Cactus League Game #6 – Mariners at Angels
Today’s game offers a sneak preview of an AL West rival, and both teams are running out quite a few opening day starters (though not that free agent 1B the Angels brought in from the National League). Blake Beavan gets the start for the M’s against Jered Weaver of the Angels. Today’s game’s in Tempe, so there won’t be any pitch fx/velocity information in gameday for us to worry about. Yesterday’s win over Cincinnati featured a solid performance from King Felix, some shaky innings from Hong Chih-Kuo and Chance Ruffin, and great hitting from Ichiro and the forgotten man in the M’s new found catching depth, Adam Moore. Ichiro went 3-3, while Moore went 2-2 (and was also hit by a pitch) with a double that carried 410′ on the fly.
One of the big stories for the Angels this spring is Mark Trumbo’s move to 3B. The slugger played 1B last year while Kendrys Morales recovered from surgery, but with the arrival of Pujols and the possible return of Morales, Trumbo needed a new position. Trumbo himself was coming off an injury to his foot which held him out of drills in February, so he’s had less practice at the hot corner than the team would probably like. Even before he was cleared to play – in informal workouts with Angels coaches – he made the news when a bad throw pegged GM Jerry DiPoto in the leg, and when a bad hop resulted in a bloody nose. This is something to watch – if he’s able to play at a not-abysmal level, then the Angels aren’t forced to move/bench a guy who hit 29 HRs last year.
The line-up for today’s game, which starts at 12:05:
1: Figgins (CF)
2: Ackley (2B)
3: Seager (3B)
4: Montero (C)
5: Carp (LF)
6: Olivo (“DH”)
7: Saunders (RF)
8: Ryan (SS)
9: Rodriguez (1B)
Good to see Jesus Montero back in the line-up (and at catcher) after a few days off with stomach flu/food poisoning. Michael Saunders moves over to right field to accomodate Chone Figgins in center, and Luis Rodriguez plays first base just to remind everyone that this is spring training and ultimately doesn’t matter.
Back in Peoria, the Rangers take on the Padres, a game which is notable as it marks Yu Darvish’s first game action since coming over from Japan. Thus, we WILL get some data on his arsenal and velocity.
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“DH”.
Love the snark.
I see that today’s game as well as tomorrow’s will be broadcast on 710am at 7pm.
I’d rather have it on in the background while I am working this afternoon.
After this week, it looks like they will do that delay thing 3 more times this spring.
I suppose they want me to spend $20 to listen to the game on this here interweb thingy.
Why is L-ROD still here? On top of that he’s playing….AND on top of that he’s playing 1st.
Depth chart
1st: Smoak/Carp/montero
SS: Ryan/Kawasaki/Seager/Chone
3rd: Chone/Seager/Liddi
My point…why the hell is Luis Rodriguez still on this roster. Still with this organization ..And why the hell is he playing!?
Should we be mad that Olivo is DH’ing or happy that he’s not in the field?
“My point…why the hell is Luis Rodriguez still on this roster. Still with this organization ..And why the hell is he playing!?”
It is very common for people who will end up in AAA to be starting in games this early in the spring.
Wedge probably wants to look at him in the field or at bat, and who knows what will happen in the regular season, he might get called up as a bench player at some point.
… Although, this stupid 2 regular season games in Japan thing really weirds out this spring for the Mariners.
It kind of shortens the spring by a week or so, meaning the M’s will be cutting people about a week earlier than normal.
I imagine they’ll have minor leaguers around (especially pitchers) when the team comes back from Japan and plays their last 5 spring games.
I’m wondering how many players they will take to Japan. They have 2 spring training games there, so it wouldn’t surprise me to see them take a few pitchers along who aren’t on the major league roster.
I wonder if Figgins will finally get a hit today? Good to see Montero back.
Olivo at DH brings back so many bad memories…
Good strategy…. make Weaver think he’s on, then light him up in the 2nd.
Nice play by Seager there.
Figgins finally got a hit – interest is sure to start soaring now…
(yeah I know he’s had some walks)
Yu Darvish went 2 IP, 0 runs, 2 H, 0 BB, 3Ks. Mostly 93-95 in the first inning, 91-94 in the 2nd. Showed one really slow curve, some cutter/sliders and what looks like maybe a splitter.
Mike Saunders is now 2-2. Nice work against legitimate pitchers (er, one of ’em anyway).
I know spring training stats are largely meaningless; but with a guy like Saunders who seems to be his own worst enemy – a good spring training might mean something in terms of his confidence level, which could affect his regular season performance.
