Hello Everybody

[MGrage]

Greetings from sunny AZ. My flight yesterday was pretty uneventful. Though it ran a little long so when we landed 45 minutes late, I missed the first 4 innings of my first game down here. The Giants lead 2-1 and each time only had 3 hits so I didn't miss much thankfully. I didn't see much afterwards either though. Here are the highlights :

- Scotty Pods smacking a run scoring triple that the RF just missed catching

- Ian Stewat crushing a 2 run to straightaway CF to win the game in the bottom of the tenth

- Brian Bocock making a great catch off a line drive by some Rockies scrub whose name I can't remember to start off the bottom of the tenth

- Merkin Valdez constantly missing high and walking 2 and giving up an infield hit to load the bases then getting out of the jam by inducing the 4th(?) string C to ground into an inning ending 4-6-3 DP

I almost missed the Stewart HR because I was going to leave after 9 but I decided to stick it out to the end mainly because I missed the early innings. Well, in a couple of hours I'm heading off to Tucson Electric to catch the WS/Padres game. Hope it's not too cold up there. Nah, I hope it's 10 above with 30 MPH winds. Mahalo

Matt

[MGrage]

Well, another day, another game. This time I only missed the top half of the 1st inning mainly due to a couple of entrance ramps to I-10 being closed so I had to take the dang frontage road for about 4 miles so naturally I hit every light and ended up being 10 minutes late to the game. Unfortunately by that time the Pads had scored 3 runs off John Danks and that was the majority of the scoring in a 5-0 final. Here are the highlights :

- The Sox getting shut down by Wil Ledesma for 4 innings. Ozzie played what should be the Opening Day lineup for most of the game too. Dye, Konerko, Crede & Pyrzinski all batted in the ninth.

- The Sox grounding into 5 double plays. Two by AJ, two by Uribe and the last by Alexei Ramirez.

- 2008 5th rotation round draft pick Paul McAnulty absolutely crushing a 3-1 fastball over the berm in straighaway left field. Ozzie took out Danks moments later.

Well, I'm going back to TEP tomorrow hopefully, I'll be on time for the Rockies/Pale House battle. Later dudes. Mahalo

Matt

[MGrage]

OK, my last game in Tucson was a humdinger. I wonder if that will get past the censor. This time I arrived a whole 2 minutes early despite leaving my hotel room 20 minutes earlier. Stupid I-10 reconstruction. Sitting in nice and shady club seats, I got waited on hand and foot by a cute latina waitress/wench. Aside from those culinary and visual delights, here were the highlights of today's game :

- Ubaldo Jimenez could not find the strike zone in the first two innings before settling down in the 3rd & 4th. He hit two batters with curveballs and walked three others.

- Thome was on his A game today. He crushed two balls way past the 388 left field wall including a 3 run job that put the Sox up by a run in the bottom of the eighth to cap a 6 run inning. Jim hit it one pitch after Brian Anderson appeared to be out on a bang-bang play at the plate too. He drove in 6 runs today all told. On the bright side, he also struck out twice.

- Alexei Ramirez appears to have won the starting 2B job as reports out of the Score in Chicago report that Uribe has been waived today. Hopefully, Dusty will look at Uribe and have little dancing Neifi's circling his head like the cartoon character he really is. Maybe DB will even bat Uribe in the 2 hole after Corey. :-D Anyways, Alexei looked really good today and it sucks that the Cubs didn't sign him to play SS or 2B. He looks so smooth out there no matter where he plays. *sigh*

- By far the biggest highlight for me was seeing Tulo pulverize the ball today. Troy only got credit for one homer and got robbed by the umps of another. TT pasted a ball in the second well over the Rockies bullpen and then skied another ball to left center that hit off the berm and bounced back into play. The boys in blue didn't see it that way though so Troy ended up on second and the non-hustling Tavaras wound up on third. I think I made the right decision to pass on all those low ball offers I got for him this offseason.

- Brian Anderson might be a major leaguer after all. He hit the hardest hit ball of the day but hit it to the wrong part of the ballpark as it hit about 15' over the 405 sign in dead straightaway center field in the bottom of the ninth. He was stranded there as utility INF/automatic out Pablo Ozuna popped up to end the game tied at 10-10.

I lost most interest in the game after the Rocks pulled most of their starters after the top half of the sixth. Both teams trotted out minor league gascans in the last couple of innings so other than giving the local White Sox fans a bit of a thrill, the rest of the game could barely keep me out of my current edition of Baseball America. Now I'm going to take a short break from baseball and hop on a shuttle to Phoenix tomorrow. I won't be watching another game until 7pm tomorrow night. Hope I don't get too bored between now and then .... Mahalo

Matt

[Copperfields]

mgrage said:

I got waited on hand and foot by a cute latina waitress/wench.

