Tuesday: Minor league games underway in Florida

Daily summaries can be found on a pair of blogs. [Reading] [Lakewood]

Through the magic of modern technology, minor league spring training no longer unfolds in total darkness. For those interested in this sort of minutiae, and chances are, you are, the Reading Phillies and Lakewood Blueclaws bloggers would appear to be set to post daily blurbs from camp. There are dual benefits. They not only report on individual highlights, but the squad assignments serve as a pretty good blueprint for where players will end up this season. For example, Scott Mathieson, who was dropped from big league camp over the weekend, tossed two shutout innings for the Triple-A squad yesterday. Outfielder Quintin Berry led off that game, suggesting he’s in the mix for a spot in a crowded IronPigs outfield. Other notables: J.C. Ramirez pitched with Double-A, Jesus Sanchez started the High-A game, and Anthony Gose was also with High-A. Colby Shreve and Sabastian Valle represented a couple of notables cutting their teeth at Low-A.

Polanco day-to-day: Here’s the latest on Polanco in case you haven’t seen it: sprained (not strained) right knee, which he hyperextended tripping over the mound. He doesn’t think it’s serious, but he and the trainers think they’ll know more about the severity based on how he feels after today.

Random stats: Last week on Daily News Live, I was caught off guard when Mike Kern asked if there were any stats that jumped out at me from the Phillies 2010 Annual. Looking over the magazine, here are a few: With the count even, opponents slugged .635 against Cole Hamels, which put him 350th among peers by that measure. The MLB average was .451. Brad Lidge opponents SLG when behind in the count: 1.243, which ranked 380th. The average was .587. Here are some happier stats. Jayson Werth slugged .973 against left-handed curves/sliders, best in baseball. The MLB average was just .338. Meanwhile, Ryan Howard slugged a baseball-best .728 against right-handed curves/sliders. The average was .353.

Today's lineup against Detroit: Rollins (SS), Victorino (CF), Dobbs (3B), Howard (1B), Ibanez (LF), Brown (RF), Castro (2B), Schneider (C) and Hamels (P).

Transaction: Outfielder Chris Duffy, who saw most of his action participating in bullpen drills with Brad Lidge, was assigned to minor league camp.

Comments

[awh]

Off topic, but Heyman has an article up. He says th ePhils have the most balanced lineup in baseball.

Most eye opening quote:

"...Jayson Werth, who may be the most underrated player in baseball. "He's one of the best 15 players in the game,'' one competing GM said."

Wow!

Link:

http://sportsillustrated.cnn.com/2010/writers/jon_heyman/03/15/best.angels/index.html

[awh]

JW, please don't ban me for going "oof-topic". :)

[PhillyFriar]

Jason, the "Reading" link at the top is a dead link. Come on, man, I need my prospect fix!

[BobbyD]

This highlights yet again the cause of keeping Werth past this year. Somehow its gotta be done but because of poor strategy (i.e. signing Vic long term) and bad contracts (i.e. extra year on Ilbanez), it won't.

This team will eventually fall, possibly after this season because of Amaro's inability to read the market.

[J. Weitzel]

Link is fixed, friar. It's Tommy Viola's blog; the new PR guy at Reading. One day, I'll static link to all these resources. One day.

[Andy]

Short monologue on today's line-up.

Dobbs - {scratches, spits, looks briefly at Florida dust softly swirling at his feet, then back at the game. Spits again. Glances to the outfield, then hears batted ball. Looks at field.) YESSS!! Um....I mean...I hope he's okay...

[Andy]

In re: the stats

I'm wondering if the "even count knock Cole around" thing is due to his lack of a dependable breaking pitch.

Or what. It's actually kinda baffling.

[Colin_K]

JW, the Lakewood link goes to the same site as the Reading link...is that the intent or should they be going to two separate places?

[awh]

The game is on Channel 8 on Concast.

[doubleh]

Darn Fios. This is the only time I don't like having it. MLB Network is going to re-air it at 10pm, provided there's no blackout.

[MG]

I almost wonder if Werth is slightly getting overrated just a bit at this point. He had such a break out year last year because of the 36 HRs and the uptick in ISO. If he retreats a bit to the 25-27 HR range, he likely retreats to the .850 OPS range which is still very good but doesn't put in the top 15-20 players in baseball either.

[f4f]

LHP ron villone released today. looks like the end of the line for him, but may be worth signing to a minor league deal.

ron paulino 12 for 23 this spring.

[MG]

http://www.philliesflow.com/

Nice piece about Moyer vs. KK and points out it was not like KK wasn't given a lengthy chance to succeed previously as a starter. Also makes a good point that Moyer has averaged very close to 6 IP/GS for the Phils.

If Moyer can average close to 6 IP/GS and keep his ERA around the 4.75 mark, he will be fine as the No. 5 starter. I don't think he can though and wonder how long of a hook he gets.

[Gsl]

Take that Verlander.

[toddzilla]

Domonic Brown had a great eight or nine pitch at bat off of Verlander ending with a home run out of the stadium. Looked real good up there against one of the best.

[Grumpy Gramps]

I like this Dom Brown kid, 3-2 pitch onto FL Rt. 19 from Verlander.

[Cipper]

They keep talking about Verlander staring him down during his trot around the bases... can anyone watching please elaborate?

[Gsl]

Take that too.

[Cipper]

Ryno!!

[Gsl]

Yo, New Thread. Apologies EFF