Phils split, beat Jays, lose to Tigers - but still team to beat, according to Smoltz

The Phillies played two games today at 1:05 with split squads taking on the Tigers and the Blue Jays.

Victorino, Dobbs, Burrell and Feliz were among those who stayed home at Bright House Field to play the Tigers, with a number of invitees vying for spots on the roster. J.D. Durbin got the start, going four innings, allowing three runs to score. He was relieved in turn by J.J. Happ, Clay Condrey and Lincoln Holdzkom, a Rule-5 pickup; each allowing a run. Offensively, Brandon Watson, who came up and down from the minors last year for the Nationals, went 2-4 with a double and Gregg Golson contributed with a single, bringing his pre-season average to .800.

The away squad traveled down the road to Dunedin, FL to take on the Blue Jays. The Phils won 6-1 with the help of four scoreless innings from starter Brett Myers. He was followed by Shane Youman, who had three shut out innings, and Ryan Madson, who allowed the only run. Four of the Phils runs came from timely doubles from Carlos Ruiz and Chase Utley, each scoring two.

The biggest stories of the day for me are Brett Myers and Ryan Howard. While not a real test of his durability as a starter, Myers' four innings today were certainly a good sign. Ryan Howard, who appears to be swinging the bat as good as ever in his career, has been his good old aggressive self, but has appeared to cut down on his strikeouts. So far this year he has at 17.6% for strikes, while his figure at the end of last year was 37.6%. I realize that this is not an indicator for April, but it is good news, for sure.

In other news, John Smoltz both advised Cole Hamels to focus on pitching and not financial matters and said the Phils, not the Mets, are the team to beat. Just sayin'.