Clearwater update 2018

[Jeff05]

Ordinariy, at this time of year in Perth, I endure an average maximum of low to mid nineties (degrees F). If nothing else, I can now confirm that it's a lot easier to walk along a hot path than one covered in ice!

[Les229]

I guess the term different strokes applies here. The heat doesn't bother me at all. I figure the low 80s to be perfect. You can beat the tourist traffic if you go before 11 am. You can usually get over there and find parking after 5pm too. The tourists are a later crowd. We figure they are out partying all night.

[Les229]

You live in Australia?

[zambonir]

I lived in Texas for the better part of 20 years so I guess I'm just done with it.

I really want to go to Perth, my favorite band is from there.

[Les229]

Zambonir

Actually I had addressed that question to Jeff05, but I have always found it interesting where the different chat room participant live. I lived 6 years in Longview Texas. I enjoyed the town, but finished the job I went there to do. In all, I have lived and worked in 8 states.

[zambonir]

Yup I was replying to both you and Jeff. We just bought some lime juice from Longview, oddly. I have never really been there, just Tyler and Shreveport.

[Les229]

They are on either side of Longview. That was my last stop before I retired in .02. I came here to see spring training and fell in love with the area and went back to make arrangements to move here. When I announced on the Inky chat room that I would be attending all of the spring training games, the posters there talked me into writing the update. This is my 15th season of writing it and it keeps me tuned into and thinking through what it happening during spring training.

[Jeff05]

Yes, Les, I live in Perth.

[Jeff05]

Reasonable place to live; not sure why anyone would want to visit, though. More importantly, zambonir, what's the name of the band that would draw you half way around the world?

[phillychuck]

Betting on Tame Impala. Ready to lose the bet, though... There are lots of groups from Western Australia that are good but go under the radar internationally.

[zambonir]

(Very OT now, sorry Les!)

A much older band than that, and largely defunct: The Triffids. I very much do hope/intend to see them or some of their related bands in Australia someday but it's more likely to be in Melbourne. But because of their music and also from being a Texas/Montana person I'd still like to see the West.

[Jeff05]

My God! That's goin' back a bit!! -

[Les229]

MARCH 16, 2018

It turned out to be a great day. The temperature topped out at 74 and it was sunny all day. There was practically no wind at all. This was the first time in a while that I actually needed sunscreen. As I did my laps around the concourse, I ran into a radio broadcast out in left field behind the bullpen. I am no longer familiar with the Delaware Valley radio scene. The banner said it was “WMMR & STEVE”. Are any of you familiar with this show?

Once again, Kapler started what is pretty near the opening day lineup. Since this was a split squad game, it made me wonder what the team in Lakeland looked like. Velasquez started the game and although he did give up 5 hits in 2.2 innings, he could have gotten out of it without giving up a run with a little help from his friends. His big problem is that he used a lot of pitches and left with two out in the third. Milner and Neris also had good outings. On the other hand, Leiter had a bad day. He gave up 4 runs on 7 hits in 3 innings.

Another puny hitting day. They only had one hit through much of the day and did all of their scoring after the 5th inning. Pretty soon this is going to have to be of some concern. Santana had the best hit that I think I have seen him have all spring with a double to the deepest part of right center field. Hernandez had a big homerun to start the scoring in the 6th inning. There was no doubt about it from the moment it left his bat. Rupp had a long shot over the centerfield fence. It reminded me of some that Ryan Howard used to hit. That said, they go long periods of time without a hit and rarely hit with runners on.

A name to add to the list of possible utility players is Pedro Florimon. He homered today and may be the best fielder of the utility players list. The competition for that spot has intensified. Count Valentin, Rosales, Kingery, Flaherty and Meneses still in that fight. The last few times that I have seen Roman Quinn play, he has been playing shortstop. He made a couple of mistakes out there today, but that is to be expected. Is he their latest project to make a super sub?

The Phils have been getting some nice crowds. I was told that the seating capacity of Spectrum Field is 7,500. The last several games the attendance has been over 8,000. Today’s attendance was at 8,254. That is selling standing room only. Tomorrow is St. Paddy’s day and that is always a big crowd. They usually get there early and stay late. I’m not sure that baseball is the big draw.

[Les229]

I was asking because, I don't believe I every talked with anyone from Australia on a chat room before. When I was working, part of my job was to run community festivals. I once hired the Little River Band.

[Jeff05]

I once saw the LRB in concert, with the Charlie Daniels Band in support. It was a good night!

[schooldoc]

The WMMR morning show is "Preston & Steve." They've been on for years in Philly.

[Les229]

MARCH 17, 2018

Today was the best weather that we have had for a while. The scoreboard said it topped out at 79 degrees, although I am never sure how accurate that scoreboard is. There was very little wind. Today was St. Paddys day and the place was packed with 3 long lines down the front steps before the gates opened at 10:30 am. When we were seated, there were a lot of people standing around the concourse without seats. They got there early and swamped Frenchy’s Tiki Bar. Practically everyone was wearing some green. The best T shirt I saw had on the front of it, “Irishman leaves a bar- it could happen’. I had on my Phillies St. Paddy’s day shirt myself. The official attendance turned out to be 10,906. That’s not a record, but a really big crowd for a stadium that seats 7,500. Through much of the spring the attendance has been more than a sellout. It is good to see the crowds coming back to the spring training games. The Phils had the special forces unit from the McDill Air Force base parachute in from a plane up so high that I could hardly see it. It never ceases to amaze me how all three of them manage to land right at second base. They also had one of the local little league teams out on the field for the national anthem.

The Phillies’ bats came alive today and they scored 10 runs with 10 hits against Braves pitching. The hits were well spread out with only Santana getting two hits. Santana and Franco each had home runs. The Phils picked up 7 walks. I am not sure that it was selective hitting, or bad pitching on the part of the Braves.

