McDonald eyeing Opening Day spot

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SARASOTA, Fla.Darnell McDonald continues to crush Grapefruit League pitchers. He went 3-for-3 with a run scored against the Orioles in Friday afternoons 6-5 loss, raising his spring training average to .500. Although his three hits Friday were all singles, he entered the game with an OPS of 1.452.

Hes a hitting machine, flat-out hitting machine, said manager Bobby Valentine. Whats he hitting, .700? It seems it. Is it .500? Ive never seen anybody hit that high. Thats why it seems like .700, I guess. Hes swinging and the balls finding holes or jumping off his bat and hitting off walls.

Hes swinging really well. I liked his second at-bat, where he had the base hit to right field. Thats a good sign. Other than that on all of his hits have been pulled. He hit the hanging curveball, hit the fastball, hit a little cutter. Hit a lot of pitches.

I think that he knows that theres a potential opening day, and theres some spots open and some room. He wasnt happy with last year. Hes proving that he belongs on this team. I like everything I see.

McDonald hit fourth against the Os, playing centerfield. Hes also played 25 innings in left and three in right this spring.

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