Welcome Home, Boys

Written by Erica Bauwens | 02 April 2010

It was a big day in Philadelphia, as the Phillies headed home to Citizen's Bank Park (oh, I got chills when I wrote that) for their first exhibition games of 2010 against the Pittsburgh Penguins.

The game started off rough: Cole Hamels disappointed fans, allowing three earned runs in his three innings at the mound. The dark streak ended wit Kyle Kendrick as a replacement, who pitched three scoreless innings, followed by Andrew Carpenter for two, and finally closer Danys Baez.

Ryan Howard, who has spent spring training mastering breaking balls and perfecting his already miraculous swing, hit a two-run home run in the third, tying up the game. Chase Utley got the bell ringing for the second time in 2010 with another home run in the fifth. The Phillies ended the game with a 5-3 win.

Charlie Manuel beat out Jimmy Rollins' usual yearly predictions today, being the first man on the team to claim a 2010 World Series victory. He also had high hopes for Cole Hamels, who has been performing less than admirably this spring

"Cole's in tremendous shape. He's ready to pitch." Manuel said, in an interview with the Philadelphia Inquirer before the game against the Pirates. "Of course, I'd like to see him go out there and be sharp with his command, throw quality strikes. That's what I'd like to see... I think he's ready. But I can sit here and say that all I want. The season's going to tell."

Hamels wasn't too concerned about the way his last game of spring training played out.

"I feel confident now that I can throw it again and again for strikes," Hamels said. "My whole goal was just to go out there and try to throw strikes, just try to work both sides of the plate."

Hamels will be starting on April 7th in Washington D.C. and I'm certainly not too thrilled about that. I wasn't too reassured while following Hamels this spring, especially after 2009 and the World Series. As one of the lucky players that hasn't faced any surgeries in the last year I expect a lot more from him, but maybe that's just me being unrealistic. Plus, I'm really eager to see what Roy Halladay has to bring to Philly.

Unfortunately, I couldn't find the game on TV, but I did get to check out some pregame action on the news. The Phillies were looking dapper as usual, with the exception of Jayson Werth who ditched the grizzly man beard for his frat boy-esque landing strip once again. I'm sorry to all those facial-hair-loving men out there, I just will never be able to like that thing; but I'll always love Jayson.

The Phillies play the Pirates one more time tomorrow night at the Park to what is expected to be a sold out crowd. Let's hope they bring spring training down with a bang.