Braden Looper was scratched just before the first pitch of today's game against the Los Angeles Angels.

In his bullpen session before the game, the recently acquired Looper threw a split-fingered pitch and felt a twinge in his left oblique.  He decided against throwing any more pitches, as it is too early in Spring Training to chance anything serious.

The right-hander apparently felt something in his oblique a couple days earlier when he sneezed, but he had fully participated the last couple days in camp.

Looper's injury is considered to be minor.  There is no indication that he will miss his next scheduled start this upcoming week.

Eddie Morlan filled in and threw two scoreless innings.  The young reliever struggled a bit with his command, but managed to work around three walks and a hit.