Phielder's Choice!

Imagine my surprise when I arrived home in a food coma stupor from Legal Seafoods and found that I had been selected as a no. 14 seed in the first ever Phillies Blog March Madness, The Phield!

I'm honored to be up against a phenomenal blog, The Fightins, in my first and probably only round of the tournament. For a blog that's only a month old, not too shabby. I feel like the Florida State Seminoles at a major league spring training game. Or one of those countries that's happy just to be at the winter Olympics, like that Turkish female figure skater. Anyway, thanks to the Phield for the shoutout and the publicity.

In other news, Cole Hamels and Domonic Brown looked pretty phenomenal today. Their lines:

Hamels: 5 IP, 2 H, 1 R, 0 ER, 4 K, 0 BB, and for the first time this spring , 0 HR. That might have something to do with the absence of Jose Bautista.

Brown: 4 PA, 3 H (including 2 homers and an infield single), 1 BB. Yes, Brown went 3 for 3 with a two homer game, even if one of them was caught by a fan reaching his hat over the railing. Good thing there's no replay in spring training. Oh, and the Tigers' pitcher? Justin Verlander.

Anyway, Brown hit his way out of major league camp, to paraphrase Charlie Manuel today. I have a feeling that's not the last we'll see of him as a Phillie, and I don't mean the Reading variety.

(Photo courtesy of Todd Zolecki)

Overall, a great day for the Phillies not giving up any earned runs and some of the more worrisome pieces and potential pieces of our bullpen (see Bastardo, Antonio and Madson, Ryan) having strong outings. Madson even struck out a guy on a curve ball and threw a few curves for strikes. I don't know who that surprised more, the batter or the commentators.

Spring training continues on with the number of players at camp dwindling and the battle for the 5th starter potentially heating up after the $8 million old man got lit up while facing an almost major-league lineup for the first time all spring. His competitor, Kyle Kendrick, has pitched phenomenally against said major-league lineups, with a 0.00 ERA and a 0.44 WHIP. Not too shabby. It'll still take a lot to dethrone Jamie Moyer, but Kendrick has made the case that we have the depth to keep Moyer on a short leash.

That's all for now, and again, keep an eye on The Phield on March 18-19 and vote for me in the first round match up. If I can't pull off a 2006 George Masonian upset, I'll at least go for a respectable showing. Like that Turkish figure skater.