Spring training began today, so let's give John Fogerty and Keith Urban a listen:
I'm not one of those who buys into the "spring training records are meaningless" theory. Certainly there's no perfect correlation between a team's Grapefruit or Cactus League record and its subsequent regular season outcome, but by my reckoning a team that does very well in the spring is more likely to do well in the games that count than one that does poorly. So it's a relief to me to see the Mets win their spring opener by the decisive score of 9-3, even though it was over the Orioles, a team that's had little success of late. What is especially gratifying is to see Luis Castillo and Ryan Church, two players who had injury problems last season, getting seven RBIs (four and three, respectively) between them.
I blinked when I saw that Sean Green had to leave early after splitting a fingernail in his pitching hand. He's back? Wasn't he an outfielder? Oh, yeah, that was Shawn Green.
2.26 update: The Amazins' pre-season juggernaut advances as they trounce the Marlins, 9-0, in a game highlighted by Reyes' grand slam while hitting in the three-spot. As always with the Mets, though, there's something to worry about: this time it's Johan Santana's elbow "discomfort".
2.27 update: The juggernaut is halted as the Mets lose to the Cards 9-8, although the headline writer on the Mets' site puts a smiley face on it by emphasizing that newly signed potential fifth starter Livian Hernandez pitched two scoreless innings. Earlier in the day, the Mets managed to squeak by Team Italy (Mike Piazza is their hitting coach!) 5-4. Johan Santana's first start has been postponed again because, Jerry Manuel says, he's being "extra, extra, extra" careful. Uh-huh.
i'm going to have to disagree with you on this claude. consider that, for instance, the phils had a .417 wpct last spring.
ReplyDeletebeyond that, spring training is a time to get a look at prospects. the sox just lost to the pirates today. does that mean the sox will suck this season? no. they were into the AA ball players by this point in the game.
teams with a good idea of their MLB roster may throw a lot of minor leaguers out there, to get a sense of who might make a good call-up during the season. position battles will come into play. strict pitch counts will affect the games.
consider this. since 2003, the royals have had a +500 record in all but one spring training.