FRIDAY, MARCH 17, 2017
St. Paddyās day is always a big day at the Phillies. I donāt know how they are able to swing it, but they always play at home. The crowd is always big. I canāt say that I believe the crowd is large because they love baseball as much as it is one of the biggest St. Paddyās day parties in town. The gates open at 10:35 am, but the crowd was lined up down the front steps when I got there at 10:15. It looked like it was going to be a big crowd today. I made my way up the steps and went over to see what was happening on the short field. I never wait in line to get in. No matter how large the crowd is, the swiping bar code is so quick that everyone is through the gate in about 10 minutes. Sean Burnette was throwing what looked like a bullpen session in the short field bullpen. It was 55 degrees when I entered the building with not a cloud in the sky. Still a little nippy, but the forecast called for it to get to 72. I sure am glad that the Phils played away the two cold days. They must have froze their fraetises off those last two night games. I watched the Yankee game on Wednesday night and they all looked like they were dressed for the Klondike.
The pregame show included three servicemen from the nearby McDill Air Force base jumped out of an airplane and they all landed on the same spot behind second base. I still canāt get over how they can all land at the same place. The wind was blowing at 10mph and gusting even more. By game time, the temperature got up to 69. The Phillies came out in their traditional Kelly green tops and caps, as did the Phanatic.
Nola started the game and I thought he did fair. He was throwing a lot of breaking balls. He is not afraid to throw a backdoor curve to left handed hitters. In all honesty the third and fourth runs charged to him were runners he left on with two outs in the 5th and Lively walked his first hitter to load the bases and let them all score on a grand slam that he gave up to his second hitter. After that, Lively settled down and pitched two scoreless innings. A kid named Windle from the minor league camp pitched a scoreless 8th. Vinditte, the ambidextrous pitcher they just signed came on in the ninth and struck out the side. He struck out two right handed and one left handed. In my whole life, that is the first time I have ever seen that.
The Phillies only had six hits. They havenāt been hitting much the last few games, but I was dismissing that as maybe a result of the cold weather, but it got up to 72 today and that removed that excuse. The highlite was Howie Kendrickās three run home in the third that at the time put them ahead 3-1. Aaron Altherr was the only Phil with two hits and one of them was his second homer of the spring.
Odds & Ends: Bryon Holaday continues to impress me with his catching and the accuracy of his armā¢ I was glad for the extra hour of sunshine that Daylight Savings Time gave to my seat. When the shadows reached my seat, I put my jacket back onā¢ They announced the crowd at 11,173. That is nearly a recordā¢ Tomorrow is Pittsburg and it is supposed to be back to normal in the mid 70s.