SCOTTSDALE -- As Giants manager Bruce Bochy ducked into his daily meeting with coaches this morning, he confirmed that Sergio Romo's 26-pitch outing for Team Mexico in the World Baseball Classic on Thursday night would be a topic of discussion.
Romo was charged with a blown save in Mexico's 6-5 loss to Italy after allowing two runs on three hits in the top of the ninth. Romo, though, did not reach the 30-pitch benchmark that requires WBC managers to rest a pitcher for at least a day. So ostensibly the Giants closer could be summoned again tonight against Team USA at Chase Field in Phoenix.
That would be a lot of work for this early in spring. Bochy later said the Giants were trying to get in contact with Romo to see how he came out of Thursday night's outing, but hadn't touched base with him yet.
Meanwhile, at Scottsdale Stadium, the tarp has gone back onto the infield as of about 20 minutes ago, when a light rain started to fall. Before that the sun was out and most of the sky overhead was blue. It did rain overnight and the outfield is still soggy. Playing catch this morning on the grass, infielder Kensuke Tanaka slipped on a throw and had to catch himself with his glove hand, then wring water out of his glove.
There have been no announcements about a delay or cancellation for this afternoon's scheduled game between the Giants and Dodgers, though, and fans are in the stadium -- including a few in Dodger blue down the third-base line. The Giants have also put out lineup cards for today, which read as follows:
Dodgers
1B Hairston
2B Ellis
CF Kemp
RF Ethier
3B Uribe
DH Puig
LF Castellanos
C Ellis
SS Sellers
P Lilly
Giants
CF Blanco
3B Arias
RF Pence
C Posey
1B Belt
LF Peguero
DH Gillespie
SS Crawford
2B Valdez
P Zito
Assuming this game gets played, Javier Lopez is scheduled to pitch today for the first time this spring. Lopez has been recovering from a bruise on the back of his left hand.
The Giants also made a round of roster moves this morning. RHP Fabio Castillo, RHP Edward Concepcion, RHP Justin Fitzgerald, LHP Josh Osich, IF Joe Panik, C Andrew Susac (Jesuit High School) and RHP Jose Valdez were assigned to minor-league camp. All were non-roster invitees. Infielder Angel Villalona, who is on the 40-man roster, was optioned to the High-A San Jose roster.
As he cleaned out his locker Friday morning, Susac said one positive of the move will be more regular playing time and more at-bats in minor-league camp to better prepare for the upcoming season.
-- Matt Kawahara
Matt Kawahara was born in Sacramento and attended McClatchy High School and UC Berkeley, where he wrote for the independent student paper The Daily Californian. He graduated from Cal in 2010 and started at The Sacramento Bee as a summer intern. He joined The Bee’s sports staff in fall 2011.
About Comments
Reader comments on Sacbee.com are the opinions of the writer, not The Sacramento Bee. If you see an objectionable comment, click the "report abuse" button below it. We will delete comments containing inappropriate links, obscenities, hate speech, and personal attacks. Flagrant or repeat violators will be banned. See more about comments here.