Duty, honor and curveballsPEORIA, Ariz. – Marine Cpl. Cooper Brannan is making the surreal transition from the battlefields of Iraq to the ballfields of Arizona.
Lester returns, throws perfect inning (AP)Jon Lester pitched in his first game Monday since his last cancer treatment just 2 1/2 months ago. His mechanics were good and his command was outstanding as the Boston Red Sox left-hander retired all three batters he faced on grounders. “It’s great. Just to get back and be normal again is awesome, just to get back on the mound and throw the baseball and not worry about other things,” the…
Piniella calls meeting for winless Cubs (AP)Lou Piniella had seen just four, winless exhibition games and had been managing his latest challenge for just three weeks. But that glimpse was disturbing enough for Piniella to demand during a team meeting Monday morning that his Chicago Cubs change their play immediately. “We got into it a bit,” Piniella said upon arriving at the Peoria Sports Complex for an exhibition game against Seattle.
Cubs’ Prior struggles in short outing (AP)Mark Prior’s return didn’t answer as many questions as it created. Prior, who missed most of all last season with injuries, started and allowed three earned runs in got just four outs before Chicago manager Lou Piniella pulled his expected ace from Monday’s exhibition game against the Seattle Mariners.
Indians’ Westbrook solid against Mets (AP)Jake Westbrook thought the New York Mets would rest some of their regulars. “I was watching them take infield and I was like, `Surely, that’s just guys taking infield,”‘ Westbrook said. “That’s not really a Day 4 spring training lineup.” Westbrook pitched two shutout innings against the Mets’ projected starters, and Jhonny Peralta had two hits and two RBIs Monday to lead the Cleveland Indians over…
Loewen strikes out five, O’s win again (AP)Adam Loewen was intent upon throwing strikes in his first spring training game. The Baltimore Orioles left-hander also decided to experiment with a different curveball. He was successful at both. Loewen struck out five over two scoreless innings Monday, and the Orioles beat the Florida Marlins 5-3 for their fourth straight victory.
Sosa hits first homer of spring (AP)Sammy Sosa hit his first home run of spring training and the Texas Rangers beat the Kansas City Royals 5-0 on Sunday. Sosa, who has 588 career homers, drove a 1-1 pitch from Luke Hudson over the left-center fence to lead off the second inning. It was Sosa’s first home run since Aug. 4, 2005, when he was with the Baltimore Orioles.
