Spring Training Miscellany: Cubs 7, Rangers 8 – March 3, 2011

Hey, at least the game was moderately competitive and the Cubs made a Spring Training best 1(!) error. Baby steps.

  • Blake DeWitt, whom the Cubs would probably like to see succeed in the leadoff role (because it allows Kosuke Fukudome to ride the pine more often, opening up more starts for Tyler Colvin), went 2-3 in the spot.
  • Augie Ojeda and Darwin Barney continue their evenly-matched duel (well, even in every sense except one is a washed-up veteran and the other is a promising young utility player) to win the backup shortstop job; each had a double in two at bats. Augie had a couple RBI and a run scored, though.
  • Brett Jackson remains hitless in his quest to be the next Tyler Colvin.
  • Braden Looper gave up a couple hits and a run in two innings of work – his first since 2009. He remains an extreme longshot to make the team.
  • Thomas Diamond – hey, remember him? – struggled in his inning, giving up two hits, a walk, and two earned runs.
  • Starlin Castro didn’t play, as he was taking the game off to work on his defense. Which is good because the last thing the Cubs do during a game is play defense. Sa-nap.
  • written by

    Brett Taylor is the Lead Cubs Writer at Bleacher Nation, and you can find him on Twitter at @BleacherNation and on LinkedIn here. Brett is also the founder of Bleacher Nation, which opened up shop in 2008 as an independent blog about the Chicago Cubs. Later growing to incorporate coverage of other Chicago sports, Bleacher Nation is now one of the largest regional sports blogs on the web.

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