Phillies pass notorious spring training stat marker

Clout Day has come and gone on Beerleaguer, marking the unofficial date that it’s acceptable to measure spring training performance and draw educated conclusions.

On Saturday while many Beerleaguers were enjoying the nice weather, the calendar flipped to March 20, known as Clout Day in these parts. Clout Day started three years ago when Clout (artist rendering right) tried to curb reader enthusiasm over meaningless spring training stats. With 17 Grapefruit League games in the bag, the stats bear out some of the observations made in camp, particularly those concerning the pitching staff. The overall performance of Roy Halladay and the rest of the rotation represents the meatiest running theme in camp, while Rule 5 selection David Herndon, who has not allowed a run in eight innings, counts as the best surprise. Meanwhile, the offensive headliner, Domonic Brown, departed for minor league camp last week. Without him, nothing stands out besides Raul Ibanez’s 4-for-35 (.114). A list of complete spring training stats can be found on Phillies.com [Link]

Game chat: Joe Blanton and the Phillies host the Rays in Clearwater. Carlos Ruiz remains sidelined with the flu. The lineup: Rollins (SS), Polanco (3B), Utley (2B), Howard (1B), Werth (RF), Victorino (CF), Dobbs (LF), Schneider (C). The slumping Ibanez will play in a minor league game.

Comments

[MG]

If Ibanez gets out to a really slow start this April and struggles for the month, does he get booed by the end of the month at CBP? My money says 'Yes.'

[Deutsche Phan]

Clout is a pirate who can eat his own face.

Interesting.

[J. Weitzel]

That might be a little soon.

[Sully]

If Ibanez gets off to a slow start and Werth starts strong, I'd expect the sports radio topic to be that we won't be able to resign Werth because of the money Ibanez is due in 2011, and THAT would be what causes Ibanez to start hearing it from the fans.

[J.R. King]

If Ibanez gets booed, how can you tell?

In all seriousness, though, Raul's first half of 2009 earned him a much longer leash than most Philly athletes enjoy. My question involves Jimmy Rollins: Do the fans get on him if he's hitting below .250 in the first month? Does Charlie swap him and Victorino?

[MG]

JR King - Its Philly. You will be able to tell especially at the ball park.

You are probably right though that JRoll will hear it much more loudly if he gets out to a slow start though. .240 or so and he avoids the boo birds. If he is hitting .210 and hitting a fair amount of pop-ups, he will be hearing boos by end of the month too.

[loctastic]

I'd be surprised if anybody gets sustained boos until May. Except Hamels. He'll hear it if he blows his first game. Just a hunch.

[Sully]

"I'd be surprised if anybody gets sustained boos until May. Except Hamels. He'll hear it if he blows his first game. Just a hunch."

I'd say the same thin, except replace Hamels with Lidge.

[Andy]

I'm already booing Lidge.

It would be great if Raul is currently doing his annual twenty-two-ish game slump in Spring Training. Usually it's either in May or September.

[SteveW]

That's a really disturbing photo.

[Cipper]

If Halladay's ERA goes over 0.00, will chants of "LEE!" fill the air?

[GM-Carson]

Count me in the boat that's worried about Ibanez. I see a major drop in production coming this season and then the Phils being saddled with an unmovable contract. Maybe I'm jumping the gun on Raul, but I think a .260-.270 average and 15-20 homeruns is likely, which isn't all that great considering his contract.

[from the district]

What does it mean when the game is televised on TCN?

[Deutsche Phan]

Carson: True enough with the "considering his contract" caveat. This is still, in my eyes, a team that wins the NL East and has a solid shot at WFC II with those numbers. His health is my greatest concern. I wonder, would .260 - .270 end up earning him a platoon partner?

[thephaithful]

TCN - The Comcast Network.

HD Channel 201, I am pretty sure only Comcast carries that channel, which allows them to boast that they show more phils games than any other TV provider, since about 3-4 times a year in April a Phils game takes backseat to a flyers and sixers game on the same day.

[thephaithful]

TCN - The Comcast Network.

HD Channel 201, I am pretty sure only Comcast carries that channel, which allows them to boast that they show more phils games than any other TV provider, since about 3-4 times a year in April a Phils game takes backseat to a flyers and sixers game on the same day.

[from the district]

so TCN is only HD?

[Gsl]

We need a "faces of Beerleaguer" thread so that clout is not so lonely. Maybe one like the lookalike threads that used to pop up on Eagles message boards.

[R.Billingsly]

Isn't TCN = CN8?

From the district: Try CN8 if you get it, it might be on there.

[Bubba]

Burrell in LF and Ibanez in the minor league game. That's a bit of reversal of form from '09.

[Bob]

I know it is a very small sample, but is anyone else raisng an eyebrow ever so slightly at 0 homeruns, 2 RBIs and 8 strikeouts in 27 at bats for Utley?

[ST]

no because he was hitting about .400 just a few games ago and he's been battling an upper respiratory infection

[Bubba]

That's Uts, Vic and Chooch with the flu.
The trainers need to stock up on vitamin C before the games count in a couple of weeks.

[baxter]

If Rollins doesn't outperform Vic, swapping them in the order will dominate Phillies talk for at least a few months. However, if Ibanez goes on a prolonged slump, he'll hit behind either of them. If that happens, get used to seeing a lot more Ben Francisco than you hoped. If there's an injury or two, Dom Brown could even see time.

[William Schweitzer]

Considering that Rollins hits for more power than Victorino, I don't know why they're not swapped to begin with.

[Gsl]

Joe's cruisin

[Gsl]

Jinxed it. That was a terrible effort by Utley on that ground ball though. Pretty bad way to send Joe out after a good outing