The most noticeable change about Domonic Brown is his physical appearance.
The once-skinny kid from Florida has added some serious muscle to his frame. The other part that stands out is his confidence. Brown, still only 24, is determined to make his mark once Grapefruit League play begins. Last October, Phillies GM Ruben Amaro, Jr. mentioned that he’d like to see Brown spend another season at Triple-A Lehigh Valley.
“I’m not at peace if I start at Triple-A,” Brown told reporters yesterday. “I’m coming to win a job. I’m fighting to win a job here. If I start at Triple-A, I start at Triple-A.”
Brown spent the offseason retooling his swing with Gary Sheffield, who ranks 24th on MLB’s career home-run list with 509.
“He opened his arms toward me and we’ve been close ever since,” Brown said.
Last spring, Brown entered as the front-runner to take over for Jayson Werth in right field. That, of course, never worked out after he struggled in winter ball and then started out spring training by going 0-for-15, with nine strikeouts, before breaking his wrist on March 5.
Now, Brown is fighting with John Mayberry Jr. and Laynce Nix to take over Raul Ibanez’s vacancy in left field. No promises or guarantees have been made.
“I kind of believe that if you play hard, do things the right way, great things are going to happen for you,” Brown said. “If you think great, you’re going to be great.”
Halladay hates snakes
The tale went that Roy Halladay, on a fishing trip with Chris Carpenter, saved a man from dying in the Amazon. Halladay, per local folk lore, jumped into the river and pried a man away from a snake.
“I was not wrestling snakes,” Halladay said. “We were on the boat driving back, and we happened to see a guy sitting on the shoreline without clothes.”
The man had been bitten on his backside by an anaconda.
“We picked up his stuff, picked him up and drove him back to his tribe, I guess you would call it,” Halladay said.
