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I love you, Kid

February 27, 2013 by Leave a Comment

HarperST

Bryce Harper collected three more hits today. I don’t want to jinx the kid too early or anything but he’s started spring training by going 6 for 8. He’s already in his manager’s ear about not wanting to sit. He doesn’t know these games don’t count. And this guy is too good to be true.

Keep sitting him now and again, Davey. He’ll wear himself out by July at this pace. Every spring there’s inevitably one player I really like who has a monstrous spring. Then the stats disappear in April and somehow he gets off to a really slow start. I hope this isn’t the case with Harper.

Buster Olney also said recently on his podcast (18:40 mark): “Joey Votto on Harper: Essentially, he can’t be beaten. He has a “slump proof swing.”

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There are real Spring Training Baseball Games Today

February 22, 2013 by Leave a Comment

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It’s been a long wait and February isn’t over yet, but baseball games are going on as we speak. If you haven’t updated your MLB At Bat subscription, now is the time.

It’s days like today and times like this that I wish I was still able to play down in the warm Florida sun.

If you’re just sitting around today getting ready for the weekend, I suggest you read Pat Jordan’s post over at SB Nation about Spring Training. If you’re not ready for baseball yet you will be when you get done reading the article. It embodies everything a Spring Training story should.

The Reds and Indians kick off their spring slate at 3:00 PM today. I can almost smell the pine tar. This is a great time of year to be a baseball fan.

 

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The Latest Bryce Harper Sports Illustrated Cover

February 19, 2013 by Leave a Comment

BryceHarperSIcover

I planned to make a trip to the book store on Friday to pick up a few 2013 Fantasy Baseball magazines. Now I’ve added this to my want list.

The most notable quote I’ve seen thus far out of the Tom Verducci story on Harper:

“I’m not going to put it my head. Sophomore slump? I was a sophomore in college and raked. Why can’t you rake in the big leagues?”

If you’re keeping score at home, this is the second Sports Illustrated cover for Harper and his first as a big leaguer.

Filed Under: Sports Illustrated, spring training, Washington Nationals Tagged With: ,

A Great Quote by Bryce Harper shows why we Love Bryce Harper

February 15, 2013 by Leave a Comment

harper

Bryce Harper is already issuing gems for today’s diehard fan, he’s 230 pounds and he’s ready to wreck baseballs. This quote caught our eye, and it’s why we’ve loved Harper from the start. You know he means it when he says:

“I’m still 20,” he said. “I’m still young. I’m going to treat every guy on our team with respect, going to treat every guy in the other dugout with respect. I’m still that young guy out there. I’m still going to play the same game I play.”

And now the gem:

“Go out there and give 120%, play hurt, sick, on my death bed,” he said. “Go out there and work hard, play the game the right way, change nothing.”

He goes on to talk about his personal goals that he would rather not share and how autograph seekers aren’t necessarily fans. But nothing in the article tops that quote or goes further to illustrate to you how Harper’s baseball compass is aligned.

Unless this guy murders someone, there’s a good chance he could end up our favorite athlete of all time, of all time! OF ALL TIME!

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Since the Super Bowl is over we turn our collective attention to spring training…

February 5, 2013 by Leave a Comment

And as the first primer to the start of baseball’s preseason, we’ll update you on the spring training locations for all the teams.  Let’s start on the West coast…well Arizona is kind of just a desert, but it’s close enough.  The Reds recently moved here from Florida because trashy Arizona is better than trashy Florida. Right?

Cactus

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Chicago, Milwaukee, Cincinnati, and Cleveland have strayed a little further west than you might think, but somebody had to do it.

Now on to the dirty South.  Old people in particular love spring training games because it feels like the old time with bleachers and $1 hot dogs.  Perfect for Florida.  Here it is.

Grapefruit

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Hmm.  Tampa moves a little south for spring training and Miami moves a little north.  There must be something to this.  Keep counting the days until pitchers and catchers report.

H/T to MLB for the maps.

Filed Under: spring training

Chipper on Jason Heyward: “He’s 90 Percent Back”

February 28, 2012 by Leave a Comment

The significance of us sponsoring Jason Heyward’s Baseball Reference page could mean only one thing: we felt that the man was a generational talent ready to blossom in front of our eyes last year.

He wasn’t just rewarded with our admonishment. There was another Opening Day home run. There were SportsCenter comercials. A twitter account created solely to track when he hits a home run. He became Nike’s new ‘Swingman’.

But then the struggles came, and the injuries lingered. Heyward’s sophomore campaign became one continuous desolate ruin.

By reading an article focused on the reconstruction of J-Hey by Paul Newberry, we learn that Chipper Jones seems to think the worst is behind Heyward.

“He’ll get it done. He’ll get it back. He’s 90 percent back,” Jones said.

I hope Chipper’s right. This guy has a chance to be the crown jewel of the entire league if he’s right. There’s some other interesting points in the write-up–like Heyward coming off a bit ‘snarky’ when asked about childhood memories of David Justice and Fred McGriff.

There’s also a bit where new Braves hitting coach Greg Walker mentions this:

“We went back and looked at 2010, when he was really good,” Walker said. “We said to him, ‘OK, this is what you did. You’ve done it before, so that’s you.’ We’re not trying to reinvent the wheel here. We’re not trying to change Jason Heyward. We’re trying to get him to maximize his potential. We showed him. We filmed him and showed him what he looks like now, and how he looked in 2010. He saw the difference. To be honest with you, we haven’t made a lot of changes. We’re just trying to clean him up and get him back to where he was.”

So if you’re keeping score at home, Greg Walker and the Braves do not want to change Jason Heyward. But they want him to hit like he did in 2010.This idea is absurd, because if you saw him at the plate for much of last year, of course the Braves would like to change Jason Heyward. But you must be careful with the treatment and wording of such things around young potential stars.

And my mind shifts back to that rumor we heard way back when–when someone had said that the legendary Bobby Cox had said that Heyward was like a Ferrari: you have to be careful with them, you don’t want to dent them.

Filed Under: Atlanta Braves, spring training Tagged With: , ,

Spring Training is Here

February 19, 2012 by Leave a Comment

You’ve got to love it.


