Just a quick heads up, if you haven’t done so yet, head over to the best Ottawa Lynx blog on the internet and say hello. Carl, the guy responsible, has the most in depth coverage of the Lynx out there, and is our eyes and ears on the AAA team this season. If you check out his page now, you can scroll down for some video of Fabio Castro and Eude Brito working a bullpen session, complete with beanie hats.

Lakewood at West Virginia, Lakewood wins 5-3.

Lakewood edged out West Virginia on the strength of their bullpen, with Ben Pfinsgraff pitching in relief and getting the win. Jarrod Freeman got roughed up a bit in his full season debut, but struck out 6 over 4.2 innings.

Berry: 1/4, 1 BB, 1 SB
Donald: 0/4
Cardenas: 1/4, 1 R
Milner: 0/3, 1 R, 1 BB
Henry: 1/3, 1 R, 1 BB, 1 RBI, 1 SB

Pfinsgraff: 2.1 IP, 1 H,  1 K, WIN
R Hill: 1.0 IP, 1 K
Cruse: 1.0 IP, 2 K, SAVE

Clearwater at Dunedin, Clearwater wins 6-2
Dan Brauer v TBA

Brad Harman and Lou Marson carried the load offensively, while Dan Brauer and Andrew Carpenter quieted the Dunedin bats.

Golson:  1/4, 1 R
Harman: 3/4, 2 R
Slayden: 1/3, 1 R, 1 2B, 1 RBI
Marson: 2/4, 1 2B, 2 RBI

Brauer: 5.0 IP, 6 H,  1 ER, 2 BB,  3 K
Carpenter: 4.0 IP, 3 H, 1 ER, 3 BB, 4 K

Reading v Bowie, Reading loses 3-2.
Heath Totten v TBA

Heath Totten pitched well, but it wasn’t enough as the Reading bats couldn’t deliver.

Moran: 1/4, 1 2B
Costanzo: 0/4, 1 RBI, 3 K

Totten: 7.0 IP, 2 ER, 3 H, 4 K
B Nelson: 2.0 IP, 1 ER, 1 H, 3 K

Ottawa at Buffalo, Ottawa loses 8-3.

Indians top prospect Adam Miller disposed of Ottawa on the strength of a 4 run first inning. With his 1/4 night, Jason Jaramillo is now hitting .375, a nice start to the season.

Jaramillo: 1/4

Not sure of the pitching matchups for 2 of the 3 games, the Ottawa game has been postponed due to ice/snow on the field.

Lakewood (0-1) v Greensboro (1-0), Lakewood wins 7-1

A solid performance for Lakewood, leveling their season record at 1-1. Edgar Garica, making his full season ball debut, was excellent to start, and was followed surprisingly by Kyle Drabek for an inning in relief. It could have just bene his day to throw and they wanted to get him work, or the Phillies might be easing him in to his first full season by starting him in the bullpen.

Berry: 2/4, 2 R, 1 BB
Donald: 2/5, 1 2B, 4 RBI
Cardenas: 0/4, 1 R
Milner: 2/4, 1 R, 1 3B
Henry: 1/3, 2 R, 1 3B

Garcia: 7.0 IP, 1 ER, 4 H, 0 BB, 5 K
Drabek: 1.0 IP, 3 K
G Hill: 1.0 IP, 1 K
Clearwater (1-0) @ Dunedin (0-1), Clearwater loses 9-7.

Jon Lieber made his first rehab appearance, going 3 innings, allowing 1 earned run on 4 hits, allowing zero walks and striking out 4. It wasn’t pretty thereafter, as Josh Outman got rocked to the tune of 6 ER in 2.1 IP. Maybe it was the uncomfortable weather, the uneasiness of pitching in relief, or maybe he just didn’t have it.

Golson: 2/5, 1 R, 1 2B
Harman: 0/5, 1 R
Slayden: 3/5, 1 R, 1 2B, 1 HR, 3 RBI
Baez: 1/4, 1 R

Griffith: 0.1 IP, 1 BB
Outman: 2.1 IP, 6 ER, 7 H, 3 BB, 3 K
Weatherby: 1.2 IP, 1 BB, 3 K
Reading (1-0) v Harrisburg (0-1), Reading wins 7-6
Matt Maloney v Collin Balester

A solid outing from Matt Maloney, Mike Costanzo’s second home run in as many games, and Anderson Garcia notching back to back saves, not too bad a start for the R-Phils.

Moran: 2/4, 1 R, 1 2B, 1 RBI, 1 BB
Costanzo: 2/4, 1 R, 1 HR, 1 RBI

Maloney: 5.0 IP, 2 ER, 2 H, 4 BB, 3 K
N Johnson: 1.0 IP,
Garcia: 1.0 IP, 1 K, 1 SV

Ottawa (0-0) @ Rochester, PPD

Our first set of recaps for minor league games, very exciting.

