Add new comment

MLBN moved the game to the 11 PM slot for no reason, so it was a late night.  Some thoughts:
- Saunders has batspeed again.  I mean, legit batspeed.  He hammered some balls, no floating allowed.  I think he studied Carp.  He also is covering ground with authority out  there in the OF.  Whatever sports coach he went to looks like he did a good job in Round 1 of this prize fight.  It wasn't a scrub out there for the first couple innings, it was Jered Weaver.  Felt like a real game, and Saunders looked like a real player.
- Figgins is counting on people to not throw him strikes.  As long as he can fight off stuff in the zone he might be able to contribute.
- Montero does indeed muscle it to oppo.  He got a lot of muscle, though.  There won't be anything wrong with his pull power either.
- Seager was too eager at the plate, but he made a NICE diving grab at 3B, the sort of thing that he'd be required to do as a third baseman.
- Brad Miller's bat positioning has been changed since college.  Dunno if that was his choice or ours but while he holds his hands high still he's got the bat more Ackley-like with the head pointed toward the field instead of held high like a torch.  Should help his power.  Immediate thought:  we're planning on having him play 3B.
-  Robinson brought his speed to bear.  Couldn't see much about his swing, since he (badly) bunted the first hit for a sacrifice/throwing error by a 7-foot pitcher (!) and swung at the first pitch in his next AB for a single, but his speed affected both times on base, and it was nice to see him run.
- Catricala.  Ohhh, Catricala.  This is the guy I saw in low-A, but they've simplified his swing and hands (if possible) even MORE in AA.  He missed another HR by about a quarter inch of ball-contact on his first AB.  It went a mile in the air, got held up by the incoming stiff breeze (still there on his HR to deep CF, btw) and still made it to the deep OF.  He can HIT.  Once he holds up on low stuff I dunno what you're gonna do against him - other than make him field a lot of hot shots at the corner and hope to score more against his glove than he does against your pitching.
- Beavan got hammered.  He should have given up several runs.  Everything was a lined shot.  He got some Ks with off-speed stuff but his "fastball" was getting crushed.  Danger Will Robinson...
- Furbush looked like the pen guy he should be.  Think he'll fit in fine there permanently.
- Robles looked good.  He lost weight by working out.  He's just a short, muscular dude now with a trim (for him) waist.  His fastball was back and he was throwing it high (as is his wont) but the change loooked pretty just floating in there.  He had a little trouble keeping his heater in the zone but he wasn't bouncing balls in the dirt or anything.  He looks like he's back, which is great news for our post-League bullpen later this year.  We got another option.
All in all, a game we dominated start to finish - as we should have, having played a week's more games and getting to camp far earlier.  Took us a while to break through on the scoreboard, but we got there.   Ackley looked good, Carp had his swing if not the contact (and had a strong throw from LF to 1B to finish a double play) , Jaso's "come get some" crouch at the plate still makes me laugh, and he will NOT swing unless he likes the pitch.  There's a reason he gets on base that much.
A good day.  All the guys I had question marks on showed me at least one positive thing.
If this was our team I'd feel better than I did last season about this offense in March - and this lineup didn't include two of our MOTO hitters.
Bring on the season.
~G