Sox and Phils play their first exhibitions

Today, the Phillies are taking on Florida State University while not too far away the Sox are playing Northeastern U. J.A. Happ will get the ball for the Phils on Wedensday. The next day is a rematch of the World Series pitting Roy Halladay against C.C. Sabathia. For a Pillies update though, Shane Victorino will not be playing Wedensday and possibly Thursday due to some soreness in his shoulder. J.C. Romero and Brad Lidge have begun throwing off the mound making steady progress in their returns. Lidge says he's "pain-free, but still slow moving in the right direction." Lidge plan to throw off the mound every other day until he's ready to face live hitters. Romero on the other hand will throw every third day.

As of right now the Phils are down 6-4 against FSU in the bottom of the 5th. Rollins, Ransom, Schnieder, prospect Domonic Brown, and Ibanez lead the with Phils hits and RBIs. Phillipe Aumont has been blasted to the tune of 5 runs, 2 hits, 3 walks, and a HR. Yohan Flande followed giving up another. Happ pitched two scoreless innings with 1 walk and 1 K. To this point, the Phils have left too many guys on base.

Wedensday is the culmination of over a year of the arrival of Casey Kelly. He'll pitch the Northeastern game and Boof Bonser will pitch the B.C. night game. Daisuke Matsuzaka threw from 180-200 ft Tuesday in efforts to return from his injury beleaguered 2009. Manager Terry Francona said, ""That was about as good a day, I think, as you could have. I don't think you can throw the ball like that and not be totally healthy. So probably start thinking about toward the end of the week, getting him some real mound work where he's throwing some sides and throwing to hitters and going through that progression. But that was a real, real good day." As of tonight, it's been confirmed by MLB Network that Dice-K will throw a regular side session on Friday. Mike Lowell got his first hacks in today. His status is yet to be seen, but Francona is confident he can be an asset to the Sox. Francona also mentioned Mike Cameron is progressing from his groin injury.

The Sox pounded Northeastern U today 15-0. Casey Kelly pitched one inning--but had two K's, no hits, no runs. Gil Velazquez had two hits with 2RBIS in a Sox 3 run 2nd. Jed Lowrie was 1-1 with an RBI as well. C Luis Esposito went 1-1 with 2 RBIs and David Ortiz went yard for 2 more.

Against BC a few hours later, Boof Bonser picked up the win. Ryan Kalish, Jose Iglesias, and Kevin Youk starred on offense while Michael Bowden and Junichi Tazawa dazzled on the mound.