GAME Thread

i agree with chief
its a really lame rule, and can put an organization in an uncomfortable position
imagine if you're the cubs...
your top prospect — the top prospect in all of baseball — kris bryant has clearly earned a spot on the opening day roster
and yet from a business standpoint you would be stupid for doing anything but shipping him down for a couple weeks
why [again, from a business standpoint] would you not take advantage of a rule that grants you an additional year of team control?
even worse for the player — the better he performs [in the spring], the more incentive for the organization to send him down for two weeks
and if the cubs do opt to send him down, rest assured that his agent will raise hell and accuse the cubs of unfair treatment — even though the cubs would be completely within their rights to do so
bryant's agent... scott boras

 

Dodgers Fall Short Against Indians
by Russell Valenzuela | Dodgers Nation — 1 hour ago

After spending the last two days playing split-squad games, the Los Angeles Dodgers were back at full strength Sunday when they faced the Cleveland Indians back at Camelback Ranch.

Left-hander David Huff made his second start of the spring as he looked to build on his strong performances. It was an easy first inning for Huff after retiring the Indians in order with a fly out and a pair of grounders.

The bottom half saw the Dodgers go up against 2014 AL Cy Young winner Corey Kluber and Kiké Hernandez opened things up with a lead off home run for the second-straight game.

The second inning was another perfect one for Huff and the Dodgers maintained a 1-0 lead. With one out in the bottom half, Alex Guerrero reached on a grounder and proceeded to steal second base with Corey Seager at the plate. Seager drew a walk, but Scott Schebler hit into a double play to end the inning.

Huff’s perfect outing came to end on a Tyler Holt bunt in which he beat Guerrero’s throw to first base. Seager threw wide of first base on a potential double play, which kept the inning alive for the Indians. However, Huff got Michael Bourn to fly out to left and the Indians were kept scoreless.

Hernandez was robbed of a base hit by a diving Lonnie Chisenhall, and the Dodgers were retired in order in the third. After an impressive three scoreless innings, Huff’s day came to an end as Joel Peralta took over to begin the fourth.

Mike Aviles hit a leadoff single and moved into scoring position by stealing second base. He tagged to third on an impressive Scott Schebler over-the-shoulder catch in deep right and scored on another sacrifice fly to tie the game. The Dodgers quickly regained the lead in the bottom of the fourth behind Yasiel Puig’s solo home run to center to leadoff the bottom of the fourth.

J.P. Howell became the new Dodger pitcher in the fifth and made quick work of the Indians by striking out two and getting the other to ground out. Kluber remained on the mound for the Indians and matched Howell’s performance with two strikeouts of his own as the Dodgers remained in the lead, 2-1 after five innings.

Dodgers manager Don Mattingly made another pitching change and went with Paco Rodriguez for the sixth. Rodriguez faced Francisco Lindor, Bourn, and Aviles while getting all three out without much effort.

Adam Law and Carl Crawford both struck out against Kluber in the bottom of the sixth before the Indians pulled their ace and sent in Austin Adams. The right-hander needed just two pitches to retire Puig and end the inning.

Michael Brantley singled off Chris Hatcher to begin the seventh and was replaced by pinch-runner Destin Hood. The Indians got the best of Hatcher and scored three runs on him before he was replaced by Yimi Garcia.

Hatcher only managed to get one out while walking one and giving up two doubles. Despite allowing an infield hit, Garcia minimized the damage by striking out two Indians. The Dodgers had an unproductive bottom half going down in order and found themselves down 4-2 headed to the eighth.

The Indians had two baserunners reach in the eighth, but Garcia kept them off the board to keep the Dodgers within two runs of a tie. David Aardsma threw a scoreless ninth inning, and the Dodgers threatened with back-to-back singles with one out in the bottom of the ninth. However, they weren’t able to cash in and lost to the Indians, 4-2.

 

So um Ryu's shoulder injury doesn't sound so great. He'll start on the DL. Shoulders are death for pitchers so hope he doesn't need surgery

This sucks

 

Dodgers Score Late To Defeat Diamondbacks
Dodgers Nation — 23 minutes ago

The Los Angeles Dodgers and Arizona Diamondbacks met for the first time this spring and it didn’t take long for them to get reacquainted.

With one on and one out in the top of the first, A.J. Pollock hit a double down the third base line that scored Aaron Hill from first base to make it 1-0 in favor of the Diamondbacks. Still with one out, Dodgers starter Chris Anderson got into more trouble by hitting Mark Trumbo with a pitch.

However the Diamondbacks wouldn’t add to their lead as grounder hit to Jimmy Rollins turned into an inning-ending double play.

Diamondbacks starter Daniel Hudson was also erratic in the first inning, hitting Justin Turner with a pitch with one out. Turner stole second base shortly after, but Howie Kendrick struck out to leave him stranded in scoring position.

Yasmany Tomas led off the second inning with a single to center. A.J. Ellis then caught Tomas stealing on a strike ‘em out, throw ‘em out double play. Anderson got out of the inning unscathed after getting Chris Owings to line-out to third base.

Andre Ethier singled to right field to lead off the bottom of the second, but with two outs, he was thrown out attempting to steal second base. Anderson remained in the game for a third inning of work and gave up a leadoff single to Gerald Laird.

Anderson walked Hill with one out, but got out of the inning by getting Pollock to foul out and Trumob on a pop-up. Kiké Hernandez got the Dodgers’ rally started with a one-out single in the bottom of the third. Rollins then followed with an RBI triple to right-center to tie the game. Turner’s sacrifice fly easily scored Rollins from third and gave the Dodgers a 2-1 lead.

Adam Liberatore entered the game for Anderson in the top of the fourth and walked the first batter he faced. Tomas followed with a single to right field, but David Peralta was then erased on a line out to Rollins that resulted in a 6-4 double play. Liberatore ended the inning on a groundout and the Dodgers maintained their 2-1 lead.

Howie Kendrick continued his hot spring by hitting a leadoff single to right in the bottom of the fourth. Andre Ethier came to bat and grounded to first base, which allowed Kendrick to move into scoring position. Juan Uribe scored Kendrick with a bloop single that extended the Dodgers’ lead to 3-1.

Still in the fourth, Ellis walked, which put two runners on. Hernandez then came to the plate and hit his second single of the day, making the score 4-1 in favor of the Dodgers. Chin-hui Tsao replaced Liberatore in fifth inning and retired Arizona in order.

Former Dodgers prospect Allen Webster and Diamondbacks manager Chip Hale were ejected after Webster hit Turner to lead off the bottom of the fifth. Webster was replaced by Andrew Chafin, who struck out Joc Pederson and Kendrick.

Tsao returned in the sixth inning but didn’t fare nearly as well. He issued back-to-back walks with one out, then gave up a three-run home run to Tomas that tied the game, 4-4. Chafin tossed a scoreless sixth inning by quickly retiring Uribe, Chris Heisey and Ellis in order.

Perdo Baez came in to pitch the top of the seventh and retired the side in order with one strikeout. Baez recorded one out in the eighth, then was relieved by Daniel Coulombe, who completed a scoreless inning.

Derek Eitel plunked Dodgers’ Minor League Dillon Moyer and was subsequently ejected. Patrick Schuster took over for the Diamondbacks and quickly let the game get away. Nate Samson cleared the bases with an RBI double and he scored on Paul Hoenecke’s RBI single that extended the Dodgers’ lead to 6-4.

After Schuster was called for a balk, Kyle Farmer hit an RBI single and the Dodgers carried a 7-4 lead to the ninth. Coulombe and Ryan Butcher combined to pitch a scoreless ninth inning to complete the Dodgers’ win.