SABR-Toothed Triber: Arbitration Time & What to Do with Choo and Cabrera
April 1, 2010Shaun Rogers Arrested for Airport Gun Toting
April 1, 2010Insert the sentence here where we tell you that spring training baseball is meaningless, etc. Still, this is a game of note for the Indians because it is against a Central Division rival. It is also of note because the Indians did all their damage against Freddy Garcia, who is fighting for a spot in the White Sox rotation this year. No, Garcia is not fighting for Mark Buehrle’s spot or Jake Peavy’s spots, but as a veteran, he is the type of player who could potentially take a decent pitching staff and make it excellent. If he becomes half as effective as he has been at high points in his career, he has the potential to really put up a solid season against the rest of the bottom of the rotation pitchers in the American League. If yesterday’s sampling is at all meaningful, we won’t have to worry about Freddy Garcia this year.
The Indians plastered him for 10 runs in 3 and 2/3 innings. The Tribe put up eight in the second inning alone. Travis Hafner accounted for two of those runs via a two-out home run. Hafner now has three homers on the Spring. Shin Soo Choo and Asdrubal Cabrera both went 2 -4 at the plate to add to the onslaught.
The other reason this game was important was the performance of Indians’ pitcher David Huff. Huff has been fighting to secure his spot in the Indians’ rotation this year, and this game definitely helped him considerably. Huff went seven strong innings giving up a single run on a solo homer to Alex Rios. Huff walked three and struck out four and rode the Indians’ considerable offense for the win.
The Indians don’t have a Mark Buerhle or a Jake Peavy at the top of their rotation, so they will need to find some serious contributions in the starting pitching department from someone like David Huff. If not, we are going to see Aaron Laffey getting lots of innings as a long reliever before he finally replaces someone in the rotation.
In other White Sox rivalry news, one of the most hate-able personalities in the Central Division, if not all of baseball is looking for some hatred. According to ESPN, Ozzie Guillen wants people to hate his White Sox team as much as people seem to hate him personally. Why does Ozzie want people to hate?
“Because we want to kick some [butt],” he said. “No one hates you when you’re [garbage]. When you’re [garbage], no one thinks about you. When you’re good, those are the people you hate the most.”
Funny though, when I first read the headline, I thought Guillen might have been talking about Jay Mariotti. Guillen has traded verbal barbs with Mariotti in the past. One incident even led to Guillen getting fined and having to apologize for using a homosexual slur. Of course, Jay Mariotti is out there calling for Guillen to be fired on the pages of Fanhouse this Spring.
It is quite the quandary for those of us that don’t like Jay Mariotti. Does that mean we have to like Ozzie Guillen? Nah. I guess not.
3 Comments
“…I thought Guillen might have been talking about Jay Mariotti.” Zing! Thanks you folks! Craig will be here all week!
Seriously, any good Mariotti dig works for me.
Ozzie Guillen > Jay Mariotti
I dislike that P.O.S Mariotti way more than Guillen.
what about AJ Pierzinski
I hate him so much I’m not even going to bother to try to spell his name right.
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spring training or not, beating the White Sox is always a good thing.