Cactus League Game 9/10, Split Squad Day!
Split squad day! Among my most favorite of days! The first game is going to be vs. the Dodgers at the usual time which, tomorrow with Daylight Savings Time, will become unusual. Then game two will be off the radio and a 6:10 in the evening and we will again combat those loathsome Snakes.
How about some lineup action?
vs. Dodgers
SS Figgins
2B Ackley
RF Ichiro
1B Smoak
3B Seager
C Olivo
CF Saunders
DH Wells
LF Chiang
P Iwakuma
That’s pretty much a lineup. The bench will feature Jaso, Miller, Triunfel, JABARI BLASH, Liddi, Sucre, deJesus, Hicks, and Trayvon. I would guess that the bullpen will not see Roenis Elias or Jonathan Arias, though both are listed, instead favouring Furbush, League, Robles, Ruffin, Heilman, and Marquez. But who knows?
This is a second lineup:
2B Kawasaki
SS Ryan
1B Carp
C Montero
3B Catricala
RF Wilson
DH Jimenez
LF Chavez
CF Ford
P Erasmo Ramirez
The bench here consists of Peguero, Alfredo Morales, Francisco Martinez, Noriega, Baron, Quiroz, Luis Rodriguez, Franklin, and Henriquez. Why does squad B need three backup catchers? I don’t know. I just don’t know. Their pitching staff features Hultzen, Walker, Paxton, Fox, Henn, and Medina in backup capacities. Those of you who have Gameday Audio will be able to listen in on the Arizona portion of the broadcast. Those of us without will weep.
The news from camp today is that Wilhelmsen and Kelley might end up in late relief roles with veterans faltering. Both certainly have the stuff to manage it. I know we went on a sudden reliever splurge at the end of the offseason, but the early returns on that were not especially good and the investment in relative terms, not particularly high. Jim Bowden apparently thinks our rebuilding plan positions us to be the next Rays, which means that our pitching is so interesting that it diverted his attention away from athletic outfielders. The TNT says Peguero is trying to curb the strikeouts. Keep pushing that boulder, kid. And today is the first day of full minor league workouts! They will be working hard even though they will not get to go to Japan, or any place other than the leagues that they are intended to go to.
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42 Responses to “Cactus League Game 9/10, Split Squad Day!”
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Rick Rizzs will need to brush up on his pronunciation of the names of Japanese teams.
Justin Sellers is hit by a pitch. He is then called out because the pitch that Mark Ellis hit bounced up and hit Sellers in the face.
Now is a bad time to be Justin Sellers.
But Condor doubled.
I don’t think this umpire likes the low strike…
So we’re #2 in the Cactus League in dingers.
SEAGER
Seager is certainly doing everything he can to not be sent down at the start of the season.
Meanwhile, Figgins is already in regular-season form, hitting .188.
(yeah, yeah, I know – spring training)
WG: don’t forget, Figgins has drawn some walks!
And started the 4 run rally today…
So, did I hear right, that Saunders was doubled up earlier, as Wells passed him?! How the hell does that happen? Maybe he can start wearing side-mirrors off his batting helmet?
He’s being handed the leadoff role to replace a guy who hit .272/.310/.335 last year and was labeled a disappointment with that line (which he was). Figgins hitting .188 in the regular season and drawing “some” walks would be a disaster… he’d better draw bucket loads of walks or else figure out how to hit again.
Spring training stats are fairly irrelevant when they’re good – I’m not sure how irrelevant they are when they’re bad.
I didn’t hear the original call, but Rizz said in the recap it was a fly ball that didn’t get played – so who was at fault, Saunders or Wells?
I joked a couple weeks ago, that Figgins could hit .188 this spring, and get cut before the season starts. Maybe I jinxed him?
Did you really say .188? haha, you should hit Vegas!
Regardless of the play, the runner behind you should never pass you! Having said that, they’re probably both at fault. Both should have been more aware.
Yeah, I really said .188, Mr.Z devotee poked fun for that! But I was just throwing last years average out there;)
Geez, Ackley with another triple? I was just catching up with the box score. I swear, he’s going to break the record for most cycles well before his career is finished. I know it’s just spring, but the way he sprays the ball is really impressive.
Yay Condor!
C’mon Wells!
Good for Saunders! Now put those mirrors on!
Here we go! Wells should get a pitch to drive
damn. DAMN!
Boo Saunders! hehe
At least Wells had a good at-bat, took a lot of pitches.
Looking forward to the late game now, with Ramirez getting the start. Lot of pitching to be showcased!
I wish more of these games were televised…
Yeah, I’d even settle for replays.
I just found the spring training stats… Figgins current OBP is .313; so while he’s not tearing it up by any stretch of the imagination he IS at least drawing a lot of walks, per what TherzAlwaysHope said.
And Adam Moore’s spring OPS was 2.083. 😉
Figgins has 3 hits and 3 walks. I suppose it’s positive that he’s showing more patience in his at-bats. But that .188 still sticks out like a sore thumb!
Nice two-run double by Montero. Excited to see him this season.
Montero has done about everything you could ask of him. It will be interesting to see where he hits in the line-up opening day.
Wow, Kawasaki as well… he struggled in his first game, but he’s been hitting well since (I know he isn’t likely to start).
Carp! Nice start for him this game as well!
We’re limited to radio so far – but has anyone here seen anything written about how Montero has looked behind the plate so far this spring?
It sure would be nice if he was at least passable defensively. Offensively, it’s pretty obvious we have nothing to be concerned with. 😀
Only thing I’ve seen, is the box stats on gameday. But no news is good news. We’re less likely to hear anything if he does what he’s suppose to, more likely to hear about mistakes.
Montero got the job done!
Let’s see game one Montero dropped a pop-up had a passed ball and got hit in the face twice
Three hits, three RBI for Kawasaki. Good day for him.
It would still be nice to actually see the plays. Wednesday can’t come fast enough! Kawasaki just got another RBI base hit.
Game. Good job by Ramirez, Hultzen, and Walker. Carp and Kawasaki had the hot bats, Montero had a big hit and threw out Young trying to steal. Wish this game had been televised!
Just wondering. Why does Paxton get the W? I know you cant start and win without 5 innings but what if you’re leading and dont lose the lead? What determines the winning pitcher?
It’s a judgement call made by the official scorer – if the starting pitcher doesn’t go five innings, the scorer is supposed to decide which relief pitcher was “most effective” and award the win to him.
On a side note – I remember Randy Johnson winning 20 games in 1997 (?) due to this rule. Lou Pinella pulled the starting pitcher – intentionally – after four innings (and a big lead) and replaced him with Johnson so he’d be the pitcher of record and get a 20-win season.
When Johnson was queried about that some years later, he said he didn’t remember any unusual circumstances surrounding his first 20-win season. The guy is certainly one of the greatest pitchers ever, but he’s also a bit of a twit.
It will make me go crazy if Montero catches sometimes and Olivo is the DH.
Yeah, this is the Randy Johnson game where that happened:
http://www.baseball-reference.com/boxes/SEA/SEA199709270.shtml