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Diamondbacks Spring Training Round-Up: Off Day = Day Off

No game for the D-backs yesterday: they're back at it this afternoon, with Brandon McCarthy facing his old pals in the Athletics. There was a loss for Team USA, we may have the name of the new restaurant opening at Chase this year and...bacon!

By Jim McLennan
Pic by West Michigan Whitecaps

Quotes of the day

  • "To be honest with you, he's probably the most polished outfielder we have in the entire organization. There's a real good possibility that he could make this club... He's going to play in the big leagues for a long time, whether it's with us or someone else."
    -- Kirk Gibson on A.J. Pollock

  • "Veteran leadership is big in every clubhouse, and every good team I've been on they had that. Dudes that have just been around and you can follow their lead and listen to them. Hopefully that's what I'm bringing here as a guy that's been with different organization and won and knows what it takes to win."
    -- Eric Hinske

Game Seven Grill opening at Chase?

Is that the name of the replacement for Sliders on the concourse at Chase? While there doesn't seem to have been any official announcement, this advert, by Levy Restaurants, who are the concession holders at the ballpark, says they are "Looking for experienced Security and Housekeeping people to staff Game Seven Grill and new theme restaurant at Chase Field." I also note that the GameSevenGrill.com domain name was purchased on Feb. 25th, with the registrant being MLB Advanced Media. So, definitely looks like there's something up, whether in that building, or somewhere else.

World Baseball Classic Roundup

In Miami, a tense game saw the score tied at one from the middle of the first into the ninth inning, before the Dominican Republic scored twice off Craig Kimbrel, to beat the United States, 3-1. The undefeated Dominicans guaranteed themselves a semi-final spot witjh the victory, while the USA faces off later today (4pm Arizona time) against Puerto Rico to decide the other qualifier. America beat PR 7-1 on Tuesday, so will be favorites there, though David Wright's status is in doubt: he missed yesterday's contest with a back issue. He was replaced at third by our own Willie Bloomquist, who went 0-for-2 with a sacrifice and an error.

Cactus League action

The Diamondbacks may not have been playing today, but there was plenty of other action going on. The two national squads both won, with the Netherlands beating the Padres, and Japan beating the Giants - the starter for the latter was Yusmeiro Petit. There's a name from the past. The Angels had the best offensive performance of the day, pounding the White Sox for 15 hits and 12 runs - Mike Trout had his first homer of the pre-season, and scored three times. Best pitching of the day went the Cubs, who held the Dodgers to one run on four hits at Camelback Ranch. Left-hander Chris Rusin allowed one hit over five shutout frames.

Around baseball

  • The Yankees' injury issue has become so bad, that they asked Derek Lee, who retired after the 2011 season, if he might be interested. He turned them down. They apparently also asked Chipper Jones: can only imagine how that conversation went. Likely beginning with "You're joking, right?" and going downhill from there.
  • I feel my arteries hardening as I type this. The West Michigain Whitecaps held an online poll to determine a new concession item stand for 2013. And the winner is... The Baco, a taco served in a shell made entirely of bacon. [A better pic here] The Baco received 30% of votes, edging out The Bad Joke, a corn dog covered in cheese with two strips of duck bacon on a bun.
  • Jon Bois is coming up with more baseball cards.

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