Our batters had a great day, getting 20 hits.
Pitching:
- Ricky Romero had his last warm up start. He pitched 5 good innings then had troubles in the 6th. He missed a bit of time so he likely still has some work to do to get his endurance up to what it should be. 4 runs given up in the 6th ruined his line. His 6th went single, strikeout, single, double, home run and he was out of the game. Through 5 he had given up 4 hits, no walks and 1 earned with 5 strikeouts. Pull him there it was a good day. In 5.1 he gave up 8 hits and 5 earned.
- Shawn Camp finished the 6th and struck out 2.
- Marc Rzepczynski pitched a scoreless 7th, with 2 k and 1 walk. He is looking good in the relief role.
- Jason Frasor pitched a perfect 8th with 2 k.
- Mike Hinckley has a perfect 9th with 1 k.
Our batters:
- Rajai Davis: 5 for 5, 3 runs, 2 doubles, a triple and a steal. .375. Excuse me while I go back and edit out any comments I may have made suggesting that I didn't like Davis as an everyday CFer.
- Yunel Escobar: 2 for 4, double, home run, 5 RBI. .414. I hope he continues like this when the season starts.
- Jose Bautista: 2 for 5, k. .396.
- Adam Lind: 2 for 4. ..346.
- Aaron Hill: 3 for 4. .400.
- David Cooper: 1 for 1, .349.
- Juan Rivera: 2 for 4, k. .373.
- Travis Snider: 1 for 3, run. .347.
- Eric Thames: 0 for 1, run, 2 stolen bases. .224.
- Edwin Encarnacion: 1 for 3, run, walk, k. .254
- J.P. Arencibia: 0 for 3, RBI. .189.
20 hits. Take look at those batting averages. It seems funny that a couple of weeks we were worried about the bats. Part of spring is that pitchers start off ahead of the hitters. The other end of it is that often, by the end of spring, a lot of pitchers have gone through a 'sore arm' period and the batters feast for a bit.
I know we aren't walking much but, in spring, batters are working on their timing at the plate. You can't work on your timing with the bat on your shoulder.
The running game is going great too. 4 steals today, though 2 of them were by Eric Thames and 1 by Chris Woodward, neither of whom will be with the big team in a week. It looks like we are going to be fun to watch. Not that we weren't fun to watch last year, even without the stolen bases and hit and runs.
Five days till the start of the season.