Spring Training
On November 13, the Phillies announced their spring training schedule. In addition to their Grapefruit League games, the Phillies played two games against two of the World Baseball Classic teams. The Phillies defeated Team Canada (with Phillie Matt Stairs) on March 4, 9–2, and lost to Team USA (with Jimmy Rollins and Shane Victorino) on March 5, 9–6. The team broke camp April 2 and headed north to play two "On Deck Series" games on April 3 and 4 against the Tampa Bay Rays at Citizens Bank Park; they split the series, winning 3–2 and losing 9–7.
The Phillies finished the 2009 preseason with a record of 13–19, 10 games behind the Grapefruit League-leading New York Yankees. Ryan Howard led all players in Spring Training with 10 home runs. The team set spring training attendance-records for Bright House Field in 2009. They set a single-game record with 10,335 people in attendance on March 15 for a game against the St. Louis Cardinals. The Phillies set the franchise's total spring training attendance record for Bright House Field, with 133,620 attending in 2009.
Read more about this topic: 2009 Philadelphia Phillies Season
Famous quotes containing the words spring and/or training:
“Some spring the white man came, built him a house, and made a clearing here, letting in the sun, dried up a farm, piled up the old gray stones in fences, cut down the pines around his dwelling, planted orchard seeds brought from the old country, and persuaded the civil apple-tree to blossom next to the wild pine and the juniper, shedding its perfume in the wilderness. Their old stocks still remain.”
—Henry David Thoreau (1817–1862)
“Dancing is a wonderful training for girls, it’s the first way you learn to guess what a man is going to do before he does it.”
—Christopher Morley (1890–1957)