Well, another offseason has been written on….Sleeping fast then heading to Goodyear for #ST2012. I’m ready. @ @
February 19, 2012 4:31 am via Twitter for iPhoneReplyRetweetFavorite
@JayABruce
Jay Bruce

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Franco’s Spring Training Wrap up post

March 9, 2011 by Leave a Comment

Diamond Hoggers Nation- Thanks for adopting me last week and allowing me to drop my daily adventures on you. I’ve had an absolute blast and want to thank Mevs for giving me this opportunity. I fully expect to check back in with you guys from time to time when I have good stuff to share. Here is my wrap up from the crazy week:

Baseball Trip Stats

9 games in 7 Days. 6 different Stadiums.

Highlight of the Week- Hanging out in the Rays’ locker room for an afternoon.

Lowlight of the Week- Getting Big Leagued by Ryno Sandberg.

Best game I saw: Yankees v Red Sox. The Yanks played their big time starters and the Sox played their top prospects. It was great baseball on the field and great banter in the stands.

Favorite Stadium: Phillies Bright House Field in Clearwater

Rowdiest Fans: Phillies fans in Clearwater

Fans most likely to eat dinner at 4pm: Cardinals fans in Jupiter

Road Trip Stats

Miles Driven: 2,709

Cheapest Gas Fill Up: $3.29

Most Expensive Gas Fill Up: $3.89

Money Spent on Food (not including snacks and PB&J from my home cupboard):  $38 (I did have some very nice dinners picked up by Zobrist and Sutton.  Special thanks to them.)

A few extra stories that didn’t make it in the posts this week:

That’s Dedication

Sean Rodriguez of the Rays is known for being one of those guys that works hard, plays the game the right way, and takes care of his body. This reaffirms what I’d heard from other sources. He says that he normally goes to bed at 9pm every night of spring training (they normally play all their games at 1:05pm). It is also well known that he is usually the first to the ballpark, always arriving around 6:30am.

Manny and His Protein Smoothie

So I’m sitting in a Port Charlotte coffee shop doing some work and a guy who works at the Smoothie King next door came in for latte. I was talking to the owner of the coffee shop at the time and the smoothie dude came over and told this story. It went like this:

The other day, Manny Ramirez had come in and asked for a smoothie.

Manny: I’ll take (such and such) smoothie with extra protein.

Smoothie dude: So like one and a half scoops of protein?

Manny: How bout 4 scoops?

Smoothie dude: That’s a ton of protein, how about 2 scoops.

Manny: Nah man, I had a big workout today. I want 4 scoops.

Smoothie dude: You sure? Okay, coming right up.

Now, I don’t know exactly how much 4 scoops of protein is, but it’s a lot. I’ve read about Manny’s off season work outs and I’m sure he has monitors his protein intake to an extent. Anyways the Smoothie King worker is really stoked that Manny is in his store ordering from him.  When he finished making it he noticed that he hadn’t made enough to fill the cup. “Oh, well.” He put a top on it and gave it to Manny who then paid and left.

It wasn’t til a few minutes later the smoothie dude realized that he had totally forgot the 4 scoops of protein and Manny had walked out with a plain smoothie with 0 grams of protein.

Quick rant on the DO’S and DON’TS of scalping tickets

-DON’T take the first offer that a scalper offers you

-If you have a long walk to the stadium from the parking lot DON’T buy from the first guy you see. He’ll almost always be the highest priced.

-DON’T believe scalpers when they say that the game’s sold out. In my experiences they’re only telling the truth 9% of the time.

-If you have time and only need 1 or two tickets, DO hang out around the front of the stadium looking for regular fans trying to unload a few last minute tickets.  They’ll almost always sell for face value or lower depending on how you negotiate.

-DO check the tickets before you buy them to make sure they are where the scalper says they are. “Right down the first base line” can mean standing room in the back corner of the ballpark.

I think I could keep going on this for a while. Maybe I’ll write a post about it later… Good luck

Stadium Bag Check

All week, I would bring my trusty backpack into the stadiums with me. They were legal to bring in, but there were security guards at all the gates that checked all bags to make sure people weren’t bringing in things like, food, alcohol, weapons, and stuff like that. I noticed that they only checked the main section of my backpack, but never the front pocket. Not like I had any contraband in there… or did I.

When I finally got home from my week in Florida and unpacked my backpack, I found a few surprises in the front pocket.  Namely a miniature bottle of Jager and a butterfly knife. Now, let me quickly explain that the mini Jager was given to me by a friend months ago and had been forgotten about, and the butterfly knife was a groomsman gift from a few years back and I had no idea it was in there. None the less I dragged around a shot and an illegal weapon into every ballpark I visited. Whoops.

Best Pedroia Description Ever

This comes from a convo Drew Sutton and I had about Dustin Pedroia.

Sutton on Pedroia: “I love DP man. I honestly think that he believes he’s 6’4 240. I’ll say, ‘You going to hit?’ and he’ll respond, ‘Naw man, I’m going to FREAKING RAKE!’ If he makes an out, he’ll come back into the dugout and say something  like, ‘If that SOB throws me that inside fastball again I’m going to hit it out of the freaking stadium.’ He doesn’t just say those things, he believes them.”

Conclusion:

It was quite a memorable week with a lot of experiences that I won’t soon forget. Many thanks to all my friends that gave me food, places to sleep, laughter, tickets, and good times. I’ll look forward to catching up with you guys later.  If you miss me that much you can shoot over to NextLevelBallplayer.com.

And we want to give a special thanks to Franco for providing us with all of the great stories from down in Spring Training. He did a great job going above and beyond what we expected, giving us some of the most interesting material that has appeared on Diamond Hoggers in weeks. If it’s any sign of things to come, his main project over at the NLB is going to be a HUGE success! In short, bookmark his site to your favorites (and blogrolls) and stay tuned for more great, wholesome baseball material.

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Spring Training Update Day 7: Halladay’s domination, the booing of a Hooters girl, and Wendy’s Public restroom

March 7, 2011 by Leave a Comment

Spring Training is under way. Since we’re not lucky enough to be down in the Florida sunshine, we still have a plan to have you covered. David Franco from Next Level Ballplayer is down in Florida for the week providing us with all the sights and sounds of spring baseball that we need. Today’s adventures include Halladay’s domination, the booing of the Hooters’ girl at the Phillies game, the worst public restroom experience of my life and more. Franco has done an amazing job reporting all week from down in spring training, so be sure to follow him on twitter or Facebook to show your appreciation!