Matt, I know your cell phone's gotta have a camera on it. Where are the pics?

Seriously, thanks for posting these recaps and your observations (though something tells me you're holding back on your real key scouting finds).

Travel safe!

David

[MGrage]

copperfields said:

mgrage said:

I got waited on hand and foot by a cute latina waitress/wench.

Matt, I know your cell phone's gotta have a camera on it. Where are the pics?

Seriously, thanks for posting these recaps and your observations (though something tells me you're holding back on your real key scouting finds).

Travel safe!

David

What happens in Section 205 stays in Section 205 dude.

I've only seen 3 NL teams so far the Rocks, Pads & Giants. The Giants suck, the Rocks rock and few will be around in the draft and Pads have pitching. There really isn't that much to hide. You probably don't want to trust my scouting instincts anyways. Especially since a few years back, I came away convinced that Zach Day was going to be an ace and bid him up that year. *sigh*

Hope you guys are still freezing up there. Mahalo

Matt

[MGrage]

I know y'all are breathless with anticipation about the big Mariners/Padres game last night. So I waited until I woke up now to file my report. Once again I was an hour late to the game due to a Solomon-like conundrum. Flying my usual Southwest, I'm able to check in 24 hours before my flight so I had to decide between going to the 7:05 start or wait in my room until 7:40 to check in so I could get a non-middle seat. I chose the latter and was the 2nd person to check which means that I'll get a primo aisle seat weather permitting. BTW, why is still snowing up there? That's just not right.

Anyways, I quickly printed out my boarding pass and hightailed it to the game ignoring any speed limits on the way. Kids, don't do this at home. I'm a professional. I found a parking space seemingly 10 miles from the stadium and speedwalked as fast as I could. The top of the fifth started when I reached the ticket counter. Once again, I missed the majority of the scoring as it was 4-3 Ms. The Baseball gods conspired with me though and the game went into extra innings so I was able to catch 6 innings anyways. Without further adieu, let's go to the tape :

- The biggest highlight for me was Chase Headley crushing a ball to left center field for a game tying HR thus upsetting the blue hair biddy M fans behind me.

- The Mariners backup backup backup backup RF misplaying 2 pop flies down the RF line into two triples, only one of which ended up scoring though.

- The Padres AAA team almost blowing the tie in the top of the 10th by trying to throw out the lead runner on a bunt twice thus loading the bases with no outs. It was especially stupid because the M's had a speedy pinch runner prior to the bunt attempts. They were able to wiggle out of it after a line drive right at the 1B for the first out and then a nifty inning ending 4-3 DP.

- Trevor Hoffman and Something Cameron gave up runs in their relief efforts. Hoffman wasn't too impressive and his change isn't working yet. The M's either spanked it or let it drop for a ball. He'll probably work out the kinks by Opening Day though ...

That's about it. The seats in Peoria stadium were very cushy and the park still looked pretty new. Most of the locals were gone by the time Callix Crabbe struck out in the bottom of the 10th to make the final tally 6-6. Well, this concludes the penultimate post from my AZ trip. I'm heading out to the Brewers complex in a couple of hours after I check out of my room and then head off to the airport. Unless Phoenix Sky Harbor has wireless internet and plenty of open outlets, you jackals will have to wait until I get to the firehouse Saturday to read about my final game here. Hopefully, my flight won't get cancelled and I have stay here an extra day and be AWOL back home. Mahalo

Matt

[MGrage]

Well, I'm here in Sky Harbor using their free wireless internet. My flight has been delayed 3 times already, but they're still trying to get us back to Chicago. The latest arrival time is now 1:20am. *ugh* I might get 3 hours of sleep before work tomorrow. Anyways, this will be the shortest of my entries because my momma always said, if you ain't cheating, you ain't trying. Oh wait, wrong one. She said if you can't say something nice about someone don't say anything at all. And today's game was a complete abortion from start to finish. I'm sorry Steve but the Brewers' spring training facility was BY FAR the worst stadium I've ever had the misfortune to try to watch a game at. They blew Shea Stadium completely out of the water in that regard.

