I would put a sad emoticon face here if I was a girl. This is a very sad time, as today was the final Phils spring training game we would watch this year in person. It’s been a blast down here in the Clearwater area the past week, and we took it all in. Here’s a quick recap of the highlights day by day for the ADD Show:

Saturday - had a 4:30pm flight from Philly delayed 7 hours; finally got to Atlanta and spent the night in the airport

Sunday - arrived in Tampa; saw Phils v Blue Jays

Monday - slept many hours

Tuesday - went to a gun range, fired guns

Wednesday - saw Phils v Reds

Thursday - got sunburned on Clearwater Beach

Friday - saw Phils v Braves

So, with an early flight tomorrow, this game against Atlanta was our last big event. The excitement was sky high, I mean, what could be better than seeing the Phils take on an arch rival team in beautiful Florida weather and win!?! Well, it rained all day, contrary to what I was told that it never rains in Florida. Our luck was fading. Then the game started. We were thankful when the game was over, not because of the weather, but because the Phils dropped another one, 9-1. It was pretty frustrating as the offense never got rolling at all, and the pitching was unbelievable inept all game long. There were also a lot of Braves fans in attendance. I don’t care for them or their Nascar hats. Plus, it seems that the etiquette at spring training is different than the real games at CBP. When I boo’ed I got weird looks. Very strange. Anyway, the game went down something like this…

The first inning was scoreless for both teams, as the Phils sent Francisco Rosario to the mound. He looked pretty good for an inning. Then in the 2nd he gave up 6 runs (all earned) off of 3 hits (including a grand slam), with 2 walks and no strikeouts. The Phils got on the board with a homer from Dobbs in the bottom half of the inning which barely cleared the left field wall. However, in the 3rd Youman gave up 3 more runs on 3 hits. It was 9-1 Braves just like that. That would turn out to be the final score, so there were few positives to get out of this game. Any negatives? Oh you bet.

Positives:

1 - John Ennis and Clay Condrey each pitched 2 scoreless innings and combined for 6 strikeouts

2 - Rollins lead off the game with a nice double to right center

Hey, I said there weren’t a lot of positives

Negatives:

1 - Nobody drove Rollins in after his double

2 - Rosario

3 - Youman

4 - Burrell’s swing and tendencies at the plate seem to have not changed in the slightest. I thought Milt Thompson was going to work with him, I guess not. Same old stuff. Mile high pop ups galore.

5 - Phils left 7 men on base (please let this terrifying stat to not haunt the Phillies again this year)

So, while the ADD show was down here, the Phillies went 1-4. We’re not the bad luck guys, seriously. The Phils are 5-11, near the bottom of the league. But hey, it’s spring training and none of this counts. But let’s hope a slow spring doesn’t mean a slow April when it’s time for the real stuff.

We’ll be back in Philly (assuming we don’t have to crash in an airport again) tomorrow morning. I’ll put up some pictures of the stadium and games, etc.