Today's game with the Pirates brought Jim Leyland's words to mind. While managing the Pirates, he once said: "I knew we were in for a long season when we lined up for the national anthem on opening day and one of my players said, 'Everytime I hear that song, I have a bad game.'"
Almost all of the pitchers got rocked today in varying ways, but it was the offense that was the concern. Once again there is none. Except for a gigantic bomb by Ryan Howard, which went over the batter's eye and disappeared into space, and a three-run homer by Carlos Ruiz, nada. The Phillies had 4 hits and the Pirates, in a 10-4 trouncing, had 14. It's only spring training but this team has a bad habit of getting off to slow starts.
