Mitchell- The Early Bird Gets the Win

The first two wins of the 2011 Clippers season may not hang on a wall at the Columbus Museum of Art, but any player or manager will say you take a win however you can get one. The Clippers have twice gotten an early multi-run lead against the Indianapolis Indians, only to see it cut to a single run late in the game. Both nights, Jensen Lewis had to tap dance around a ninth-inning land mine to secure the victory. While too many of those might give Mike Sarbaugh gray hair, as long as the final score in his favor, things will be ok.

Today the skipper gets his 1st look at Alex White under meaningful conditions “I saw him in spring training, but I’ve never seen him in a real game. He has a good, live arm and I’m looking forward to it.” Sarbaugh said of the young righty’s Triple-A debut. White was the Indians 1st round pick in the 2009 draft and fashioned a 10-10 record over two stops in 2010. He was shut down late in the season last year after reaching his organizationally imposed innings limit after being pretty dominant at Double-A Akron (8-7 2.28 3/1 K/BB).

Each of the two starts by Clippers pitchers so far have been quality starts, so White has his work cut out for him. He pitched twice against Altoona in the Eastern League last year and went 1-1 with one rough outing and one outstanding turn. Many of the hitters he faced are on the current Indianapolis roster.

Join Scott and me for tonight’s game at 6:35 on AM920 in Columbus or at www.clippersbaseball.com