FanPost

Monday in Tucson 3/23/09

Got out to the park early and went directly to field #5 where the major leaguers take BP on game days.

Tulo, Hawpe and Atkins, Barmes, Yorvit and Herrera were out there. For those of y'all wanting a medical report (like all Rowbots no doubt), Tulo, Hawpe and Atkins looked fine. They took some infield first and none of the three showed any problem fielding. Lateral movement didn't seem to be an issue. Hawpe was fielding at first more I think to just give them someone to throw to. I don't think anything should be read into that.

In the cage, they all took healthy swings. Field #5 is a huge field with the fences about 400' all the way around with a chain link fence about 20' high all across the outfiled. Not a whole lot of ball were being hit out but Yorvit and Tulo did jack a couple.

Morales, DeLaRosa and Marquis also wandered  out to get some batting practice. As did Murton.

My impression of Tulo, Hawpe and Atkins is that the injuries either are minor in nature or they are close to being back. Of course I'm no doctor and I didn't stay in a Holiday Inn last night, but that was my observation.

The really cool thing about seeing  them on the back fields is how patient they are with the little  kids asking for autographs. I didn't see anyone refuse a request. That a great way to make kids baseball fans.

Today's game is the third one  I've seen this weekend and I can say that I'm getting fairly comfortable with our pitching staff. Ubaldo pitched what I thought were six strong innings and left with a 3 hit shutout. He gave up 2 BBs but his GO/FO ratio was excellent at 12/4.

Fogg had a clean inning as did Embree. And then Street decided to make sure the battle for closer stays hotly contested as he looked Fuentesesque to me. Blew the shutout and appeared to be just grooving the ball in the heart of the plate. But at least we had a 7 run lead at the time.

Pods may be trying a little hard to create something with his speed. He was caught stealing in the 1st on a stike 'em out, throw 'em out double play. I'm hoping that was a hit and run call from the dugout that Dixie just missed on and not something that Pods decided to do on his own. And then he tried to stretch a single into a double and was easily thrown out. This was right after Dex had created a double with a hit to center. And have I mentioned how fast Dex is ? You've got to see it to believe it.

The Toddfather continues to look good working around the bag. I'm not sure what the exact count was but he must have had about 5 or 6 ground ball chances and handled them all flawlessly. He doesn't show any signs of ailments with his back. And he continues to hit the way we've all come to expect. People can just shut up about losing the production of you know who because Todd's rebound should more than make up for it.

Spilly continues to impress. He is going to be a different kind of lead off hitter with his power potential. If he in fact is the lead off hitter. Today he hit 5th as Hurdle continues to tinker with the lineup. I could understand him leading off Pods but I was surprised that he had Dixie Smith in the two hole and Spilly fifth. Oh well, I guess when we see something that more closely resembles the regular season line up, we'll know more.

So another great day at the ball park. Tomorrow we leave early to head back to Colorado. Spring Training is something all true baseball fans should experience.

Eat. Drink. Be Merry. But the above FanPost does not necessarily reflect the attitudes, opinions, or views of Purple Row's staff (unless, of course, it's written by the staff [and even then, it still might not]).

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