Tigres v. Rays
Is Tampa Bay really 22 games better than they were last year, as some have predicted? I have no idea, but I have to admit, they at least look better in new uniforms. I didn’t like them at all when they came out with them over the winter, but they’re fairly nice in person.
Anyway, here’s the lineup:
- Granderson, CF
- Polanco, 2B
- Sheffield, DH
- Guillen, 1B
- Cabrera, 3B
- Timo Perez, LF
- Renteria, SS
- Rodriguez, C
- Matt Joyce, RF
For the Rays:
- Akinori Iwamura, 2B
- Carl Crawford, LF
- Carlos Pena, 1B
- B.J. Upton, CF
- Jonny Gomes, DH
- Willy Aybar, 3B
- Jason Bartlett, SS
- Dioner Navarro, C
- Justin Ruggiano, RF
In case you were wondering, Leyland said today that he has no plans to catch Inge with any regularity this spring. He’ll start in center field on Wednesday at home against the Phillies when the Tigers have a split-squad game, but as Leyland put it, "I’m not going to force someone to catch who does not want to catch." At this point, the most likely option for the Tigers if Vance Wilson isn’t ready to open the season — and that’s looking more and more possible — is to keep Dane Sardinha on the club.
Sorry for no post from Winter Haven yesterday, by the way, but the wireless internet was a bad situation … kind of like most of that ballpark.
Jason Beck
Keeping Sardinha, who looks like a pretty fair catcher, would spell Toledo for Raburn, unless Inge or someone else is traded.
The temptation is to make Guillen the backup SS, which I know they want to avoid.
Looking forward to Winter Haven on the 11th!
–Rich
I’m sorry- I’m getting real tired of Brandon’s whining about not wanting to catch. If that’s what’s best for the team, and he’s not willing to do it, then let him sit.
I guess I still don’t understand this backlash against Bradon Inge. I think that anyone of else would be a bit annoyed if we were replaced. To me it doesn’t really matter if he makes 6 million or 300,000. And if you really read the quote what he said was he liked the catching aspect of the game, but he fears that his hitting will suffer which is why everyone gets on his back. And he says that his love was thirds. Do I wish that he would just get on with it sure?? However, I really think that people need to cut him a little slack. Not one of us would be happy about being replaced again, the money is all relative.
Bonderman seemed to pitch well today, though I could only follow via live box score. Wonder if he stuck with Fastball/Change today like his first outing or mixed in the slider.
Since then, been a back and forth affair.
Looks like Bondo had a better start today – nice to see!
That Wilkin Ramirez looks good too – having a nice spring for himself.
Always nice to see the non-roster guys get some experience facing big league players and take that experience to the minors and work their way through the system.
With all due respect, his hitting suffered when he was the starting 3rd baseman all last year, and he got “annoyed” when Leyland benched him for a few games because he was striking out so much. Cabrera is better for the team at 3rd base, period.
Brandon was given a huge gift of a contract last year that he didn’t live up to, and that’s why they haven’t been able to trade him now. So either, he’s a team player or he isn’t. And right now he’s not acting like a team player.
It’s not like he’s some great All-Star that’s headed for the Hall of Fame that now is being asked to play second fiddle. He had one really good year, where his offense supported his defense, and then was a let down last year.
I am not a Brandon hater- in fact I have defended him countless times, and I was sad for him when the trade was first made, but enough is enough. We have so much to look forward to this year with this team, and it’s been a real drag to read his negative comments every week. That’s all I got.
I agree with you in a sense. I would prefer that Brandon would just try to keep his trap shut. However all that I am saying is that I don’t agree with the fact that he has a right to be hurt and upset about it. And I think that probably yesterday he was frustrated with his hitting because he had been hitting really well his first few games and he caught and his numbers were down. I think that they hopeful just caught him when he was frustrated with himself, and he just doesn’t filter himself well.
Man, what’s going on with Tata this Spring? He had a shaky outing in the Fla Southern game and now he’s imploded here, too.
Wish the game were on somebody’s radio so we could hear what’s going on.
Just heard on the radio that Mantei is experiencing shoulder pain and will probably call it quits again. I know that he had a little bit of a ruff outing yesterday however, with how they were talking I was really holding out a lot of hope for him. This is bad news.