Spring Training 2013 Recap: Miami Marlins 2,
Washington Nationals 2

post from Fish Stripes - All Posts on 24 February 2013 11:01:45 PM. © Fish Stripes - All Posts

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The Miami Marlins came out against the Washington Nationals following a strong outing on Saturday against the St. Louis Cardinals. The team debuted with an 8-3 victory of the Cards and were looking to get behind starting pitcher Henderson Alvarez for a second victory. The club a marginal lead late into the game before the Nationals bounced back and put the Marlins on the brink of their first spring training loss. The Fish battled back with a series of hits and ended up finishing the game in a 2-2 tie.

Henderson Alvarez's Strong Outing

Marlins starter Henderson Alvarez has a lot of question marks going into the 2013 season, and we will review many of those at the start of this week. But in his first outing as a Marlin, things were looking quite good for the third-year starter. Alvarez put up an impressive two innings in the start opposite Jordan Zimmermann, striking out two batters and only allowing one hit along the way. He also did not walk a batter in the outing, thus limiting baserunners in a major way.

The most important aspect of this start was the nice number of strikeouts. Last season, Alvarez managed just 79 strikeouts in 187 innings in 2012, In just two innings of work, he put up two percent of what he did all of last season. We will be discussing later whether Henderson Alvarez has the stuff to induce strikeouts, but

Here is manager Mike Redmond on Alvarez's outing:

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There was not much to the discussion there, as Redmond more or less said what every manager, pitching coach, and player says about a pitcher when he has a good day, regardless of his actual numbers. It sounds as though Alvarez was able to pound the strike zone nicely, as evidenced by getting 19 of his 22 pitches to either go for strikes or balls in play. As a result, he was able to get ahead of hitters and avoid the walks, which is useful but not particularly great advice or insight into his game.

Staff Better than Saturday

The rest of the staff also performed better than they did on Saturday. The remaining Marlins pitchers threw six strikeouts versus no walks. The only pitcher who struggled was Ryan Webb, who was credited with the Nationals' two runs off of an Anthony Rendon two-run home run. Special props to minor leaguer Evan Reed, who recorded three strikeouts in two innings pitched.

Next: Monday, February 25, @ Atlanta Braves

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Curtis Granderson out 10 weeks with broken
forearm

post from Bronx Baseball Daily on 24 February 2013 09:51:57 PM. © Bronx Baseball Daily

[...]

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forearm/

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BBDP Top 50 prospects: Preseason Edition

post from Bronx Baseball Daily on 24 February 2013 08:38:29 PM. © Bronx Baseball Daily

[...]

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http://bronxbaseballdaily.com/2013/02/bbdp-top-50-prospects-preseason-edition/

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Who Wants To Play Fantasy Baseball With 30-Year
Old Cardboard

post from 30-Year Old Cardboard on 24 February 2013 08:30:10 PM. © 30-Year Old Cardboard

Who Wants To Play Fantasy Baseball With ’30-Year Old Cardboard’???? I am a big fan of fantasy baseball. And while I don’t get too consumed with the ultra-competitive leagues that are out there, I find the idea of selecting my … Continue reading →

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UPDATE: 3 SPOTS REMAIN Who Wants To Play Fantasy
Baseball With 30-Year Old Cardboard

post from 30-Year Old Cardboard on 24 February 2013 08:30:10 PM. © 30-Year Old Cardboard

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Granderson Breaks Forearm, Out 10 Weeks

post from Sliding Into Home: A Yankees Blog on 24 February 2013 08:01:40 PM. © Sliding Into Home: A Yankees Blog

Your browser does not support iframes.That pitch will fractured Granderson's forearm and he will miss 10 weeks, leaving the Yankees with a hole in their outfield until at least May. Here's some more of who might fill that hole from Chad Jennings:

The Yankees have veterans Matt Diaz and Juan Rivera in camp. They also have older minor league outfielders like Ronnier Mustelier, Zoilo Almonte, Thomas Neal and Adonis Garcia. Brian Cashman mentioned that his scouts have just started watching games and it?s still too early to know which players might become available.

Cashman said this morning that he wouldn?t want a young guy in a part-time, right-handed platoon role. But that?s not necessarily the case for a situation like this.

?Now we?ll be forced to really evaluate that aspect of it,? Cashman said. ?You?re not asking guys (to sit for a long time). Could you bring a guy up right now for the first month in an everyday situation? We?ll look at that. We?ll look at it all. We have no choice. When these things happen you adjust, so we?ll be forced to adjust.?

Alfonso Soriano is another name that has been mentioned.

Hell of a way to start the season, huh?

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orearm-out-10-weeks.html

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Yankees Injury Update: Losing Grandyman is a huge
issue

post from Lady Loves Pinstripes on 24 February 2013 08:01:39 PM. © Lady Loves Pinstripes

What’s the one thing that needs to happen in order for the New York Yankees to be successful in 2013? Staying healthy. And what occurred in the 1st inning of the second game of Spring Training vs. Toronto today? A pitch hit Curtis Granderson in[...]

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Young Players Power Astros Comeback And Eventual
Tie With Mets

post from The Crawfish Boxes - All Posts on 24 February 2013 08:01:36 PM. © The Crawfish Boxes - All Posts

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Ah, the beauty of Spring Training and it's ties. After collecting their first win the Astros turned what could have been an easy win for the Mets into a push.

