Live From Tucson 2

WARNING: A wall of text follows.

   I don't know where to start as today was a long day for me. I showed up at the ballpark at 8:15 this morning and there was some activity going already. There were some minor league position players hitting in the batting cage and some catchers working on getting out of their stance to throw to second. This was surprising to me because the players usually come out around 9:00, which they did.

   The minor league pitchers began doing PFP (pitcher fielding practice) drills. These included comebackers and bunt fielding with throws to second. Some other groups worked on pickoff moves, 3rd to 1rst. They practiced bunting and threw bullpens. The catchers were working on fielding high popups, and more throws to second.

   There was a set of major league players who came out. All of the pitchers came out and participated in the same drills listed above for the minor league players. The major league position players that made appearances were: Fasano, EY2, Hector Gomez, Podsednik, CarGon, Christian Colonel, Baker, Paul Phillips, Bellorin and Mike McKenry.

   The drills the position players went through were the same drills as those from yesterday: bunting, hit and run, moving the runners over among others. They also worked on base running and getting a good jump on balls in the dirt, double steals, and moving two bases at a time. These events were judged by Rick Matthews. By the last event, ground balls to the right side, only EY2 had been completely eliminated.

   They then proceded to have a small homerun competition, when Hawpe showed up to take flyballs a little bit later. He said that EY2 "should get counted for a homerun if he hits it past the centerfielder." Paul Phillips, a new guy to the Hi Corbett complex, was having some difficulty finding Field 5 where everyone was working out. He walked across one field and yelled at Bellorin asking for directions to the field. He spent another 5 minutes walking around to try and get to the field before he finally arrived.

   Hawpe, Baker, and Gomez did not hit in the drills due to injury, I would assume. They did, however, start fielding balls. Hawpe took both grounders and flyballs in the outfield and was throwing the ball to the cutoff man. Baker and Gomez took about 50 groundballs a piece at second. This was encouraging because Baker looked like he was a lot more mobile even if he wasn't going all out and he could be ready for more intense things beginning Thursday (from my perspective).

Game Observations:

Before: The team actually took infield and outfield before the game, much as a highschool, college, or little league team would.

1st: JDLR had no control with any of his pitches. This led to the Athletics teeing off on the fastballs he could locate. A big thank you to MATT DALEY for coming in and not letting a run score.  Ryan Spilborghs was picked off because he anticipated the pitcher going to the plate but the pitcher held the ball a little bit longer than expected.

Skipping a few well pitched innings by Daley.

4th: Every ball that was hit in this inning was hit hard. The double by Torrealba was slightly misplayed by Holliday and the triple by Spilborghs hit the 360ft sign in right. I hope Ryan Speier doesn't bat during the season because he looked funny batting.

5th:  Tulo had a sacrifice bunt attempt but Koshansky was thrown out at third because he slowed down approaching the bag and he did not slide.

6th: Fowler showed me his speed on a ground ball to center when he went first to third with ease. It really is incredible how fast he is.

7th: Morillo was very dominant in this inning. He located his fastball well, and he just blew it by the hitters.

8th:  Hynick supposedly hit Wimberly on the foot, but Wimberly did not think so and he wanted to continue his at-bat. The homerun for Fasano had to travel at least 480 feet to left as it towered over the lights surrounding the stadium.

  This was a great trip, as it always is for me. I love baseball and learning what the coaches have to say to the players. I always enjoy talking with the players because they take encouragement well and are always quite humble. I have spent the last year trying to get a NL Championship Shirt signed by all of the members of the team. This weekend I got, Jason Hirsh, Bob Apadaca, Todd Helton, Jeff Baker, Juan Morillo, and even Matt Holliday to sign it. There are only two current Rox left to sign, Fogg and Corpas, and quite a few former Rox including Matsui, Affeldt, Carroll and Hawkins.

  Thanks for reading this wall of text. I cannot wait to read the updates from my fellow Rowbots that are coming in to town this weekend. For now, I'm out.

JFK