Four walks for Willis

Looks like Bautista continues to be lights out..he is going to make the club. Porcello and Grilli also had nice days, unlike Seay.

I am not too worried about MCab hitting, Sheff will be ok too (since he did start off slow in spring training last year). Ren Tin Tin and J. Jones need to get some timing down and get hitting the ball.

I have faith in all the starters in the field and starting pitching. As always, the bullpen is the concern, but I think once spring training is done, we'll be ok.

Hi Ty--Bautista and Bazardo look like they will make the club.
MCab is starting to hit. Pudge is really hitting and even drew a walk today! Guillen is stroking too. Nice to see.

I am concerned about Sheffield. I haven't seen him (perhaps Rich will give us his thoughts what he has seen), but I am starting to wonder if he is physically OK. Hit into a DP and popped up today as far as I know and is "0" for March so far.

JL got a look at a look of 'farmers' at the Cleveland game. Some of them played pretty well. Even Larish chipped in today. Sardinha threw out a guy trying to steal and the throw was a thing of beauty. The guy even had a good jump but Sardinha just calmly gunned him down.

Hessman played well today too and handles the hot corner really well for a big man.

Bautista's outing was very encouraging. We will need some minor miracles out of the bullpen this year so hopefully we just saw a preview.

Hey Dan. You are right about IRod. He is having a nice spring. I said after they picked up his opition that he will have a year like the Pudge of old.
I think alot of people are starting to get concerned about Sheff. I haven't heard anything about him not being healthy, I think getting more bats is the issue at this point. Although, I will say, if for some reason Sheff doesn't work out (which I think he will be ok, if healthy) that we do have others that can fill the DH role. Inge, Inge....are you listening? ;-)

p.s. not that I would put Inge in the DH role full time....

From Winter Haven:

Jason, those pressbox accomodations look pretty primitive. I can see why you wouldn't be too happy there. As we were leaving the game, however, we walked beneath the box and a guy leaned over and gave me a Tigers press guide. I was so surprised that, like a dummy, I didn't get his name, although I did thank him. Maybe you know who he may have been, Jason. It was a nice gesture.

Bazardo pitched well. He got one up in the first to Sizemore and Grady punched it over the wall in leftcenter. In the third, Yorman had Grady struck out with a nice 2-2 breaking ball, but he didn't get the call. Next pitch resulted in Sizemore's second homer. That was all the scoring for Cleveland, who had most of the lineup filled with big league regulars, minus Hafner.

Porcello came on and yes, he does have that swagger. He had no problems. He went to 3-2 on Martinez and tried two fastballs which Victor fouled back, the second one he was right on it. So Porcello threw a beautiful changeup (on 3-2!) and Victor was toast, hitting a weak grounder.

Bautista was nasty. If he controls that stuff like he did today, he's going to be a big help.

By this time it was an all minor league matchup. Jeff Larish comes to mind. He looks good up there, seems confident and, while he didn't exactly smoke that game winner, he got the hit when it counted.

I'll try to answer any questions if there are any.

A final note: Bob Feller was there, in uniform, and I got some good photos of him throwing.

--Rich

Two other things I thought of:

Lefty Cliff Lee received a gift of a Tiger lineup loaded with lefthand hitters. It's no wonder he pitched three scoreless.

Preston Larrison pitched the tenth today, so I would assume he's not going tomorrow as planned.

--Rich

Rich thanks again for the report. Very helpful to get an opinion of the actual pitching rather than the outcome of the two HR's by Grady.