Tim Lincecum has had a tough time staying healthy. (Ed Szczepanski-USA TODAY Sports)
TEMPE, Ariz. — Take a spin around the Cactus League with “Three Up, Three Down,” an inside look at what is coming up and what went down on Thursday.
THREE UP
1.Hall of Fame reliever Goose Gossage called out Toronto Blue Jays slugger Jose Bautista, blasted “nerds” for turning baseball into a “joke” and also took a few shots at a couple of active Cactus League ballplayers during a 10-minute interview with ESPN on Thursday. Here’s a couple of samples:
“A bunch of (expletives) nerds running the game. You can’t side into second base. You can’t take out the (expletive) catcher because (Buster) Posey was in the wrong position and they are going to change all the rules. You can’t pitch inside anymore. I’d like to knock some of those (expletives) on their ass and see how they would do against pitchers in the old days.
“Ryan Braun is a (expletive) steroid user. He gets a standing ovation on Opening Day in Milwaukee. How do you explain to your kid after throwing people under the bus and lying through his (expletive) teeth? They don’t have anyone passing the (expletive) torch to these people. If I had acted like that, you don’t go in that (expletive) dugout. There are going to be 20 (expletive) guys waiting for you.”
2. Former San Francisco Giants ace Tim Lincecum, a two-time Cy Young Award winner, is throwing at a private location in Arizona in hopes of hooking up with a team once the free agent is fully recovered from hip surgery. He expects to throw for teams soon. But not just yet and, according to a report, some scouts for the Royals had to be escorted away when they learned where Lincecum was throwing upon their arrival at the secret spot.
3. Keep an eye on the Cleveland Indians’ Tom Gorzelanny, one of five lefties in camp this spring trying to win a bullpen job. In three scoreless innings, he has yet to allow a walk or a hit. He changed his arm angle last year while making 48 appearances with the Tigers, and the Indians believe it gave him better results against lefties.
“He did it in Triple-A and was still fine-tuning it in the big leagues,” manager Terry Francona said. “It was noticeable to us that there was something to like there. He’s getting more comfortable with it.”
THREE DOWN
1.Los Angeles Angels starter Jered Weaver arrived at the team’s Tempe, Ariz., facility on Thursday morning reporting tightness in his neck and was immediately sent for a precautionary MRI. Weaver struggled on the mound a day earlier during a 13-13 tie with the Dodgers, allowing three home runs and watching his fastball top out at 81 mph.
The Angels’ rotation is already under some duress, with Tyler Skaggs expected to begin the season on the disabled list as he rehabs from another Tommy John surgery and Andrew Heaney having his first start skipped because of illness. Matt Shoemaker, meanwhile, has allowed four home runs in five innings.
2. Speaking of MRIs, two members of the Arizona Diamondbacks were also sent for exams this week — Gold Glove center fielder A.J. Pollock (right elbow soreness) and left fielder Yasmany Tomas (sore left knee), manager Chip Hale revealed Thursday.
Hale said the results for both players came back clean and they could return to the lineup next week. Neither player’s status for Opening Day is in question. Pollock has said the elbow bothers him at about this time every spring since a 2010 surgery to repair a growth plate in the elbow.
“He takes too many tees and flips in the cage and throws too much and his right arm is getting fatigued,” Hale said. “We’re going to dial it back and let him build it back up and try to keep away from any extra use of it. But he should be ready for games after the day off (on Tuesday).”
3. The beasties have been coming out in droves, it seems, at Cactus League ballparks around Arizona. Last year, it was scorpions descending upon Camelback Ranch, home of the Los Angeles Dodgers and the Chicago White Sox. Earlier this week, a spring training fan was bitten by a rattlesnake not far from Goodyear Ballpark, where he was planning to watch the Los Angeles Angels play the Cincinnati Reds. And also this week, a swarm of bees delayed a Kansas City Royals-Colorado Rockies game at Surprise Stadium.
Bees, especially the Africanized killer bee species, have been pestering spring training games for years around Arizona. But count Royals manager Ned Yost as a big bee fan who doesn’t want the little stingers to be needlessly killed when they start hanging around a baseball field.
“They are just important to the environment,” Yost said. “I saw a study a couple of years ago where they said the honey bee population was declining and they cannot figure out why. … They are vital to the environment. It’s just a mysterious decline and the scientists can’t figure out why. So to arbitrarily kill a bunch of bees makes zero sense to me.”
