MARCH 11th
My last game in Goodyear this year, it was very much like senior citizen day at the ballpark which, for me, is a good thing as I was surrounded by kindred spirits, LOL.
Pitching
Civale was topping out at 92 mph striking out the side in the 2nd. He gave up two runs, the first one, at the time it crossed the plate, was due to the excessive time it took Josh Naylor to get to the ball in the right field corner and his less-than-strong throw. The second, which somehow was called an earned run, was due to a bad Civale pickoff throw that Arias could not keep on the infield followed by a sacrifice fly. I guess the scorer thought that if the runner was on second he would have advanced to 3rd and then scored on the next out, another fly ball to center field. All in all, a solid performance from a guy who we think will be our #4 starter and, if healthy, wold be a decent #3.
Stephan followed and was throwing 96 in his clean inning.
De Los Santos, throwing 95 with good breaking stuff, also had a clean inning.
Sandlin, topping out at 91 mph, gave up a hit but didn't allow a run as he looked solid.
Cantillo was up to 95 and consistently was at 94 as he gave up a walk and got a K in a scoreless inning
Battenfield was perfect in his one inning, topping out at 93.
Logan Allen was also perfect sitting consistently at 94 which, to me, was encouraging because his velocity dipped at the end of last year. He needs to be at 94/95 to be effective, in my opinion.
Hitting
Kwan looked like vintage Kwan. Ramirez looked like Ramirez. Zunino, with a HR and a walk and a K looked like the Zunino we all want to see this year. Fry got a hit to RF after his HR to left the day before. Besides that, everyone else looked like they had looked all exhibition season: not a lot of excitement to write home about.
Summary
I was standing at the wall taking pictures of the lineups and I saw a gentlemen who looked like he was 60 years old who was attending the game with his father. The father, looking at the A's lineup, said "I don't recognize anyone. Where are all the real players?". The A's brought the B team of their roster which, due to all the trades, is a B team of every other roster in baseball. So this was, in my opinion, the weakest lineup the Guardians have played this spring. Still, it was nice to see the guys have a good game offensively and defensively.
MARCH 12th.
Pitching
Curry started in place of Quantrill who was making the start for Team Canada. He did pretty well although he only K'd one guy. Clase gave up a 2 run HR as did Herrin and Morgan gave up a solo shot. Barager and Bilious were clean. The overall line of 8 ip, 10 H allowed, 7 ER and only 4 K to go along with 4 HRs was troubling as every guy who pitched who we would expect to pitch in the regular season got touched for a HR.
Hitting
Straw did his best Kwan impersonation, going 2-2 with a walk. Arias had 2 hits,Noel had 2 hits and a HR and Rameriez, Bell, Pries, Gonzalez, Brennan and Martinez each had one. Better offensve showing (12 hits, 3 XBHs).
MARCH 13th
Pitching
Plesac was shaky again, giving up 4 hits, a walk, a HBP and 2 WPs, again having to be rescued in the first inning. Karinchak was not much better giving up 3 ER in one inning. Toussaint followed suit in the next inning as did Oviedo a couple of innings later. Kelly and Daniels were clean.
Hitting
Kwan had another good game, going 2-2 with a walk. Rocchio had 2 hits and Brennan, Pries and Martinez each had a hit as did Sean Rodriguez.
MARCH 14th
Pitching
Beiber gave up a 2 run HR in the first but, aside from that, he looked sharp in his 4.2 innings, K'ing 5. Stephan got lit up again for 2 uns and a HR but Sandline K'd 3 in his inning, and De Los Santos was unscored upon although he loaded the bases on 2 hits and a walk. Unfortunately, Pilkington got lit up with the help of some bad fielding and gave up 4 runs on 2 hits and a walk to blow the game.
Hitting
Rosario went 3-3 with a HR (our only XBH of the game) and Bell went 2-2 with a walk. Arias and Gallagher got one hit and the rest of the hits went to the minor leaguers called up for the game. Considering Trout and Ohtani were in the WBC and we played our starting lineup, we could have had a better showing.
OVERALL SUMMARY
We are a little over two weeks from the start of the regular season and we are still not looking sharp at all. It is spring training but the hitting and pitching is getting more than a little concerning. Let's keep our fingers crossed that things start turning around.
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