Franco’s Spring Training Update From FL: Day 5

What’s up DiamondHog Nation? Day 5 went a little something like this- Woke up at a buddy’s place in Tampa. Special thanks to former Tigers prospect D. Witt for a comfortable couch. I drove south west toward Dunedin for the Blue Jays/Tigers game… The only problem was that I had to drive right by the Phillies’ stadium in Clearwater where I knew Roy Halladay would be pitching. Long story short, I called an audible and never made it to Dunedin. Many apologies to all you Canadian readers out there.

Overall Highlight of the day: Witnessing Halladay carve up the Pirates for 3 innings.

Overall Low-light of the day: Watching a foul ball bounce perfectly to this old guy only for him to miss it and fall into the lap of “super cool guy.” Super cool guy was wearing a flat billed hat with the sticker still on it and was rocking super bling earrings… I was crushed. Really wanted to see the old dude make a play. Didn’t happen.

Phillies vs Pirates 1:05pm
Tickets: Scalped a ticket. $8 for a $25 seat 11 rows behind home plate. Perfect spot to watch Halladay go to work.

-Halladay looked like Halladay and made multiple Pirates look downright bad. In my entire week of watching games, I have not seen such horrible swings and half swings like I saw yesterday.

-I didn’t find out until after the game that Dominic Brown broke his hand during a first inning swing. He stayed in the game and got his first hit of the spring before later getting taken out. His potential replacement in the outfield for the Phils, Ben Francisco hit his second bomb of the Spring.

-A beer vender had the best sales line of the day. It was a hot sunny day and he yelled, “DE-HY-DRATION, JUST SAY NO!! RE-HY-DRATION, JUST SAY YO!!” I’m not a dietician or anything, but I don’t think that beer is a good source of rehydration… but that inaccurate description didn’t stop a bunch of Phillies fans from buying beer from the guy.

-The crowds at the two Phillies games I attended this week in Clearwater, where easily the youngest and rowdiest fans out of all the games attended. Kinda felt more like a spring break atmosphere than the retirement home atmosphere I had gotten used to earlier this week.

Phillies Fans Booing the Hooters’ Girl

Philadelphia fans are famous for being ruthless with their booing. Case in point was the time where they actually booed and threw snow balls at Santa Claus during an Eagles game. Granted this is spring training game in Florida, but there were still a decent amount of misplaced people from Philly. Anyways, Hooters is doing a promotion with the Phillies this Spring and the ball girls down the right and left field lines are Hooters’ girls dressed up in their Hooters outfits.

Well, they announced the names of the girls before the game and they got a cheer from the crowd louder than the introduction to Jimmy Rollins, but not quite as loud as Halladay. As I mentioned above, it was more of a spring break crowd.  Well, in the 3rd inning someone hit a dribbler into foul territory towards the Hooters’ girl down the right field line. She ran up to get the ball as the crowd cheered wildly with no shame. All eyes of the stadium were on her as she made a HUGE mistake. She flipped the ball directly to a fan in the first row who was decked out in Pirates gear. He had on one of those obnoxious black with yellow striped throw back Pirates hats and an old Barry Bonds jersey from his days in Pittsburgh. Immediately the cheers turned into a chorus of boos from the entire crowd who started yelling relentlessly.

The poor girl had no idea what had happened and why the fickle fans had turned on her so quickly. She just sat back down on her stool and tried to be normal, but looked very uncomfortable. Random fans continued to make comments that I couldn’t make out from across the stadium. She didn’t get another chance at a ball while I was there, but hopefully she learned from her mistake.

Conclusion

Shortly after Halladay exited the game, I exited as well to make the trek back up north. 12 hours later I rolled into my cold and rainy parking lot, happy to be home, but already missing FL. It has been an awesome week attending 9 games in 7 days and logging over 2,700 miles on my trusty ’98 Honda Passport. Stay posted Monday for my “spring training trip wrap up” post with some sprinkles of anecdotes that didn’t make it into my posts this week, but need to be heard.

 

Extra Innings

I’m not a coffee guy but was a bit tired on my drive back, so stopped at a coffee shop to get a pick me up. The dude behind the counter suggested a Toffee Coffee.  Sounded good, so I got it to go… Not more than 30 minutes later, I was on high alert of an exit so I could find a bathroom asap. Just my luck that I was in the middle of a 10 mile stretch with no exits. First exit I saw, I got off. First place I saw, Wendy’s. Perfect. I duck walk in and go directly into the only stall in the guy’s restroom.

Right after I sit down, a dad walks in with his younger daughter and unsuccessfully tries to open the door to my stall. “Calm down dude. Seat’s taken.” That’s what I wanted to say, but was too zoned in on taking care of business.  Well, I quickly realize that this is not going to be an in and out stall session because my stomach is swirling. About 30 seconds after the guy’s unsuccessful entry into my stall, his daughter and him start speaking in Spanish. Well, I once lived in Costa Rica for 6 months, am 50% Hispanic, and can speak Spanish decently. So, while my stomach was going crazy, I’m also listening to this Daughter and her dad going back and forth in Spanish. I understood everything they said. The  rough translation went something like this:

Little girl: I have to use the bathroom. How long is it going to be.

Dad: I don’t know. I’m sure the guy in there won’t be too long.

Me: (noises I don’t know how to spell out.)

Dad: HOPEFULLY he won’t be in there too long, but who knows.

Little girl: Oh my gosh, it smells bad in here.

Dad: It’ll be fine, we’ll clean the seat good when we get in there.

REALLY?!?! I can understand you! I am dying in the stall at this point wanting to be done in the worst way, but my stomach was having different plans. I kept quiet. A few minutes later:

Little girl: Do you think he’s sleeping in there?

Dad: No, I’m sure he’ll be done really soon.

Enter loud random guy: Oh man, there’s a line in here? Are you guys waiting for the stall?

Dad in English: Yeah… (Then in a whisper that I can clearly hear)  He’s been in there for a while.

I wanted to scream- I CAN FREAKING HEAR AND UNDERSTAND EVERYTHING YOU ARE SAYING!!!! I AM NOT SLEEPING AND WILL BE OUT THE SECOND THIS TOFFEE COFFEE IS DONE DOMINATING MY STOMACH! REST ASSURE, I DON’T JUST COME INTO WENDY’S STALLS TO HANG OUT AND MAKE PEOPLE WAIT. I kept quiet.

Random Guy as he’s leaving: Well, I’ll try back later

I’ve turned into a human rain delay in the bathroom of the Wendy’s off of exit 152. People are literally turning away and I’m lucky enough to fully understand the bathroom play by play being announced by this random Hispanic dad and his daughter.

