Phillies Spring Training Talk

[PhillyPhreak54]

I didn't see it today, but apparently Josh Beckett was up to his old whiney self. I read on PhilaPhans that Howard and Beckett almost fought and the bullpens cleared. And that Beckett and Rollins were getting into it too.

PS - Chris Coste needs to make this team. Screw trading for Mohr. Give it to Coste.

[Geowhizzer]

I didn't see it today, but apparently Josh Beckett was up to his old whiney self. I read on PhilaPhans that Howard and Beckett almost fought and the bullpens cleared. And that Beckett and Rollins were getting into it too.

PS - Chris Coste needs to make this team. Screw trading for Mohr. Give it to Coste.

Ryan Howard would have killed him. 

[rjs246]

Steroids give people angry monkey strength.

[SD_Eagle5]

Mullets and bumble bee tights too.

[Geowhizzer]

I didn't see it today, but apparently Josh Beckett was up to his old whiney self. I read on PhilaPhans that Howard and Beckett almost fought and the bullpens cleared. And that Beckett and Rollins were getting into it too.

PS - Chris Coste needs to make this team. Screw trading for Mohr. Give it to Coste.

Looks like you may get your wish:

Coste could make his dream come true

Here is what may be best about Coste:

A non-roster invitee to camp after hitting .292 with career highs in home runs (20) and RBIs (89) for Triple-A Scranton-Wilkes-Barre last season, Coste could become a valuable addition because of his versatility. Catcher is his best position, and he also plays first base and third base and left field if needed.

[Geowhizzer]

Here's another on Coste from the Inky:

Coste makes his case to stay with Phillies

By MARCUS HAYES
hayesm@phillynews.com

CLEARWATER, Fla. - Really, what more can Chris Coste do?

The 33-year-old career minor-leaguer who plays first base, third base, leftfield and prefers to catch, was given a shot to play in the intrasquad game on Feb. 27 because first baseman Ryan Howard was sick. Coste learned 20 minutes before the game that he was starting.

Coste went 4-for-5 with a homer, two doubles and a game-winning RBI single.

"It definitely started then," Coste said.

It hasn't ended.

With starter Mike Lieberthal and backup Sal Fasano looking on, Coste got a start at catcher yesterday against 2003 World Series MVP Josh Beckett and the Red Sox in front of a record 9,893 at Bright House Networks Field. Coste led off the third inning, batting eighth, Beckett having overpowered the regulars in the lineup.

Coste doubled to right-centerfield, the Phillies' first hit. He later scored the Phillies' first run, threw a bullet to second base and nearly nailed a runner, and made a nice play on a bunt. He's hitting .471 with three homers and 11 RBI. One of the homers came against the Yankees in Tampa.

"I can't ask him to do any more than he's done," manager Charlie Manuel said after the 3-2 loss.

As the brass and coaching staff meet this week to whittle down the roster, nothing is quite cut-and-dried for Coste.

Regular third baseman David Bell has yet to play in a Grapefruit League game due to two flare-ups of his bad back. That has kept the Phillies from moving third backup infielder Tomas Perez, whom they might keep on the roster until Bell proves himself healthy... all of which could delay Coste playing with the major league club regardless of how good his spring is.

If Bell continues to play in minor league games and the Phillies place him on the 15-day disabled list to start the season, he would be on it retroactively to March 24 and he could come off the DL on April 8. If he plays in a Grapefruit League game he can only be placed on it retroactively to the day after the game in which he plays.

And the Phillies remain enamored of the idea that they need a lefthanded-hitting fifth outfielder with power.

Coste knows all of this.

"Honestly, my situation still looks a little blurry," Coste said. "But this is the closest I've ever been. I know that I'm finally on the map. If I'm not on the roster on Opening Day, I know there's a shot at being called up during the season."

He's certainly on the radar of Manuel, who has taken a liking to the guy who played junior college ball as a pitcher then starred as a hitter in Division III; who made his local independent Northern League expansion team in 1996 as a novelty (the owners wanted a local at tryouts, and Coste won the second baseman's job); and who converted to catcher four games into his 4-year Northern League career.

