Mound Vets Show New Teams Their Old Stuff

Orel Hershiser, John Burkett and Pete Harnisch gave their new teams a peek Sunday at the kind of pitching they hope to see once the regular season starts.

Hershiser, in his first game with someone other than Los Angeles, looked good for two innings for the Cleveland Indians.

“Same thing in an Indians uniform as a Dodgers uniform,” he said. “It’s still 60 feet, 6 inches to the plate, still 90 feet to first. Still playing with a bunch of great guys.”

Hershiser, 36, signed as a free agent this month. Facing the Kansas City Royals, he gave up an unearned run on three hits.

“They hit a lot of choppers, a lot of ground balls. That told me my ball was reacting properly,” he said.

Burkett, traded by San Francisco to Texas in the off-season and later signed by the Florida Marlins, pitched four innings. He allowed one run and struck out three.

Harnisch, traded by Houston to the New York Mets, didn’t have such a stellar line, giving up two runs in two innings.

Still, Mets manager Dallas Green was satisfied with what he saw.

“It was a good outing,” Green said. “He was upset with one pitch, but he threw a few change-ups which I liked.”

Strike foils tradition

It won’t be the same for the Red Sox this Patriots Day. No split doubleheader, no early morning start and racing home to watch the Boston Marathon.

Because the strike delayed the start of the season, the Red Sox don’t have a home game on Patriots Day today for the first time since 1967. Even though that will allow them to sleep late - the games start at 11 a.m. so fans can see the end of the Marathon - some players say they’ll miss it.

“It’s early, but it’s fun,” outfielder Mike Greenwell said. “It’s part of tradition, and that makes it worth doing.”

From 1897 to 1967, the Marathon was held on April 19 (with the exception of April 18, 1915). The first Marathon Day game was in 1902, when Cy Young led the Boston Pilgrims to a 7-6 opening day victory at the Huntington Avenue Grounds.

The modern Patriots Day tradition began in 1968, when the Marathon switched to the third Monday in April. The Red Sox have scheduled a home game that day ever since.

Bad day for Bucs

The Pittsburgh Pirates got a scare when starting outfielders Jacob Brumfield and Al Martin were injured in an exhibition game against Toronto at Bradenton, Fla., but neither was seriously hurt.

Brumfield was hit with a pitch on his left shin, only two days after taking a pitch on his right wrist.

Martin mildly sprained his right ankle tumbling over the pitching mound in the Toronto bullpen while chasing Tilson Brito’s fourth-inning triple.

Neither player will miss more than a game or two.

McDonald improves

Ben McDonald’s tender right elbow felt fine after his first spring training start, and that is clearly the most meaningful aspect of his performance in Baltimore’s loss to the Philadelphia Phillies at Clearwater, Fla.

McDonald aggravated his sore elbow while throwing batting practice a few days into training camp. He took some time off, but he wasn’t quite sure how the joint would feel in a game situation.

McDonald ended up asking for more work despite throwing 41 pitches over two innings.

“I was happy with the way the elbow felt. We’re definitely going in the right direction with that thing,” he said.