Finally, I am completely done and open the stall door. I can’t look them in the eyes. I whispered a quick awkward apology, but without thinking, it came out in Spanish. The dad jerked his head around as he was shutting the stall door and we had a moment as he realized I had understood everything over the last 15+ minutes.

Moral of the story: Wendy’s needs to invest in multiple stalls for their bathrooms.

Filed Under: Dispatches, spring training Tagged With: ,

Spring Training Update Day 6: The Mascot & the Autograph, the forgettable day of Sam Buchman, Red Sox v. Yanks, and Ballpark Reggae

March 5, 2011 by 5 Comments

Spring Training is under way. Since we’re not lucky enough to be down in the Florida sunshine, we still have a plan to have you covered. David Franco from Next Level Ballplayer is down in Florida for the week providing us with all the sights and sounds of spring baseball that we need. Today’s adventures include two games in the same day, the mascot and the autograph, the forgettable day of Sam Buchman, Red Sox/Yankees, reggae at the ballpark, and more. Tune in all week as Franco reports on ST exploits, and be sure to follow him on twitter or Facebook.

What’s up DiamondHog Nation? Day 6 went a little something like this- Woke up at a Ben Zobrist’s place in Port Charlotte at 6am to go support Dirk Hayhurst who was speaking at a local high school’s Fellowship of Christian Athletes gathering. After the meeting, I dropped Zoby off at the field and headed to Bradenton to see the Pirates v Phillies. Once that game wrapped up, I headed north to the grand finale in Tampa: Yankees v Red Sox.

Overall Highlight of the day: Watching a 5 year old kid walk up and get the Pirates mascot’s autograph. Full story below.

Runner Up Highlight: Listening to Yankees and Red Sox fans yap back and forth all night.

Overall Low-light of the day: Having a sharp ground ball bounce off my hand… The guy next to me definitely interfered with me, but I still have to make that play. I was so upset I had to get up and take a walk.

Pirates v Phillies 1:05pm
Tickets: $12 for a bleacher seat, but I sat 1st row even with the 1st base coach.

-I was so stoked that I got to see Blanton throw for the second time this week. That was a huge reason why I wanted to come down to spring training in the first place.  It’s not like there are any other Phillies pitchers I’d rather watch. Are you picking up the sarcasm? One more, for good measure? It’s clear to see that the Phillies will go as far as Joe Blanton will take them this year.

-Howard went big fly.

-Phillies won, but it was just a practice game.

The 4 Year Old Who Wanted the Mascot’s Autograph

So I’m sitting in the aisle seat in the first row, about even with the first base coach. A four year old kid who is in the aisle seat to my left looks over and sees that the Pirates’ mascot has come down to the front row one aisle away. Before the dad could realize what was happening, the kid started walking down my row having about 15 people make room for him as he walked over to the mascot with a baseball and pen.

When the kid got to the Mascot he just reached his ball and pen as high as he could but the mascot didn’t see him until the people around him got his attention. The mascot looked down at the kid and made the money gesture as a joke, but one guy took him serious and pulled out a dollar bill and gave it to the mascot. Now keep in mind that the mascot is wearing huge parrot hands and I just can’t imagine him being able to write anything remotely legible on a baseball.

I was thoroughly impressed as the mascot proceeded to sign the kid’s ball, give him the dollar bill, a high five and sent him back down the aisle to his dad. It was funny seeing the guy’s face who gave the dollar to the mascot and then watched the 4 year old walk off with it. The dad didn’t see everything that happened, just the big smile on his son’s face as he walked back with an autographed ball and a dollar bill… Nice work kid.

Why Sam Buchman Will Never Make His Wife Wait Again

Who is Sam Buchman? I have no idea. All I know is that I don’t know if I’ve ever been in a ballpark where the entire crowd was laughing at the same thing at the same time… Until today. Until Sam Buchman’s wife taught him a lesson he won’t ever forget.

Now to the actual story. It was the middle of the 8th inning and the Pirates were getting ready to come up to bat. Right as the Phils’ catcher is throwing down to second, the PA announcer comes over the loud speaker to the entire stadium. Everyone assumes that he’s going to announce the Pirates prospect coming to the plate. Oh no.

PA Dude: “Sam Buchman, please meet your wife outside the stadium by the ticket booth right away.”

Entire Crowd: “Ohhhhhhhhh.” Laughter then ensues with numerous spontaneous jokes flying around. Nobody knew who Sam was, but they still took the liberty to yell out their input.

“Don’t go Sam! You’re already in deep %&$#!”

“Best of luck getting out of the dog house by the end of the weekend.”

“Oh, no she didn’t!! Who does that woman think she is?!?!”

“Enjoy your evening Sam.”

Even the Pirates first base coach got into it by turning to the fans in my section and saying, “Oh man. Sam Buchman is in deep trouble tonight. Ouch.”

Yankees v Red Sox 7:05pm

Tickets: Free because of Mr. Sutton. I sat in the second section down the right field line before I moved down behind the Yankees dugout for the last few innings.

-It was a packed house with plenty of, surprise, surprise, VERY opinionated fans… Many of whom had thick accents. I was very entertained.

-A-Rod and Sutton raked. Both went 2-3 with two ropes.

-There was a Mark Prior sighting in the 8th. He threw a scoreless inning and I saw him touch 90 on the gun once or twice. I still think he’ll start the year in AAA.

-The Red Sox brought all young guys on the trip to Tampa. The only notable stars were Buchholz (3 scoreless innings) and Varitek (0-3).

-Red Sox JV Team 5, Yankees Super Varsity Team 3

Silky Smooth Shortstop

There was one guy on the field that stood out to me more than anyone else today and that was Jose Iglesias. The kid was silky smooth with the glove, making a handful of tough plays look routine. He also turned in a spectacular web gem, diving up the middle, getting to his feet and throwing a perfect strike to nip the runner at first…  AND he had two knocks on the day. He reminds me of a speedy version of Alex Cora.

Jose was also involved in the funny fan comment of the day goes to the moderately tipsy Yankees fan in the 7th inning.

Stadium PA announcer: “Now batting for the Red Sox, #78, the SS, Jose Iglesias.”

Yankee fan stands to his feet and yells/sings: “Hey 78! I can be your hero baby… I can kiss away your tears.” A combination of his singing and thick New York accent got him plenty of chuckles from the fans in his section.