Lakewood falls to Greensboro 11-7. To say it was a “rough start” for Carlos Monasterios would be a bit of an understatement. He allowed 7 ER on 5 H and 1 BB in just 0.2 IP, throwing 3 wild pitches and having a very forgettable debut to his 2007 season. Here’s a rundown of prospect performances in the game:

Monasterios: 0.2 IP, 7 ER, 5 H, 1 BB
Blaine: 4.1 IP, 2 ER, 3 H, 1 BB, 3 K
Freeman: 1.0 IP, 2 ER, 3 H, 1 K
Concepcion: 2.0 IP, 0 ER, 3 H, 1 BB, 3 K
R Hill: 1.0 IP, 2 K

Q Berry: 1/5, 1 R, 1 RBI
J Donald: 2/4, 1 R, 1 RBI, 1 BB
A Cardenas: 1/4, 1 R, 1 RBI, 1 BB
Milner: 1/4
C Henry: 2/4, 2 R, 2 RBI, 1 2B

Clearwater defeated Dunedin 9-3. Here is the wrap from the game. Freddy Garcia made a solid rehab start, tossing 3 innings and striking out 7. Here’s a rundown of the prospects in the game:

Golson: 3/4, 3 R, 1 RBI, 1 2B, 1 3B
Harman: 2/4, 2 R, 2 RBI, 1 HR
Slayden: 2/3, 2 RBI
Marson: 0/0, 1 R, 1 BB

Overholt: 4.2 IP, 1 ER (3 R total), 3 H, 2 BB, 4 K
Zagurski: 1.0 IP, 1 K

Reading defeated Harrisburg 4-1 in their opener, here is the game wrap for that one. New acquisition Landon Jacobsen won his debut, and Mike Costanzo hit his first AA home run. Prospect rundown is as follows:

Moran: 2/4, 1 R, 1 RBI, 1 2B
Costanzo: 1/4, 1 R, 1 RBI, 1 HR

J De La Cruz: 1 IP, 1 Hld
B Nelson: 1 IP, 2 K, 1 Hld
A Garcia: 1 IP, 1 SV

Check back later for a preview of tonight’s games.

I’m not much for following the results of minor league spring training games, mainly because there isn’t a whole lot of info available on these games in most cases, and mainly because they are really an extension of Instructional League, and you can’t really “learn” much from them, as they are more an exercise in education than anything really “important” in terms of numbers or results. However, if you head to the Reading Phillies website, they have brief blurbs broken down by day on the games. So far, some good performances from Carlos Monasterios, one of my sleeper arms, as well as D’Arby Myers and Kyle Kendrick.

The Phillies claimed a win on Friday, beating Cleveland 6-4. Some prospect news of note:

Michael Bourn, 0/1
Justin Germano, 1 IP, 0 ER, 1 H
James Happ, 2 IP, 0 ER, 1 H, 1 K

Happ, getting his first taste of spring training, works two solid innings. I wonder if the Phillies might be tempted to keep Happ on the 25 man roster with a great spring and struggles from other relievers? Personally, I don’t think he has much of a chance, especially with two Rule 5 guys on the roster right now, and I think his biggest value is still in the rotation.

I felt like now would be a good time to explain what I’m going to be doing now that we have actual games to follow. Tomorrow I’ll be posting a wrap-up of the prospect grades, and then I’m going to focus my attention on getting in gear for the season. As of now, I’m going to handle all of the writeups/previews, but I’m also going to be looking to enlist the services of a few ambitious contributors to help in this task as the season progresses. I’ll give more on that at a later date, so stay tuned. Basically, once the minor league season begins, I’ll be writing two posts every day, one recapping the previous night’s games, and one previewing the upcoming day’s game action. I figured I’d use the Phillies/FSU game as a template. Here is how the review post will look every day

The Phillies downed Florida State by a 12-4 margin tonight. Click here for the box score. Prospect action of note:

Kyle Drabek: 2 IP, 2 ER, 2 H, 1 BB, 1 K
Alfredo Simon: 2 IP, 1 ER, 2 H, 1 BB, 2 K
Joe Bisenius: 1 IP, 0 ER, 0 H, 0 BB, 1 K
Jim Ed Warden: 1 IP, 0 ER, 0 H, 0 BB, 2 K

Michael Bourn: 2 AB, 1 H, 1 BB, 1 RBI, 1 R,

Pretty simple, huh? But, it will give you everything you need to know about the previous night’s game. If anything of note occurred, I’ll make a note of it, but I’m mainly going to be highlighting the performance of actual prospects in the game, not roster filler guys. As I mentioned earlier, I’m going to also try and recruit some people to help do game writeups of games they attended, things they noticed, pictures they took, etc etc. I want as many contributions to the cause as I can get. Also, I’ll do a “prospect hot list” every Monday, highlighting the best/worst performers of the past week, and other little features like that, as well as passing along articles/links and all of that other good stuff. I’m really excited about this season, and I’m hoping this site can develop into a useful minor league resource for all things Phillies prospects. But, I’m going to really need the help of those of you who visit every day, and I really hope that we can foster some solid discussion here and learn some stuff as the season progresses.