Richard Durrett liked what he saw from Brandon McCarthy Thursday:

You could make an argument that this was McCarthy's best outing since Aug. 5, 2007, when he had a quality start, allowing two runs in six innings. By my count, yesterday was the first time he'd pitched four scoreless innings since Sept. 20, 2007.

McCarthy apparently felt good, had no lingering problems with his shoulder, which was tight enough to force him to miss his previous start.

I'll feel better about McCarthy when he starts the regular season well.