The Philadelphia Phillies are not expected to be any good this year, a fact that was hammered home Sunday when they lost to a college team in their spring training opener.
And it wasn’t even a Division I team but rather the Division II University of Tampa, which scored a 6-2 victory over the Phillies in Clearwater, Fla.
But hey, at least it was a good Division II team: The Spartans are 13-1 this season and ranked No. 1 in the country. According to the school’s Web site, it’s the first time a college team has knocked off a major league team in a spring training exhibition since 2011, when the University of Miami beat the Marlins.
To be fair, the Phillies’ lineup bore little resemblance to what they’ll trot out on Opening Day. Chase Utley, Carlos Ruiz, Cody Asche, Ryan Howard and Cole Hamels, among others, didn’t see the field. And, as Jim Salisbury of CSNPhilly.com notes, Tampa scored its game-winning runs in the seventh inning off Phillies pitchers Nefi Ogando and Hector Neris, neither of whom have pitched above Class AA in their lives.
But still: It’s the University of Tampa, whose players were fairly thrilled with the win, obviously.
“It was just cool to go out there and compete and have a pretty good game against my favorite hometown team,” Andrew Amaro, the nephew of Phillies GM Ruben Amaro Jr., told Salisbury. “It’s one of my coolest baseball games ever. Giovanny [Alfonzo, who hit the go-ahead grand slam in the seventh] said it was the coolest experience of his life.”
After spending the first 17 years of his Post career writing and editing, Matt and the printed paper had an amicable divorce in 2014. He's now blogging and editing for the Early Lead and the Post's other Web-based products.
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