Padres – Mariners Game Preview

How the Friars will approach their first Cactus League outing

The Padres and Mariners play their first Spring Training game of 2016 on Wednesday. This will be the first time new San Diego Manager Andy Green gets to manage a Cactus League game. So how is he going to approach it?

“I think this is discovery time,” said Green. “What are these guys capable of? You don’t find out what they’re capable of unless you push their limits and ask them to do things that maybe you wouldn’t ask them to do on day two or three of the regular season. You’ve got to find out who’s capable of what.”

That means you can expect to see the unexpected during the Cactus League season. Green will be sending runners, calling different defensive alignments, basically anything he can think of to stress his players during game situations where the Win-Loss record doesn’t matter so they can be fully prepared when it does matter.

“The goal is not the Cactus League crown,” said Green, “but it’s fun to win games.”

The starting lineup against Seattle looks like this:

1)    Melvin Upton, CF
2)    Skip Shumaker, 2B
3)    Wil Myers, 1B
4)    Matt Kemp, RF
5)    Yangervis Solarte, 3B
6)    Derek Norris, C
7)    Alex Dickerson, LF
8)    Jabari Blash, DH
9)    Alexi Amarista, SS
SP)     Robbie Erlin

Erlin is one of the few left-handers in camp with the Padres and is in the mix for the 5th starter’s spot.

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