The conversion has gone well, though Coste, who happens to be able to play other positions, believes his versatility has sometimes been a curse. He played third most of last year for Scranton/Wilkes-Barre, then went to Mexico for the fourth straight season to catch in the winter.

"He's a good catcher," insisted Manuel. Cory Lidle, who started yesterday, agreed.

This, after Coste considered quitting. Six days into this year's spring training, Coste, aching and discouraged, called his wife Marcia and told her this might be his final spring training. Now, he might reconsider, especially if he plays in the majors this year.

"It would be a lot easier to stay," he said, "in the big leagues."

To this point, he has done everything he can to land there.

[Wingspan]

I didn't see it today, but apparently Josh Beckett was up to his old whiney self. I read on PhilaPhans that Howard and Beckett almost fought and the bullpens cleared. And that Beckett and Rollins were getting into it too.

PS - Chris Coste needs to make this team. Screw trading for Mohr. Give it to Coste.

actually, Howard started it when howard hit a ball that he thought was going yard. and ryan howard pulled a "bonds" where he stood and posed/watched it. then beckett yelled at him. then howard yelled back.

howard showboating in spring training is a stupid thing to do. even if beckett is a headcase.

[ice grillin you]

Beckett, Howard star in daytime drama
By Chris Snow, Globe Staff  |  March 27, 2006

CLEARWATER, Fla. -- For a moment, after 252-pound Ryan Howard had thrown down his glove and raised his arms, challenging 222-pound Josh Beckett, it looked as though the two might go. Power pitcher vs. power hitter, with bat and ball nowhere in sight.

Perhaps Beckett realized he was in over his head, even if he wouldn't acknowledge as much (''I wasn't too worried about that," he said later). Perhaps the heat of the moment passed. Regardless, the scene yesterday here at Brighthouse Networks Field provided a glimpse of the intensity bottled inside the new Red Sox ace, whose camp, to that point, had been amazingly nondescript.

The situation: Howard, who clubbed 22 homers in 88 games last year as NL Rookie of the Year, launched a ball to center in the sixth inning with a man aboard and the Phillies behind, 3-1. Howard was slow out of the box, watching in flight what had the chance to be his team-record 11th spring homer. The swirling wind held the ball up, and Adam Stern parked himself under it just shy of the warning track. Beckett, displeased with Howard's sauntering, let him know it.

''He was jogging after a pop up," Beckett said. ''It's not like I wanted to fight the guy. I wanted to make a point. You look like a jackass whenever you hit a ball like that and you're pimping it and you're out. I'm kind of about respecting the game. Even if it is a home run, I don't think it's the right thing to do. I'm not the type of guy to not say anything.

''I was just expressing my concern with the way he's playing the game. He didn't do that last year. He won Rookie of the Year, he hit a bunch of home runs, I guess you get one year in the big leagues and things just change."

Howard's take: ''See, I'd hit it, and at the contact point I didn't know where it went. If I was going to do something like pimp it or whatever, he'd have known."

Beckett spoke his piece and, Howard said, ''For me it was over. I really wasn't thinking about it anymore."

But, when Howard went out in the top of the seventh to play first base, Beckett, standing in the dugout, kept hurling words his way.

''That's where I handled it wrong," Beckett said. ''That's probably where I should have been a bigger man. I'm going to go out on a limb and say it's my fault."

Howard, on what he heard Beckett yell: ''He's like, 'Fly ball.' He threw in some curse words and called me a couple names. I was like, 'It's over,' but he started popping back off."

And that's when Howard abandoned his position, crossed the foul line, and walked toward the Sox dugout. On the way, he dropped his mitt and spread his arms, clearly willing to oblige if Beckett wanted to come on out.

''I mean, he started walking toward the stairs," Howard said. ''I wasn't going to be a punk about it. But if he was going to come up there and we was going to do it, we was going to do it."

Beckett reached the top step, with thick Wily Mo Peña (245 pounds, minimum) two steps behind him. The other dugout began to clear. Even the Sox bullpen door swung open. Out came Rudy Seanez, with the rest of the relievers a good 30-40 yards behind him.

