Yesterday, I’d idly mentioned to general manager Neal Huntington what a healthy camp this has been, and a look of horror crossed his face. “You had to go there, didn’t you?” he said, wary of the proverbial jinx.

Today, right-hander Logan Kensing suffered an abdominal strain that could idle him for two weeks. I’m toast. …

Announcing Opening Day starters even before the start of exhibition play has become the vogue among managers, but Clint Hurdle, while acknowledging the staff has already discussed choices, isn’t in any hurry.

“We’ll announce it before the opener, though,” he said.

A year ago, Hurdle waited until Mar. 24 before giving the assignment to Kevin Correia. …

Happy Rare Birthday: If you are one of about five million Earthlings born on Feb. 29, tomorrow is your rare chance to blow out some candles. Thanks to baseball-reference.com’s cool search feature, we know there were 11 Major Leaguers born on Feb. 29.

The most-recent two were Long shots: Terrence Long was born in 1976 and had an eight-year big-league career with five different teams through 2006; before that, right-hander Bill Long (1960) won 27 games from 1985-1991. …

Alex Presley update: I recently compared him to Chad Curtis, the ’90s outfielder for the Angels, Yankees, Rangers. I’d like to revise Alex’s look-alike status to a mash-up of Curtis and Tom Cruise. …

Pitchers work on every possible contingency during Spring Training. So it might seem like a good idea to have Drill Drills. Have a coach rip liners back at them, to teach them how to reflexively duck, or to at least learn to end their deliveries in a good fielding position. Just sayin’. …

Quote of the Day:

“One of the beautiful things about baseball is that every once in a while you come into a situation where you want to, and where you have to, reach down and prove something.” (Nolan Ryan)

Clint Hurdle Bonus Quote of the Day:

“Vision without action is illusion.”