So much for the thought of Chase Utley at second base on BlueClaws Opening Day…The second-baseman took the field for four innings and went 0-2 yesterday against the Cardinals, reporting no pain.

–

Chan-Ho Park is making his case to be the Phillies fifth-starter. The race, which began with four (Kyle Kendrick, JA Happ, Carlos Carrasco, and Park) seems to be down to two, with Happ and Park really seperating themselves from the pack.

Park was brilliant yesterday, throwing 4 2/3 shutout innings with eight strikeouts against the Cardinals. More significantly, the Cards’ lineup included Albert Pujols, Rick Ankiel, Ryan Ludwick and Chris Duncan, and it was pretty close to their everyday lineup we’ll see next month.

Manager Charlie Manuel noted the intensifying competition. “He could throw it wherever he wanted to,” Manuel said. “He looks like he definitely wants to stake claim to that fifth spot, and . . . Happ looks the same way.”

Share This Post!

This entry was posted on Monday, March 16th, 2009 at 9:07 am and is filed under Phillies, Spring Training. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.