THURSDAY, FEBRUARY, 23, 2017
After greeting the returning parking lot attendants, the first thing that I noticed was that a line of tents, guards and metal detectors was strung across the front of the stadium steps. Everything in my pockets had to be placed in my hat and they checked it with a wand. It looks like Homeland Security has come to Clearwater. If you are coming down, it is best to be ready for it and not fight it. When I got to the top of the steps, some coaches were hitting ground balls to a group of pitchers and they were going through their fielding drills on the short field in front of the stadium.
Once in the stadium, I started to do my ritual four laps around the concourse. It was misting rain as I checked out the stadium for new changes. It looked pretty much the same, nothing notable different. For this game, a lot of the concession stands arenât open. None of the stands in the outfield were open. The college game never draws a large crowd. The wind was weird today. It was blowing straight in from left and out a lot in dead right. I wonder if that was due to swirling around the stadium. A lot of the autograph collectors were stationed in deep left field. The Philliesâ clubhouse door is out at the wall in left field, so all of the players have to walk past that area when they enter and leave the field. On my walk around the concourse, I noticed that there were no TV cameras set up, even though I had seen two Comcast mobile trucks sitting outside the stadium. My guess is that they will relay the feed on Saturday.
It was only a 7 inning game and the Phils used a different pitcher in each of them. They combined to pitch a two hit shutout. Now itâs hard to judge how good these college kids are even though Tampa U has won the college world series not too long ago. Some things begin to stick out. The Phils players were noticeably bigger and heavier than the college kids. A second thing is that while all 7 of the Phils pitchers threw over 90mph, I only saw one pitch all day from a TU pitcher that reached 90. Mostly they were in the mid 80s.
Cozens had a big day. It started in batting practice. While I was getting my walk in, he tagged 3 completely out of the park into the pond beyond right field. I thought he was targeting me. It continued in the game. He had a homer, single, and a sac fly. Even though Crawford booted a ground ball on the first play of the game, I was impressed with the quickness that he and Kingery were turning double plays. They had two on the day 4-6-3, 6-4-3. Also Crawford and Alfaro each had a double.
Odds & Ends: There were no scouts sitting in the stands behind me. I think in my 14 years of spring training, that is the first time I have been in this stadium without a lot of scouts sitting behind me with their radar guns. I looked through the store (Diamond Outfitters) to see what they were selling. I saw that a regular Phillies cap was selling for$38. I donât know how large the crowd will be on Saturday, it being this early in the season. The PA announced that there are still tickets available.
Well, tomorrow I will be watching the game on TV along with the rest of you.