The Phillies/Blue Jays game at Bright House Networks Field ended in an ungratifying tie today in Clearwater. Good thing the weather was out of this world. Some notes:
- Greg Dobbs started the game in right field and made a heckuva catch against the fence. Don't worry ladies, his face looked OK afterwards.
- Chase Utley started again, and, again, looked awfully good. He drew some walks and ran the basepaths well. What a gamer.
- J.A. Happ was the starting pitcher and got hit fairly hard. Fortunately, most of the hard hit balls were right at defenders. He'll need to do better than that to make the rotation and stay in it.
- Ryan Madson pitched out of relief and appeared to change speeds well. No radar gun at the park, but the catcher's mitt certainly popped loudly.
- There was some creative anti-sun headwear amongst the spectators today. I'll include a montage in my photo album to follow later in the week.
- Joe Bisenius also pitched out of relief and was awful, surrenduring three runs and the lead, which resulted in the 7-7 tie. Our best suggestion is for him to leave now, check into the Berksy County Holiday Inn Express and wait for the rest of his teammates to arrive in a few weeks.
- Before the game, got to witness some very interesting fielding drills on Richie Ashburn Field at the Carpenter Complex. Two things stood out: One, the wonderful choreography that went into each drill and two, hardly anyone on the field, including the coaches, spoke English.
