Phils, Lee Drop One Against Jays

In Clearwater Thursday, the Phillies dropped a match up with the Toronto Blue Jays, 7-6. The Phillies busted out to an early lead, as Jimmy Rollins singled to lead off the bottom of the first and Shane Victorino followed with a tremendous homerun into the tiki bar area at Brighthouse Field.

Cliff Lee started for the Phillies and looked fairly untouchable early, as he shut down the first eight Blue Jays batters he faced in succession, and stranded a lone runner on base in the 3rd inning. In the 4th inning, however, the Jays’ bats seemed to come alive following a throwing error by third baseman Josh Barfield. Five hits and a sacrifice fly later, the Jays had a lead that they would not relinquish for the remainder of the contest, as Toronto defeated Philadelphia by a score of 7-6 on Thursday.

Jo-Jo Reyes would earn the win (1-1), while Cliff Lee took the loss (1-2). Lee singled in his only at bat.

The Phillies donned green caps and jerseys, as they do each year on St. Patrick’s Day. More notes on this game lie ahead.

-More pitching: Antonio Bastardo and Mike Zagurski each threw a scoreless inning for the Phils, while Kyle Kendrick spread 7 hits over 3 innings, with 1 strike out, while allowing 2 runs (1 earned) in the contest. Zagurski struck out the side in the 9th.

-Rule 5 guy Michael Martinez slammed his second homerun of the spring and brought his Grapefruit League batting average up to .325 with a 2-for-4 performance on the day.

-Catcher Erik Kratz mashed a pinch homerun in the 8th inning. Kratz, a Telford PA native, is batting .167 with the Phillies this spring.

–Wilson Valdez went 1-for-3 in the game and is now batting .444 on the spring. His 16 hits lead the Phillies in Grapefruit action.

–Freddy Galvis got the Phillies within a run in the 9th inning, when he drove a ball deep to left for a 2-run homerun.

-Other Phillies’ spring averages to date…Rollins- .239, Victorino- .341, Ibanez- .308, Delwyn Young– .311, Howard- .256, Mayberry Jr.- .333, Francisco- .341, Ruiz- .130, Barfield- .417.

-The crowd of 10,816 on hand for today’s match up was reportedly a record for Brighthouse Field.

-The Phillies are back at it tomorrow in Clearwater against the Pirates at 1:05 PM. The game will be simulcast on Phillies.com and 1210 AM. Then, beginning with Saturday’s game against the Orioles, the Phillies will be televised for three straight days.