Halladay’s Dream of 0.00 Spring ERA Dies.

On The Other Hand, We Have the White Hot Cody Ransom.

The Pirates, Roy?  That’s who you are going to give it up to?  The streak, the dream, ends with the Pirates?  Of course there was no dream, but if there was you can still latch on to the new Mr. 0.00, Kyle Kendrick.  Halladay breezed through five innings against the Pirates Monday afternoon, adding to the anticipation of his opening day start.  It’s a good sign seeing Roy get five innings into a game.  I’m not worried about his progression at all, but it means we can start taking a look at some of these Spring Training results.  The first wave of cuts went down last week, and soon these rosters will be pared down even further.

We can’t get too excited about the stats because one of the Phillies hottest hitters is Cody Ransom, the castoff from the Yankees, who has connected for 3 HRs this Spring, and another in a b-game.  Ransom’s an infielder, has never caught on anywhere, and that will probably be the case again this season.  But, do not pitch to him right now.  He will take you deep.  Most of the other encouraging signs are coming from the starting pitchers.  Halladay, Happ, and Kendrick have all been extremely good.  Joe Blanton was solid in his last outing, and the reports on Cole Hamels have all been positive.  We’re still waiting for Jamie Moyer to face some real competition, but he’s got those AA guys swinging out of their shoes, for sure.  I think Jamie gets to face big leaguers tomorrow.  We’ll see.

About the only pitchers who’ve had rough outings have been Contreras, Madson and Bastardo.  A bad inning each, which can be a problem for a reliever, but nothing to be alarmed about quite yet.  On the offensive side it looks like Howard and Werth are starting to get a few hits, but there hasn’t been a ton of power yet for the regulars.  Most of these guys don’t even have 20 at-bats yet, so the next two weeks will really tell the story.  You can officially start paying attention, though.  I give my permission.

The last bit of information, Placido Polanco left Monday’s game with an apparent knee injury.  Polanco had to be helped off the field, but the first thing I heard is that the injury is not as severe as it first appeared.  I heard sprain, or strain, but no structural damage for Polanco, which is relief.  We’ve touched on the paper-thin depth of this team, and the prospect of Dobbs, Castro, whoever seeing any extended time at third is pretty frightening.  For now, we have Cody Ransom filling in, and leaving the yard.  We’ll look for updates on Polanco, and hopefully it isn’t something that slows him down for too long.

**UPDATE**–Jamie Moyer actually pitched today, in another B game, but got shelled by some Blue Jays regulars.  And, so it begins.

Pujols A Phil, And Other Non-NCAA News.

Probably Safe and Sound in St. Louis for a While.

–It came from Buster Olney, so you’d think there was something to the Pujols for Howard rumor.  Olney isn’t the kind of guy who’s just going to throw out unsubstantiated garbage, but there’s a huge gap between a team having internal discussions and an actual trade rumor.  Every year, every single player on a team is evaluated.  Their value to the club, the value they could bring in a trade, their cost (current and future), it’s all part of running the team.  I’m sure the Phillies have had discussions about moving Howard.  They’ll have to at some point.  He’ll likely be cashing in a huge contract in 2-years.  Is he going to be worth the money?   Can the Phillies afford him?  If the Phils decide he’s not going to be here long-term, you can be sure that they’ll trade him away.  But, it’s not likely to be for Albert Pujols.  The Phillies would do this deal in a heartbeat, but until someone presents a good reason why it works for St. Louis, I don’t think we can take it too seriously.

–Eagles fans are frustrated with the quarterback situation in Philadelphia.  Imagine what the Browns fans are thinking.  They’ve had complete QB turnover in a week.   Derek Anderson is probably trying to scrape together a CFL tryout, and Brady Quinn got traded to Denver.  In came Seneca Wallace and Jake Delhomme.  Now, if you need any more proof that it is difficult to find a decent quarterback in this World just keep looking at those transactions.  The amazing thing is, Delhomme is probably a big upgrade for the Browns.  All this movement in Cleveland leaves one less potential landing spot for the Eagles 3-headed QB disaster.  Still no clue what they plan on doing there…

–Still no Tiger, and might as well have no Phil Mickelson, either.  Mickelson hasn’t capitalized on the absence of the game’s best player.  His best finish this year is an 8th at Pebble Beach, and he hasn’t come close to putting four sharp rounds together.  Typically a fast starter, not sure what this means for Mickelson’s season.  Still a lot going on off the course for Phil, and perhaps that is starting to take a toll.  Ernie Els cruised to a win Sunday, looking like a much younger version of himself.  It could be the most significant win of the year to this point.  Sure, some guys are playing well, but in Els most people see a guy who could challenge Tiger when he comes back.  Poulter, Casey, Villegas…these guys aren’t very proven in major championships.  Ernie is still pushing for a career grand slam, and if he plays like he did this past week, he’ll be a big factor at Augusta whether Tiger is there or not.  We’ll know Friday if Tiger is going to play Arnie’s event at Bay Hill.

–And, I guess I’ll keep advertising it.  If you’d like to participate in an NCAA Pool, I’m hosting one here.  Just for good times and pride, though it appears Joe Lunardi has signed up for it, so it’s getting pretty serious.