Kyle Kendrick and 2 Phillies relievers were pounded for 11 runs in 6 innings while young Joba Chamberlain and 4 relievers held the Phils to a mere 6 hits as the Yankees rolled to a 12-0 shutout on Monday collecting 20 hits in the process.

With a bloated 12.10 ERA, one must wonder if this disaster, coupled with a string of poor outings, has doomed not only Kendrick’s bid for the 5th spot in the starting rotation, but his efforts to make the opening day roster at all.

Kendrick’s line for his 4 innings was 5 runs, 4 of them earned, on 8 hits.  He walked 3 and struck out 2.  Non-rostered relievers Robert Mosebach and lefthander Jake Woods gave up 6 runs between them in the 6th inning while veteran lefthander Scott Eyre struck out the side in the 7th allowing 1 hit and Ryan Madson gave up a run on 2 hits in the 8th.  Mercifully, there were no Yankee homers in the game.

Meanwhile, Phillies bats slumbered against Chamberlain and Yankee relievers in a brutal game that manager Manuel would just as soon forget.

Chamberlain was credited with the win while Kendrick was charged with the loss.

For all of the results of spring training play for Monday, as well as World Baseball classic results, click here.

The Phils announced today that ace lefthander Cole Hamels is flying back to Philadelphia to have his left elbow examined by the team physician as a precaution.

The AP report for Yahoo sports notes:

“He’s had a little bit of a persistent soreness in his elbow; we do not believe it’s serious,” Phillies general manager Ruben Amaro Jr. said. “But at least at this time we thought it was important for Dr. (Michael) Ciccotti to check him out and see if there’s anything more serious than we think it is.”

Hamels, the World Series MVP last fall, went 4-0 with a 1.80 ERA in five postseason starts in October. The 25-year-old left-hander made his first Grapefruit League start Wednesday.

“I was able to throw yesterday,” Hamels said. “It’s just been that kind of mild discomfort, something I don’t want to have to deal with during the season. So if we can figure it out and somehow lessen the inflammation and the discomfort, I’ll be able to throw and be productive.”

Hamels has a history of injuries. Last season he pitched 262 1/3 innings, marking the first season in his eight-year professional career that he avoided the disabled list.

The Phillies return home to Clearwater, Fla. on Tuesday to play the  Cincinnati Reds.   Brett Myers gets the start for Phils.

For all of Tuesday’s scheduled exhibition games and World Baseball Classic games as well, click here.

Add to:These icons link to social bookmarking sites where readers can share and discover new web pages. | del.icio.us | digg | Furl | Reddit | YahooMyWeb |

Veteran righthander Chan Ho Park pitched 4 2/3 shutout innings and dueled former Phil Kyle Lohse, who went 5 full and only gave up a 1st inning solo homer to centerfielder Jayson Werth.  The game was a pitcher’s duel throughout which the Phillies won in the 9th on an RBI double by non-rostered invitee outfielder Jason Ellison edging the St. Louis Cardinals by a  2-1 score.

Park looked impressive scattering 3 hits and striking out 6 against a tough Cardinals lineup including 1st baseman Albert Pujols, leadoff hitter centerfielder Rick Ankiel and rightfielder Ryan Ludwick.  Park walked none.

In the race for the #5 starting rotation spot, MLB.com’s Todd Zolecki notes:

Park is 1-0 with a 1.54 ERA, making him a co-leader with left-hander J.A. Happ for the final spot in the Phils’ rotation. Happ is 0-0 with a 2.45 ERA in four appearances.

Kyle Kendrick… is 1-1 with a 14.29 ERA in two appearances.  Carlos Carrasco is 2-1 with an 8.10 ERA in four appearances.

2nd baseman Chase Utley went hitless in his first 2 at-bats this spring against NLB pitching, but it was great to see him on field in MLB playing conditions.  Its looking more and more like he’ll be fully rehabbed after his hip surgery and ready in time for opening day.

