Good Day For The Good Guys

Hello again everyone from the great state of Mushigan, I mean Michigan, as we continue our vicious cycle of freeze, melt, freeze, melt. If it would only melt the great mounds of plowed snow that are everywhere! If you haven’t seen black snow, you’ve missed a real treat!

But back to baseball. You guys know that I’m not really into doing play-by-play here, as there are so many places that provide an accounting of the game (especially in the spring), but there was such a convergence of good things happening today that I thought it made sense to point them out.

Let’s start at the start with our starter! Jurjjens was lights-out today, putting up five scoreless innings basically without a glove being laid on him. A great bounceback from his last start; he looked to be in mid-season form. Our other pitchers were outstanding as well, other than a home run given up by Martinez. Of note was Kimbrell putting up another scoreless inning and Proctor striking out the side (around a hit) in his inning of work.

The offense wasn’t far behind. Chipper had a homer as part of a two hit day (to go with his two double day yesterday). He also played third with no difficulties. Not to get too excited, but things are looking really good on the Chipper watch (and yes, I did knock on several pieces of wood, as well as my head, when I said that). McCann bounced back from his scare with a homer of his own. Wilkin Ramirez aided his long-shot chances of making the team was a fourth outfielder with a two for four, three RBI day, rasing his average to .421 for the pre-season. Even JJ had a triple. Wow!

Although pre-season records usually have a very low correlation to regular season results, in also is worth noting that this team seems to be rounding into shape nicely, as indicated by their 11-5 record. I can’t help but be optimistic. How are all of you feeling about the team right now?