I'm not real wild about these Spring Training night games. Spring Training's supposed to ease us back into the routine by having games every day that're over by 4. But while the M's play at 7:05 tonight and 6:05 tomorrow, at least those games are started by Michael Pineda and Felix Hernandez, who're as capable of holding one's interest as anybody.
Lineups!
| Ichiro, RF | Weeks, 2B | |
| Figgins, 3B | Betancourt, SS | |
| Bradley, LF | Braun, LF | |
| Cust, DH | McGehee, 3B | |
| Smoak, 1B | Almonte, 1B | |
| Gutierrez, CF | Kottaras, C | |
| Ja Wilson, 2B | Boggs, CF | |
| Ryan, SS | Gamel, DH | |
| Bard, C | Cruz, RF | |
| Pineda, SP | Gallardo, SP |
The M's are running with what may very well turn out to be their Opening Day lineup. The Brewers are not. Although I can totally see Ron Roenicke batting Yuniesky Betancourt #2 during the season, because Yuniesky Betancourt makes contact with the ball, and Ron Roenicke is a manager. Baseball men are interesting, and sometimes in the way that the primitive tools of neanderthals are interesting.
Available to pitch behind Pineda will be Tom Wilhelmsen, Brandon League, Jamey Wright, Chris Ray, Fabio Castro, and Chris Smith. Chris Smith is probably the perfect member of the pile to occupy that last-on-the-list position for right now. Available to pitch behind Gallardo is an assortment of pitchers we'll be way more likely to hit.
Remember that the game's on 710 and ROOT Sports tonight. Here's your Gameday link. Prince Fielder isn't in the Milwaukee lineup, but there are three consecutive lefties there towards the bottom, so Pineda will have his work cut out for him. Here's to four or five innings of awesome.