It was a long day today. The Phillies played the Toronto Blue Jays and won 4-2, finally winning a game we were watching. It was also alumni day, celebrating the 10th anniversary of the 2008 world series championship. A few of the players on that team were present to be recognized and to sign autographs. The players included Jimmie Rollins, Pedro Feliz, Scott Eyre, and Brett Meyers. Charlie Manual the manager then and coaches, Rich Dubee and Jimmie Williams were also present. There will be a larger reunion ceremony in Philadelphia in August.
The minor league spring training camp also opened today as the remainder of the Phillies low minor league players and rookies reported for training and games with other area minor league teams. Their activities will be conducted at the adjoining training field complex.
The Phillies are moving into the information age this year, focusing on the use of analytics to make real-time decisions regarding what pitch to throw, where to position defenders, what to expect from the opposing pitcher, etc. The have hired 12 people to crunch numbers and make the information available to the coaches and players through digital media in the dugout. One innovation is to put an analyst in uniform to observe the game and listen to the coaches make decisions as the game progresses in order to better understand how decisions are made and can be include in analytic statistical planning and useful decision making. There was one there today, a Standford graduate I think, soaking up technical information from Charlie Manual, like "hit the ball where they can't catch it".
The weather remained cooler, with the temperature about 75 degrees and breezy. The upper section where we sit is always a lot cooler when the wind is out of the north, as it was today. We were prepared however with our jackets. It is hard to complain about the weather when it is 75 degrees and sunny.
After the game, we pushed the weariness limit by deciding to do the laundry after a quick dinner in the RV. We were finally done about 10:00 pm then crashed for the evening.
More baseball tomorrow.
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