My Spring Training report from last Thurs-Saturday

[danielcharlespoll]

This was my first time going to spring training - weather was pretty solid all weekend... mid 70s and sunny.

 

 

So here the report:

 

Got to the stadium about 10 minutes before gametime on Thursday - my buddy was getting in later in the day, so I went by myself. It's a pretty cool facility -- there are like 8 different practice fields and then the main field they play on. It's fairly small -- maybe about 30 rows of seats that extend down to the bullpens... then everything else is lawn. I managed to pick up a single ticket in the 2nd row behind the Mariners dugout. Ben Sheets looked really good -- was throwing consistent strikes and working fast. I don't think any base runners made it past first -- the closest they came was on a steal attempt/hit and run in which the batter struck out and Kendall (yeah, amazing!) threw out the running at 2nd. As far as our offense they was pretty much nothing besides Braun launching a 2-0 pitch from felix hernadez to straight away center...probably 430 feet... and weeks pulling a king felix fastball down the left field line for a homer. Those were the only two hits we had the whole game. Zach Jackson came in for sheets and was doing a solid job until rickie weeks messed up a potential double play (dropped hardy's toss) and then seattle got a few runs. Turnbow and Gagne both pitched a scoreless inning.

 

One thing I was watching for was Braun's play in LF. He had one catch up against the wall on a towering fly ball which was impressive considering he was staring direclty into the Arizona sun -- he made it look routine. He made solid plays on a couple of hits on fielding them well and hitting the cutoff man. There was one single in which a player was trying to score from 2nd... braun threw a strike to homeplate but the ump called him safe (close call) -- regardless, the throw was a frozen rope and I was impressed.

 

I went by the outfield grass to catch the last few innings -- there is a gate area in which the players have to pass by in order to get from the field to the clubhouse -- so a lot of fans hang out here to try and get autographs and talk to the players. While I was in this area, Jeff Suppan came out in street clothes and a bunch of fans surrounded him w/ autograph requests. He ended up being really personable and friendly - taking time to sign everything and actually talk to the fans. He was striking up conversation w/ everyone -- asking where people were from, and answering any quesitons they had. He also went out of his way to walk to shy kids and pose for pictures -- I was really impressed. I was just as impressed w/ his wife's diamond studded watch as well. I got Suppan's autograph on a baseball that was I hoping to get signed by a few players over the weekend. I also managed to get carlos villenuevas autograph in the same area during the game.

 

 

 

On Friday my buddyand I got to the stadium about an hour and a half before gametime to hang out and catch some of the team practices. We found out that the teams divide up -- pitchers, infielders, outfielders -- to work on drills and take BP. We went over to the pitchers field and just when we were right behind homeplate ben sheets came walking by. We were 2 of about 10 people in the area, so I was able to get his autograph. He was shorter than I thought he'd be and definitely walks around w/ a swagger (and his glove on top of his head). He signed a few autographs but didnt' really interact w/ the fans. We watched a few pitchers take BP then hung out where they walk between the practice field and the clubhouse. While hanging out there I got Manny Parra and Yovanni Gallardo's autograph. Yovanni was walking w/ out a limp and signed for everyone. He's not the most socialble person in the world... I asked him how his knee was feeling and he responded with, "good". That was about as deep a convo as he was gonna have. It was good at least to see him walking around normally.

 

We scored seats in the 2nd row behind the brewers on deck circle. After we got inside the stadium we hung out by the bullpen and watched capuano warm up. Maddux was working with him on finishing with his momentum and body going down and forward instead of coming up. After making this adjustment cappy seemed to have more noticbly more zip on his warm up pitches. However, this didn't seem to help him much during the game because he struggled throughout -- and eventually gave up a grand slam down the right field line to josh hamilton. I read on the brewers blog that fielder was gonna be out of the lineup to work on individual fielding drills -- we were actually able to see the field he was practicing on and watched him field some grounders along w/ joe dillon. Prince is a BIG dude.

 

 

Mark Anastasio sat about 2 rows down from us and mingled w/ the crowd. He even was willing to listen to these drunk idiots across the aisle from us who were suggesting he start a new marketing idea in which people can pay to be in the sausge races. I wanted to ask why we haven't brought back bernie's beer barrell but I chickened out. Braun hit another home run -- we ended up coming back from a 6-0 deficit to win the game... although most of the comeback took place w/ bench players against scrub pitchers. We went over by the gate area and I was able to get Ryan Braun's autograph on his way to the clubhouse. Braun, Weeks, hardy, and Cameron were all signing on their way in. The first three signed for about 5 minutes then headed in. Cameron ended up staying out signing for another 10-15 minutes until everyone got his. He was hamming it up w/ the fans while he was doing it as well -- he was by far and away the nicest guy I saw on the team -- seemed to always have positive attitude and joke w/ his teammates and the fans. We also hung out by the bullpen a far amount and McClung also jokes around a lot as well.

 

 

On Saturday we got the stadium a few hours before the game to try and catch the position practices. When we got there manny parra, bush, and zach jackson were working with Sedar in the cage. Rickie weeks and gabe kapler were as well -- none of hte other players were really out and about. We ended up finding out that all the team ownership people were in town and there was some special team meeting taking place -- so the normal practice schedule wasn't taking place. We were able to see all the players warming up/streching on the field around 10:30am (game was at 1:00pm). The pitchers then all broke off and ran over to their practice field. We went over and watched most of the relievers take bunts/ground balls. Gallardo hung out by homeplate and the pitchers threw the balls home to him after fielding them. Gagne lollygagged through most of these drills and overall he didnt do a whole lot this weekend to give me any confidence that he'll be worth any of the 10 million dollars we signed him for. We also noticied turnbow always seemed to be running everywhere (was he scared of the fans or something?) but he did at least practice w/ some effort.

 

As far as the game on Saturday, both Cameron and Dillion hit HRs. Suppan started and pitched so-so. Kendall threw out 2 runners -- so much for those stats from last year and the knocks on him. I also saw him run out to talk to the pitchers a coupe of times when they were struggling -- something estrada was too lazy to do. He had a couple of singles over the weekend and ran the bases farily well. I think we are getting a nice upgrade behind the plate. Hardy had a nice game on saturday in the field w/ a few slick plays. Hall looked natural at 3rd throughout the weekend. Corey hart didnt do anything at the plate, but made a couple of nice plays in the field and was friendly w/ the fans. Yount was at the game -- I saw him walking around w/ Yost beforehand. I guess selig was there too, but I never saw him.

 

Overall, the weekend was a ton of fun and I definitely wanna go back next year.

 

 

Conclusion:

 

Impressed me:

 

-Kendall: threw out a couple of runners and was no slouch on offense

-Suppan: not so much his pitching, but I like his demeanor

-Cameron: nicest guy on the team

-Braun: he's looked great in LF and his swing is as good as ever

-Sedar: the first base coach -- we watched him in the cages with a few players and he seemed like a good motivator/positive influence

 

 

Didn't impress me:

 

-Capuano: if he makes the team i'll be shocked

-Gagne: should show a little more moxy for $10 million

 

 

 

 

Sheets looks great and our offense will be solid. Not sure what will happen w/ our bullpen -- but hopefully Yost will not mess this up. We have a lot of talent.

[hawing]

Thanks for sharing, and welcome to the forum.

 

It was a year ago right now that we were in Arizona. Realizing that, plus reading so many of your experiences, really makes me want to go back.

[Oldcity]

This fell off page 1 pretty quick. Just wanted to say thanks for sharing all that.