The pre-game festivities began with four U.S. Special Forces members parachuting into Bright House Field, and ended with the Phillie Phanatic getting a little too grabby with a Hooters waitress who had just thrown out one of the ceremonial first pitches.
Quite the spectacle to take in for Toronto Blue Jays hopeful Scott Richmond ahead of his first outing of the spring yesterday. "I didn't see much of that, I was warming up in the bullpen and all of a sudden I see shadows flying over me, the special forces dropping in there, it was pretty special," Richmond said after throwing two scoreless innings in a 6-2 win over the Philadelphia Phillies.
"They won the World Series last year, they got supportive fans and it was pretty exciting."
Richmond mowed through a Phillies lineup stacked with regulars with a simple approach.
"Just throwing a lot of strikes," he said. "I'm not trying to be too fine right now." He faced seven batters, retired six, hitting John Mayberry Jr. with a pitch in the second. It was his only blemish.
Richmond will get a chance to impress as Canada's ace at the World Baseball Classic. His next outing comes Tuesday for Canada against the Blue Jays.
One player looking sharp is top prospect Travis Snider, who homered in the fifth with some help from the wind after having a ball he crushed to right in the first knocked down by a stiff breeze.
Jason Lane followed Snider's blast off Justin Lehr with another solo shot. Matt Clement, another candidate for the rotation, makes his debut today against Detroit.
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