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Diamondbacks Spring Training Round-Up: Top O' The Morning!

Happy St. Patrick's Day. Not quite sure why the D-backs are celebrating the day of a saint who is particularly famous for his antipathy to snakes. They'd be better of honoring St Dominic Abbot. Still, who cares? I'm going to celebrate by drinking heavily and blowing up an English pub.

By Jim McLennan
By PDPhoto.org [CC0], via Wikimedia Commons

Quotes of the day

  • "The ball was hit pretty hard, and I'm lucky it didn't strike an inch further down on my shin or an inch further in, which would've been right on my kneecap. Honestly, it could've been a lot worse. I'm just glad I didn't show those guys how bad it stung."
    -- Ian Kennedy
  • "My arm felt good. My location wasn't great, especially on the homers in that one inning, but I felt like I was getting ahead and then I couldn't finish off with my pitches. There were a couple innings there where it felt like command was good."
    -- Kennedy

  • "He's very mechanical, he's thinking a lot. He just didn't throw the ball well so I had to get him out of there. He's got a lot on his mind so we've got to try and free his mind up. We try to be positive with him. I know he's being really hard on himself and I know he was trying to correct some stuff out there today... nobody enjoys it, but it will make him a better pitcher and probably a better person."
    -- Kirk Gibson on Tyler Skaggs

The Loss of Ross

Wrote about this a little bit earlier today, but it looks increasingly likely that Cody Ross will not be ready for Opening Day. The story above also quotes Gibson as saying, in regard to Ross, "It's just been slow. He's done really no full weight-bearing stuff running-wise. He's not ready for it. I think he went in the pool yesterday. I think the next step will be the Ultra G [treadmill], which they can unload some of the weight when he runs... I don't know. I hope so, but if he's not, then I know there's somebody else who wants his spot." Paging A.J. Pollock, though he hasn't set the saguaro on fire, with a line of 214/.313/.333 in 17 games and 42 at-bats.

World Baseball Classic Round-up

The schedule for the semi-finals has been set, after the Dominican Republic rolled to a 2-0 win over Puerto Rico, to remain unbeaten in the tournament. Wandy Rodriguez allowed only two hits over six shutout innings. PR had a chance to score in the third, but had a runner thrown out at the plate. Dominican catcher Carlos Santana homered in the fifth, and Francisco Pena drove in the other run with an eighth-inning single. It means Puerto Rico will now face the reigning champion Japanese team today, and the Dominican take on the Netherlands - who beat them twice last WBC - on Moinday, both games beginning at 6pm Eastern time.

Around baseball

  • In Cactus League action yesterday, some high-scoring game, most notably at Phoenix Muni, where the A's and Angels played to a 13-13 tie, combining for 33 hits and seven walks. Jered Weaver was torched for eight ER in two innings. Best pitching was from the Texas Rangers who two-hit the Dodgers in a 4-0 win. Matt Harrison allowed one hit in five innings for them; Clayton Kershaw two in six scoreless for LA.
  • Interesting look at a possible reason for the declining number of African-American in the majors. College baseball teams get a lot less scholarships, given their roster size, than basketball or football. The piece also mentions the World Series Giants have no African-Americans in camp this spring.
  • Oh-oh:

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