Spring Training: Cardinals at Marlins, 1:05 Pm

[MiamiHomer]

By the way Mibs, appreciate the strong updates.

[THE_REAL_MIBS]

Groundout to Boner at second (Boner speed cut off the ball).

[AdamRavs]

If you have MLB.tv you can listen to the Cardinal broadcast.

[THE_REAL_MIBS]

Single to center.
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Another 2 run homer by Craig.

[AdamRavs]

Jeez another homer 4-0

[THE_REAL_MIBS]

Nice catch by LoMo.
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Volstad has been pitching up in the zone today. Doesn't look like he's got a feel for his sinker.

Single to right center.
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Great stop by Bonifacio! No time for a play though.
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Flyout to left ends the inning and Volstad's start.
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Villaneuva up in pen for the third.
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Groundouts to short and second by Buck and Dobbs.
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Cousins with a sharp single to right.
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Groundout to second ends the inning.
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Villaneuva in for the third.
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Another nice stop by Dominguez at third. Got the out this time.
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Murphy cuts in front of Bonifacio to field a grounder from Berkman. 2 out.
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Flyout to right.
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They picked me to do the trivia question this next half inning. Wish me luck.
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I'm nervous. I hope the question is easy.
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Dominguez k's looking on a 4th straight curveball.
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Boner flyout to right. Nervousness growing.
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CC walks. Carpenter leaving with trainer. Bad luck for Cards if this is anything serious.
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I won my trivia question! It was a movie question about Mr. 3000! I love that movie!
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Groundout to short.
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Walk.
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Hit and run was on and Jay singled to center.
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4-6-1 dp ends the inning.
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And the trainers are out to talk to the second Cards pitcher.
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And he's leaving. Injury bug striking early and often for the Cards.
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Boggs was the pitcher that got hurt. And LoMo struck out.
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Buck struck out.
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Cousins gets his and the Marlins second hit of the day. Single to center. Vinny Rotino is pinch running. Pinch running with a catcher?
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Correction, it was Dobbs with the hit. Cousins flyed out to center.
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Richardson out to pitch.
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Rasmus doubled into the right field corner. Probably could have had a triple but he wasn't running that hard.
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Single to right. Rasmussen held at third.
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5-4-3 dp ends the threat.

[THE_REAL_MIBS]

Dominguez gave it a ride. Holliday catches a long fly ball at the wall. It wasn't quite long enough to get out but it was close.
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Bonifacio smokes one up the middle for a single.

[Bobbob1313]

All of the Cards pitchers are getting hurt.

[THE_REAL_MIBS]

Molina threw behind Boner at first but he got back in time.
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Update on the Cards injuries.

JoeFrisaro: #STLCardinals #Marlins Carpenter strained left hamstring. Boggs lower back strain

/Twitter
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Wise (who's playing center now) walks.
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Murphy k's swinging.

[AdamRavs]

Has Murphy made contact at all today?

[THE_REAL_MIBS]

Mata pitching now. Sharp grounder eats up Rottino at first.

Flyout to center.
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Murphy 0-3, 3 K's.

Nice play by Torres at short.
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And the Cards have another 2run homer. This one by Jay.
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6-0 Cards.
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Rottino definitely shouldn't be playing first. He almost misplayed another ball but recovered in just enough time to get the out and end the inning.
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Lubanski (left) grounds out to second on the first pitch.
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Sammons singles up the middle.
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And Rottino grounds into a 5-4-3 dp.
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Mujica pitching now.
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First pitch pop up to second.
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Another homer for the Cards. This one a solo shot. 7-0 Cards.
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K swinging for the next guy. These are all minor leaguers now. The names I don't recognize.
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The dude batting now was in rookie ball last year. And he draws a walk.
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Long flyout to the warning track in center.
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Dominguez got hit by a pitch. He's okay. Thurston doubled and all the Marlins fans booed Espada for holding Dominguez.
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We have a run!Dominguez scores on a wild pitch.
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And that's all for this inning. Flyout to center. 7-1 Cards, heading to the 8th.
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Hensley pitching.
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Flyout to center.
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Single to left. Both balls have been hit hard this inning so far.

That hit makes three. Sharp ground ball single past third into left.
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Yet a fourth hard hit but this one was fielded by Thurston at second for a 4-6-3 dp.
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Torres k's.
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My starting right fielder for my CSBC Whitecaps (Chris Lubanski) k's swinging.
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God, this stadium is quiet. I've been to many a low attendance Marlins game but this is like watching a game from a cemetery.

Sammons walks.
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And he is promptly caught way off first. He wasn't stealing but he wasn't anywhere near enough to first to make it back. He was tagged out trying to go to second.
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Nunez pitching now.
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Birthday boy Skipworth (he's 21 today) is catching.
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Sharp groundout to short.
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Whoa. Will pitch there by Nunez.
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Hamilton just owed a single to right.
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Dude, I can seriously hear birds chirping. It is last quiet in here.
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I feel like I'm watching golf. It gets absolutely silent each time a pitch is thrown. There's still about a few hundred people here.
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4-6-3 dp.
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Wind is picking up. It's blowing in from left. Feels cold. My meteorology education tells mr that this is outflow from a storm. Hopefully we can get through the bottom of the 9th here before it starts pouring.
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Rottino smokes one to left but right at the fielder. Petersen batting now.
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Petersen grounds out up third.
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Here cones the rain.
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Raynor pops out to shallow short. Cards win 7-1.

[Miamarlin21]

Damn Mibs you're good.

[Jay]

Did I miss the update of how good volstad looked?

[AdamRavs]

Did I miss the update of how good volstad looked?

He gave up 2 2run homers. nuff said.. also his 1st outing..

[THE_REAL_MIBS]

Did I miss the update of how good volstad looked?

Here. I'll let Frisaro, Volstad and Edwin do it.

Spring Training is a time to refine and work on your game.

That's exactly how Marlins projected fifth starter Chris Volstad plans on using these next few weeks. At age 24, the 6-foot-8 right-hander is by no means a finished product as a big league pitcher.

He's still maturing on the mound, and one pitch that promises to help his advancement is the slider.

Since it is a relatively new pitch for him, he will go through some growing pains. On Tuesday, he elevated a slider, and Allen Craig of the Cardinals made him pay.

Craig belted a two-run homer in the Cardinals' 7-1 win over the Marlins.

In his first Grapefruit League start, Volstad yielded a pair of two-run homers in his two innings of work. Matt Holliday added a first-inning shot, which came on a fastball.

"For me, I'm still focusing on the slider, and trying to refine that," Volstad said. "It's still new. I'm still trying to get a feel for that. It's my first Spring Training, really, working with it."

Volstad did work with the slider last Spring Training, but then he was learning to throw the pitch. Now, he is working on making it a bigger part of his repertoire.

The importance of the slider is it will complement his sinker, and give hitters something else to consider.

"My curveball, it's pretty dramatic off the [sinker]," Volstad said. "The slider, it works off that sinker. Hitters can't really cheat as much. When they see a big curveball, they know automatically it's a breaking pitch."

Manager Edwin Rodriguez, at this point of Spring Training, isn't worried about the results. He is looking at how Volstad is throwing.

"He had a good tempo in the game," Rodriguez said. "He was throwing strikes. It was a matter of location. We're not concerned about [the homers]. We saw some good pitches. The tempo was fine. The location was the problem."

Volstad threw 36 pitches, and he was glad just to be in a game.

"I'm glad to face hitters other than our own," he said. "It's early in spring. I have a lot of work to do, obviously. But I think that is what Spring Training is for."

Volstad working on slider