Philadelphia Phillies experience 3-10 defeat against Houston Astros - MLB Update
Philadelphia Phillies suffer a 3-10 defeat at Bright House Networks in Clearwater, Florida from Houston Astros in their Spring Training Grapefruit contest on March 7, 2012 plunging to .40 PCT on the League table.
A look at Vance Worley taking advice from veteran Roy Halladay in a pregame practice about change-up grip affected Jordan Schafer little as he took him on in the very first inning. Astros' first two hitters found easy singles from him and got runs in both
the innings he pitched.
During the play Worley looked more interested in experiments than reading hitter’s intent and manipulating throws likewise. Most of his pitches fell in zones where hitters saw little hesitation in hammering and accumulating singles.
"I tried to work on the split-fingered change a little bit and my location was not all that great and the results didn't exactly come with it," Worley said.
Most of the damage done to Phillies came from the sticks of Schafer and J.D. Martinez with former going 3-for-4 and latter contributing three RBIs and two hits. Let alone pitchers, fielders also did a poor job for Phillies, allowing easy singles and not
putting pressure on runners.
For three innings Phillies were hitless and their first came off the single taken by Shane Victorino in the fourth. Later in the eighth inning, Lou Montanez drew a double to add the first run to Phillies' score. When in ninth leadoff Hector Luna came, another
run in the form of a homer was added to score but it was of no avail as Astros were already way ahead.
The way Bud Norris handicapped Phillies with his variations was worth watching and while not getting any strike-outs, he was not hit even for a single time in three innings.
"He had the one walk and that one walk was 0-2 back to a four-pitch walk to Thome, but other than that, he really did a good job of getting himself into counts, making some pitches and getting out of there," Houston manager Brad Mills said.
Loss has weakened Phillies' position on table as out of the five games played so far, they were defeated in three. In their next game against Pittsburgh Pirates they will be looking forward to work out their pitches and get their fielders to come quicker
to hits thrown at them.
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