Herb G - Dan Warthen, The Lefties, Byrd and Cowgill Making a Statement, The Atchison - Parnell Express

I had an opportunity to chat briefly with Dan Warthen prior to yesterday’s game with the Tigers. When I mentioned that I was pleasantly surprised that Sandy had signed several veterans to minor league deals with invites to spring training, he commented that he did have a number of good options at this point. He chuckled when I said that if some of them pitched as well as they had in prior years, we might have a lock down bull pen. “Lock down is a pretty strong description” he said, “but you’ll be surprised at how much better we are this year.”

Earlier, Ricky Bones had told me that Pedro Feliciano had been throwing in the morning, that he looked OK and he thought Pedro would be ready to compete for a spot shortly. So I asked Warthen, given the fact that Laffey and Rice were looking good in the early going and that Feliciano seemed to be getting ready to compete, and Carson and Gorski probably couldn’t be counted out, was there a possibility that the team might wind up with more than 2 lefties in the pen this year. He said there was a definite possibility that they might take 3 lefties north with the team at the end of spring training, since it was likely that they would leave their fifth starter down in Florida. That could give them the ability to start the season with 8 relievers in the pen. He then hedged his bets, saying that “on the other hand they could also decide to go with an additional position player to give them more options on the bench. That would be Terry’s decision“, he said.

During the game, Collin Cowgill and Marlon Byrd continued to make their case for a spot on the opening day roster. After flying out to deep center field against Verlander, Byrd singled home a run in the fourth, and then doubled sharply down the left field line to lead off the sixth. Cowgill picked up his assault with a double to lead off the seventh, bringing his avg. for the spring to .538 and his SLG to an even 1.000. Jordany Valdespin continued to impress as well, with a well stroked single and a stolen base in the leadoff spot. I must admit that Spin looked totally outclassed against Verlander, striking out weakly on a checked swing. But then again, who didn‘t? This early in the spring, I have to say that an outfield of Byrd-Cowgill-Valdespin doesn’t look half bad, but then again it is this early in the spring. There is a chance, however, that all three could make the opening day roster, if, as Warthen previously conjectured, Terry opts to bring a six man bench up north.

On the mound, although he gave up 3 hits, Jon Niese looked impressive. A pickoff after giving up a hit to start the game, a ground ball double play after a leadoff single in the third, 3 strikeouts and four ground ball outs for the lefty. Jeurys Familia followed Niese with a solid inning, striking out two while displaying the command that had been lacking in his recent performances. On the other hand, Aaron Laffey took a step backward, giving up two hits (with a double play in between) in his first inning of work, and then getting himself into jam after getting two quick outs in the seventh. A single, a balk, a walk, and a third strike wild pitch loaded the bases for Laffey. Luckily, Scott Atchison picked him up, coming in to promptly get former Met farmhand Matt Tuiasosopo to fly out. Atchison followed that up with a perfect eighth inning, getting a strikeout and two groundouts. Atchison is picking up where he left off last year, and we could see him at Citifield this year, setting up in the eighth inning, for Bobby Parnell to pitch the ninth. Thus far this spring, in 3.1 innings, Atchison has an ERA of 0.00, a BAA of .000 and a WHIP of 0.00. Impressive? A cool Parnell also looked impressive, pitching the ninth and getting 3 consecutive ground outs. When a youngster asked Parnell in the bull pen before the game if he was the closer this year, Bobby replied “Yes, I am.” He certainly looked the part yesterday.