Werth, Greg Dobbs and non-rostered utility infielder invitee Miguel Cairo, who replaced Pedro Feliz at 3rd base, each had 2 hits.  Cairo’s 2nd hit, in the 9th inning off of Cards reliever Jess Todd, led to the winning run on Ellison’s double.

Phillies reliever Antonio Bastardo gave up the only Cardinal run on 2 hits in the 7th inning.  He pitched 2 full innings.   Relievers Clay Condrey and Joe Bisenius were both impressive giving up only 1 hit between them in 1 1/3 inning and 1 inning respectively.

Bisenius, who pitched the 9th inning, was credited with the win and Todd, who surrendered Ellison’s 9th inning winning double, was charged with the loss.

For all of the results of spring training play for Sunday, as well as World Baseball classic results, click here.

On Monday, the Phils travel to Tampa to play the Yankees as Kyle Kendrick goes against the “Bronx Bombers.”  

For all of Monday’s scheduled exhibition games and World Baseball Classic games as well, click here.

Add to:These icons link to social bookmarking sites where readers can share and discover new web pages. | del.icio.us | digg | Furl | Reddit | YahooMyWeb |

Pat Burrell, formerly leftfielder and #5 hitter in the Phillies lineup behind slugging 1st baseman Ryan Howard, went on to the Tampa Bay Rays in free agency, but the mutual bond between Burrell and Phillies Fans lingers on.

Maybe it was Burrell’s white-hot April and May, 2008, maybe it was his winning hit in game 5 of the 2008 World Series against the Rays, maybe it was 251 career homers, many of them in the clutch or maybe it was his ability to protect clean-up hitting Howard (despite many detractors of his ability in the media), or maybe it was all of the above and more which endeared him to the Phillies fandom.

Burrell seemed soo taken by a standing-O given him in Clearwater during spring training, as well as by his treatment by Phillies fans over the years, that he “thanked the fans for sharing a championship parade with him” in ads he bought in The Philadelphia Inquirer and the Daily News.

It may well be that Raul Ibanez replaces Burrell capably with the bat, from the left-side, and in leftfield and the Phils thus may not skip a beat in a march to repeat in the NL East, the NL and in the World Series.  But it seems that it may take him longer to fill Pat “the Bat’s” shoes with the fans.

Here’s wishing Pat Burrell great success with the Rays (except against the Phillies) — Pat “the Bat”: a class act!

Add to:These icons link to social bookmarking sites where readers can share and discover new web pages. | del.icio.us | digg | Furl | Reddit | YahooMyWeb |

Righthander Joe Blanton continues on course to begin the regular season, youngster Carlos Carrasco rebounded from 2 previous poor outings and 1st basemen Ryan Howard and Greg Dobbs as well as outfielders Jayson Werth and John Mayberry continued hitting as the Phillies split their Friday and Saturday games.  The Pittsburgh Pirates edged them out on Friday by a 6-5 score on 3 runs in the 9th inning and the returned the favor beating the  Houston Astros by a 5-2 score on Saturday.

On Friday, Pirate lefthander Zach Duke pitched superb 1 hit ball for 3 2/3 innings as the Bucs held a 2-0 lead after 4 innings. Blanton gave up 2 runs on 5 hits while striking out 2 and walking none in 4 2/3 innings.

After the Pirates scored their 2 runs in the 2nd, Blanton retired 10 of the next 11 batters he faced.

The AP recap for Yahoo sports notes:

Trailing 3-0, the Phillies scored five times in the bottom of the sixth to take control of the game. Ryan Howard hit his fifth home run of the spring—a three-run line drive off Daniel McCutchen—to fuel the rally.

McCutchen was pounded for all 5 Phillies runs as they took a 5-3 lead in the 6th inning.  But non-rostered invitee Blaine Neal let Pittsburgh back into the game and coughed up the 3 winning runs in the 9th inning as the Bucs came out on top.  Reliever Brian Slocum, who pitched a hitless, scoreless 8th for Pittsburgh got the win while Neal was charged with the loss.