Conclusion

I have seen four Red Sox v Yankee games in person and was curious what it would be like tonight. There were some die hard fans there, but the overall stadium atmosphere felt pretty light hearted… I’ve had an incredible week, but as they say, all good things must come to an end. Tomorrow will be my last game as the Blue Jays take on the Tigers. I’m pretty excited to see Drabek pitch for the Jays… It would be even more awesome though if Joe Blanton got traded to the Tigers tonight and pitched for them tomorrow.

Extra Innings
In the 7th inning the Pirates brought in reliever Michael Dubee. This marked the first time in my life I have seen a pitcher warm up to chill reggae. He came out of the pen and warmed up to Bob Marley, “One Love.” I love reggae music but was really taken aback hearing it at a baseball game. I guess if anyone was ever going to do it, it’s fitting that guy would be named Dubee.

Filed Under: Dispatches, spring training Tagged With: , , , , , , ,

Spring Training Update Day 5: Hanging with Brian Cashman & Joe Maddon

March 4, 2011 by Leave a Comment

Spring Training is under way. Since we’re not lucky enough to be down in the Florida sunshine, we still have a plan to have you covered. David Franco from Next Level Ballplayer is down in Florida for the week providing us with all the sights and sounds of spring baseball that we need. Today’s adventures include Brian Cashman being a nice guy, Joe Maddon and the pretty lady in blue, a Zobrist performance off the field, and more. Tune in all week as Franco reports on ST exploits, and be sure to follow him on twitter or Facebook.

What’s up DiHogger Nation? Day 5 went a little something like this- Woke up at a buddy’s place in Naples for the last time this trip. Special thanks to TMobs for giving me an option other than the back of my car. I drove north to Port Charlotte where tons of Yankee fans came to watch at the Rays’ home ballpark.

Overall Highlight of the day: Chatting with Rays’ coach Joe Maddon after the game and watching him work the small crowd that was left.

Runner Up Highlight: Randomly walked by Brian Cashman, realized it was him and went back for a picture. He was very friendly to me and I appreciated that. Not that I’m going to start rooting for the Yanks or anything crazy like that, I just appreciated him being cool with taking a pic with me.

Overall Low-light of the day: Losing in a best of 3 living room horse death match with Ben Zobrist at his house.

Rays vs Yankees 1:05pm
Tickets: Free thanks to Zoby. Sat in the 2nd section behind home plate a few rows away from the wives.

-It was a pitcher’s duel all day that went into extra innings and ended in a 1-1 tie. Is there anything worse for the coaches and guys in the dugout not playing than having a spring training game go into extras?

-Swisher was just a normal player to the fans today, unlike when they played in Clearwater (Phillies) last Sunday and all the girls were going crazy for him.

-A vendor selling bags of kettle corn had the best sales line of the day. He was walking around towards the end of the game and with only one bag left, he yelled, “SINGLE KETTLE CORN, LOOKING FOR A LONG TERM RELATIONSHIP.”

-The crowds normally start to thin out after the main starters get taken out in the 5th inning or so. By the 9th there was hardly anyone left and by the 10th it was pretty much empty.

Joe Maddon and the Pretty Lady in Blue

I watched the end of the game in the first row about even with first base. The Rays were in the first base dugout and have to walk through a fence in right field to get to their clubhouse. Joe Maddon was one of the last guys to leave the dugout and while he was walking by a pretty lady in blue called out to him from a few seats away from me, “Hey Joe can I please have your autograph? Please Joe? It would make my day. Please?”

Right when Joe came over to give the lady an autograph, about 20 kids and fans rushed him to try to get there stuff signed also. He stopped to look up at everyone and said “Man. You guys tricked me. You lure me over with the pretty lady in blue and then all run down here and get me. I just came over to give her one autograph… man you guys are good! You totally tricked me.”

Joe stayed and signed autographs and chatted with the fans until everyone that wanted one was satisfied. I thought it was super cool of him to do that, especially after an extra inning game that took forever.

PS: I think I’m completely over the whole autograph thing. I’d much rather have a picture taken with someone than an autograph, unless I have some sweet picture for them to sign, which has never been the case. Anyways, I’m happy today that I left the ballpark with pictures of me with Cashman and Maddon instead of a signed ticket stub.

Julianna Zobrist Puts on a Show at the Local Coffee Shop

After the game I headed over to a local coffee shop to meet up with Zoby and his VERY talented wife. Julianna is a gifted musical artist and wanted to go to open mic night at the local coffee shop to practice some songs she’s been working on. The owner of the restaurant had told a bunch of people all week that she was coming in, so it was a pretty packed house and fun to watch her do her thing. I hadn’t seen her sing live before, but left impressed.

Midway through the show, Ben had gotten up from our couch to order some food, a lady leaned over to me and said, “Would it be ok if your buddy signed a few autographs for me?” Now this is a really interesting situation, that I haven’t been in before. I don’t want to sign him up for a major autograph session, but I also don’t want to be a jerk. Because of the atmosphere and the fact that Ben is a great dude, I said, “Ma’am, he would be happy to.”

When he got back from ordering, I said, “Hey dude, this lady behind us would really like an autograph.” He smiled and turned around to find the lady with a manila folder full of Zobrist pictures and asked if he would make out all the autographs personally to her 11 grandchildren. She had tricked me! You know what Zoby did? He signed all of them with a smile on his face and asked that lady a few questions about her grandkids. It wasn’t a big deal to him at all. One more reason why he’s a great dude… That and the fact that I’m writing this from his guest bedroom.

Conclusion

After the coffee shop, we went back to Zoby’s sweet house and found ourselves in a heated living room basketball shooting contest with some bogus, misshapen plastic bball on his two year old’s hoop. Long story short, I lost in a best of 3 series. But seriously, buy a round basketball for goodness sakes!

Just a fun over all day. It was cool running into Joe Maddon and Brian Cashman. I’m gonna be up early in the morning to go to an FCA meeting with Zoby and Dirk Hayhurst at a local high school. Really looking forward to that… Tomorrow, stay tuned for Yankees v Redsox. Could be crazy.

Extra Innings
This priceless exchange happened after Julianna’s mini concert at the coffee shop. Zoby and I are sitting on a couch in the back while Julianna was talking to some ladies about music in the front. An older gentleman walks up to Zoby on the way out:

Older dude: “So, when are you going to pitch again?”

Zoby: “Well sir, I haven’t pitched since high school so probably not for a while, but I should play in the field sometime this weekend.”

Older dude: “Do you play in the infield or the outfield?”

