The Seattle Mariners and the San Diego Padres both call the Peoria Sports Complex their Spring Training Home. This ballpark was the destination for the second day of the Cactus League tour as the Padres faced the visiting Chicago Cubs.
On the mound to start the game for the Padres was future Hall of Fame pitcher Greg Maddux. He was faced by Wade Miller of the Cubs.
In the game, Felix Pie was auditioning for the leadoff and CF position. From what I saw, this guy can cover some territory in the outfield. He had some good hits in the game and from what I saw the Cubs would be wise to make him part of the 2007 team. Its not out of the question either. Keep in mind that Lou is not afraid to go with young players if they can show they can play. It was in his first season as manager of Rays he gave a young Outfielder named Rocco Baldelli his first chance at the big leagues.
In watching Kevin Kouzmanoff of Padres, he seems like he has a power stroke. Though, his glove is as advertised where it is not that good. I saw Scott Linebrink give up a single baserunner but went untouched otherwise before giving way to Trevor Hoffman. Hoffman started off well before surrendering the long ball to Derek Lee’s backup Darryl Ward.
A treat was seeing a slimmed down Kerry Wood pitch in relief. Unfortunately, he gave up a big bomb to Sledge. But, a bright point was that he recorded three strikeouts in the inning.
