The Phillies are in town today. Joe Ross will get the start for them, while the Jays will turn to Jose Berrios. It’s both pitchers’ first turn of the spring. Also making his spring debut today is George Springer, who’s healthy but hasn’t appeared in the first three games.
Phillies lineup:
- Trea Turner, SS
- Kyles Schwarber, DH
- Bryce Harper, 1B
- Alec Bohm, 3B
- Bryson Stott, 2B
- J.T. Realmuto, C
- Max Kepler, LF
- Gabriel Rincones jr., LF
- Oscar Mercado, CF
Blue Jays lineup:
- Andres Gimenez, 2B
- Bo Bichette, SS
- Vladimir Guerrero jr., 1B
- George Springer, RF
- Alejandro Kirk, C
- Alan Roden, LF
- Ernie Clement, 3B
- Tyler Heineman, C
- Myles Straw, CF
Go Jays Go!
The News:
It remains an extremely slow week for news. We did get confirmation yesterday that Joey Loperfido is alright after colliding awkwardly with the wall in the first inning and having to leave the game. John Schneider reported that his neck is sore but that he passed a concussion test with no symptoms. That’s important news, as Loperfido is probably a front runner to start the season in centre field as Daulton Varsho finishes up his rehab for shoulder surgery. Hopefully his neck loosens up soon and he’s back in games in a few days.
Max Scherzer isn’t particularly a fan of tue ABS system:
Which is fair, although it’s also fair to note that he’d just lost a challenge on a curveball that turned out to be several inches low. And it’s not as if the balls changed to strikes and vice versa are going to be random, so it won’t necessarily even out. Still, I understand just wanting to let humans handle it. That’s worked fine for 150 years, and while we all complain about calls it’s uncommon for mistakes to be egregious or particularly important to the outcome.
Personally, as we talked about the other day, I’m fine with either the challenge system or no ABS. I like framing as a skill that’s part of the game, and I don’t want to slow the pace of play down. A slim plurality of readers preferred full automated zones, though. I don’t think that’d be awful, but I don’t think it’d make the game meaningfully better either.
Scherzer also mentioned that he and Kirk are still working on getting on the same page about calling the game and receiving pitches. Not surprising, as they’ve only known each other for a couple of weeks. Kirk’s a great defender, but throwing to him is probably pretty different than throwing to much bigger guys like James McCann or Yan Gomes, as Scherzer did in Washington and New York the past few seasons. The two of them should find a rapport over the next few weeks.