Tuesday, March 16, 2010

Spring Training Update: Game Wrap- 03-16-2010

We've entered the dog days of spring training. It's too early to tune up for the season, and it's too late to feel the rush of being back on the field. The Grass isn't quite as green. It doesn't smell quite as freshly mowed. The sky is not quite as blue. THE GAMES DON'T COUNT! Aside from a handful of players fighting for a bench spot on the team, nobody really cares any more. Today, the Giants sleep-walked through a game they lost to Cleveland 7-1. Some key lines(actually, there were no key lines, but I have to write something here):

Eugenio Velez- 0 for 3. Pharoah saw exactly 3 pitches in 3 AB's. That's right, 3 pitches!! I suppose it should come as good news that Bochy was none too pleased and had something to say afterwards, "that's not going to get it done", or something like that. Velez just might have won Fred Lewis a roster spot today. We'll see.

Tim Lincecum- 4 IP, 4 H, 4 R, 4 BB, 4 K's. I guess 4 was Timmy's lucky number today. I wonder if he bought any lottery tickets and punched all 4's? With 2 Cy's under his belt, Timmy has earned the right to "round into shape."

Kevin Pucetas- 2 IP, 0 H, 0 R, 0 BB, 0 K's, GO/AO= 1/5. I believe Kevin now has 5 perfect innings in a row, although 0 K's and a GO/AO= 1/5 suggests that some of it is due to small sample size. Schulman is suggesting that Pucetas might be winning a job as a co-5'th starter/long relief man with Wellemeyer.

Cutdown Day: Brett Pill, Ehire Adrianza, Wendell Fairley, Johnny Monell, Thomas Neal, Nick Noonan, Hector Sanchez and Jackson Williams get the ax. No real surprises here. These guys were in camp to soak up the atmosphere and to get a chance to make an impression for future reference. I think Fairley and Noonan, in particular, had a couple of moments they can take back with them to the minors as courage/motivation for the future.

Steve Johnson, we hardly knew ye! A lot of Giants fans were rooting for Steve Johnson to make the 25 man roster. 2 tough outings out of 3 pretty much guaranteed he wouldn't, so the Giants did the right thing and put him off waivers where he was reclaimed by Baltimore who paid have of his $50 K Rule 5 draft fee back. This is just one more piece of evidence that the Rule 5 draft is just about the silliest exercise in sports. Maybe that can be a future post in itself?

Around the League:

Ryan Westmoreland, the BoSox #1 prospect who was found to have a cavernous vascular malformation in his brain, underwent successful surgery to fix it today. Gotta wish the kid the best, and a complete recovery.

Joe Nathan is going to test his elbow with the torn UCL. It's hard to imagine him pitching effectively with that bad boy. Do any readers know of any instances of pitchers successfully avoiding surgery with that injury? I know I don't!

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