Posted 2:12 PM by Sean
Okay, I'm back.

The Angels lost to the Cubs yesterday, 5-4. Ah, spring training, where the box scores look like roster sheets; the Angels used 25 men in yesterday's game, while the Cubs used only 23.

Spring training has been something of a disappointment so far - Anaheim is only 1-4 - but it's hard to get worked up about it this early. I never quite know what to make of a team's spring training record. I know that it often does correlate to how well they do during the season, but then you see something like yesterday's game, when the winning run was scored long after most of the regulars had been pulled, and you think "now, what does that really prove, other than that maybe Matt Wise won't get the fifth starter slot?"

Wise, of course, is considered a long-shot for that slot, which opened up when Aaron Sele had surgery that will delay his 2003 debut until June or so. The other candidates are Scott Schoeneweis and Mickey Callaway. Schoeneweis isn't going to get it, since he's the only lefty option they have coming out of the bullpen, so it'll be Callaway - which is fine, since he pitched pretty well when he was called up during the last half of 2002.

In other news, the traditional parade of spring injuries is progressing nicely. Jarrod Washburn is out for ten days or so with a sprained left shoulder, which may prevent him from starting the opener on March 30. Tim Salmon and Darin Erstad are both recovering from surgery, but should be back in a week or so. And war in Iraq might get the Angels' honorary trip as World Series champs to the White House cancelled. But that's the sweetest plum!