Saturday in the park
Not a pretty game today. First of all was the weather, which would've been great for Detroit but was chilly and windy for Florida this time of year. Leyland said afterwards they had a lot of bad at-bats, which might help explain the 11 strikeouts from Tigers hitters.
None of those strikeouts came from Miguel Cabrera, but he went 0-for-3 to fall to 3-for-21 for the spring. He was clearly frustrated about it after he was out of the game, but that's understandable for a player trying to make an impression on a new team. It would probably be expected for Jim Leyland to run him back out there Sunday for more at-bats.
On a brighter note, Denny Bautista and Jason Grilli both had scoreless innings. Bautista worked into trouble with a hit-by-pitch and a walk, but racked up called third strikes on Alex Rios with a good slider and Scott Rolen with a fastball that moved inside but caught the corner. This outing was more mercurial than others, but we'll see what it means for his candidacy.
Still no sign of Cruceta. This is taking on the feel of a diplomatic crisis ... but it's not.
Really enjoy watching the prospects. However, I would think the MiLB camps are opening about now and it's probably getting to be time to "thin" things out. Some of our regulars are looking like they need to get some ab's to get their timing down. Cabrera, Sheff,Renteria come to mind. Polanco and Maggs look like they could roll out of bed in January ready to hit. Although I couldn't "see" the game, just from the radio, young Skelton sounded overmatched yesterday.
In another week, we'll be entering the more serious phase of camp. Those last two weeks although still spring training will be telling.
Looking forward to todays game!
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That is and understatement "bad at bats" It was down right pathetic, IMO. Still am waiting for Cabrera, Renteria and Sheff to start showing something? If I remember correctly though Sheff took a while to get it going last year as well??
This thing with Cruceta is getting out of hand. I really don't understand what the hold up is. If it is in fact steroids that is holding it up, why is that anymore serious than Liriano's drunk driving conviction??? Very frustrating. From what happened during winter ball he looks like it has the possibility of being the answer we need in the pen? This is just ridiculous.
GO TIGERS
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