This game brings us to a recent vintage path in spring training; one that has been previously traveled by C.J. Wilson & Alexi Ogando. Neftali Feliz’s first start of the spring. I didn’t get to see any of it, as I was occupied with some matters about my son at the time. Looking back at it, I certainly didn’t miss a lot. Feliz was rocked in the first inning. Actually, it wasn’t that prolonged of a pain. There was a five pitch single to Brent Morel, there was a three pitch double to Dayan Viciedo, and finally the three run home run to Adam Dunn, which was described as a “titanic” shot. Feliz was down 3-0 after a 13 pitch span there.
He bounced back and got a shutdown second inning, but that’s all he threw. The three run inning isn’t great at all, but in the grand scheme of things probably isn’t a reason to panic. Not yet, anyway. He was followed by our only left hander in the pen it would seem, Michael Kirkman. He wasn’t any better. He pitched two as well, and gave up another three runs, although not at the same time. One in the third, and two in the fourth. He also threw 35 pitches, which was one less than Feliz’ 36. Kirkman also allowed a home run too. These guys weren’t terribly good at all.
However, the crew that followed them was. The remaining five innings were scoreless, as well as hitless. Not perfect though, as both Neil Cotts & Mark Lowe both issued two walks. But no runs and no hits. Most of this group of five relievers are ones we will see on the 25 man roster, either when we break or later. They were Neil Cotts, Joe Beimel, Joe Nathan, Yoshi Tateyama, & Mark Lowe. It was good job keeping the White Sox off the board after the first four innings.
It did allow us to start playing the peck away theory, but we ran out of innings. We put up a single run in the fourth, eighth, & ninth. But that was it. Ran out of time. Three doubles, and six singles were it. The fourth was our best chance, as we loaded the bases, but only came away with one run. Those are frustrating for sure.
Oh well. Spring training is a time when I miss a lot of games due to it being radio, and I can’t time shift. This was one of them. Need another week to pass or so, so some of them show up on TV. :)