Just In From the Desert

I know that it's Spring Training and this kind of thing happens all the time, but if anyone could lose twice, to two different team, in two different cities during regular season play, it would be the Indians.  Though I've stopped checking, I do believe that they're 6-18 now.  To add insult to injury (and we've seen more than our share of that), former Tribe closer Jensen Lewis earned the save for the D-Bags.

#5:  Well, we know one thing: David Huff is out.  Huff, attempting to make a meaninglessly spectacular play, injured his leg one batter into his last start of the spring.  David's numbers (5.79, .310 OBA) were not impressive and the injury is simply the nail in the coffin.

Left Of Center:  It's still Shelley Duncan, although the lead horse is definitely limping into the finish.  Duncan (.182) took another O-fer today and is just 1 for his last 16.

Somewhere Out There:  If any of these guys could get hot, he might still snare the starting job.  Yeah, it's just not happening.  Ryan Spilborghs (.171 and lord am I sick of writing about this scrub) is still dead last.  Against all odds, he did crack a hit today... but it took him five trips.  Also hitless:  Felix Pie (.250) and Aaron Cunningham (.200).  The great predictor of this season will be who breaks camp in this spot.  If it's Cunningham (or, god help me, Spilborghs), the boys will play sub-.500 ball for the season.

Bench Me:  Despite every fiber of my being screaming for Jose Lopez (.311), this is still a race.  The former all-star was 1-for-4 today and managed to play error free.  Even so, he is mired in a 2-for-21 slump and Andy LaRoche has seen mucho PT of late.  LaRoche (.385) singled and walked against the D-Bags and, while still in 2nd, is nipping right at Lopez's heels.

Mightier Than the Sword:  As mentioned in a previous post, Jairo Asencio is here and will (officially unofficial) be in the bullpen on April 5.  To make room for him, recently added Rick VandenHurk was DFAed.  Don't count him out just yet.  He's has just an awful spring and might clear waivers.  That leaves one more bullpen spot open.  It was always a long shot for Manny Acta to carry a 3rd left-hander and Nick Hagadone (2.53) likely lost the last of his grace today.  Nick's spring was generally strong, yet he picked the worst possible time to show his wild side.  The command/control issue has always been the knock on Hagadone and against the Rox he walked two, hit a batter and threw a wild pitch en route to allowing a run in an inning and two thirds.  Jeremy Accardo (1.00) tossed two more clean innings today, though the ERA might be deceiving.  Surely the only reason that Frank Herrmann and Dan Wheeler are still in the mix is that Accardo's OBA (.289) is kind of high.  Still, he's only walked one guy in 9 innings and thus his WHIP (1.33) is reasonable.  I don't know but I have to assume that Asencio's arrival pushes Wheeler out of the door.

Their last split squad behind them, the Indians battle the Redlegs @ 4:05p tomorrow.