Wednesdays are Camp Days for the Phillies in XST.  On camp days, the coaches run the players through fundamentals in the morning.  Later, an intrasquad game is played with accredited umpires.  This morning, I decided to walk over to watch the game.  It seemed to me that it would provide some interesting observations as players strove to impress while competing against their peers.

The squad coached by the Williamsport coaches included –

• Cord Sandberg RF
• Malquin Canelo SS
• Jose Pujols CF
• Trey Williams 1B
• Wilson Garcia DH
• Venn Biter LF
• Jesus Posso C
• William Cuicas 3B
• Olvy Marte 2B

Pitchers included –

• Ricardo Pinto
• Elniery Garcia
• Mark Meadors
• Jorge Serrano
• Richard Bielski

The squad coached by the GCL coaches included –

• Roman Quinn/Emmanuel Serra SS
• Luis Encarnacion 1B
• Grenny Cumana 2B
• Jake Sweaney LF/DH
• Freddy Zorrilla RF/CF
• Wilber Torres/Chace Numata C
• Hugo Arrocha 3B
• Bryan Martelo DH/LF
• Herlis Rodriguez RF
• Gregori Rivero DH

Pitchers included

• Alexis Rivero
• Dan Child
• Franklyn Kilome
• Angel Meija
• Chris Nichols
• Manaure Martinez

These line ups illustrate the fluidity of the squads down here as players are moved around at the whim of the coaches – most notably H-Rod with the GCL and Encarnacion back with them as well.

As the players gathered for pre-game workouts, I heard one of the coaches ask Quinn if he was getting 4 ABs today.  Roman signaled 3 ABs.  Coach responded that’ll be 5 innings.  The game was scheduled to run for 10 innings.  Intrasquad games often start innings with different situations.

Today –

1. Nobody on
2. Runners on 1^st and 3^rd
3. Runner on 2^nd
4. Nobody on
5. Runner on 1^st
6. Runners on 1^st and 2^nd
7. Nobody on
8. Runner on 3^rd, infield in
9. Nobody on
10. Nobody on

During games at the Carpenter Complex, pitchers not in uniform act as ball boys. Usually they are pitchers on the DL.  On an early passed ball/wild pitch, the ball boy started to retrieve the ball.  The coaches yelled for the catcher to go get it.  I think this was because the ball was blocked poorly into the screen rather than controlled in front of the catcher.  I interpreted this as a object lesson for the catcher.

After Quinn completed his 5^th inning on the field, he started in to see the trainer.  He was called back for a 4^th AB.

One of the peculiarities of an intrasquad game is that when Kilome struggled in the 6^th inning, time was called and the pitching coach visited the mound from the opponents’ bench.

The umpire will ask the ball boy for balls during an inning when he runs low.  At one point, the umpire asked Dan Whitehead for 4 balls.  Dan slowly stuck his left hand into the ball bag and withdrew it with 4 balls in his hand.  One in his palm, one between his thumb and index finger, one between his index and ring fingers, and one between his ring and pinky fingers.  That’s a big hand.

I noticed one of the pitcher’s warming up with an awkward delivery.  Turned out to be Nichols.  He is throwing a knuckleball this year.

Game stuff

Top of the first – A. Rivero

• Sandberg singled sharply to right field on a 1-2 pitch and stole second and third.

Bottom of the first – Pinto

• Quinn struck out swinging on a 1-2 pitch in his first AB.
• Encarnacion homered to right on the first pitch he saw.
• Cumana was retired on a hard ground ball to Cuicas’ right, good play and throw.

Top of the second – A. Rivero

• W. Garcia retired on soft liner to Quinn’s right

Bottom of the second – Pinto

• Zorrilla singled to left with runners on 1^st and 3^rd
• W. Torres singled to center with runners on 1^st and 2^nd
• Arrocha singled up the middle with the bases loaded
• Martelo flared a single to center to re-load the bases
• H. Rodriguez homered to right to clear the bases.
• Quinn grounded out to short, ran quickly to firsat base made it close
• Encarnacion reached on a fielding error by Marte. (inning rolled)

Top of the third – A. Rivero

• Cuicas struck out swinging after several 2-strike foul balls, he was fooled badly on a Rivero curve.

Bottom of the third – Pinto

• Cumana sac bunt.
• Posso picked a runner off third to end the inning.

Top of the fourth – Child

• Marte struck out swinging against Child.
• Canelo singled thru the hole into left field and advanced on a wild pitch by Child.
• Pujols struck out swinging against Child (great 0-1 curve and 1-2 off speed pitch).

Bottom of the fourth – Pinto

• Quinn laid down a successful sac bunt and almost beat the throw by the pitcher.

Top of the fifth – Child

• W. Garcia singled thru the hole vacated by the SS on a hit-and-run, run scored on throwing error by Sweaney who also threw to wrong base.
• Biter reached on a throwing error by Arrocha advanced to second then third on a wild pitch.
• Posso singled to left under the third baseman’s glove.
• Cuicas hit-and-run double play when his soft liner led Quinn into second base as he covered the steal, he tagged the runner to complete an unassisted double play.