But Seanez wasn't needed. Nothing more ensued, other than a few glares, and the herding of players back to their respective 'pens and dugouts. Beckett, of all people, was due to bat at that point, and the 9,893 in attendance probably would have paid the price of admission all over again to see him hit. But, he didn't, because he'd thrown 96 pitches. Willie Harris pinch hit for Beckett, who called it a day after six rather encouraging innings.

He did allow nine baserunners (6 hits, 3 walks) but fanned 6 -- four of them looking -- while allowing only two runs. He was throwing a particularly unfair backdoor two-seam fastball that accounted for at least one of his backward K's.

''You execute pitches like that, they're not looking in that location, that's what's going to happen," Beckett said. ''I felt intense. I felt focused today. Days when you have good stuff you probably shouldn't give up any runs.

''I have to get the walks down. I had too many walks today, but everything else was positive."

Beckett, who was throwing 94-95 miles per hour the first time he pitched this spring, appears healthy. When asked how his throwing shoulder -- the one diagnosed with tendinitis last fall -- feels, he abruptly answered, ''It feels fine. My velocity has been the same. No problems."

''The one big thing we really wanted to see is have him look like he's healthy," manager Terry Francona said. ''And I think everyone would agree that when he rears back, he's not nursing it up there. He looks great."

Beckett, in three big league starts this spring, is 2-0 with a 5.14 ERA (14 IP, 8 ER), with 5 walks and 10 strikeouts. There is no game scheduled for Friday (his next turn), so he'll take his final practice run in a minor league game, then take the ball April 5 in Texas as the No. 3 man in the rotation. He believes he's ready for the season and all that it will bring.

''It's a 162-game Packers season, that's what I've heard," said Beckett.

Yesterday's showdown with Howard was a nice warmup.

''I'm not going to take nothing away, the dude's a good pitcher," Howard said. ''His stuff was working nice today. But that's just uncalled for. Let it go."

Beckett said he will. The Sox and Phillies face off twice in the regular season (May 19-21 at Philadelphia and June 23-25 in Boston) and, Beckett said, ''Maybe we will have a beer."

Would he apologize?

''I don't know if I'd apologize," he said. ''I'd talk to him about the situation."

When asked about the series still to come, Howard said, ''Am I concerned at all? Not really. If it happens, if it goes down like that, it goes down."

[MDS]

I hope Howard kills him. Mostly because I hate everything that has to do with Boston.

[PhillyPhreak54]

I didn't see it today, but apparently Josh Beckett was up to his old whiney self. I read on PhilaPhans that Howard and Beckett almost fought and the bullpens cleared. And that Beckett and Rollins were getting into it too.

PS - Chris Coste needs to make this team. Screw trading for Mohr. Give it to Coste.

actually, Howard started it when howard hit a ball that he thought was going yard. and ryan howard pulled a "bonds" where he stood and posed/watched it. then beckett yelled at him. then howard yelled back.

howard showboating in spring training is a stupid thing to do. even if beckett is a headcase.

Howard said he couldn't see the ball when it left his bat. And he told Beckett if he was going to admire a shot he;d know when he did it.

Ryan Howard would tear that clown a new ass.

Beckett's panties got in a wad last year too when Kenny Lofton flipped his bat after a walk.

I hope Beckett gets some more blisters this year, the fag.

[MDS]

kenny lofton=class a icehole

[rjs246]

Baseball players fighting = pathetic. Even THEY wish they played a contact sport.

[Rome]

I was at the game yesterday and Howard definitely looked like he had lost the ball.  The wind was howling from left field to right field and there wasn't a cloud in the sky either. 

Whatever, though.

I hope Howard hits a tape-measure job against that farging bitch in the regular season and walks around the bases backwards afterwards.

[rjs246]

Yeah! That'd teach him to try to start a fight in a baseball game!

[ice grillin you]

I was at the game yesterday and Howard definitely looked like he had lost the ball. 

so in the midst of watching a game in person after the ball was hit you didnt follow it but instead focused in on the batter and noticed that he lost where the ball was?

i call bullshtein