Sunday notes and lineup

By Shannon Drayer

Not going to lie, back-to-back to back East Coast day games are a little rough. The team took batting practice on the field this morning but will not be able to do so tomorrow with the 12:05 start and an event scheduled on the the field.

Lineup:

Saunders 8
Ackley 4
Seager 5
Morales DH
Morse 9
Ibanez 7
Smoak 3
Montero 2
Ryan 6

Felix

• There was a lot of surprise with the folks around here and apparently on Twitter as well that Jesus Montero was in the lineup today after a number of miscues yesterday. After the game Eric Wedge said he hadn’t had much of a chance to look at the final play. He has since then and didn’t sound too thrilled with what he saw.

“He just released too early,” Wedge said. “You’ve got to keep your foot planted. You’re not going to turn two on that so you’ve just got to keep your foot planted on that.”

Wedge said that coming off the plate was not because of an issue with the throw from Brendan Ryan.

“I didn’t think he had to go out and get it. Just released off the plate a little too early,” he said.

The play was something they worked on in spring training, according to Wedge. Ultimately it came down to his footwork.

“He should have gone with the other foot and then kind of caught the ball like this (backhanded) instead of this. Just put himself in a tough position and I think that is where he pulled himself off.”

• With the exception of Danny Farquhar, the bullpen should be fully available today although they may try to stay away from Oliver Perez as he has pitched a bit more than they would like him to at this point. With any luck and Felix on the mound, a lot of pen should not be needed.

• No official word as of yet on Aaron Harang being ready to make the start on Tuesday but I am told he did throw his bullpen this morning and it appeared to go well. We should find out more about that after the game.