Apter Hours: Phillies 4, Tigers 0...Blanton rebounds

Joe Blanton helped lower the ERA of the five potential Phillies starters to 2.05 as he and four other pitchers blanked the Tigers, 4-0 today in front of a crowd just over 8,700.

Pitching...After a rough first spring outing, Joe Blanton rebounded to pitch a very solid game. He pitched four scoreless frames and gave up only three hits in his outing today. He was followed by Ty Herndon (1IP, 1BB, 1SO), who is looking to make a name for himself in the minors. One of the Phillies prospects flying under the radar is Joe Savery. Back in 2007, he was drafted and known as one of the Phillies top picks. He was a combined 16-6 last year between Reading and Lehigh Valley with a 4.40 ERA. He is hoping to have a successful 2010 to give a run at the major league roster for 2011. Today, Joe pitched two innings of no hit ball. He did walk two and strike out one. To finish off the game, Yohan Flande and Scott Mathieson went the final two...combining for a walk and three strikeouts. An overall great day for Phillies pitchers.

Hitting...With the exception of Ben Francisco, all of the Phillies starters got a hit today. Most notably was that of Chase Utley (2-for-3, 1 RBI). Ryan Howard, Jayson Werth and Raul Ibanez also picked up an RBI each while Shane Victorino went 2-for-3 out of the lead-off spot. Raul's RBI came in the form of a homer, his first of the spring. Utley and Freddy Galvis both singled in runs to give the Phils an early 2-0 edge in the 2nd...Howard singled in a run in the 5th to bump it to 3-0 and Raul capped it in the 6th with his solo shot.

On the paths...Jayson Werth picked up his first stolen base of the spring during today's game.

Box

Well it was great to see Joe Blanton come back to throw four scoreless after giving up five runs in his first start. It seems like the Phils starters have really been able to rebound after every mistake and it is good to see that happen this early. This game moved the Phils to 4-3-1 this spring.

Coming up...The Phillies go split squad tomorrow as half will head to play the Tigers while the other half will travel to play the Rays. Drew Naylor is on tap to start against the Tigers while J.A. Happ will start against the Rays. Phillippe Aumont will al pitch tomorrow against the Tigers...Ryan Madson, Chad Durbin and Danys Baez will follow Happ against the Rays.