Zoby: “Both. I play all over.”

Older dude while patting Zoby on the back: “Hang in there son. They’ll find a position for you.”

I wanted to say- Sir, the Rays are guaranteeing him $18 mil over three years to NOT play just one position. Please don’t feel sorry for him!

Filed Under: Dispatches, spring training Tagged With: , ,

Franco’s Spring Training Update Day 4

March 3, 2011 by Leave a Comment

Spring Training is under way. Since we’re not lucky enough to be down in the Florida sunshine, we still have a plan to have you covered. David Franco from Next Level Ballplayer is down in Florida for the week providing us with all the sights and sounds of spring baseball that we need. Today’s adventures include seeing the legendary Lou Brock and Bob Gibson, Pujols putting the k’s in hat trickkk, why I’m convinced that multiple people will die at Cards spring training games this year, and more. Tune in all week as Franco reports on ST exploits, and be sure to follow him on twitter or Facebook.

Franco’s Spring Training Update From FL: Day 4

What’s up DHog Nation? Day 4 went a little something like this- Woke up at a buddy’s place in Naples. I felt like I needed to diversify my team coverage, so I decide to make the treck over to Jupiter, FL to see the Cards v Mets. After a solid drive, I arrived at the Cards’ Stadium.

Overall Highlight of the day: Seeing Bob Gibson and Lou Brock in full uniform looking like they still had the itch to play.

Runner Up Highlight: Watching a 2 year old kid continuously try to take off the bullpen catcher’s hat while the parents were completely oblivious. The catcher was sitting on a bench that backed right up to the stands and it was hilarious.

Overall Low-light of the day: Having to listen to this drunk New Yorker tell my entire section what he’d do if he were the Mets GM. I tried to ignore him but that loud voice and thick accent continuously won out. “I’d trade Castillo for a bucket of used balls.” “I wouldn’t sign Pujols next year cause he’s just a greedy scrub.” “Now, that Pagan is a player. I’d do everything I could to lock him up long term.” And this went on for a solid 4 innings or so… Brutal.

Cardinals vs Mets 1:05pm
Tickets: $15. Had to pay face value for a bleacher seat, but then watched most of the game down the right field line, 3 rows back of the bullpen.
-Pujols K’d in all three of his ABs today. Has anyone ever racked up a golden sombrero (4 k’s in the same game) in spring training before? I’m sure it’s happened. Most likely to half of the D-Backs from last year. Maybe the boys at The Golden Sombrero can help us out with that research…

Back to Albert. It’s gotta be tough when every fan expects him to hit a bomb in every at bat. Every time Phat Albert came to the plate there were SO MANY different fans who would yell some version of “Hit a home run Albert.” Somebody needs to explain how baseball works to those people.
-R.A. Dickey’s knuckle ball looked pretty gross as he retired the first 7 batters he faced. All in all he gave up 1 run in 3 innings.

-The Cards’ bullpen bench literally runs right up against the beginning of a grassy hill that people can sit on down the right field line. The pitchers down there were really good sports and signed a ton of autographs for kids throughout the game. It’s fun seeing them interact with the fans.

-The Cards won 3-2 but it doesn’t count.

Was Today Senior Citizen Day?

I know there are tons of old people in Florida but when I got to the game today I felt like I just walked into a retirement home. Don’t get me wrong, I like old people (as long as I’m not driving behind them), but they were EVERYWHERE. The average age at the ball park was easily 73 and a half.

So when I walk into the game, I stood in the walkway directly behind home plate for the first few innings. In one half of an inning there were 3 high foul balls that went back in the stands.

Ball #1- Heading straight for a huge pack of senior citizens. They all are looking up. Nobody tries to catch it and the ball crashes off the one empty seat in the row and bounces around until an old lady picks it up. Nobody got hit and nobody seemed phased. I thought to myself “Man they were pretty lucky there.”

Ball #2- Same scenario. High foul pop up behind the plate heading for the stands and once again a group of old people are looking up, only to have the ball hit the back of a lady’s seat and bounce almost straight up. Let me repeat: The old lady was sitting down and the foul ball hit the back of her seat and bounced straight up to an old dude that caught it. Once again nobody seemed phase. I was like, “ARE YOU GUYS SERIOUS?! That lady almost wore a towering pop up off of her dome!”

Ball #3- Surprise surprise, the same thing happens except this time the ball was headed towards a packed section of old folks and I was convinced that finally someone was going to get smoked. I watched in amazement as the ball hit the ground between two old men, ricocheted off of a seat into a perfect Sunday hop for a grandma to catch. Everyone was just smiling and picked back up their conversations. I couldn’t take it anymore. “IS ANYONE ELSE WATCHING THIS?!?! It just can’t happen like this forever.” I watched the rest of the game down the right field line and miraculously no fans got injured.

Bob Gibson and Lou Brock

Both of these Hall of Famers were in full uniform and midway through the game walked from the dugout, past the bullpen and into what I assume is the clubhouse. They both had big smiles on their face and politely waved to the fans in my section who were giving them a standing O… If I had 10 baseball wishes, #8 would be to watch Bob Gibson pitch. Better yet, lets combine my #6 and #8 to come up with a new #4- Watching Bob Gibson pitch against Sandy Kofax. Did you follow all that?

Conclusion

If you want to see old person roulette, evidently the Cards’ spring training ballpark is the place to go. I’m still having flashbacks to all those close calls… It was great seeing Gibson and Brock, smiling and talking to the current players and clearly enjoying being in uniform. Reminds me of a quote from the late Dodgers great, Roy Campanella. “You gotta be a man to play baseball for a living, but you gotta have a lot of little boy in you to.” Tomorrow, I’m headed to Port Charlotte to see Rays v Yankees. Catch you guys later.

Extra Innings
While being stuck is super horrible traffic all over FL this week, I noticed a ton of the dancing advertisers. You know who I’m talking about right? The guy or gal that dresses up like a hot dog and then dances on the side of the street in order to get your business. Here are the dancing advertiser highlights of the trip so far, saving my biggest disappointment for the end:

-A dancing hot dog

-A guy doing sweet spinning stuff with a We Sell Gold sign

-Dancing gal wearing a sign for $4.99 haircuts (In my short time at the light I believe she busted out, the sprinkler, running man, AND moon walk. If I had more time I probably would have gotten a trim just because of her.)

