The Fruit of Youth

When Pat Misch has to rescue your SP, you get disappointed. Zito did well at first, but nullified a stunning teamwork-built 3-1 lead with a WP and then a 2-R HR to Ethier. Thank goodness Richie got a taste for his swing and gave us the lead back. And then Sandoval chipped in with one of his own. The addition of yet two more runs still couldn't keep the bullpen from allowing trouble once again, walks loading the bases after the Dodgers closed it to 7-5. Sadler removed, we barely escaped the inning 7-6.

The comforting bliss after that storm came through Roberts; a vet who is deliberately taking the fifth OF slot in the depth chart produced two more RBI. But once again teamwork was key: the bases had to be loaded in order to score two with a single. Bowker scored from Posey's second hit of the day: 10-6. The Dodgers kept threatening, per the usual, but in the end what matters not in spring is the score...

While the pitching situation is still very much unclear, even with Howry and Affeldt, what is obviously positive is how well the offense is gel-ing. We had nine hits by the fourth inning, and the only people without a hit were vets. We have not been this young and interdependent in a while, and it's refreshing. Burriss, Lewis, Sandoval (3-3, HR; spring average of .471 now), Velez and Kawa (2-2, 2B) are all doing well together, and it's definitely because of the time spent with the team last year. I won't make predictions, but I am not expecting last place again. Hallelujah.

FINAL
L.A. - 8
S.F. - 10

The Boys Who Showed Up: Sandoval, Aurilia, Roberts, Posey

True To Form

Sanchez gets smacked through three innings of work. I expected a loss, honestly, but that was because Haren was pitching oppposite; not because Sanchez is as horrible as appeared last night, or because the Diamondback offense does this very often.

But it does beg the question as to why Sanchez is second in the rotation. Oh that's right: we have Zito and Correia. But why not Timmy the Kid instead? Probably because this would happen no matter when Sanchez would pitch, because everyone has bad days. And I don't want to hear about the meager Giant offense... no one can reasonably expect any team to allow 10 runs and still win.

Some bright spots: Lewis went 2-5, while Castillo was a surprising 2-4; S.F. left the same amount of people on base as AZ, 15, meaning that theoretically we're just as effective offensively as the team that thrashed us last night.

That's all for now.

-MSH