Clearwater update 2018

[VoteForKalas]

Les - thank you so much again for these camp reports. Greatly appreciated.

[Les229]

FEBRUARY 24, 2018

Today was another great day. It got up to the near 80’s and the sun was somewhat nullified with an overcast sky. The game started with a moment of silence for Roy Halliday. That was followed by speeches from Phillies front office and the local politicians. I got my walks in and then ate a slice of pizza for lunch then sat at the picnic benches and watched the crowd pile in. A Giant scout sat down behind me and we talked a bit about the Giants and their chances this year.

Some of the moves that Kapler makes reminds me of Gene Mauch. I really hope that he is not going to start outsmarting himself like Mauch did. The lineups that Kapler has been producing usually puts a non traditional hitter in the leadoff spot. Today, they started with Santana in the leadoff spot. I am wondering if it is to get his at bats in as quickly as possible, or because of his high OBP.

It looks as though the Kapler has his starting pitching on an about a 40 pitch per outing. Neither Eflin, nor Morgan could get through two innings. I thought they both pitched effectively, but it took a lot of pitches to do their work. In addition, I thought Jake Thompson also looked good, but had a weird inning of work. There was a catchers interference, balk and a wild pitch/passed ball. He also used so many pitches that he only got to work one inning. It must be understood that these lineups are not major league quality at this point. The question that has to be asked is “Who is the pitcher getting out to get out of trouble?” The opposite is true for hitters, who did he get that big hit off of?

The big hit for the day was gotten by Alfaro. He hit a grand slam in the second inning that gave the Phils the lead. He hit it off of Bundy who was a pretty good pitcher last year for the Orioles. The Phils have said that that Alfaro’s defense will be a project for the coaches. Today he had an interference called, a wild pitch/passed ball and a bad throw. It will be interesting to see if the added attention will improve his defense. To me, none of the Phils’ catchers are very good defensively. They allow too many passed balls to get away from them. That unnerves young pitchers.

It’s time for me to take back my statement that I had never seen Crawford play well. Today he had a good game going 2 for 2 with a run scored. He also played well in the field. I hope he continues to play well and make us not regret the trading of Galvis. That was the one move that the Phils made this off season that I strongly disagreed with.

Oh! A parting note. For those of you who asked about Howard the hippie beer vendor. He is back and loud as ever. We missed him last season.

[Les229]

Thank you. As I mentioned in an earlier post, I almost didn't make it this year because of my run in with steroids.

[Les229]

FEBRUARY 27, 2018

Sorry folks, I am having car trouble and won’t be able to get to the ballpark for the next few days. I have been reduced to watching the games on TV. I’ll try to get back as soon as I can

[Les229]

MARCH 7, 2018
I’m ba-a-a-a-ck. All those great mid 70’s games that I missed the passed week and the first day back the weather is struggling to reach 70. The thermometer on top of the scoreboard sat on 69 all day and there was a stiff wind blowing from left field to right field. I talked briefly with the two scouts behind me. They were working for Colorado and San Diego. It felt good to eat my hotdogs while watching the grounds crew argue with the Red Sox about the field. The Sox wanted to keep batting practice going and the crew wanted to drag and line the field. After that, Zebedee dropped by and we caught up on the passed year. This is the first that we have been able to get together this spring. Zeb and his wife are long time spring training season ticket holders.

Kapler started what looks like his opening day lineup. The only starters that Boston brought were Benintendi and Devers. You can look at this game any way that it suits you. On the one hand, the pitching continues to hold its own and on the other hand, the hitting is still puny. They managed to win the game 2-1 with three singles and one of them should have been caught. Both of the Phil’s runs were unearned and nobody had an RBI. If the Phils don’t start hitting soon, there is going to be a reason for concern.

Nola started the game, threw 4 scoreless innings and gave up only one hit while striking out 5. Hutchinson impressed me. He threw three innings and gave up just one run and he could have used a little more help from his friends on that. The fact that Kapler let him throw three innings probably means he is still in the hunt for a starters’ job. It’s about time that the Phils got lucky on one of these rehab jobs that they are taking on. He looked very professional out there. It looks like Hobie Milner is emerging as the one out left hander out of the bullpen.

