Cole Hamels took the mound in Clearwater today against their closest neighbors in Florida, the Toronto Blue Jays. Hamels was mostly good, sans two home runs off of a couples bats of Blue Jays hitters in the first inning. Both Jose Reyes and Jose Bautista took Hamels deep to give the Blue Jays a quick 2-0 lead, en route to a 6-3 defeat of the Phillies.
Those would be the only runs Hamels would give up in three and two-thirds innings of work. Seth Rosin pitched two and gave up one run, while Justin De Fratus gave up three runs in the eighth inning to account for the last three of the Blue Jays' runs.
Some good news on the Phillies' pitching front came from Phillippe Aumont. Hanging on for his life in the Phillies system, Aumont relieved Hamels in the fourth inning. Aumont did not disappoint, striking out three in one and one-thirds innings of work.
The Phillies offense faced knuckleballer R.A. Dickey. Dickey would allow two runs, both unearned, in six innings of work. An error by shortstop Jose Reyes lead to the Phillies' two runs to score in the fourth inning.
Ben Revere started in left field for the first time in favor of Odubel Herrera. Could this be a sign of things to come? Revere stayed in left field, even after Herrera came up lame running to first base in the seventh inning. (Herrera is "fine", Matt Breen of the Philadelphia Inquirer reports). It was a good thing that he did, because Revere gunned down a runner trying to score from left field.
Speaking of Herrera, he went 2 for 3 today to bring his batting average to .389 in Grapefruit League play. Herrera has dazzled on the basepaths so far this Spring, though he was picked off by R.A. Dickey during today's game. Since the Phillies are willing to play Herrera in center, the Phillies may at least be looking to upgrade the defense in center field by putting Ben Revere's arm into left field instead.
