Wake and Bard look good, Sox win 9-4

[Fishercat]

http://mlb.mlb.com/NASApp/mlb/news/a...=.jsp&c_id=bos

Phillies at the plate: First baseman Ryan Howard continued to stay hot at the plate, going 2-for-4 with a double and a home run, increasing his team-leading hit total to 11. Second baseman Danny Sandoval had two doubles and scored a run.

Red Sox at the plate: Center fielder David Murphy entered the game in the fifth inning and went 2-for-3 with two home runs and five RBIs. Trot Nixon went 2-for-3 with a solo homer.

Phillies on the mound: Starter Zack Segovia went one inning, allowing two hits while strking out one. The Phillies' bullpen allowed 13 hits, with Yoel Hernandez taking the loss.

Red Sox on the mound: Starter Tim Wakefield got the win, pitching four shutout innings. The knuckleballer allowed two hits and two walks while striking out two and hitting a batter. Five relievers combined to hold Philadelphia to six hits.

Grapefruit League records: Phillies 5-4; Red Sox 3-5.

In this game, more than most, some progress was made. Tim Wakefield pitched today throwing four shutout innings. This was his first game with Josh Bard and both are happy with one another after their first game.

Kudos to David Murphy for two homeruns as well. Still, I'm most excited that Bard looked decent while catching the Knuckleball.

[BoSox34]

Wow... Murphy had a nice game

[Lance324]

Murphy had really been struggling too.

[Fishercat]

Good for Murphy. He's been having rough times on the field since he got drafted, but he seemed to pick it up at the end of last year. Hope he's not a total waste.