Still More Cactus League: White Sox at Mariners

marc w · March 10, 2013 at 11:30 am · Filed Under Mariners 

Andrew Carraway vs. Dylan Axelrod, 1:05pm

Hope daylight savings time is treating you gently thus far and that you’re ready for spring training games at a slightly later time.

The M’s lost yesterday in Glendale 3-2, and, shockingly, failed to homer for the first time in several years. Jon Garland again pitched reasonably well, giving up a run in three innings, but he didn’t record a strikeout. Of course, his game was never about strikeouts, and his run of decent results may get him on the M’s roster. It’ll be an interesting decision for the M’s brass to make: Blake Beavan’s been solid and is suddenly generating more ground balls. From a process standpoint, he’s done what he/Wedge wanted. Still. he could just as easily slide to the bullpen and be the long reliever, especially now that Josh Kinney’s sidelined with a stress reaction in his rib cage. But it would be a gutsy call to break camp with a fifth starter who hasn’t pitched in a few years and who’s missing so few bats.

Today the White Sox get to deal with two right-handers on opposite sides of the prospect pendulum. Andrew Carraway, the cerebral four-year college player with middling stuff but who generates better than anticipated results will be followed by Taijuan Walker, the raw high-school athlete with some of the best pure stuff in the minors. The M’s “A” bullpen is also active for this one, with Tom Wilhelmsen, Charlie Furbush and Carter Capps available.

Dylan Axelrod, a righty with an 88-89mph fastball and years and years of minor league service time starts for Chicago. Should be a good game for the lefties, at least for the first two innings. Casper Wells is sidelined with neck soreness – just awful timing for the OF who’d made a strong push for the final roster spot over the past week. Stefen Romero’s oblique and Kinney’s ribs mean the M’s are starting to rack up some (thankfully minor) injuries.

The line-up:
1: Seager, 2B
2: Bay, LF
3: Ibanez, DH
4: Morse, 1B
5: Peguero, RF
6: Shoppach, C
7: Morban, CF
8: Andino, 3B
9: Miller, SS
SP: Carraway

Good to see Mike Morse get a game in at 1B. There are still quite a few scenarios in which he’d play there during the season, so it’s good to see him get some work in there.

Comments

28 Responses to “Still More Cactus League: White Sox at Mariners”

  1. juneau_fan on March 10th, 2013 1:12 pm

    Let me start the year off with a whine. I thought we could listen to all Spring Training free on MLB, but it keeps putting me in a loop.

    Oh, and go Mariners!

  2. Westside guy on March 10th, 2013 1:47 pm

    Marc, thank you for setting up all these Cactus League game threads. I know participation has been sporadic (certainly from me), but they are appreciated.

    I’ve unfortunately been dealing with recurring issues with my Gameday subscription, which is making it hard to consistently follow the games since there’s no TV.

  3. Westside guy on March 10th, 2013 1:59 pm

    And now it’s working again. Morse is starting to show some spring training thump.

    Looking at the spring line should make it obvious to even the most die-hard old school guy why you don’t look at spring training performances. Does anyone expect Seager to continue hitting below the Mendoza line, and Bay/Ibañez to average .400 between them?

  4. juneau_fan on March 10th, 2013 2:00 pm

    Yes, thanks, Marc. I’ve been reading the threads, games unseen. After the heartbreak of no Mariners on Alaska’s cable last year, ROOT TV is back, and I felt as though I could try to follow a game today, only to discover it’s not that easy. Grrr…

  5. Westside guy on March 10th, 2013 2:02 pm

    No “better than anticipated” results for Carraway today, unfortunately…

  6. Westside guy on March 10th, 2013 2:06 pm

    Glad you got ROOT back, Juneau.

    If it weren’t for baseball, I think we could ditch our Cable TV subscription.

  7. juneau_fan on March 10th, 2013 2:14 pm

    Cheap bastard that I am, I had been holding off on the big screen/HD purchase. Did it when I moved, dreaming of watching the games on it…Only to have GCI do us wrong.

    This game…Er, perhaps it’s for the best not to watch live or even hear the play by play. 2 hits, 2 runs. Careful what you wish for, long ball lovers.

  8. juneau_fan on March 10th, 2013 2:15 pm

    A triple from Peggy? Okay, maybe I would want to see that.

  9. Westside guy on March 10th, 2013 2:17 pm

    So after reading Marc’s excellent piece on Peguero a couple days ago, I can’t help noticing stuff like his triple coming off a 78mph slider after taking a 93mph fastball for a strike.

