The Dodgers are currently up on the Giants, 5-3, in the top of the fourth inning of today’s spring training game in Arizona. All five of those runs came in the second inning, thanks to — as you can see at right — singles from Mark Ellis, A.J. Ellis, & Hanley Ramirez; walks from Tim Federowicz, Adrian Gonzalez, & Andre Ethier; and doubles from Jeremy Moore and Skip Schumaker. That’s all backing a solid outing from Josh Beckett (three whiffs in two clean innings) and much less solid debuts from J.P. Howell (who allowed two runs in his lone inning) and Brandon League (who allowed a Brett Pill dinger).
What else do you see from that second inning linescore? Good friend Juan Uribe being responsible for all three outs in what was otherwise a fantastic inning.
I know it’s spring. I know it’s February 26, that these games don’t count, and that a box score doesn’t tell you whether Uribe crushed balls that Gregor Blanco & Brandon Crawford made wonderful plays on. It almost doesn’t matter, because Uribe has obviously lost the benefit of the doubt long ago.
Even in a spring game, Juan Uribe finds ways to disappoint. I’m actually impressed. Who can really let fans down this early in camp? Juan Uribe, that’s who.