Kapler is employing a shift on nearly every hitter now. Personally, I am not a big fan of that approach because it leads to players often making throws from places and angles that they are not used to. It’s kind of like playing another position. That being said, I am still keeping an open mind on Kapler and we will see how it plays out. Every now and then, I bring up the fact that the Phils need to hire a base running coach. Both Williams and Crawford were picked off. Williams got out of it when the Boston first baseman threw the ball into centerfield. It brought back memories of Ryan Howard trying to throw runners out at second base.

Rupp may be playing himself out of a job this spring. He went hitless again today and threw one into centerfield on an attempted steal. Are we worried about Hoskins yet?

[Les229]

MARCH 9, 2018

A fairly nice day although a little cold for those of us who have become accustomed the heat down here. It was sunny and 58 when I arrived, but it got up to 69 by game time. The warmest place in the ball park on a windy day like this, was probably the seats down near the field. I sat in my seat in the 5th row and ate my pizza and soft pretzel while watching the Pirates take batting practice. By the way, my seat is section 111, row 5, seat 6 for anyone who wants to stop by. Hulk Hogan was on the field talking to Charlie before the game. His being here is not that unusual, he lives in Clearwater and has a shop on the beach. The mike didn’t work during the national anthem and the girl sang it a cappella without the mike. A lot of the fans jumped in and sang with her. I thought she deserved some kudos for hanging in there and also the fans for jumping in and helping her.

Kapler is following a similar pattern in most of the games. He starts what looks like the opening day lineup, or better prospect and about the 6th inning, he replaces them with the minor league free agents and lesser prospects. It is fairly common to see the team’s closer pitch earlier in the game while there are still some major leaguers in the other team’s lineup.

Eickhoff started the game and it wasn’t his day. He went three and a third innings and gave up 4 runs. He was hit fairly hard. On the other hand, Jake Thompson had a good day throwing three scoreless innings. I think the Phils have to be pleased with his performance , so far, this spring. He is currently sporting a 1.23 era. He has to be very much in the hunt for one of the starter’s position. The hitter that I think has had the best spring so far is Tommy Joseph. We’ll see if he can keep up the pace.

Now I am willing to accept the fact that in this modern day world, we need computer geeks. My problem is that they never seem to know when to leave things alone. They always have to keep messing with it. I thought last year the MLB streaming service was the best that it had ever been. This year they have reduced the actual picture to the size of a postage stamp while they put a lot of garbage on the screen. Does anyone know how to get this picture back to the size of the whole screen? They also upgraded the system so that it now only works on Windows 10. It eliminates one of my lap tops.

I just heard that the Phils are thinking about sending Kingery back to the minors so that he can learn to play multiple positions. Here’s the question for the day. There is currently a fetish for versatility among the players. I understand that the practice of the teams carrying extra bull pen pitchers has cut down on the number of bench players that a team can carry and the versatile players help to overcome this problem. My question is… shouldn’t your regulars play the same position mostly and learn to really field that position well? I believe that players who are not really superior athletes will hurt their team in the post season by being fairly unfamiliar with a position.

Well, tomorrow it’s the Rays and it is supposed to be a warmer day.

[tom81]

I just heard that the Phils are thinking about sending Kingery back to the minors so that he can learn to play multiple positions. Here’s the question for the day. There is currently a fetish for versatility among the players. I understand that the practice of the teams carrying extra bull pen pitchers has cut down on the number of bench players that a team can carry and the versatile players help to overcome this problem. My question is… shouldn’t your regulars play the same position mostly and learn to really field that position well? I believe that players who are not really superior athletes will hurt their team in the post season by being fairly unfamiliar with a position.

One point is that Kingery and Quinn are not going to be "regulars" this year, they are going to be multi positional players who will be on the bench a lot and getting spot starts at multiple positions. Another point is that the pair of them are really superior athletes. With a short bench you can't really afford to use one guy as the pinch hitter and another guy as the fielding replacement when you do a double switch. You need the pinch hitter to be a superior base runner as well as a competent fielder at multiple positions. These two are capable of doing all three.

