Bucs - Rays

The Bucs were rained out yesterday, so Wandy Rodriguez and Andrew Oliver, the scheduled starters, will join AJ Burnett and Gerrit Cole today against Tampa at McKechnie Field. None have tossed a spring game yet. First pitch is at 1:05; the game isn't on radio.

Lineup: Starling Marte LF, Neil Walker 2B, Andrew McCutchen CF, Pedro Alvarez 3B, Garrett Jones 1B, Gaby Sanchez DH, Brad Hawpe RF, Mike McKenry C and Clint Barmes SS.

This is pretty much the lineup that got rained out yesterday; the big boys get a little work today. Don't expect to see them in the lineup a lot early. Spring training started earlier a bit because it's a WBC year, so the fringe guys will get a longer than normal look in camp before Clint Hurdle feeds the big dogs.

Pitchers:  A.J. Burnett, Wandy Rodriguez, Gerrit Cole and Andy Oliver. Jason Grilli, Mark Melancon and Jared Hughes.

Hey, it's not often you get to see your top two pitchers and #1 minor league prospect go back-to-back-to-back, especially in the same game.

• C Russell Martin has shoulder soreness and will get a couple of days off. Ron Biertempfel of the Tribune Review said the backstop told him that it's “Just the normal aches and pains of being a catcher”and not related to any incident at camp. Maybe that practice at SS wasn't such a good thing.
• Clint Hurdle has been working on Starling Marte's command of the strike zone by using hot charts, according to Mike Ferrin of Baseball Prospectus.
• John Perrotto, writing for the Herald Standard, interviewed the rehabbing Charlie Morton. He says that his the tentative timetable for his return is still sometime in June. 
• This day in Bucco history: In 1948, 3B Pie Traynor was elected to the Hall of Fame by the baseball writers. The infielder spent his entire 17-year career with the Pirates, where he compiled a .320 lifetime batting average and never had a season where he struck out more than 28 times. Traynor was best known for his glove at third where he recorded 2,288 putouts and started 308 double plays. He was inducted on July 12th.
• And in 2006, Homestead Gray player, manager and owner Cumberland “Cum” Posey was elected to the Hall of Fame’s Special Committee on the Negro Leagues, along with 1B/3B Jud Wilson of the Grays/Pittsburgh Crawfords and RHP Ray Brown, also of the Grays. Included in the class was OF Pete Hill, born in Pittsburgh and who first played for the Pittsburgh Keystones. They were inducted on July 30th.