First, both parking lots were completely sold out even though I got there a half hour early. Then I was lucky enough to find a spot only 2 miles away from the park. When I finally got to the stadium, there was ONLY ONE PERSON giving out all the Will Call tickets. Naturally there were about 500 people in front of me. When I finally got to the front of the line, I looked back and the line was even longer and it was already the bottom of the first. Next there was only one entrance into the park so naturally there was another line. Then when you finally get into the park the concourses are so fricken small, that you stood essentially cheek to cheek with a wall of humanity. There are only 4 concession stands so every dang like had dozens of people blocking the concourses. It was another inning by the time I could make my way to my seat.

I was so disgusted with the the park I only stayed the minimum 5 innings before I left. I almost left after the 7th inning stretch but I gutted out another 3 outs to make the game official for me. I will never, ever go back to that craph*le. Well, hopefully I'll be back in a couple of hours if the snow ever lets up. All in all, I had a great time here in AZ and I highly recommend you guys coming out here some year. See you guys in about a week. Mahalo

Matt

[stones]

mgrage said:

-- Well, I'm here in Sky Harbor using their free wireless Internet. My flight has been delayed 3 times already, but they're still trying to get us back to Chicago. The latest arrival time is now 1:20am. *ugh* I might get 3 hours of sleep before work tomorrow.

-- I'm sorry Steve but the Brewers' spring training facility was BY FAR the worst stadium I've ever had the misfortune to try to watch a game at. They blew Shea Stadium completely out of the water in that regard.

-- All in all, I had a great time here in AZ and I highly recommend you guys coming out here some year. See you guys in about a week. Mahalo

Matt

First off, I know that airport far too well. Been stuck there too many times myself. On the other end of the weather spectrum, I once was forced to sit on a plane for 4 hours at Sky Harbor, not because of bad weather in Chicago but because it was the warmest day on record in Phoenix history. IT'S A DRY HEAT! It was 123 degrees and the maximum temp to take off on is 122 degrees. As a Pilot I can explain this too you but the short story is the weight of the plane and the thickness of the air meant we would needed more runway than was then available!!! Don't ever sit in a crowded airliner with minimal air-conditioning in 123 degree heat. It sucks! Once the sun went down we were finally able to take off!

As for the Brewers complex, I haven't been to their new (old) spring training facility. I went to their Chandler complex several years ago, which was very nice. I am not sure why they moved. Maybe the Selig's couldn't afford "nice" back then, or the land was too valuable and they subdivided it. In any case, I think I've heard they are about to spend a ton of money rebuilding the current place.

I have been to Spring training and want to go back someday. Maybe next year.

Thanks for the reports Matt. Don't quote me on this, but WELL DONE.

[MGrage]

Sky Harbor isn't the worst airport I've been at. It's pretty good actually. I'm not a pilot but I stayed at a Holiday Inn Express last night so I know where you're coming from. Actually, I know the basic physics of flying due mainly to my two semesters of flying single engine prop planes back in college. Those were alot of fun. I just had a little trouble with cross wind landings. Correct me if I'm wrong but warmer, dry air has less resistance which is what you need for loft. If it were humid, you'd have enough resistance from the little water droplets. Ah, gravity, loft, friction and thrust.

Thanks for the kudos Steve. I'm going to print out your reply and post it on my mantle. It was a pleasure as always watching baseball again on a daily basis. You got to go try to catch the Arizona Fall League as well sometime. It's almost like an early Spring Training game in that everyone's a minor leaguer. You can meet and talk to a bunch of scouts if you don't interfere with their work. Plus there's only like 200 people in the stands. Mahalo

Matt

[stones]

mgrage said:

Sky Harbor isn't the worst airport I've been at. It's pretty good actually. I'm not a pilot but I stayed at a Holiday Inn Express last night so I know where you're coming from. Actually, I know the basic physics of flying due mainly to my two semesters of flying single engine prop planes back in college. Those were alot of fun. I just had a little trouble with cross wind landings. Correct me if I'm wrong but warmer, dry air has less resistance which is what you need for loft. If it were humid, you'd have enough resistance from the little water droplets. Ah, gravity, loft, friction and thrust.Matt

Now we're in an area no one cares about, but Flying is a gas! And yes, I should have said "density" of the air not thickness. It would have been better to say with a lack of any discernible humidity the air was too thin to take off. But either way, you are correct.

And for the record, I really like Sky Harbor. It's an attractive airport as airports go any way. It just I have been stuck there far too many times over the years, usually weather related in Chicago not Phoenix, though! I used to travel for work as we owned a Bank in Phoenix. I used to work with the wife of the CFO of the Dbacks and the nephew of Barry Goldwater. Impressive huh! I didn't think so either, but they were both a lot of fun.