After back and neck injuries, Dice-K is finally making his first Spring appearance against the Florida Marlins. The Marlins are traveling to City of Palms Park this afternoon at 1:05pm to face the Red Sox in their final Spring match-up. Tim Wakefield will start this afternoon after an impressive 5 inning shutout on Saturday, as the Red Sox blanked the Baltimore Orioles 6-0.
Wakefield is still pitching quickly and efficiently as he enters his 18th season as a major league pitcher and 16th season as a member of the Red Sox. After many questions about the starting rotation this off-season, Wake finds himself in a familiar role as the 5th starter thanks to Dice-K’s health troubles. It is a luxury for the Sox to have 6 high quality starters at their disposal, so with an injury, they hopefully won’t miss a beat.
Today’s lineup features 7 of the 9 opening day starters for the Sox. Mike Cameron and Dustin Pedroia are resting today as Jeremy Hermida and Bill Hall take their place. Hall hit his first Spring home run yesterday, along with Victor Martinez, as they are both hoping to come down the home stretch of Spring Training with some momentum. The Marlins starter, Chris Volstad, is a young talent looking to improve from his 2009 campaign. Volstad finished with a 9-13 record in 2009, an era of 5.21 and allowed 29 home runs in just 159 innings.
After today’s game, the Sox only have 9 remaining Spring Training games, and one will be held in Washington, DC against the Nationals. This final stretch will be a chance for starting pitchers to expand their pitch counts and hitters to get into a grove at the plate.
Today’s Lineups – 1:05pm at City of Palms Park (lineups courtesy of Boston.com)
Red Sox (10-12)
Ellsbury CF
Scutaro SS
Martinez C
Youkilis 1B
Ortiz DH
Drew RF
Beltre 3B
Hermida LF
Hall 2B
Pitching: RHP Tim Wakefield followed by RHP Daisuke Matsuzaka.
Marlins (11-10)
Coghlan LF
Maybin CF
Uggla 2B
Cantu 3B
Baker C
Lamb DH
Helms 1B
Petersen RF
Barden SS
Pitching: RHP Chris Volstad followed by RHP Rick VandenHurk and RHP Chris Leroux.
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