On Saturday, the Phils jumped off fast getting 2 runs to the Astro’s 1 in the 1st inning as Carrasco put himself back into the chase for the #5 rotation spot with a 3 inning, 1 run, 4 hit performance.  He struck out 4 and walked 2 while facing some potent Astro hitters. 

AP Sports Writer Kristie Rieken notes in her recap for Yahoo sports:

Carrasco faced a lineup that included Lance Berkman and Carlos Lee and was supposed to be bolstered by the return of Miguel Tejada from the World Baseball Classic.

Instead, Tejada and Lee went a combined 0-for-6 while Berkman fared a bit better with two hits and an RBI.

Greg Dobbs went 2-for-4 with two RBIs for Philadelphia, which finished with 11 hits. Jayson Werth homered and drove in two runs.

While Carrasco helped his case, Astros starter Russ Ortiz struggled.

Ortiz, competing for a spot in Houston’s rotation, allowed three runs and seven hits with three walks in 3 2-3 innings. Ortiz, who was an All-Star in 2003 when he led the National League with 21 wins, is trying to make a comeback after sitting out last season following surgery to repair a torn flexor tendon in his right arm.

In the final win/loss decision, Carrasco was credited with the win, his 2nd in the exhibition season against a loss, and Ortiz was charged with the loss.

For all of the results of spring training play for Thursday, as well as World Baseball classic results as well as World Baseball classic results, click here and here.

MLB.com’s Alyson Footer reports:

The Phillies will host the Cardinals on Sunday at 1:05 p.m. ET.  Right-hander Chan Ho Park will take the mound for Philadelphia, while the Phils will face Cards righty Kyle Lohse.

Park is contesting for the 5th rotation spot and has shown well in his previous spring appearances.  Lohse, the former Reds and Phillies hurler in 2007, had his finest season in 2008 going 15-6 with an ERA of 3.78 in 200 innings with the Cardinals.

AP’s Rieken also reports:

Phillies All-Star 2B Chase Utley, who is recovering from offseason hip surgery, played in a minor league intrasquad game at Philadelphia’s training complex. He went 2-for-4 and struck out twice. Phillies general manager Ruben Amaro Jr. said he couldn’t predict when Utley would play in a major league game until he sees how he feels after playing on Saturday. “It’s great to have him back on the field,” Amaro said. He knows Utley wants to get back quickly, but also doesn’t want to rush back and cause more problems. “Chase is smart enough to understand that this is something he has to be careful with,” Amaro said.

For all of Sunday’s scheduled exhibition games and World Baseball Classic games as well, click here.

Add to:These icons link to social bookmarking sites where readers can share and discover new web pages. | del.icio.us | digg | Furl | Reddit | YahooMyWeb |

Veteran lefthander Jamie Moyer and young lefthanded rotation hopeful  J.A. Happ did their jobs keeping the Phillies close.  But Phils’ bats were in snooze mode against starter James Shields, as the Tampa Bay Rays edged the Phils by a 3-2 score on Thursday.

Shields, the only Rays pitcher to record a win against the Phils in the 2008 World Series (in game 2), pitched 4 shutout innings allowing the Phillies only 1 hit.  Relievers Troy Percival and Dan Wheeler added 2 more shutout innnings holding the Phils hitless.

Moyer surrendered single runs in the 1st and 2nd innings while going 5 innings and allowing 6 hits.  Happ was solved for a solo homer by centerfielder Gabe Kapler in the 6th inning, the game-winning hit, and finished the game giving up 4 hits.  The 2 lefthanders kept the Phils within striking distance, but Rays pitchers held the offense to 3 hits, 2 by 2nd baseman and utility infielder Miguel Cairo. 

Cairo scored the Phils’ 1st run in the 7th on a Ryan Howard sacrifice to cut the Rays’ lead to 3-1.  Andy Tracy, a late game replacement for Howard, solo homered in the 9th but it was not enough.

Former Phillie leftfielder Pat Burrell, in a DH role, went 1 for 3 for the day.

Shields was credited with the win while Moyer was charged with the loss.

For all of the results of spring training play for Thursday, as well as World Baseball classic results as well as World Baseball classic results, click 
here.