Think Darvish threw four-seam, two-seam, cutter, slow-curve, fast-curve, change/splitter. Six pitches in two innings. Seven, if you want to differentiate the slider and cutter (I don’t know enough now to say if they are two distinct pitches). Amazing.
Sort of makes me wonder if US teams have been too conservative/doctrinaire about pitchers playing around with new pitches. I know, I know, Darvish is a freak and you can’t tell a journeyman that all he needs to do to be successful is to emulate Yu Darvish. But the conventional wisdom that a new pitch takes years of practice and isn’t something that you can just learn on the side… what evidence is there to support this?
On the one hand, we’ve got Pineda’s struggles with his change-up. On the other, we’ve got JJ Putz picking up the splitter very quickly after talking with Eddie Guardado, Brandon McCarthy picking up a two-seamer easily, etc.
From the perspective of a baseball fan… I’m looking forward to seeing Darvish and Pujols at Safeco.
If Darvish really embarrasses us, I may change my mind.
Yeah, exactly. As a fan, I’m fascinated and want to see a lot of him. As an M’s fan specifically, I just…wish he played for San Francisco or something.
Kind of like how it was with Pedro Martinez. I loved watching him pitch… but man, it seemed like he owned us even more than he owned most everyone (and that was the good-hitting Mariners).
Of course Pedro wasn’t in our division!
A 7’1″ pitcher? Wow!
Woo hoo Montero! Oh, crap, just a single apparently.
Furbush with a decent inning, but sounds like the 2B to Conger was off the very top of the wall. Keep the ball down, Charlie.
Loek Van Mil on for the Angels, famous for being the tallest pitcher ever in pro baseball – over 7′. Injuries have stalled his progress, but the Angels were moderately high on him last year. He’d come up in the Twins org after they signed him out of the Netherlands.
A 7’1″ *Dutch* pitcher, no less.
Olivo took a walk? MADNESS!
Spring training pitchers’ duel…
Anybody have any early opinions on how Ichiro is approaching batting? Is he still batting like the old Ichiro with a new stance? Or is he hitting with more patience looking for a pitch to square up and drive? Too early to tell?
Wish I could see Loek Van Mil facing L-Rod… it’s probably pretty funny.
You know you are in bizarro world when it is the 7th inning and Olivo has the only walk.
Hahahaha… L-Rod doubled!
1-0!!
Paul, it might be Olivo’s only double in 2012. 😉
M’s minor league team is in now (along w/Jaso at catcher). Good to see Brad Miller get on the field.
Olivo’s only WALK not double. Sheesh, still excited about L-Rod’s hit I guess.
2-0!!
Stefen Romero with an RBI single.
Looks like Van Mil might get the loss. Suck it, Angels. Our A-AAA guys are better than yours!
Hehehe. Well at least it was his own throwing error rather than, say, the third baseman’s.
This is probably a dumb question, but – is Trout expected to start in AAA or with the big club?
They’ve got quite the logjam of overpriced, aging outfielders…
I was away from the game, just now catching up. Great to see that Saunders hit Weaver. What a feel-good story it would be, if Saunders managed to turn things around!
Good question about Trout^. I’d imagine Abreu’s time in LA is limited.
From a selfish Mariners fan perspective, I’d prefer it if Trout stayed “blocked” in AAA. 😀
Wells is probably on a shorter leash.
Abreu is basically going to be a bench guy this year, and may get released.
Wilson hits for Olivo, and he walks.
Maybe it is something about that spot in the lineup.
Haha, yeah… I have to admit, I was really impressed with his speed and energy (Trout). He’s gonna be a good one.
It’d be easy to just send Trout to AAA, but I wouldn’t if I was the Angels. An OF with Trout, Bourjos and Hunter is pretty formidable, and then you can either split Wells/Abreu at DH or send one of them packing.
Again though, this is why the Angels are working so hard at the implausible-sounding transition of Trumbo to 3B. They don’t have any room in the OF or at 1B, which means they’re going to have 3-4 candidates for the DH spot. Nice problem to have, of course.
VC!
(“DH”) haha I heart funny things.
Catricala homers off of some Angels minor leaguer. I’ll take it.
Ooh, Mauricio Robles is in for the M’s. Really hard throwing lefty who missed most of last year with injuries (and looked terrible in winter ball). Love the arm, though.
With both the Angles and Tigers planning to play less-glovey 3B’s, I suppose we can pray that one of them decides that they want Figgie in mid-season. I have more hope for peddling Chone as a #B or UT guy than as any kind of OFer.
Ah, the rich gamey taste of fried rally monkey.
We’ll need a trade and for Tim Salmon to come out of retirement, but then an outfield of Carp, Trout and Salmon could be assembled.