By Ray Flowers
March 11, 2009 9:38am CDT

Highlights of the Day

Marlon Anderson had three hits on Tuesday and is now hitting .421.

Pat Burrell ripped a grand slam on Tuesday and is hitting .333 with six walks early on. He looks primed to do what he always does for the Rays, and that is hit roughly .260 with 25-30 home runs and nearly 100 RBI.

Brad Eldred hit a home run and drove in three runs for the Nationals on Tuesday giving him two home runs in two days. Still, he has no shot at anything resembling fantasy relevance without a whole handful of players ending up injured.

Adrian Gonzalez had two bombs and six RBI on Monday night as Mexico defeated South Africa, 14-3. It was such a big performance that we felt obligated to list it again.

Hiroki Kuroda threw 3.2 innings of scoreless ball on Tuesday as he allowed just one hit while striking out six Diamondbacks. He remains a fine option on the hill who isn't getting any love in fantasy circles.

Derek Lowe went four perfect innings against the Astros on Tuesday as he racked up an impressive six punchouts. He appears to be in mid-season form already.

Mike Lowell was on the field for game action on Tuesday for the first time in his attempt to come back from hip surgery. He went 1-for-3 with a single serving as the DH for the Red Sox. He hopes to be able to play in the field on Friday when the club takes on the Yankees.

John Maine gave up five runs over three innings against the Nationals. He allowed five hits including two home runs as his spring ERA rose to 10.80. Maine insists he is healthy, but his struggles this spring have got to be a concern for the Mets.

Jason Motte hurled two perfect innings on Tuesday to run his scoreless streak to four innings.

Scott Moore is 9-for-21 this spring after going 2-for-4 with a home run on Tuesday. He likely wont make the Orioles club with the club signing Ty Wigginton to back up Melvin Mora at the hot corner, but perhaps the club will find a way to move him to a club where he could be utilized.

Carl Pavano lasted three innings on Tuesday, and that's a good thing. However, his efforts weren't superb as he allowed three runs on four hits and a walk. Still, he got six outs either by strikeout or groundout, so it wasn't all bad.

David Price tossed two innings without allowing a hit against the Blue Jays. He struck out three while walking two. While they are nothing more than rumors, there is a growing sentiment that Price will begin the year in Triple-A to delay his arbitration clock as well as giving the club a spot in the starting rotation for Jeff Niemann.

Jered Weaver made his spring debut on Tuesday, though it lasted just two outs as he permitted four hits, a walk and a run to the Indians.

Brandon Webb allowed three runs while striking out four in three innings on the hill on Tuesday. It certainly hasn't been a good spring for Webb who has battled forearm issues while posting a 9.00 ERA, but he still has plenty of time to right the ship before games start.

Brandon Wood hit a three run home run on Tuesday as he knocked in three runs in four at-bats. Wood is hitting .393 with three home runs and 11 RBI in just nine games and is certainly making a play to be the Angles backup corner infield option if not making a pitch for some work in the DH role.

Pitching Battles

Blue Jays fifth starter: Matt Clement work four innings on Tuesday and allowed two runs to the Rays. He allowed only two hits but was bothered by his old bugaboo, a lack of control as he walked three. Still, he is healthy and throwing the ball fairly well, so he likely is still squarely in the mix for the fifth starter's role, perhaps even the fourth, despite the fact that he hasn't thrown a single inning in the majors since 2006.

Rich Harden with himself: Harden was able to last two scoreless innings on Tuesday as he shut out the Mariners. He threw 25 pitches, 17 that went for strikes, in what is the first of a scheduled six appearances this spring as he tries to prove that he can stay healthy with a shoulder that everyone is worried about. "My command was a little off, but I was throwing strikes, I felt great, I felt strong," he said. "I couldn't ask for more." A nice first step, but Harden has waged many a battle with his fragile body and lost, so don't read too much into it.

Nationals fifth starter: Jordan Zimmerman, the top arm in the Nationals organization, doesn't have a single inning pitched at the big league level. Still, he continues to push the issue of whether or not he will be included on the big league roster at the start of the year. On Tuesday he worked 3.1 scoreless inning with four strikeouts. He did allow four hits while walking two, but the bottom line is that no runners crossed the plate as he extended his scoreless streak this spring to 8.1 innings. Will the Nationals role the dice on their ace of the future and allow him to start the year at the back end of their rotation?