  10. Westside guy on March 10th, 2013 2:25 pm

    What Peguero giveth, Peguero taketh away… (in the field)

  11. Westside guy on March 10th, 2013 2:51 pm

    Oh man, this is not Furbush’s day.

  12. juneau_fan on March 10th, 2013 3:00 pm

    Argh, switched to my netbook and no Gameday?

    OT: It’s fun to watch the parade ex-Mariners in the WBC. Aumont’s giving up Canada’s lead. And who would know that Balentein would go to Japan and become their home run leader?

  13. juneau_fan on March 10th, 2013 3:03 pm

    Non! Aumont survives!

    Gameday working now…But ugh. And the scrubs are in.

  14. Westside guy on March 10th, 2013 3:10 pm

    Last year my audio Gameday subscription gave me free access to At Bat 2012 on my phone. This year, that appears to not be true – only premium MLB.tv subscribers get it. I had to go back and forth with MLB.com’s help desk a bit, but they’re going to cancel my Gameday subscription – and I’m buying the app on my iPad and will just listen there. I figure if I can only listen on either a mobile device or a computer, the mobile device gives me more flexibility (and paying twice wasn’t an option).

  15. Westside guy on March 10th, 2013 3:17 pm

    Wasn’t an option I was willing to choose. I’m sure MLB would happily take my money twice. 😉

  16. juneau_fan on March 10th, 2013 3:26 pm

    The experience of The Year without Baseball has made me loathe MLB’s options. They don’t want your money apparently, then when they take it, don’t give you what you want. They are so behind the curve of modern realities and devices. They need to keep me a fan; then I buy shirts and hats and attend games when I’m in Seattle. That’s not going to happen if I can never watch the games!

    Naturally Willie Bloomquist rode his little pony to the lead for Team USA. It was a given as soon as he was put in to pinchrun.

  17. Westside guy on March 10th, 2013 3:29 pm

    Hehehe (Bloomquist)

    Yeah, so many of these companies need to basically be dragged kicking and screaming into the 21st century.

  18. Westside guy on March 10th, 2013 3:32 pm

    So who convinced Safeco that an annoying stereotypical Jewish (?) woman with a Bronx accent would be the right person use in advertisements for a Pacific Northwest insurance company?

    These ads feel like they’ve been running for several years now, and they’ve been annoying the crap out of me since day one.

  19. juneau_fan on March 10th, 2013 3:41 pm

    Whoot! Saunders just did one of his blunts for a base hit! But of course, whoever the old man commentator is, criticizes it. I’m almost rooting for Canada since Saunders is on the team and the Adam Jones thing still hurts, all these years later.

    Thank goodness, Mariners score. I was beginning to think I was a curse. Every time I clicked over to Gameday, the Sox had more runs.

  20. Westside guy on March 10th, 2013 3:47 pm

    Doesn’t look like At Bat gives me access to the WBC games unfortunately.

  21. Westside guy on March 10th, 2013 3:48 pm

    Wow, the Mariners scrubs are making a game of it!

  22. Westside guy on March 10th, 2013 3:51 pm

    Saunders and Morneau have been going nuts on WBC pitching.

  23. juneau_fan on March 10th, 2013 3:53 pm

    No idea who these guys are, but YAY MARINERS!

    WBC is on the MLB channel, which plays every game not involving the Mariners. (Still bitter about that) The Canadians are fighting back like it’s a hockey game…

  24. juneau_fan on March 10th, 2013 3:57 pm

    It’s amazing to see the respect that Saunders has been getting as a legitimate threat as a hitter. Hopefully he’ll bring some confidence as well that contact rate back to the Mariners.

  25. Westside guy on March 10th, 2013 4:00 pm

    That’s too bad – I don’t get the MLB channel. The WBC would be fun to watch.

  26. juneau_fan on March 10th, 2013 4:08 pm

    Ack! Another run! (In both games)

    It’s been a fun game of spot the former Mariner on all the different teams. And the fans are so loud, whether it’s the Japanese or the Latin teams. And the Cubans may doctor the ball, from all the balls the homeplate ump was taking away from them.

  27. Westside guy on March 10th, 2013 4:11 pm

    Hehe wish I could see it!

  28. Westside guy on March 10th, 2013 4:13 pm

    Mariners spring trainees are starting to sound mortal. Ah well, I’m just glad baseball is back!

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