San Francisco Giants vs. Kansas City Royals: Pre-Game Notes and Lineups

Feb 16, 2014; Scottsdale, AZ, USA; San Francisco Giants starting pitcher Tim Lincecum (55) stretches during camp at Scottsdale Stadium. Mandatory Credit: Rick Scuteri-USA TODAY Sports

The San Francisco Giants will take on the Kansas City Royals today at Surprise Stadium. Game time is 12:05 pm PST. It’s the first meeting between the two teams this spring. Here’s what today’s lineups look like.

San Francisco Giants Lineup

Giants behind Timmy: Pagan CF, Abreu 2B, Pence RF, Morse LF, Sanchez C, Minicozzi 1B, Arias 3B, Crawford SS, Blanco DH.
— Alex Pavlovic (@PavlovicNBCS) March 7, 2014

As you can see, Tim Linceum is on the mound today for the Giants. Hunter Pence is in the lineup yet again, after talking his way into the lineup yesterday. This guy is pure beast mode. We’ll also get another look at Mark Minicozzi who has been making some waves this spring.

John Shea has an update on Marco Scutaro and his back issues. SPOILER ALERT: He’s still not ready…but says he’s improving.

Marco Scutaro began hitting soft toss, confident he'll be ready for #sfgiants opener. "Yeah because I've seen improvement with my back.'
— John Shea (@JohnSheaHey) March 7, 2014

While Scutaro expects to be ready physically for season, timing is a different issue. "That takes time," he said. #sfgiants
— John Shea (@JohnSheaHey) March 7, 2014

Tim Hudson apparently had his ankles iced down yesterday after pitching 3 innings. It seems today he’s all better, per Andrew Baggarly.

Good sign for Tim Hudson. A day after he had huge icepack on ankle after pitching 3 innings, he's on field covering 1B in PFP w/rest of guys
— Andrew Baggarly (@extrabaggs) March 7, 2014

San Francisco starting pitchers have posted a 1.50 ERA in 18 innings pitched this Spring. That #3 in all of MLB behind the New York Mets and Seattle Mariners. They’ve given up just 12 hits and 0 home runs. I know it’s early, and that eventually, they’ll give up a home run and increase their ERA this spring, but I like what I’m seeing so far with this rotation.

Kansas City Royals Lineup

In other Royals news today, Luke Hochevar will be undergoing Tommy John surgery and former Giants pitcher, Brad Penny, was released today.

#Royals RHP Luke Hochevar to have Tommy John surgery - report for @SprtsInjryAlert @MLBInjuryNews: http://t.co/LDvf0M5yZB #MLB
— Darius Austin (@DariusA64) March 7, 2014

Update: It was reported that Penny punched a wall on Thursday, presumably after being cut. However, the man himself says that “sources” were wrong.

@jcrasnick @RobertMurrayMLB sources are wrong
— Brad Penny (@BradPenny) March 7, 2014

The Royals are also playing a ‘B’ game today against the Texas Rangers. In case you’re curious who playing in that game, and that we likely won’t see in our game today, here’s the ‘B’ game lineup.

#Royals will play a 'B' Game vs the #Rangers at 10:30 am with this lineup: #BeRoyalKC pic.twitter.com/pDDBaLlCS4
— Kansas City Royals (@Royals) March 7, 2014

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For your “awww” moment, Gregor Blanco posted a photo of his glove next to his son’s glove at Scottsdale Stadium.

On a personal note, some of our ATF staff are already in Arizona and the rest of us are making our way there by tonight. Make sure you let us know if you’re going to be in town. We’d love to hang out and enjoy some “lemonade, lemonade, just like Grandma made,” with you.

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