Crawnik Spring Training Report!

Greetings from sunny Scottsdale. First, I want to thank Lefty for putting together a Messenger group page so that myself and Rob Deer could chat so we could find each other at the game. Once we did, it was a pleasure to meet The Deer (aka Kevin. Sorry Kevin, I hope it’s okay I used your first name). Really nice guy and funny too. Apparently, there were a few people sitting behind us that know Rob from a while back. I’ll let him elaborate on that if he wants to.

Anyway, the game. Johnny Cueto looked good, not great in his final Cactus League tuneup. I assume he will shimmy against the RiverCats on Saturday. Yonder Alonso owes Johnny; that’s all I’ll say about that. From my perspective, I think the home plate umpire may have been squeezing the strike zone on Cueto just a bit. I didn’t see Johnny or Buster question the ump, but I think there was a questionable pitch or two. Oh well.

Steven. Effin’. Duggar. Yes, while watching the game and checking my phone, I noticed that the Giants made more cuts. Mac and Slater were optioned to Sacramento. Now, I know a few of you on TWG were thinking that Mac would/should make the team based on his performance this spring. I was one of those who said he would not make the cut, according to my MyGuy predictions from February 25th, but Duggar would make the team. After making two great catches in centerfield and a great swing for a base hit to right, Duggar is just impressing me more and more everyday. The way I see it? Pence, Jackson, Cutch as the starters. White Shark makes it as the #4 OF and Duggar as the #5. Gorkys and Parker will get DFA’d.

During the 4th and 5th innings, myself and Mrs. Crawnik got out of our seats to walk around a bit. We did meet up with a very good friend of mine that I’ve known for over 30 years and served along side him during Operation Desert Storm and was my best man at my wedding. He was here with his daughter, so yes, I did miss Cueto serving up Alonso homer number two and missed Watson’s appearance. Melancon, however, did look good. It’s a progression, right?

Unfortunately, we left during the bottom of the seventh inning. Many changes on the field were taking place and we had to get back to our room so we could order and print our tickets for last night’s hockey game, which was on the other side of the valley in Glendale. It took us over an hour to get there.  A cardinal sin for leaving a game early. I know.

In closing, I want to thank my wife, Mrs. Crawnik, for the outstanding pictures she took during the game. She is a pro at this. We will more than likely put together a Spring Training photo album together when we get home.

Our next game is Wednesday night at Salt River Fields at Talking Stick against the Diamondbacks. I am guessing Blach and Stratton will both pitch in that game since they pitched on the same day this past Saturday. Temps are supposed to be heating up mid-week. 84 on Wednesday and 93 on Thursday. Please keep in mind since it is a night game tomorrow and we leave for the Grand Canyon Thursday morning for a day trip, I may not be able to post a Game 2 story. Perhaps during the game.

Thank you all for being patient with me during our vacation and thank you Rob Deer for the warm greetings. TWG is quite the family.