I was really excited by parts of the box score in yesterday's game.
Quinn PR1 SB 1R
Kingery PR-DH 1H 2 SB (3rd base, 2nd base)

What multi-faced weapons these two are!

The Phillies are willing to be aggressive for Kingery to reach that mark. Flores has told him he should try to steal third, something Kingery said he has never tried. The coach showed him video of Cubs infielder Javier Baez stealing third and told about the techniques Freddy Galvis and Chase Utley used. Kingery has the speed, Flores said, but he often gets content when he reaches second because he knows he can score on a single. Kingery is willing to give it a shot.

“We want him to be a little bit more aggressive with one out,” Flores said. “If we can get to third base with one out and the hitter early in the count, we’ll take advantage of that and hopefully be able to score a hell of a lot more runs. The problem is that he’s only hit homers this year, so we haven’t had a chance to actually work on it.”

Phillies want to unlock Scott Kingery's 'jetpack' - Philly

[zambonir]

They're sending Kingery down 'cause of service time, regardless. I don't think he'll be down there too long - assuming he keeps it up - merely because they want him to play more positions. But in order to get him on the field in MLB he is going to have to play more positions until Hernandez is traded.

The Dodgers, where Kapler came from, did this last year with Bellinger and Chris Taylor and Logan Forsythe and they got to the WS. Even Justin Turner played 2B and SS as recently as 2015. In the end these guys are gonna settle into positions, just not until 2019.

[Les229]

March 10, 2018

It turned out to be an overcast dreary day. I don’t think we saw one ray of sunshine all day. When I got there, the gates hadn’t opened yet so I watched Nola, Eschelman, and some guy who’s number wasn’t on the roster sheet that the Phils had supplied the first day of spring training doing their bullpen session on the short field in front of the stadium. There was one a new addition though. The Clearwater Police had stationed an officer with an assault rifle out in front of the building. I guess all the noise caused by the school shooting was making people a little nervous. Things seem to be getting a little tense. Two years ago there was not even metal detectors, now the whole entrance to the park was blocked by metal detectors , and a slew of added security. The signs of our times.

Today promised to be a fairly large crowd. Since the Rays had moved their spring training down the coast to Port Charlotte, the local Rays’ fans came to the Rays spring training games here in Clearwater. It’s a long drive from this area down to Port Charlotte and they tell me that much of the way is a two lane road. In the end, the game was a sellout of 8,302. I talked to some of the Rays’ fans and they are disgusted. The Rays salary dumped several of their better players including the face of the team, Evan Longoria and several of their better pitchers. Most of them seem to understand why it was done, but it is disheartening. I told them that I understood their feelings. We have been in the midst of the same situation.

The national anthem was sung by one of the lead singers of the group Cheap Tricks. She is a native of this area and still lives here. Then we had a Coast Guard helicopter fly over and was ready to play ball. Velasquez started and pitched 4 very good, shut out, innings and left the game with a 1-0 lead. I thought Vince looked sharp today. He seems to be more mature. Neshek followed him in and threw another shutout inning. You have to be on your toes with Neshek. He doesn’t waste any time. Leiter had a bad day and gave up two runs in 2.1 innings. I think he was supposed to work 4 innings, but struggled and used up his pitches. The guy with a really bad day was Hector Neris . He went into the top of the 9th with a 3-2 lead and gave up a 3 run homer to blow the save and lose the game.

There really wasn’t much to talk about with the hitting. They had only 6 hits all day . Hoskins did hit the ball hard twice, once on a long fly to center field and another double that helped set up one of the runs. To show their futility the Phils loaded the bases with nobody out in the 4th and Franco hit a room service hopper to third for a home to first double play and then the Phils got a run on a wild pitch and then Alfaro ended the inning. They came out with one unearned run from a bases loaded no outs situation.

