What will Joba do after Phil Hughes' four scoreless innings last night? It would behoove him to come back with a strong outing to announce he's not out of the running for the fifth starter's spot. He'll pitch in relief of Andy Pettitte, set to make his spring debut.
Joe Blanton starts for the Phils. The game will be aired only on MLB.tv at 1:05. The live boxscore is here.
Let's call it a semi-success. After Joba allowed a run in his first inning, I thought 'Oh, no. Here we go,' but he settled down and threw two scoreless frames to end the game. What will be really telling is how he does in his next game. Can he be consistently solid, or will he be consistently inconsistent?
Pettitte also settled down after a rocky beginning in which he gave up a run in each of the first two innings, throwing two scoreless frames after that.
We also saw the return of early-'09 Damaso Marte, who failed to record an out while getting hammered for three runs. He actually got hit on the elbow by a Ryan Howard line drive, but it's apparently just a bruise.
The offensive hero of the 6-2 loss was Mr. Cervelli (3-3, 2B, RBI). It was also good to see GGBG get a couple hits, especially one for extra-bases. No other batter had more than one hit.
7:05 p.m. game tomorrow against Tampa. It will be aired on YES and MLBN.