Phillies Beat Canada; Mayberry Jumps in the Cadillac

The big story of the day may have been ace Cole Hamels making his spring debut, but the fireworks put on by the Phillies are the reason the team knocked off World Baseball Classic participant Team Canada. John Mayberry Jr. (above) continues to impress, and Jeremy Slayden put together another nice performance.

Hamels was only supposed to go one inning today, but he got through the first quick enough to stay in the game. When the day was done, Hamels pitched two innings, allowing two hits, zero runs, one walk, and zero strikeouts. His curve ball seemed to be in good form, for the first spring outing at least.

After Hamels left the game, Dave Borkowski entered and put together a 1-2-3 inning. Borkowski was given the win in the game after the Phillies put four runs on the board in the bottom of the third. Andrew Carpenter struggled through two innings. Carpenter allowed two runs to score on three hits in addition to his four walks. Greg Dobbs bailed Carpenter out in his first inning with a brilliant double play, catching a line drive and doubling up Stairs at first base.

Ryan Howard went 2-for-2 today, including his second infield single of the spring. Perhaps Howard's weight loss entering spring training is already proving to be a benefit for the husky first baseman. Raul Ibanez continues to demonstrate why the Phillies brought him in. He has been having a good spring training at the plate, and today drove in all of the runs the team would need with a three run double in the bottom of the third inning.

In the fourth inning, John Mayberry Jr. showed off his power with a home run that was quoted by play-by-play announcer Tom McCarthy as "one of the longest home runs" he has ever seen in Clearwater. The two-run blast even made commentator Gary Mathews chuckle. Much to this fan's disappointment, Mathews made no reference to jumping in the Cadillac. Mayberry had two hits on the day.

Jeremy Slayden also jumped in the Cadillac with a three run home run of his own in the seventh inning. Talk about making the most of your opportunities; it was Slayden's only at-bat of the day.

Jason Donald saw playing time at short stop today and made some tough plays. At the plate, however, Donald again struggled, going 0-3.

For Team Canada, Matt Stairs went 1-for-3.

The Phillies will play their second exhibition against World Baseball Classic competition tomorrow when Jimmy Rollins, Shane Victorino, and the rest of Team USA visit the Phillies. That one should be fun to watch. Expect Rollins and Victorino to get a lot of playing time.