Another Ace Another Planet

Everyone, I think spring training is the perfect time to break out an Only Ones reference.  It also  bears mentioning that having to explain a headline probably destroys a whole bunch of rules for writing etiquette.  So anyway, the point of the aforementioned headline was to illustrate that the Phillies have a bunch of really good pitchers in their rotation and another one of them made his spring debut today.

There are times that I forget that the Phillies signed Cliff Lee.  I realize that it has been well over a year since their coup to sign the free agent pitcher, but I continue to have a difficult time rationalizing that there are this many great pitchers on the Phillies.  Regardless, Cliff Lee is a member of the Phillies and he pitched for the first time this season.  Unsurprisingly he threw two scoreless innings.  Surprisingly he issued a walk.

It seems that there are quite a few players with ties to the Phillies organization on the Toronto Blue Jay Roster.  Ben Francisco, Brian Bocock and Anthony Gose all suited up for the Blue Jays at Florida Auto Exchange Stadium.  They also have former Phillie farmhands Kyle Drabek and  Travis D’Arnaud from the Doc Halladay trade.  This is the type of thing that happens when a team is in win now mode.  Luckily, none of the players that they traded thus far have turned into guys make you wish that they were not traded.  Hopefully none of the massive amount of talent that the Phillies have jettisoned recently come back to haunt them.  In addition, the Blue Jay have the worst stadium name in the major leagues.  Florida Auto Exchange Stadium?  Awful.

Shane Victorino had his first hit and RBIs of the spring and the pitching staff threw a shut-out. It is hard to write something about every spring game.

Here is a clip of the Replacements covering Another Girl Another Planet.