Bottom of the fifth – Pinto

• Martelo struck out swinging, weak swings on the second and third strike off-speed pitches.
• Quinn popped up down the left field line to Biter.
• H Rod singled thru the hole into right field.
• G. Rivero singled on a line drive to right that Sandberg quickly got in to prevent a run, bases loaded.
• Serra chop single in the infield.
• Encarnacion (frozen on a nice first pitch curve) flew out to Sandberg to end inning.

Top of the sixth – Kilome

• Marte walked while trying to sac bunt with runners on first and second.
• Sandberg struck out swinging with the bases loaded after Numata went out to talk to Kilome at 2-0.
• Canelo line drive 2B down the left field line.
• Pujols line drive 2B down the left field line. (inning rolled)

Bottom of the sixth – Garcia

• Cumana laid down a sac bunt, Williams thought long and hard about third before throwing to first.
• Sweaney chopped a single up the middle.
• Cumana (yes, Cumana again) sac fly to right.

Top of the seventh – Kilome

• W. Garcia gapped a double to to left center, later took third on a wild pitch.
• Biter struck out swinging on 3 consecutive pitches after getting ahead 3-0.  Biter looks bigger than last year, across the shoulders.  His swing also looks a lot longer than I remember.
• Posso retired on a long fly ball to left and a nice running catch by Martelo.

Bottom of the seventh – Garcia

• W. Torres lined a double to right center.
• Arrocha laid down a successful sac bunt.
• Martelo struck ourt swinging, 2 weak swings again after called first strike.  (Trouble with the curve?)

Top of the eighth – Meija

• Cuicas reached on a line drive single to right, stole second and advanced to third on a throwing error by Numata.
• Marte struck out looking on a nice curve ball.
• Sandberg retired on a great play by Cumana with the infield drawn in. Encarnacion did a good job retreating to the bag to get the speedy Sandberg.
• Marte singled to left center.
• Pujols drew a 4 pitch walk. (Meija was missing low)

Bottom of the eighth – Meadors

• Rodriguez flared a pop down the right field line for a single, stole second and advanced to third on a throwing error by W. Garcia.
• G. Rivero fell behind after protecting Rodriguez on his steal, then lifted a soft liner to left for a single.
• Serra lifts a hit-and-run pop fly to left that drops for a fielder’s choice when Rivero is caught in limbo.  Serra steals second on a ball in the dirt.

Top of the ninth – Nichols (Knuckle balling)

• W. Garcia lines a single to left and steals second.
• Biter draws a walk.
• Posso loads bases when hit by a pitch.
• Cuicas lifts a sac fly to right.
• Marte grounds into a 1-6-3 fielder’s choice that would have been an inning double play if Encarnacion hadn’t wandered off first before catching the relay.
• Sandberg strikes out swinging on a fast ball after several knuckle balls.
• (After the inning, the pitching coach passed me on his way to talk to Nichols.  He made eye contact with me and commented that it would be nice if the first baseman had remained on the base to complete the double play in slightly more proasic terms than I will type here.)

Bottom of the ninth – Serrano

• Sweaney reaches on a hard hit ball to the left of the second baseman into right field, advances to third on successive wild pitches.
• Zorrilla walks.
• Arrocha grounds up the middle into a 6-3 double play started by Canelo.

Top of the tenth – M. Martinez

• Pujols doubles to deep center field.  Later scores on a wild pitch.
• Williams hits a soft liner to center for a single, advances on a wild pitch.
• W. Garcia punches an “excuse-me” single to left.
• Biter doubles to the gap in left center.

Bottom of the tenth – Belski

• 1-2-3 inning
• Martelo breaks bat on a soft liner to third.
• Rodriguez pops out to short on a 3-0 pitch.
• G. Rivero strikes out swinging.

The situational settings at the beginning of the innings throws individual lines out of whack, but here goes.

• Sandberg 1-5, 2 steals
• Canelo 3-5, R, 2 RBI
• Pujols 2-4, BB, 2 RBI
• Williams 1-5 RBI
• Garcia 4-5, sac, 2 R, RBI
• Biter 1-4, BB, 2 R, RBI
• Posso 1-4, HBP
• Cuicas 1-4, SB, SF, R, RBI
• Marte 0-3, BB, R, RBI

 

• Quinn 0-3, sac
• Serra 1-2, 2 RBI, HR
• Cumana 1-3, 1 R, RBI, 2 sac, SF
• Sweaney 2-4, RBI
• Zorrilla 1-3, R, RBI, BB
• W. Torres 2-4, R
• Arrocha 2-3, 2 R, 2 RBI
• Martelo 1-4, 2 R
• Rodriguez 3-4, 2 R, 6 RBI, HR
• G. Rivero 2-4, RBI

 

• A. Rivero 3 IP, 1 H, 3 K
• Child 2 IP, 3 R, 1 ER, 2 K, WP
• Kilome 2 IP, 3 H, 3 R, 3 ER, 2 K, WP
• Meija 1 IP, 2 H, R, ER, BB, K, WP
• Nichols 1 IP, H, 2 R, 2 ER, BB, K, HBP
• M. Martinez 1 IP, 4 H, 2 R, 2 ER, 2 K

 

• Pinto 5 IP, 10 H, 11 R, 11 ER, 2 K
• Garcia 2 IP, 2 H, 2 R, 2 ER, K
• Meadors 1 IP, 2 H, 2 R, 2 ER, K
• Serrano 1 IP, 1 H, K, BB
• Bielski 1 IP, K