Well, I’m off the next two days as the Phils play Baltimore in Sarasota and the Braves in Orlando. Tomorrow I am hoping to go to the beach, if I can get there. The traffic is fierce.

[Les229]

I realize that the controlling rules has a part in it. Kingery played center field today.I just believe that a player playing out of position will make the big mistake when the pressure is on.

[Les229]

MARCH 13, 2018

Today was a chilly day. It was 53 degrees when I entered the park at 10:30 and for the first two hours after that the temperature didn’t rise much, but eventually it did reach 61 with a cold wind blowing in off of the Gulf of Mexico. I know that some of you folks are dealing with snow and sleet, but this is a little colder than we are used to. Wheels announced that one of the people throwing out the first pitch was Nick Foles.

Drew Hutchinson started the game. You may remember that the Phils picked him up just before spring training hoping to catch lightening in a bottle. He has had some decent years and won in double digits in two consecutive years and topped out with as many as 13 wins with Toronto, but came up with arm trouble and has only been in 18 games the last 3 years. Hutchinson lasted only 2 2/3 innings . The first two innings he did well, but couldn’t get out of the third inning. He was followed by Tom Eschelman who was acquired from the Astros in the Giles trade. He went 4.2 innings and gave up only two hits and a walk. He struck out 4. I personally think that Eshelman has to be considered to be a strong candidate for one of the starters’ jobs.

The Phils won the game in the bottom of the ninth by Jesmuel Valentin with a walk off three run homer. Last spring, I was very impressed with Valentin and called for the Phils to take him north with them. Instead, they kept Blanco and sent Valentin down to Allentown. He was hurt in May and missed the rest of the season. So far, he hasn’t been as impressive this spring, but really he is just getting back from the injury. He could be a candidate for the utility infielder. The Phils had just 5 hits today and 3 yesterday. Of the 5 hits today, only 3 of them were by players expected to go north with the team. The one that Rosales got was a seeing eye bloop behind second base. I mentioned that they really weren’t hitting before and was told by some of you folks that the pitchers were naturally ahead of the hitters and it was too early to worry. Ordinarily I would agree and not worry, but right now they are beyond pathetic. One good sign, Franco had two hits today and one was a solo homerun.

I’m off tomorrow as the Phils are traveling to Orlando to take on the Braves.

[BostonRoss]

The weather was a bit worse where I live...

[zambonir]

it's 53 where I am (Montana) and we call that "June-like."

[Jeff05]

It's 8 degrees C in Cambridge (UK), where my family and I will arrive in about an hour. The weather in the UK is slowly becoming more bearable.

[Les229]

For the most part, I don't leave Florida much before June and am always back by October. Today it is only supposed to get up to 66, but warm up some by the weekend. Right now I am sitting on the patio of the Clear Sky Draught house in Dunedin. I am in sandals, cutoff shorts, t shirt and my Greek fisherman's cap. .

[Les229]

Nor'easter after Nor'easter. You guys trying to prove how hearty you are? Yeah, I really miss that. I just called my family in Delaware and complained about the weather here.

[Les229]

I have always had a hard time understanding people who choose to live in that kind of weather. I didn't try to go to the beach today, I slept in and it was too late to beat the tourist traffic. It can take an hour and a half to make a 15 minute drive.

[donaldorc]

I have always had a hard time understanding people who choose to live in that kind of weather. I didn't try to go to the beach today, I slept in and it was too late to beat the tourist traffic. It can take an hour and a half to make a 15 minute drive.

I've always had a hard time understanding people who choose to live in hurricane zones with unbearable heat and humidity (normally).

[phillychuck]

I've always had a hard time understanding people who choose to live in hurricane zones with unbearable heat and humidity (normally).

And traffic that can add an hour to a 15 minute drive!

[zambonir]

I would never (again) live in the Midwest/on the plains, but in the Rockies and Cascades I love it, even when it's 8 degrees (F). I went to the Berkshires last June and it was already too hot and humid for me.

ST is going to be over before we know it. Weird to no longer be talking about who we haven't signed!