Carl Crawford‘s spring debut ended up with no hits in three plate appearances — he flew to center and grounded to short twice — but that’s entirely missing the point. He played in a real game, he made contact each time, and looked reasonably good doing it. As far as we know he didn’t re-injure anything, and that’s absolutely all you can ask for right now.
News from the the rest of Sunday’s split-squad doubleheader of fake games…
Home against Milwaukee, i.e., “the good”:
Adrian Gonzalez hit not one but two opposite-field homers off Brewer pitching as part of an 11-1 rout. That’ll do. Hyun-Jin Ryu went 5.2 one-run innings, striking out six and retiring the last 11 batters he saw in what was really a very encouraging outing for him. Andre Ethier reached three times, including two doubles, & Mark Ellis reached four times, including a homer.
Road against Arizona, i.e., “the bad”:
Ted Lilly looked absolutely atrocious, getting yanked after retiring exactly zero of the five hitters he saw in the third inning, getting charged with five earned runs overall. I’m starting to wonder if they can gin up a disabled list reason for him to start the year, because he has shown absolutely nothing this spring. Chris Withrow, who just can’t buy a break, left the game after being hit with a ball off the bat of Paul Goldschmidt, and Peter Moylan didn’t help his chances either by allowing a first-pitch homer to Aaron Hill. Chris Reed got into the game and gave up a dinger to “old friend” Rod Barajas. The entire starting offense was stagnant other than Yasiel Puig, who stole both second and third after singling his way on.
Well, okay, there was one good thing in this game. Good lord, Matt Kemp, that just ain’t right:
******
Per Ken Gurnick, Javy Guerra was optioned to the minors before today’s game. I didn’t think he really had much of a chance of making a crowded bullpen, especially since he’d missed time with a groin strain and had pitched only 2.2 innings this spring, but I count it as a mild surprise that he’s gone so soon.
On the other hand, he doesn’t seem to be too concerned about it…
Off to Vegas! Thx @dodgers for the off days! Happy St Patricks day! instagr.am/p/W-PSrYFfhQ/
— JavyGuerra54 (@JavyGuerra54) March 17, 2013
Anyone have any good Vegas connects for a good time ;) ???
— JavyGuerra54 (@JavyGuerra54) March 17, 2013
So there’s that. If you’re wondering why the first one shows up just text and the second one only as a real tweet, it’s because he later deleted the initial one. He also vented his frustration on Instagram, in another post that was since deleted, saying “it’s a frustration kind of trip … If u would have seen me throw yesterday .. You would know I could help ANY team win right Now … But that’s life… People will always tell me what I Can’t do … So ill take out this frustration and get back to work Thursday … #ItIsWhatItIs” (h/t Antonio)
Lovely. More cuts to come this evening, no doubt.