-A dancing slice of pizza

-A chill guy wearing a sign for a coffee shop while drinking coffee

And lastly- A dude dressed up like a pancake who was really not giving his all out there. I was stuck at the same light for a solid 10 minutes watching this blueberry pancake half-ass it on the street corner. I don’t really know why but I was very disappointed with him- almost upset. YO PANCAKE GUY on the corner of Woodmont and 19th. If you’re reading this right now, “Dance like you mean it! You know you’re better than that.”

Filed Under: Dispatches, spring training, St. Louis Cardinals Tagged With:

Spring Training Update: Helping Kevin Youkilis Make Dinner Plans

March 2, 2011 by Leave a Comment

Spring Training is under way. Since we’re not lucky enough to be down in the Florida sunshine, we’ve still got a plan to have you covered. David Franco from Next Level Ballplayer is down in Florida for the week providing us with all the sights and sounds of spring baseball that we need. Today’s adventures include chatting with a legendary groundskeeper of the Kansas City Royals & Chiefs, helping Kevin Youkilis decide on sushi, and making it onto the hallowed grounds of a spring training field. Tune in all week as Franco reports on ST exploits, and be sure to follow him on twitter or Facebook.

Franco’s Spring Training Update From FL: Day 3

What’s up DH Nation? Day 3 went a little something like this- Woke up at a buddy’s place in Naples. I had talked to the Red Sox Drew Sutton the day before and he said he’d leave me a ticket at will call. After getting stuck in traffic with the senior citizens of Fort Myers, I arrived at the Twins’ Hammund Stadium.

Overall Highlight of the day: Getting onto the field after the game and having a great conversation with longtime Kansas City Royals and Chiefs ground keeper who has seen it all… And has been inducted into the NFL Hall of Fame.

Runner Up Highlight: Running into Youk and Darnell Mcdonald after Drew Sutton and I had finished having dinner together.

Overall Lowlight of the day: Having to “play it cool” when Drew and I saw Kevin Youkilis. All I wanted to do was talk baseball, but Drew said he’d disown me as a friend if I didn’t play it cool. So I played it cool… But it wasn’t easy!

Twins vs Red Sox 1:05pm
Tickets: Free thanks to Mr. Sutton
- Sat with some of the Red Sox wives, but the conversations weren’t as lively as the Rays wife from yesterday.
-Jon Lester looked solid in two scoreless innings.

-Twins fans had to be happy seeing Joe Nathan throw for the first time since his elbow injury cost him the 2010 season.

-Bo Sox won but most of the players don’t even know who won the game, so who cares.

Postgame Adventures

Making it into the Twins’ Dugout

After the game was over and the crowds started filing out I decided to try to get down on the field. I had no real plan on what I wanted to do, but just hoped over a waist high fence down the third baseline and acted like I belonged on that field. I went straight into the empty Twins dugout and sat down.

I wanted to film a quick video for Next Level Ballplayer, but didn’t have anyone to film me. At that moment a few kids came down to the side of the dugout and asked me if they could have my autograph (A small part of me wanted to walk over and sign www.NextLevelBallplayer.com on their baseballs, but I fought that marketing urge and told them I wasn’t a player.) I couldn’t help them, but they helped me out by filming for me while I did a quick welcome video for NLB… Thanks kids.

Meeting a Legend

I was getting very comfortable in the dugout while the field crew guys were doing their thing and then I noticed this older man raking the third base line. He looked over at me and the following convo ensued:

Franco: You’re doing a good job.

George: You know football fields are a lot easier to prepare than ball fields.

Franco: I didn’t know that. What football fields have you worked on?

George: Well I was the head grounds keeper in Kansas City for many years.

About 30 minutes later, my mind had been blown by George Toma, author of Nitty Gritty Dirt Man.

Convo Highlights:

-George is 82 years old and for the last several years has come down to Fort Myers to help maintain their spring training fields.

-He was the longtime grounds keeper for the Royals and Chiefs

-He has prepared the field for EVERY Super Bowl. Yes I asked him what football fields he’s worked on thinking he’d say Joe Blow High School and it turns out he’s done every SB. Crazy.

-When the Royals were going to be facing a hard throwing pitcher, he’d make the batter’s box 6 inches further back than usual.

-The Royals manager used to have a guy watch the game from inside the outfield scoreboard to steal the catcher’s signs and relay them to the Royals’ batters. There was a big digital clock in left field and they would use to relay the pitches to the batter. If there was only one dot between the hour and minutes it was a fastball, and if there were two dots it was going to be an off speed pitch.

-He has prepared different fields for the World Cup and Olympics.

-He’s good buddies with George Brett who wrote the forward to his book, Nitty Gritty Dirt Man. I can’t wait to read it. (Here’s the book, and here’s a story on the legend himself).

Mr. Toma gave me his business card and a ton of great stories. I could have talked to the guy for the rest of the night, but finally he said, “Ok young man. You’re gonna get me fired if don’t get back to work.”

Hibachi Dinner with Drew Sutton and the Red Sox #1 fan

When Drew and his wife found out I’d never had Hibachi before, it was determined that I hadn’t fully lived life and we were going to right that ship tonight. I found out that you sit around a flat grill like table while the chef comes and cooks right in front of you. There are about 10 seats around each Hibachi, so frequently you’ll have multiple parties sitting at the same Hibachi.

Anyways, Drew is a really chill guy who likes to keep a low profile, so when this dude decked out in Red Sox gear walked over towards our table with his parents, Drew gave me that look like “Franco, don’t go announcing that I play for the Red Sox.” I was offended. Come on Drewbie! I was chillin in the Rays locker room yesterday. I’m not going to act like a rookie.

Sure enough, the dude starts asking us if we went to the Red Sox game. We all say yes. Then he asks where we were from and why we were in Fort Myers… I’m staying pretty quiet, just laughing to myself as Drew dodges the questions somewhat nervously. “We live in Texas.” “We’re down here to go to spring training games.” “Yeah, I was at the game today, but left before it ended.” (You might not know that early on in spring training, most big leaguers play 4-5 innings, shower and then leave the ball park before the 7th inning stretch.)

Before the super Sox fan left, I told him I wrote for a blog and he needed to check out Diamond Hoggers.com tomorrow morning. Dude, I hope you are reading this right now. Sorry I couldn’t give you the heads up last night… I had to “play it cool”…

Speaking of playing it cool. When we were walking to our car, Youk and Mcdonald walked by us and said hi to Drew and then asked where we ate. Before Drew could say anything I jumped in.

