Spring Training Miscellany: Angels 3, Cubs 3 – March 31, 2012

The Chicago Cubs tied the Angels today, which is a part of the beauty of Spring Training. With no meaningless win or loss to belabor, we go straight to the bits…

  • Paul Maholm went 4.2 innings in his final Spring tuneup, and the only damage he yielded was a two-run homer to Albert Pujols, which, like, who cares. Maholm gave up two other hits, a walk, and struck out six. He also had a throwing error, which I believe makes seven for pitchers this Spring. That’s not so good.
  • Kerry Wood once again faced a batter. Just one. Expected other members of the pen Carlos Marmol, James Russell, and Rafael Dolis each threw a scoreless frame.
  • Darwin Barney, who is the primary backup at shortstop given the expected configuration of the roster, had a rough day. Not only did he have just one hit in five at bats, but he made his third error of the Spring (something that has happened before in his limited time at short this Spring). I’ve never been crazy about having the starting second baseman be the back up at short, but no better option emerged in (or was brought into) Spring Training.
  • Bryan LaHair was a late scratch today, for reasons not yet entirely clear. Blake DeWitt replaced him, and was hitless in four at bats.
  • Happy benchmates Joe Mather and Steve Clevenger had a hit apiece. Neither came with runners in scoring position, though, as the Cubs went 0-7 in that situation on the day.
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    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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