Spring Training Report

Well, contrary to the last entry I didn't end up posting at all while I was in Phoenix. Turns out there's better stuff to do in Arizona than dick around on the computer. I seriously would not have guessed. But I'm back home now and I wanted to share a few of the things I noticed at Spring Training.

Rockies at Padres: I got to see a lot of the projected starters for the Padres, including some of the newcomers. Termel Sledge led off the game with a home run, something that I'd love to see happen frequently this season. He looked comfortable at the plate (went 3 for 5 with 3 runs scored) and I didn't notice him in left field, which is probably a good thing (no errors).

Josh Bard was 2 for 2 and Adrian Gonzalez was 2 for 4. I'd had some concerns about expecting so much out of those two. After all neither has been a productive major leaguer for more than a season; it would be unfortunate if the Padres leaned so heavily on players with a fluke of one hot season. But they both looked good on Saturday, so hopefully that'll carry over.

Chris Young dominated. He looked like the King of Peoria, towering over all his underlings before reigning serious enlightened despotism down on the serfs Rockies.

Kevin Kouzmanoff pinch-hit for Chris Young and flew out to shallow right field. I was bummed he wasn't in the game longer. I read Baseball Prospectus' take on him and they said that he is either "hurting or hitting", and he wasn't hurting, so hopefully he'll start hitting soon. Apparently he's having a pretty decent spring.

Paul McAnulty went 2 for 2 and looked pretty good out there. I just don't see him excelling as a bench player and I doubt if there is room for him to start.

If Rodrigo Lopez (9-18 last year I believe) is really the third starter, the Rockies have bigger problems than Troy Tulowitzki's possibly bruised wrist. He didn't look good at all. I know it's spring training and all but still...not a lot there.


Giants at A's: Both teams were split squad and I think that I saw both 'B' squads. I left early (8th inning) and apparently the A's won it in the ninth.

Erubiel Durazo played first base. With the bases loaded and one out, he hit a sac fly. Could be worse...could be much better too. He's not really taking advantage of his 2nd 3rd 86th chance.

Huston Street pitched a scoreless inning in the time it took me to get from my seat in right field to a walkway behind home plate. No joke. He shut them down. Then he went back to the bullpen for some more pitches because he didn't get enough in during the actual game.

All in all it was a great weekend. I'm even more excited for baseball season to start than I was before.

-Keenan