanded former Phil reliever Fabio Castro.

Toronto starter Scott Richman matched perfection with Carrasco throwing 2 perfect innings to start the game and striking out 1.

In the end, the decision went to lefthanded reliever Bill Murphy for Toronto while Blaine Neal took the loss for the Phils.  

For all of Thursday’s exhibition game results, click here.

On Friday, Drew Carpenter and non-rostered Antonio Bastardo are scheduled to start for the Phils against starter Bronson Arroyo for the  Cincinnati Reds.

And on Saturday, Kyle Kendrick, Drew Naylor and Adam Eaton oppose Pat Burrell and those Tampa Bay Rays.

For Friday’s and Saturday’s exhibition game schedules, click here and  here.

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This entry was posted on Thursday, February 26th, 2009 at 7:50 pm and is filed under Real-Time Baseball News and Commentary
Off-Season Action
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