JUPITER -- Awaiting a mad rush of New York media at Roger Dean Stadium, down from Port St. Lucie to document Jose Reyes' first-ever game -- never mind that it's only spring training -- against his former team. Don't remember getting this excited when it was the other way around and guys like Luis Castillo, Paul Lo Duca and Carlos Delgado were in Met uniforms facing the Marlins. But, oh well....
First, though, some routine spring cleaning items to dispense with. The Marlins trimmed eight from their spring training roster this morning. No surprises with any of the moves. Optioned to Triple A New Orleans were pitchers Omar Poveda and Chris Hatcher. Optioned to Single A Jupiter was pitcher Arquimedes Caminero. Re-assigned to minor-league camp were: catcher Jacob Jefferies and pitchers Jose Alvarez, Corey Madden, A.J. Ramos and Rob Rasmussen.
Thursday's cuts leave 55 in camp.
Caught up this morning with Logan Morrison, who is feeling quite frustrated about his balky right knee. Morrison said the knee was swollen significantly when he woke up Wednesday, one day after serving as a designated hitter. As a result, he's been ordered to scale back on his routine for the time being.
"It's not the soreness that's the thing," Morrison said of his knee, which required arthroscopic surgery in December. "It's the swelling. Need to get the swelling out of there for it to heal. There's no timetable on when the soreness and swelling goes away. I played with soreness all last year. It's the swelling you got to worry about. It's frustrating, aggravating. Your heart and your mind want to play, but your knee won't let you."
Asked whether he was concerned about being ready for Opening Day, Morrison replied: "I'm not trying to think about any of that. If I think about that, I might kill someone."
Here's the lineup the Marlins are sending out this afternoon against the Mets:
1. Jose Reyes, ss; 2. Emilio Bonifacio, cf; 3. Omar Infante, 2b; 4. John Buck, c; 5. Scott Cousins, rf; 6. Terry Tiffee, 1b; 7. Matt Dominguez, 3b; 8. Chris Coghlan, lf; 9. Josh Johnson, p.
