Cleveland Indians starter Cliff Lee was shelled yesterday in a Spring training game against the Rangers as he allowed nine earned runs and 11 hits in just under three innings of work.
Apparently Lee was working on the location of his fastball and threw the pitch the majority of the time.
Our own Sheldon Ocker examined the effort in this piece, which includes a shot at ESPN.
The best thing Lee did yesterday was back up third base and home plate, The Cleveland Plain Dealer’s Paul Hoynes wrote.
MLB.com staff writer Anthony Castrovince noted that Lee will be facing the very same Rangers team on opening day in less than three weeks.
Hoynes and Castrovince took the time to feature second baseman Asdrubal Cabrera today too. Hoynes focuses on Cabrera as a hitter and his development over the last year before diving into how Wedge will work his starting lineup.
Castrovince decided to discuss his glovework first as he started at shortstop yesterday.
OTHER NEWS
Team USA had a dramatic come-from-behind victory last night as they scored three runs in the bottom of the ninth to beat Puerto Rico 6-5.
Andruw on the outs
It doesn’t appear that Andruw Jones will be making the Texas rangers this season. Has any player ever fallen so far, so fast? Apparently his defense isn’t anywhere to be seen either.
MLB.com’s TR Sullivan wrote this:
Jones, the biggest threat to Byrd this spring, did his work in a Minor League game. Batting leadoff in every inning, Jones went 2-for-5 with a double, a walk and a stolen base. He is hitting .258 with 14 strikeouts in 31 at-bats in Cactus League games, and his once-great defensive ability has not shown up in the field.
Technically, the Rangers have to decide by Friday if they’ll put him on the Major League roster, but it seems quite clear they have no interest in doing that.
STORY THAT MAY INTEREST ONLY ME
I am currently working my way thrrough the new Tom Verducci-Joe Torre book “The Yankee Years” and it is a great book that examines baseball during Torre’s 12 years with the Yankees.
One of the key early figures early in the book is former MLB pitcher Rick Helling, who repeatedly stood up at union meetings and said the steroid issue needed to be addressed, to which he was mostly ignored.
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The saga of Andruw Jones is almost laughable. After batting .222 for Atlanta, he and his agent (I’m guessing Borass) swindled the Dodgers into a two year deal paying this guy $18-mil a season!!! How stupid would ANY front office exec have to be to agree to such a contract?? L.A. got exactly what it deserved for being so shortsighted and gullible: a totally worthless hunk of fat outfielder, a strikeout machine, and a $36-million dollar tab for a loser they couldn’t WAIT to ship outta town.