» Spring Training

There were three things that made me happy today. The first was the progress Lowell is making in returning from his hip injury. The second was Clay Bucholz’s three perfect innings. The third one was Tim Thomas having to play with Manny Fernandez’s mask for a few minutes of the Bruins game, but that one was more a comedic thrill than anything.

Lowell DHed in the game, going 1 for 3 with a single in his last at-bat. Bucholz threw three innings without allowing a base runner while striking out two. Papelbon threw a scoreless fourth inning. The Orioles struck for runs late in the game, topping the Red Sox 5-1.

The Red Sox’ spring struggles continue, but with so many players out with either injury or playing in the WBC, this shouldn’t be a sign of things to come.

The Red Sox have a day off on Wednesday then they play the Cardinals at 1:05 on Thursday. Josh Beckett will be on the mound for the Sox.

A depleted Red Sox team came into Sunday afternoon’s game vs Tampa at just 3-6 in Grapefruit League play.

A team missing stars Youkilis, Pedroia (USA) Bay (Canada) Ortiz (Dominican) and Matsuzaka (Japan) to the World Baseball Classic has been crushed 15-7 and 12-4 previously against the Rays. Today was a much different story though, as they struck early and often en route to an 8-2 victory.

Julio Lugo helped his cause by going 3 for 3 with 2 RBIs and a walk and Justin Masterson pitched three scoreless innings. Jonathan Papelbon gave up two hits in his inning of work but struck out the side.

It was great to see Lugo succeed, even if it was only a Spring game. I was able to catch parts of the game from a suite at TD Banknorth Garden so I couldn’t watch the whole thing, but I did watch a good chunk of the game while the Celtics were struggling. Once the C’s started making a huge run I lost interist though, so I never even glanced at the TV from the 5th inning on. As I said in an earlier post, I expect Lugo to have a better year and he certainly showed a glimpse of that today.

Jon Lester will make the start against the Pirates tomorrow against the Pirates in what may be his last game before he signs a five-year contract extension.

The last time I blogged about the Rockies they were 0 & 7, now a week later the Rockies have managed to find life as they broke their winless streak on Fri beating the San Deigo Padres 13 to 11 — ‘course they lost their Exhibition game vs Vinny Castilla’s Mexico team the previous day — but still, they won Fri & Saturday’s game vs the Giants 9 to 7; it was Deja-vu again today as the Rox played the Padres & won 4 to 2. Great news about that game is Todd Helton homered!

Before Fri’s game vs the Padres, Rockies manager Clint Hurdle told reporters that Cookie (Aaron Cook) will be the starting pitcher when the Rockies open the season vs the DBacks in Chase Field on April 6th & Uball (Ubaldo Jimenez) will start game 2 vs the Dbacks.

Welll, the Mets didnt quite have enough to pull this out out, but hey it is Spring Training after all…

In truth, it is the individual performances I most closely observe in this time of the season (as many do). Today I was very impressed with the young pitcher Gee.

On his way to Minors camp, Dillon Gee turned in two hitless innings Saturday, though the Mets lost, 7-5, to the Nats. Daniel Murphy had two hits and two walks.

Also worth noting, Murhpy contributed two hits and two walks.

METS 5, CARDINALS 4

Luis Castillio, Jose Valentin, Murphy, and Marlon Anderson all had an excellent game. Valentin had three base hits and scored on two occasions. Murphy slammed a triple which drove in two in the fifth inning, and Marlon Anderson capped it off in the 9′th with a game winning single. Overall I am very, very pleased to see Valentin and Anderson hitting. These two will play crucial backup and supporting roles throughout the long season in 2009.

As for pitching, Niese had a strong first, but stumbled in the second. Antonini pitched two strong, only allowing 1 hit and no runs. Finally Duaner did walk 2 batters but no runs came as a result.

Up next: The Mets return home on Saturday for a game against the Nationals. Scott Olsen pitches for Washington against Dillon Gee at 1:10 p.m. ET. It’s the first of a home-and-home between the National League East rivals.

Mets at the plate: Singles by shortstop Jose Coronado and Marlon Anderson, playing left, and a triple by Jeremy Reed were the Mets’ only hits in the first four innings. However, in the ninth inning, Cory Sullivan belted a two-run homer to tie the ballgame, pinch-hitter Daniel Murphy collected a single and Reed won it by doubling home Murphy.

Mets on the mound: John Maine walked his first three batters and allowed two hits in the second inning, but escaped from his second appearance of the spring without allowing any runs. He was quite displeased with his performance. Team Italy scored twice in the third against Brian Stokes. Both Maine and Stokes were assisted by their outfielders, as Italian runners were thrown out in the second and third innings by Anderson and Reed, respectively.

Up next: Jonathon Niese makes his second appearance of the spring on Friday when he starts against the Cardinals in Jupiter, Fla., at 1:05 p.m. ET.

Well, looks like the Mets Ace is making some progress….he threw 10 more pitches than last time out, and said he felt pretty good. I like the odds of seeing this fierce competitor out there for the opening day festivities.

After throwing 46 pitches in his seventh bullpen session of the spring and speaking with his pitching coach and a member of the media relations department, Johan Santana said on Wednesday he is making progress and that his objective is to start the Mets’ Opening Day game on April 6.

In saying so, Santana added a degree of certainty to a scenario that has been quite lacking in that regard. Pitching coach Dan Warthen, who had interjected some doubt into the Opening Day scenario, was pleased by what he saw in the morning session — the Mets’ primary starter throwing breaking balls as well as fastballs and changeups — and said, “I have no problem modifying the schedule.”

Ok, so the Mets’ bid for a perfect ST has gone down the toilet, but hey, their bats certainly werent the problem!

On offense, we got to see Bobby Kietly’s first home run of the spring, a three run blast. Church, Rivera, Beltran, and Delgado also contributed to the hit parade.

On the mound: Livan Hernandez made his exhibition-game debut with two scoreless innings and appeared to be quite effective. His primary competition for the No. 5 spot in the rotation, Freddy Garcia, was not at all effective. He walked three, allowed two hits and four runs — two earned — in two-thirds of an inning. \

Overall, in the first three games, we have seen more than 20 runs total out of the Mets, and we are seeing some other promising things as well. Livon is certainly making his bid for the No. 5 spot in the rotation, and I would love to see him eat some innings for the Mets all season long.

Coming next, the Mets take on the Tigers, where Niese and Parnell will show us what they’ve got. Let’s Go Mets!

Does it get better than being a sports fan in Boston? No, I don’t think it does, but that’s just one blogger’s opinion.

The Bruins scored six goals each in their previous to blowouts, the Celtics play their first game with Stephon Marbury tonight, and of course, baseball is finally back after the Red Sox began Spring Training games on Wednesday.

The Red Sox are now 0-3 in Grapefruit League play, after losing to the defening AL Champions the Tampa Bay Rays 12-4. The Rays struck early, leading 10-0 in the 5th inning. The Sox then got their only four runs, one of which was knocked in by former Ray Rocco Baldelli in his first hit of the Spring.

The Red Sox have a split squad tomorrow, playing Northeastern University in the afternoon then the Cincinnati Reds in the nightcap.