Philly Porch Perspective

Taking Attendance

iwic3 — Wed, 03 Mar 2010 08:12:03 +0000

Written By Billy Wichterman

Take a deep breath through your nose… smell that? Yup, it’s BASEBALL!! Today, games will be played in both the Grapefruit and Cactus Leagues. Though it won’t be until tonight when our Phillies face another team for the first time this spring. I’m not expecting a whole lot from them today, but I am looking forward to watching the matchup on TV tomorrow against the New York Yankees, when we’ll see Roy Halladay’s first legitimate pitches in Phillies pinstripes.

Okay, so the team doesn’t really wear pinstripes in preseason action, but at least he’ll be sporting that “P” on his cap! Halladay will be opposed by the Yankees CC Sabathia and that’s what everyone has been and will be talking about. But, that’s all on the slate for tomorrow, Thursday, March 4, 2010. Today, we’ll see J.A. Happ starting and non-roster invitee Phillippe Aumont following.

Here is the Phillies entire 40 man spring roster as well as the 20 non-roster invitees.

For the Phillies Depth Chart, use this URL:

http://philadelphia.phillies.mlb.com/team/depth_chart/index.jsp?c_id=phi

PHILLIES 40-man ROSTER:

PITCHERS

55 Danys Baez

58 Antonio Bastardo

56 Joe Blanton

48 Drew Carpenter

52 Jose Contreras

37 Chad Durbin

53 Sergio Escalona

65 Yohan Flande

34 Roy Hallday

35 Cole Hamels

43 J.A. Happ

57 David Herndon

38 Kyle Kendrick

54 Brad Lidge

46 Ryan Madson

47 Scott Mathieson

50 Jamie Moyer

64 Drew Naylor

66 J.C. Ramirez

16 J.C. Romero

67 Jesus Sanchez

59 Mike Zagurski

CATCHERS

51 Carlos Ruiz

23 Brian Schneider

INFIELDERS

62 Brian Bocock

7 Juan Castro

19 Greg Dobbs

6 Ryan Howard

27 Placido Polanco

11 Jimmy Rollins

26 Chase Utley

OUTFIELDERS

63 Quintin Berry

10 Ben Francisco

3 Ryan Gload

29 Raul Ibanez

40 John Mayberry

8 Shane Victorino

28 Jayson Werth

NON-ROSTER INVITEES:

PITCHERS

75 Phillippe Aumont

76 B.J. Rosenberg

79 Joe Savery

49 Ryan Vogelsong

44 Ehren Wassermann

60 Bill White

CATCHERS

77 Tuffy Gosewisch

24 Paul Hoover

74 Kevin Nelson

61 Dane Sardinha

73 John Suomi

INFIELDERS

72 Ozzie Chavez

71 Freddy Galvis

12 Cody Ransom

33 Andy Tracy

21 Wilson Valdez

OUTFIELDERS

78 Dominic Brown

18 Chris Duffy

70 Tyson Gillies

31 Dewayne Wise

TODAYS GAME vs The Florida State University Seminoles

will not be broadcast regionally. However, you can catch all

the action with your MLB.TV subscription at this URL:

http://mlb.mlb.com/schedule/index.jsp?c_id=phi&m=03&y=2010

TOMORROW vs The New York Yankees

will be televised on Comcast SportsNet

as well as regional radio WPHT 1210

you can also view the game on MLB.TV at:

http://mlb.mlb.com/schedule/index.jsp?c_id=phi&m=03&y=2010

Let the Games Begin!

iwic3 — Tue, 02 Mar 2010 05:12:03 +0000

Written by Billy Wichterman

Tomorrow evening, March 3rd, the Phillies will take the field against another team for the first time this spring. Though its not a Major League club, it is a noteworthy opponent. For the 4th consecutive season, the Philadelphia Phillies will open their exhibition play with a game at Bright House Networks Field in Clearwater, Florida against the Florida State Seminoles.

National League Rookie-of-the-Year Runner-Up J.A. (James Anthony) Happ gets the start. Look for the lefty to get 3-4 innings of work, but don’t focus so much on his numbers as you should understand his work ethic. He’ll be working on controlling the placement of his pitches, particularly his fastball and slider with some changeups thrown in to well… change it up.

After Happ, expect to see Phillippe Aumont. Don’t recognize the name? Well you should get used to this Canadian born Quebec native. He is what Pat Gallen of http://www.philliesnation.com calls,”the centerpiece of the Cliff Lee trade, meaning many eyes will be glued to his performance.” It’s hard to disagree with that. The righty was drafted 11th overall by the Mariners in 2007 and at that time, many projected him to progress into ace pitching material. There’s plenty of room for growth with this 21-year-old and the Phillies look to groom him in hopes he can one day crack the rotation.

No one in their right (or left) mind should expect him to be the incredible pitcher Lee was last year for the boys in red pinstripes. At best, Aumont could find himself being the third or fourth starter in the rotation, depending whether or not he can find confidence in his changeup and curveball, pitches he has diligently been developing since joining the team in midwest Florida just three weeks ago.

You can Watch or Listen to this game on MLB.TV

No regional broadcast available.

First spring regional broadcast:

vs NYY March 4 1:05PM

TV: CSN & Radio: WPHT 1210

March is here; you know what that means!

iwic3 — Mon, 01 Mar 2010 05:12:03 +0000

Written by Billy Wichterman

Every March it begins. No, I’m not here covering “March Madness” when NCAA Basketball teams narrow down their field of 64 (+1) for the Tourney. Rather, March is also when baseball teams who’ve trained for weeks in Florida and Arizona begin to play head to head with other teams in their Grapefruit and Cactus Leagues, respectively.

Spring Training, like April stats, rarely ever give us any insight into a teams season-long success, or lack thereof. But hey… it’s baseball, and we’ve been without it since autumn. So it’s still exciting watching or at least listening; okay, so not many spring training games are broadcast, but at least they show us our boys are gearing up for the season.

From my perspective, here in Philadelphia, I’ve been just as excited every March. It’s the start of a new beginning, which during the late 1980s and mid to late 90s is all a Phillies fan could ask for. Nowadays, it’s maybe (haha) even more exciting going into the season. My favorite team, my sports blood (yes, we all bleed red, but I bleed Phillies red) is about to embark on their third consecutive NL East Division defense and back-to-back National League Championship defense. Only the 1990s division rival Atlanta Braves could claim anything near that in recent history.

Now, I’m not here to start comparing the Phillies of the new millennium to the Braves of 1990s. It’s senseless; times have changed and the power has shifted, not just in the division, but in the National League and entire MLB. So now that your blood is pumping Phillies red, let’s root for our boys to survive the month of March unscathed and safely get to Washington DC for the first pitch April 4, 2010 at 1:05 PM! That’s when every pitch begins to count.