The games are underway

The Tribe is 1-1-1 in spring training - a romp in the opener Thursday, a 4-3 loss yesterday and 10-inning tie today against the Tigers.

The first two games were played primarily by minor leaguers and bench players. Today a few more of the regulars played, but Josh Barfield started for the second game in a row at second base, Andy Marte started at 3B and Ben Francisco played in right field.

CC made his spring debut today and got bombed. Two runs and five hits in two inning.

The D-Train made his Tiger debut and gave up three hits and a run in two innings.

Obviously scores don't mean much in the spring, but I do like to watch individual performances, primarily of those players on the bubble or in a battle for a position.

Francicsco had a home and a double and two RBIs today to continue his early hot hitting. Grady and Victor had two hits apiece as they finally got to swing the bat in a game this spring. That's pretty much it on offense.

Jeremy Sowers and Aaron Laffey - competing with one-another (and Cliff Lee) for the last spot in the Tribe's rotation - both pitched a scoreless inning. Invitee Jorge Julio gave up a run on two hits in an inning.

Marte went 0-for-2 today after a rather miserable performance yesterday, when he popped out, grounded weakly to third, fouled out behind home plate and hit a worm killer that was fielded by the catcher for a "ground out." He also mishandled a line drive at third base.

Masa Kobayashi made his Tribe debut yesterday and followed in the tradition set by current Tribe closer Joe Borowski and his predecessor Bob Wickman.

Here's how the Plain Dealer described his inning of work:

A liner off Andy Marte's glove put one runner on. Houston loaded the bases on a slow roller to right and a well-placed infield grounder.

Kobayashi, who said he wanted to be a "little bit nervous" to sharpen his focus, got his wish. He also got the next three Houston hitters in order without allowing a run.

A foul pop. A fly to short center. A strikeout on his best pitch, a slider.

That, for what it's worth, is the update so far from spring training. We'll have more when it happens.