The Phillies next host the Pirates on Friday in a 1:05 p.m. ET contest in Clearwater, Fla. righthander Joe Blanton  opposes Pittsburgh’s lefthander  Zach Duke who hopes to rebound from a brutal 5-14 record in 2008.

For all of Friday’s and Saturday’s scheduled exhibition games and World Baseball Classic games as well, click here and here.

Add to:These icons link to social bookmarking sites where readers can share and discover new web pages. | del.icio.us | digg | Furl | Reddit | YahooMyWeb |

Young Kyle Kendrick is quickly dropping out of contention for the coveted 5th spot in the Phillies starting rotation.  Kendrick was pummelled for 8 runs, including a 6 run 4th, including the 2nd of 2 two-run homers by catcher Clint Sammons.  Kendrick failed to record an out in the 4th inning as the Atlantic Braves took a 10-1 lead enroute to beating the Phils on Wednesday in a 12-10 slugfest.

It has become evident, after the poundings absorbed by both Kendrick and Carlos Carrasco, that the 5 spot has come down to a contest between young lefthander J.A. Happ and veteran recent acquisition Chan Ho Park.

Kendrick came out of the 1st inning okay, but Sammons lit him up for the first of his 2 run shots in the 2nd inning as the Braves came away with 3 runs in the frame.  The Phils notched 1 run in the 1st off of Braves starter lefthander Jo-Jo Reyes who is trying to recover from a disastrous 3-11 2008 season.

The Braves touched Kendrick for a single run in the 3rd before exploding on the youngster for 6 runs in the 4th as the young catcher pounded his 2nd 2 run shot of of the game as the Braves appeared to put the game out of reach.  The Braves capped their 4th inning with 2 runs on 3 hits vs reliever Gary Majewski.

But young rightfielder wannabe John Mayberry Jr. belted a solo homer in the Phillies’ 4th inning and is making quite an argument in his favor for a roster spot. He’s batting .290 for spring training with 4 HRs. He also hit a two-run double as the Phils moved to make a game of it at 10-7 with a 5-run 5th inning.

Lefthanded reliever Scott Eyre, who the Phils will look to for lefthanded relief while J.C. Romero serves out his beginning of the season 50 game suspension, pitched a scoreless 5th although allowing a walk and giving up a hit.

Relievers Ryan Madson and Jake Woods gave up 1 run each in an inning of work each.   Dave Borkowski and Joe Bisenius pitched scoreless 8th and 9th innings respectively as the Phils picked up 2 runs in the 7th and their final run in the bottom of the 9th.

MLB.com’s Todd Zolecki reports;

Jason Donald, who went 3-for-4 to raise his Grapefruit League average to .379, hit a leadoff single in the first.  Raul Ibanez, who went 2-for-3, singled two batters later to score him.

Donald, who played 3rd base on Wednesday, is also making a convicing argument for inclusion on the Phillies roster hitting .379 thus far in spring training.

Reyes, who gave up 2 runs on 4 hits while striking out 4 in 4 innings, was credited with the win.  Kendrick was charged with the loss.

For all of the results of spring training play for Tuesday and Wednesday, as well as World Baseball classic results click here and here.

The AP recap notes for Yahoo sports;

Closer Brad Lidge made his debut in a game this year in a five-inning intrasquad contest. Lidge allowed one hit—a solo home run—and struck out Pedro Feliz in one inning. Feliz, also playing his first game of spring training, was 1-for-2. Feliz had back surgery in November.

MLB.com’s Zolecki also reports;

The Phillies travel to Port Charlotte, Fla… to play former Phils slugger Pat Burrell and the Rays on Thursday at 1:05 p.m. Left-handers Jamie Moyer and J.A. Happ are slated to pitch for Philadelphia.

For all of Thursday’s scheduled exhibition games and World Baseball Classic games as well, click here.

Add to:These icons link to social bookmarking sites where readers can share and discover new web pages. | del.icio.us | digg | Furl | Reddit | YahooMyWeb |