Pitchers

Bud Norris, Jose Veras and Brad Peacock put the Astros in a six-run hole in the first four innings of the game. The only other pitcher to give up a run was Sergio Escalona in the eighth inning. The rest of the staff, Jose Valdez, Wesley Wright, Rhiner Cruz and Chia Jen-Lo had shutout innings. Veras in particular had a rough third inning giving up two runs on one hit and walk but still struck out the side.

Batters

Jason Castro got the Astros within three runs of the Mets with a two-run homerun in the bottom of the fourth inning. The next inning Brett Wallace contributed with a single that scored two runs and pulled the Astros within one run of the Mets at 6-5 that's when Delino Deshields took over. Pinch running for Brett Wallace Deshields stole second and moved to third on the throwing error. He would score on a wild pitch that walked George Spring to tie the game. Springer was 1-1 in the game with two walks, a run scored and a run driven in.

David's two favorite players this Spring, Robbie Grossman and Jake Elmore were both 1-2 with a run scored. Rule 5 selection, Nate Freiman continued to make a case not to be sent back to San Diego with a 2-2 day. Overall the Astros scored seven runs on 11 hits and five walks.

Astros Fan Favorite March Madness Tournament:

Don't forget to go vote in our TCB March Madness match-ups for today.

Spring Training Viewing Guide:

Helpful Do's and Don'ts to watching Astros spring games.

Next Game:

At St. Louis Cardinals 12:05 p.m. CT start time.

Radio: KBME 790 AM

Read The Full Article:
http://www.crawfishboxes.com/2013/2/24/4025816/young-players-power-astros-comebac
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Sunday Game Wrap: A Tale of Two Pitchers

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It was the best two innings of pitching for the Rockies this year. It was the worst two innings of pitching for the Rockies this year. It was a good show of getting out of a jam with timely pitching and defense, it was a bad show of getting out of a jam with awful pitching and defense. It was also a tale of Snakes hitting the ball in the beginning and the Rockies hitting the ball at the end but an eighth inning rally came up just short. It is just the second spring training game of the year but the Rockies reminded us all of how they looked on Sundays in 2012...and 2011 for that matter.

Jeff Francis displayed an outstanding first inning, getting three outs on only nine pitches. While he ran into a little bit of trouble in the second, he was able to get the third out with runners on the corners. The offense was able to get their first hit in the second when Nolan Arenado beat out a throw on an infield single off the pitcher's glove but Kyle Parker followed that up with the first of five double plays that the Rockies hit into.

Juan Nicasio came in to start the third inning and while he wasn't sharp, he got the third out on a warning track shot from Aaron Hill. He was not as lucky in the fourth, when newcomer Reid Brignac threw away an out and his error cost the Rockies three unearned runs to go with the pair of earned runs given up by Nicasio and Frazier in the inning.

Miguel Batista followed in the fifth with an even worse outing, giving three runs to the Diamondbacks. The Rockies finally got on the board in the fifth when Corey Dickerson followed up a Ben Paulsen walk with a two run home run.

The Rockies scored again in the eighth when catcher Jose Gonzalez followed a single by Wheeler and a walk to Dickerson to make it 8-3. Matt McBride followed that up with an RBI double, scoring Dickerson and moving Gonzalez to third. A walk to Rafael Ortega loaded the bases and forced a pitching change by Arizona manager Kirk Gibson.

Kyle Parker greeted new pitcher, Seth Simmons, with a 2-rbi double over right fielder Mark Teahen's head. Simmons threw a four pitch walk to Tommy Manzella to load the bases before he gave way to Taylor Simons. He induced Christhian Adames into yet another inning ending double play and the Rockies rally fell just a tad short in the eighth.

The top of the ninth went quickly with Mike McClendon getting a fly out and a strikeout after Jose Gonzalez showed a nice arm by throwing out a snake trying to steal second. The Rockies tried to make the bottom of the ninth interesting but a fifth double play ended the game and continued the pain of Sunday baseball in Colorado.

We didn't come close to the record posting from yesterday's game thread, but thank you to all who joined me in getting to 500 posts today. The Rockies are warming up for the season and so are we.

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http://www.purplerow.com/2013/2/24/4025620/sunday-gamewrap-a-tale-of-two-pitchers

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TCBP Live: Spring Training Baseball Is Here And
Zachary Levine Of Baseball Prospectus

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Podcast Start Time: 7:05 p.m. CT

Hosts: Tim De Block, David Coleman and Sean Feist

Special Guest: Zachary Levine of Baseball Prospectus

Houston Astros Topics:

Zachary Levine interview
Impressions from the Astros first two Spring Training games
Could the Astros have done what the Indians did?
Baseball America rates five prospects in the top 100: Jarred Cosart is not one of those five.
Who's on first? - Leadoff

Feel free to leave any questions for Zachary Levine in the comments below.

If you have any questions or comments leave them in the comments section below.

The archived live record can be found on Mixlr at: http://www.mixlr.com/crawfishboxes/showreel

Intro music by Alan Read.

[iTunes] [Mixlr] [BluBrry] [Stitcher]

[RSS Feed]

If you have any comments or questions in regards to the podcast you can email the show at SBN.crawfishboxes@gmail.com. If you have a question please be sure to include your name and where you're from. Also big thanks to those of you that have rated us on iTunes we really appreciate the feedback.

Read The Full Article:
http://www.crawfishboxes.com/2013/2/24/4023222/tcbp-live-spring-training-baseball
-is-here-and-zachary-levine-of

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