Phillies lefthander J.A. Happ extended his spring scoreless string to 8 1-3 innings on Saturday as DH Ben Franscisco and 3rd baseman Cody Ransom each homered.  Minnesota starter Carl Pavano threw a perfect three innings but the Phils rallied late after reliever Antonio Bastardo was touched up for a 4 run, 5 hit sixth inning.  Down 4-1, the Phils rallied featuring Ransom’s 3 run seventh inning homer. 4 other Phils relievers held the Twins to 2 hits as Happ 1 hit the Twins for four innings and the Phillies rallied late for a 5-4 win.

In all, the 5 Phillies relievers struck out 9 Twins to go along with Happ’s 3 strikeouts Ryan Madson emerged as the game winner after throwing a perfect seventh inning.   Chad Durbin, Jose Contreras and Danys Baez all looked solid against the Twins.  Former Phil Clay Condrey gave up a run on 2 hits in the sixth inning while Jose Mijares was tagged as the losing pitcher after giving up 3 seventh inning hits including Ransom’s 3 run shot, his 2nd homer of the spring.

Due to Friday’s rain cancellation, the Phils’ pitching rotation faced revision.   MLB.com’s Todd Zolecki lines up the starting pitching for the next two games:

Kyle Kendrick will pitch Sunday against the Orioles in Sarasota, and Roy Halladay will pitch Monday against the Pirates in Bradenton.

Zolecki adds in a subsequent report:

Andrew Carpenter and Sergio Escalona are also scheduled to pitch [on Sunday]. Escalona is competing for one of three potential openings in the bullpen.

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This entry was posted on Sunday, March 14th, 2010 at 10:37 am and is filed under Real-Time Baseball News and Commentary
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