Franco: “You have to go eat at the Hibachi place. It’s really good and they have huge portions.”

Youk: “That sounds great. We’ll give it a try.”

I hope you enjoyed your meal fellas… You’re welcome.

Conclusion

Hibachi is delicious. I would have liked to have a beer with Youk to finish off the day, but that only would have been icing on a great cake that didn’t need icing… Like an ice cream cake… Is there ever icing on an ice cream cake?… I can’t remember the last time I had an… Ok, it’s way too late and I need to go to bed. Tomorrow will either be Cards v Mets or Red Sox v Braves. Peace out.

Extra Innings
I accidently tried pickle flavored sunflower seeds when one of the Twins’ grounds keepers offered em to me today. I owe Zobrist an apology. They were only mildly gross, not completely disgusting like I had told him the day before even though I’d never tried them.

Filed Under: Dispatches, Red Sox, spring training Tagged With: , ,

Spring Training Update: Hanging in the Rays Locker Room

March 1, 2011 by Leave a Comment

Spring Training is under way. Since we’re not lucky enough to be down in the Florida sunshine, we’ve still got a plan to have you covered. David Franco from Next Level Ballplayer is down in Florida for the week providing us with all the sights and sounds of spring baseball that we need. Today’s adventures include, sitting with the player’s wives, getting a foul ball, hanging out in the Rays locker room, a quick chat with Longo and his mullet, and more. Tune in all week as Franco reports on ST exploits, and be sure to follow him on twitter or Facebook.

Franco’s Spring Training Update From FL: Day 2

What’s up Diamond Hogger Nation? Franco here, from NextLevelBallplayer.com, ready to break down day 2-
Woke up at a buddy’s place in Naples. I had talked to the Ray’s Ben Zobrist the day before and he said he’d leave me a ticket at will call. After a solid drive that put me over 1,000 miles on this road trip so far, I pulled into the Port Charlotte Sports Park.

Overall Highlight of the day: Hanging out in the Rays locker room for over an hour with guys like Longoria, Upton, Jeff Niemann, Matt Joyce, Dirk Hayhurst and Zobrist.

Runner Up Highlight: Parking my ’98 Honda Passport in the Rays’ players parking lot next to multiple $100k cars.

Overall Lowlight of the day: Finding out that Zobrist likes pickle flavored sunflower seeds… I used to think he was cool.

Rays vs Pirates 1:05pm
Tickets: Free thanks to Mr. Zobrist
- I was so busy marveling at Manny’s dreads that it took me a little while to realize that I was sitting with all of the player’s wives.
-Manny looked great going 2-2 AND playing the outfield.
-Damon got his first base knock of the spring
-Pirates won but who cares

Hanging with the Wives
The Foul Ball
So I’m chatting with three of the player’s wives and having a good time watching the game when a foul ball gets hit towards us. (I am going to keep the wives’ identities private cause I don’t want to be “that guy” that wrote about them by name without them knowing. Just know that you’d recognize their husbands if I told you.) Anyways, wife #1 and #2 lean to get out of the way and wife #3 sees the ball but doesn’t move. #3 has the ball land a foot next to her, bounce off of her back (she was fine) and land about 2 feet from her.

Now the dilemma: I’m one row in front of her and 4 seats over with nobody between me and the ball that has come to rest kinda by her foot. I really want the ball, but I also wanna play it cool… The lady in the row over started to take a few steps towards it and instincts kicked in. As I was about to reach for it wife #3 picks up the ball. Awkward. I go to sit back down and she then proceeds to give me the ball as if I’m a little kid. Had to swallow my pride a bit on this one, but next time I play catch with a buddy, we’re using a big league pearl.

Dip can do what?!?!
This second story from the wives section blew my mind. There were a few bees flying near us that prompted this story.

Wife #1: “One time I was hanging out with a group of friends and I got stung by a bee. It hurt like crazy, but right away a guy took his dip out of his mouth and put it on the bee sting. It worked great and I was back to normal in no time.”
Franco: “Wow. This guy sounds like he’d be the one to suggest peeing on a mosquito bite.”
Wife #2: “GROSS! If any guy tried to but his nasty dip on me, I’d give him a swift karate chop to the neck.”

Moral of the story fellas- If you have a hammer in and your girl gets stung by a bee, make sure you know where she stands on having dip placed on her body (personally my wife would be in the karate chop group)… But if you are only concerned about results, evidently dip works wonders on bee stings.

In the 6th inning or so, just as the convo with the wives turned to Oprah and pedicures, I got the greatest text ever:
“Meet me outside the stadium by the batting cages.” Zoby saves the day.

Inside the Rays Locker Room
I had no idea Zoby was going to take me into the locker room. He had lined up a few unofficial interviews for me and there I was, just shooting the breeze with the Rays in their locker room.
Right when I walked in, Upton and Longoria were there joking around. They over heard Zoby saying to me that he had stayed up until 11:30 the night before.
Longoria: “Oh dang Ben. You stayed up until 11:30?!?! That is so crazy! You need to calm down. I’m afraid you’re going off the deep end.” Maybe you had to be there, but it was funny.

Other locker room happenings
-Matt Joyce was really cool. We talked for a solid 20 minutes and I will be rooting for him this season.
-Talked with Longo briefly, but was able to ask him a few questions, including the toughest pitcher he’s faced (Saving this for a later post).
-Having Dirk Hayhurst give me a copy of his book, The Bullpen Gospels. I had played against Dirk in college and he came over and we talked for a good half hour. He is an absolute character!
-On the way out of the complex (I was by myself) I walked by Joe Madden and told him to have a good night and he told me the same. I’m pretty sure he thought I was a minor league guy who’s name he couldn’t remember.

Conclusion
What a great day. After the locker room I went and grabbed some food with Zoby and then headed back to his house to chill with his wifey and 2 year old boy for the rest of the night. It was good catching up with him and relaxing… Tomorrow I’m headed to Fort Myers to check out the Twins and Red Sox round 2.

Extra Innings
Zobrist still had to shower, so I went and got my car and told him I’d come back and pick him up. I drove into the players parking lot by making a friend with the security guy and then parked my ’98 Honda passport. A few minutes later I realized that I had parked next to Tim Beckham, the Rays 2008 #1 overall pick. His Land Rover car doors opened up towards the sky when he got in… Mine just opened normal.

Filed Under: Dispatches, spring training, Tampa Bay Devil Rays Tagged With: , , , , ,
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