Red Sox fifth starter: Clay Buchholz stated his case to have his name thrust into the discussion of who will fill this role for the Sox as he worked three scoreless inning on Tuesday. In the outing he didn't allow a hit or a walk and struck out two. The youngster owns a 8.57 K/9 through 98.2 big league innings, but he has also walked an average of 4.65 batters per nine innings while posting a 1.60 WHIP. He will either end up the fifth starter or return to the minors as the club wants him to remain in a starting role. Brad Penny (shoulder) threw BP on Tuesday and hopes to throw a simulated game this week. Less than a month from opening day, it would be foolish for the club to be counting on Penny holding down the fifth spot since he hasn't even pitched in a game. Justin Masterson has also been effective, so the battle appears to be between he and Buchholz.

Mariners fifth starter: The club was really hopeful that youngster Brandon Morrow would be able to lock down one of the starting roles with the club. However, his forearm issue has once again reared it's head and what was being described as minor a few days ago now has the team concerned. Morrow threw 25 pitches in the bullpen before cutting his outing short due to continued soreness in the area. "It didn't go as good as I thought it would," he said. "It felt better than it did last week, but it's frustrating that it didn't feel as good as I had hoped." He was originally scheduled to pitch on Friday, but the chance of that happening now is virtually nil. Chances are certainly growing that even if the issue turns out to be minor that he will be unable to build up enough arm strength to begin the year in the rotation. This news would seem to leave the Mariners with a starting rotation of Felix Hernandez, Erik Bedard, Jarrod Washburn, Carlos Silva and Ryan Rowland-Smith.

Position Battles

Cardinals Outfield: Here is what we know. (1) Ryan Ludwick will hit in the middle of the order and play RF. That's about it. Everyone assumes that Rick Ankiel will hit toward the top of the order, but whether or not he plays center field or left field is a bit unclear. Why you ask? Well it has to do with who will be the third outfielder - either phenom Colby Rasmus or power-hitting Chris Duncan. If Duncan starts, Ankiel will slide over to center, but if Rasmus wins the spot Ankiel will play left. Rasmus hasn't done much early on hitting just .242 with a .706 OPS whereas Duncan has not only shown himself to be completely over his back surgery, he has shown that he is intent on lashing his way back into the starting lineup. On Tuesday Duncan had two hits and three RBI and is now hitting a robust .385 with a 1.125 OPS. He still can't hit left-handed pitching, owning a .196/.258/.344 line in 163 such at-bats in his career, but there is no way he will find himself on the bench if he is hitting like he is now once the games start.

Health Concerns

Jeff Baker is nearing a return to the lineup as he continues to work on the health of his elbow. He has been swinging and making throws from about 90 feet in a controlled setting. He has missed over three weeks with the injury.

Doug Davis played catch on Tuesday and remains in line to throw off the mound in the next day or two.

Scott Downs will throw on Friday in his attempt to make it back to the hill. If that session goes well, Downs and his injured elbow will either throw some more on the side or finally take the mound in game action.

Brad Hawpe hit in the cage on Friday and said that his injured left pinkie finger was feeling fine. He should return to game action at some point later this week.

Conor Jackson has a bruised shin that kept him out of action on Tuesday, and he will likely also be sidelined on Wednesday. It isn't believed to be a serious injury.

Dustin McGowan is coming back from surgery on his shoulder last July. Unfortunately he complained of some pain in the joint recently so the Jays have decided to slow his workload, at least in the short term. "It's just a minor, minor setback. I wouldn't even call it a setback. We're just slowing him down," pitching coach Brad Arnsberg said. The team hopes that Dustin will be able to resume throwing off flat ground on the weekend, but even so, the original estimate of a possible return in May appears fairly optimistic at this point.

Wandy Rodriguez threw on Tuesday and reported no ill effects with his strained ribcage. As a result of feeling so well, he actually threw 10 more pitches than he was scheduled to, tossing 40 in all.

Ben Sheets is doing his rehab with the Rangers doctor, though Rangers' GM Jon Daniels said it is a coincidence. What is that line again, there are no coincidences in life?

Koji Uehara's injured left hamstring will cause him to miss his next start. "He probably will be backed up from the next time he pitches by two or three days," manager Dave Trembley said. Given that the Orioles starting pitching hopefuls have a combined, oh, eight big league victories (slight hyperbole), they are really counting on a health Uehara to eat up a bunch of innings.