When I arrive at these games, I have to decide which one to watch.  I look for prospects or rehabbers or starting pitchers.  Lately, I’ve been drawn to the Aaron Altherr game.  Today, Drew Anderson was warming up for the game on Ashburn Field.  Since I couldn’t remember seeing pitch before, I decided to watch that game.  Good choice.  The Phillies won 3-0, and Anderson and Jonathan Musser combined for a 3 hit shutout.

As an added bonus, the line up included several guys I like to watch –

• Tromp                 8
• Knapp                 DH
• Hernandez        5
• W. Torres           2
• Pujols                  9
• H. Rodriguez    7
• Williams             3
• Cumana              6
• Serra                    4
• C. Duran             DH

Anderson threw 23 pitches in the first inning, 16 for strikes.  The first batter struck out in a 7-pitch at bat.  The second batter singled to left on a 3-2 pitch but was later picked off first base by Torres.  The third batter struck out on a 10-pitch at bat.  Both strike outs came on 2-2 pitches after several foul balls.

After the first, Anderson was dealing.  He allowed an infield single in a 14-pitch second inning, recorded his 3^rd strike out in an 8-pitch third inning, and recorded his 4^th strike out in a 7-pitch fourth inning.  He allowed a 1-out walk and a 2-out single in the fifth but closed out the inning inducing a soft liner to short.  In all, he threw 72 pitches, 52 for strikes.  His line was –

• 5 IP, 3 H, 0 R, 1 BB, 5 K

Anderson had several pitch sequences that kept the batters off balance.  Once, he threw fast ball in, fast ball away, knee-buckling curve ball.  Later, fast ball in, fast ball in, curve ball.  And once, 4 consecutive curve balls.  All three of these ABs resulted in strike outs.  He also kept most of his pitches dow – a real fine effort.

I met Gkit at the complex today.  He told me that they had his fast ball velocity clocked between 89-91.  He was still that strong in the fifth inning.

Jonathan Musser followed with 2 hitless innings.  He allowed 2 one-out walks in the 6^th, but retired the next 2 batters on a 4-pitch strike out and a first pitch fly ball to left.  He breezed though the 7^th with 2 fly balls to right and a game-ending strike out.  His line was –

• 2 IP, 0 H, 0 R, 2 BB, 2 K

Offensively, they scored single runs in the second, third, and fifth innings.  In the second, Herlis Rodrigues reached on an error by the shortstop, stole second, and scored on a single by Grenny Cumana.  In the third, Jan Hernandez singled with 2 out, advanced on a wild pitch, and scored on a single by Wilber Torres. In the fifth, Emmanuel Serra walked, stole second, and scored on Jiandido Tromp’s double down the left field line.

Their other hits came on an Andrew Knapp line drive double with one out in the first and Jair Morelos one out single with one out in the seventh.

Defensively, they played a clean game.

Got an “I’m fine, how are you.” from Cole Hamels as he left the complex. Word was circulating that Deivy Grullon was making the trip to Tampa with the Threshers, that Chad Carman was reporting to Reading, and Sebastian Valle was reporting to Lehigh valley. Saw a rare umpire interference call on an attempted steal. The interference was waived off when the runner was retired at third.