Blogs

BRADENTON, Fla. — Ramon Vazquez will get his first start in the infield this afternoon against the Phillies. There’s been speculation the Rangers, who recently voided infielder Khalil Greene’s contract, might be interested in trading for Vazquez, who played for them from 2007-08.
Lineups for today’s game:
Phillies: 1. Dewayne Wise cf, 2. Greg Dobbs 3b, [...]

Joe Starkey and I already have mentioned what a refreshing, glad-to-be-here guy Tony Sanchez is. Tonight, Sanchez got into his first spring training game and had quite a debut.

SARASOTA, Fla. — Daniel McCutchen’s first outing of the spring tonight went well: two innings, three hits, one run.
“It’s good to get my feet wet,” McCutchen said. “I just wanted to throw strikes, not walk anybody and see how my pitches felt.”
McCutchen was pleased with his two-seam fastball, which he said showed more life [...]

Octavio Dotel (strained oblique) doesn’t expect to throw off a mound until sometime next week, putting him three weeks behind his normal spring training schedule. At that pace, Dotel, who prefers to pitch 10-15 innings in spring games, might not be ready for the start of the regular season.

ORLANDO — When you come to Disney-town, you expect to wait in line. You wait 30 minutes to take a two-minute spin on Space Mountain. You wait 90 minutes to get a table at the German beer hall in Epcot. You wait two hours for your kids to get Mickey’s autograph.
So, I guess it [...]

ORLANDO — Braves outfielder Nate McLouth had a few pointed things to say this afternoon about being traded away from the Pirates last season and the seemingly endless rebuilding process in Pittsburgh.  Some quick samples:

• “It feels good to be in an organization this year (Atlanta) that’s going to be in a playoff hunt and [...]

A year ago, Ross Ohlendorf was a newbie in the Pirates’ clubhouse, hoping to earn a spot in the starting rotation. He went into spring training this year with a job already locked up.

TAMPA — Hoping to make a good impression on management this spring, catcher Erik Kratz is off to a good start.
This afternoon, Kratz ripped a two-run double in the seventh inning of the 6-3 loss against the New York Yankees. He alertly went to third on an errant relay throw and scored the tying [...]

TAMPA — Aki Iwamura is making his Pirates debut today. Just a few minutes ago, in his first at-bat with Andrew McCutchen at second base, Iwamura fouled off a bunch of pitches from Chad Gaudin, then grounded out.
Manager John Russell plans to go slowly with most of his veterans, at least for the first [...]

The Pirates will field their likely Opening Day lineup (with the exception of the designated hitter spot) in today’s spring training game against the Yankees. It’s drizzling at Steinbrenner Field, but the game is expected to go on as scheduled.