Mrs. October is organizing her baseball scrapbooks, some 95 in all, and sent this card from a game in 1988. It arrived the afternoon of this year's first spring training game.The best news so far from Clearwater is that the competition for #5 is in full swing. Yesterday it was my fave, Carlos Carrasco, who started the game against the Blue Jays. I stopped in the middle of a deadline to follow his two innings via gameday. He was superb, striking out three and giving up nothing. He did, however, get some sterling help from the newly-acquired John Mayberry, who made a leaping snag of a ball in the outfield.
J.A. Happ followed and also did well. As with Wednesday's game, the lesser-knowns then came in and let things get out of hand. It's easy to root for all four guys in this race. Kendrick of course gets cheers and so does Chan Ho Park, whom I don't really know, for his intense dedication.
Both Jamie Moyer and the slimmed-down Joe Blanton looked sharp in their starts on Wednesday.
Carlos Ruiz signed a split deal, which means that everyone is now accounted for. This morning's big news was the release of Adam Eaton, who may have much to ponder or may just go away and enjoy his wealth.