Zach Eflin started the game and went 4 innings giving up 4 earned runs. There was some shaky fielding and he probably should have gotten out with only 2 earned runs. Tommy Hunter looked the best that I have seen him all spring.

Defense could be an issue with this team. The infield play today to say the least was very sloppy. In the 5th inning, the Phils gave the Braves 5 outs. Some of it maybe the shifts. The box score will show Florimon making one error, but in reality he looked bad and cost the team on 3 occasions. He started at shortstop today. The scoring is very lenient down here. In looking at the utility player competition, I would like to see more of Ryan Flaherty and Mitch Walding. What I have seen of them, they both have played well. Altherr made a great leaping catch against the wall in dead center field off of Acuna. Acuna tipped his cap to him as he came in. By the way Acuna hit the ball very hard today. He had a homer and that long shot to center. This kid is only 20 years old and had good records in the top 3 minor league levels last year. It will be interesting to see if he goes to Atlanta with them.

The Phils are away the next couple of day, I think I will be off to the beach.

[Les229]

MARCH 20, 2018

Today was a dreary overcast day. The temperature was warm enough (about 75), but it kept raining and stopping. Actually, during the game it rained hard enough several times for me and the rest of the crowd to go back under the overhang. Just before the game started, Opie and the grounds crew rolled the tarp out on the field and got it ready to cover the infield, but the rain halted and they started the game. I’ll try not to complain too much about the Florida weather as I have heard that the Delaware Valley weather is calling for about a foot of snow tonight. The crowd was sparse and at the end was announced as 6,255. That was a lot below the 8,000 plus that they have been getting lately.

Today’s lineup was mostly the younger players. There still is a battle for spots on the bench. They didn’t hit a lot, but I thought they played well in the field. The big hit was a triple by Pedro Florimon. It drove in Valentin with the first run and he scored the second run on a ground ball. That was all there was as the Phils won the game 2-0 on a rain shortened day of 6 ½ innings.

The pitching was impressive. Ben Lively started and went 5 innings, giving up only 3 hits, no walks and struck out 4. Here is another guy who is putting in his bid to be one of the starters. The Phillies have a lot of prospects for those rotation jobs. It is fun coming to the park and watching them competing for the jobs. Morgan followed Lively and although he did give up 2 hits in a single inning, managed to work his way out of it. The last third of an inning before the game was called was pitched by a guy of from Reading was named Ranfi Casimiro.

I think I have to say something about Florimon’s play at third base. He had a spectacular day with the glove. He made several nice stops and started 2 around the horn double plays. Couple that with his triple that drove in the first run and him scoring the second run, I guess you could say that he is putting in a strong bid to make the team. He is not a kid at 31 years old, and he has never had a big year with the bat, but he is hitting over .300 this spring. He was a minor league free agent signee last year. He hit over .300 last September when they called him up. I would like to see him get a shot, but they are hung up in a numbers game right now. The next Phils home game is Thursday against the Tigers.

[Les229]

MARCH 22, 2018

Actually, it wasn’t really a cold day, the temperature got up to 62, but there was a cold wind blowing in from the Gulf of Mexico. Fortunately the location of my seat blocked much of the wind and as long as the sun was there, it was comfortable. The sun went away in the bottom of the 8th. I started the day off with lunch. I got two hotdogs. I’m funny about hot dogs. They are to be eaten with mustard and chopped onion, no other way. My problem is that mustard and I have had a long running feud. Mustard is out to get me. I can’t get anywhere near it without getting it all over me. I made up my mind to be in control this time. I thought I did well with the first one, but when I reached for the second one I noticed that mustard had snuck out and now was all over my arm and on my foot. By the time I had finished the second one I had mustard on my Phillies jacket and and my shorts and all over my hands. Mustard won again.

The Phillies are wimps. They never came out for batting practice. I am assuming that they did their warm-ups and batting practice inside, either under the stands, or out in that mega building down in the minor league complex. The Tigers showed up and took their bp out on the field though. Just before game time this huge guy with a big head sat in front of me and I was craning my neck the whole day.

As was advertised, Arrieta started the game. He gave up three hits and two runs in just 2 innings of work. One of those runs was a dinger by Miguel Cabrerra. I think it will take longer than Arrieta has been saying for him to be ready to start a regular season game. Most the hits were solid as were several of the outs. Neshek struck out the side in a scoreless third inning and Neris pitched the fourth, giving up a single run. He could have probably gotten out of that inning without a run with a little better fielding. The rest of the pitchers the Phils used are probably not going north with the team.
The Phils lackadaisical hitting continued. They managed 7 hits in all. Knapp and Kingery each had doubles and Rosales had a homer. It may be too late for Rosales to win a spot on the bench. To me, he hasn’t impressed at all.

Today was a strange spring training game. Eflin hit the Tiger short stop in the top of the 5th inning. Matthew Boyd was sailing along in the 5th inning having given up only one run when a pitch seemed to get away from him and sailed over Herrera’s head. It looked like a breaking ball that slipped out of his hand. Then a pitch, or so later, he hit him with a fast ball. Tom Hallion immediately charged out to the mound and threw Boyd out of the game and warned each bench. In the 8th, Parker Frazier hit another batter and both he and Kapler were ejected as the rule calls for. Beato came in and hit a batter and then both he and Rob Thompson were ejected. In the end, I don’t know who was running the club. I think this is the first time I have seen a pitcher thrown out of a game in spring training.

I’m off the next couple of days and the Phils will be playing in Bradenton and Lakeland.

[Les229]

They did a good show. There was some misunderstanding, but we worked it out. Their manager gave us permission to tape some excerpts from the show for our TV ads for the following year. Apparently he forgot to tell them. It worked out.