Spring Training Week in Review: 3/19/2010 - 3/25/2010

As quickly as Opening Day is approaching, it could go a little faster. As we grind out this final week to ten days we go about our usual business. Work, school work, failing school work, gaming, and following the Spring Training games. Luckily, there were alot of games on TV this past week. Unfortunately, two of those games were on ESPN and were two-three hours of terrible, biased, other words I won't say, announcing. Let's not forget the sheer amount of Yankees and Braves interviews. ESPN, if you're reading this, you should remember that you are broadcasting nationally and not locally.

Now that my mini-rant is over let's check up on how the Phillies faired this past week.

Ryan Howard- Ryan is probably the most locked in Phightin at the plate. He crushed two home runs this week, one to left and one to right, and is spraying balls all over the place. Hitting to left is become very consistent, next to his two homers and other hits  he also crushed a warning track out to deep left center against Atlanta. Bill Conlin wrote a great article and included that statistic how many hits the shift robbed Ryan of, the total was a whopping 51 hits. If Ryan can keep this up then the shift could be drastically reduced and allow him to hit get hits on many of the hard grounders or liners that Howard hit's to the right.

Raul Ibanez- Ibanez continues to search for his swing. Charlie Manuel is not worried however, he(Charlie) speaks of when Aaron Rowand struggled in Spring and went on to have a career year.

Starting Rotation- This was by far the rotations worst week. That however, can't be considered a bad thing. The rotation(Moyer and Kendrick included) combined for 35 innings and allowed 19 runs. While not the greatest numbers, it is certainly good to see the rotation deal with adversity and minimize the runs given up. Roy Halladay threw 7 innings of two run ball in a minor league game on the 25th.

Bullpen- Antonio Bastardo is likely to be the lefty out of the pen but continues to be inconsistent. Bastardo had several good outings but allowed 3 runs in 1 inning on the 25th. David Herndon continues to open eyes throwing another 4 scoreless innings. The pitchers who are definitely going to have a spot in the bullpen have combined for 10.2 innings allowing only 5 runs (3 earned). Brad Lidge threw 1 inning in a minor league game allowing 1 run as he continues to build arm strength. His fastball is said to be around 89 MPH. Lidge could possibly be ready for the Houston series.

Chad Durbin- Durbin is throwing a changeup this Spring and it has been filthy, he has collected 4 strikeouts in 4 innings.

Cole Hamels- Hamels had a not-so-great outing on the 22nd allowing 6 earned runs. Most of the damage was done in one inning but seemed like he kept his composure together and got his work in. Victorino did not play that day and Werth covered for him in center and misplayed a couple balls which Victorino probably could have gotten with less trouble.

Other Notes: Polanco and Rollins continue to swing the bat well hitting .390 and .314 respectively. Victorino's shoulder stiffness that he suffered from in the first week of Spring Training seems to be gone as he is pounding the ball hitting .314. The Phillies have also rallied for two walk-off wins, one against the Yankees and one against the Rays.

Grade of the Week- A for the Phillies. ESPN Announcers get an F-

Well that's it for this Spring Training Week in Review, stay tuned!