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Starting rotation
Left-hander Wei-Yin Chen (pictured) was on his way to his second strong performance in a row when he grabbed at his side and exited Sunday's game with a right oblique strain. That's very bad news for a team that already has called on four Triple-A starters to fill in the fifth slot in the rotation and replace injured Miguel Gonzalez. It was a tough week already, after so-so outings by Jason Hammel, Freddy Garcia and Steve Johnson, and that was reflected in the combined numbers. The rotation posted a 2-2 record with a 6.03 ERA and averaged just five innings per start. Even though the team managed to go 4-2 in those games, this is starting to get scary.
Grade: D (Hannah Foslien / Getty Images /May 12, 2013)
Left-hander Wei-Yin Chen (pictured) was on his way to his second strong performance in a row when he grabbed at his side and exited Sunday's game with a right oblique strain. That's very bad news for a team that already has called on four Triple-A starters to fill in the fifth slot in the rotation and replace injured Miguel Gonzalez. It was a tough week already, after so-so outings by Jason Hammel, Freddy Garcia and Steve Johnson, and that was reflected in the combined numbers. The rotation posted a 2-2 record with a 6.03 ERA and averaged just five innings per start. Even though the team managed to go 4-2 in those games, this is starting to get scary.
Grade: D (Hannah Foslien / Getty Images /May 12, 2013)
Isn’t this supposed to be South Florida? The temperature at the Ed Smith Stadium Complex on Monday morning was 36 degrees, which apparently is not far from being a record low for this time of year.
Not expecting much sympathy from the great white Mid-Atlantic area, but there’s a reason why people come down here this time of year and it’s not to strike the layered look on Siesta Beach. Temperatures are expected to rise throughout the week and eventually reach my preferred personal comfort level, at which time all will again be right with the world.
In the meantime, it’s fair to continue to debate whether these unusually low temperatures are the result of global warming, er, climate change or just the natural fluctuations that occur from year to year. I’ll go with the natural fluctuation theory, since I’ve seen cold snaps like this down here several times over my 34 spring trainings.
