Spring Training: Part One

Spring Training has been a blast so far, so before I get to the first two games, here's a brief synopsis of the trip down. (SCROLL DOWN FOR THE GAMES/STADIUMS). I left school Friday morning and took the bus to Providence Train Station. I got off the bus a little too early and dragged my suitcase through some more snow than I wanted, but whatever. The train to Washington D.C. left around noon and I got into D.C. at about 6:45. No big complaints, except I had probably 4 different people sitting next to me at various points, including the biggest guy on my car (he had to be at least 300 pounds) and this girl who sat across from her sister and the sister's BF and didn't shut up. I did some Blockbuster closing hunting with my brother on Saturday: scored some ridiculously good deals. Sunday morning at 4 we left for Baltimore airport and I didn't get groped by TSA, which is really satisfying. First flight was to Denver - our pilot got us in like an hour early: totally kickass.  Weird getting used to the time zone changes and having lunch at 9:30 AM Denver time, but that Pizza Hut hit the spot. Flew out of Denver at 11ish and the pilot got us into Phoenix early at noon - awesome again. So, we went to get our rental car, which resulted in an experience close to this: (Seinfeld Car Rental). We went on our way to the first game and since then, after a hotel changeover and restaurant hunting, it's been solid since. I will also be featuring a random comeback player from my high school days at each game if I can)

WBC
The US has been quite in and out. I saw Dickey's clunker against Mexico. You know you're crap when getting your ass beaten by Eduardo Arredondo.  Who? Exactly. I did get to catch the Mexico/Canada brawl, which was awesome. My brother seems to think Jim Kaat is the common denominator because he broadcasted that game and the Yankees/Orioles fight of 1998. But, the US redeemed themselves with Wright's grand slam in game two and beating Italy and Canada. Gio Gonzalez starts tonight against Puerto Rico (which would be nice as the 51st state, right?). Hope the US goes to at least the finals.

Angels vs. Dodgers (Random Comeback player of the day: Chad Cordero/Willy Taveras)

The first game we went to was the K.C. Royals vs the L.A. Angels at the Royals/Rangers home park, Surprise Stadium in Surprise, AZ. One of the newer parks (2003), and really nice. You can see it above. We got seated in the geriatric section apparently, because we brought down the average age by about a decade by being the only ones under 50. Fortunately, the older gentleman next to us was a lot of fun to talk to. He knew his Angels really well and baseball in general. There was also an older gentleman who was a Royals fan that was WAY TOO into it: clipping insanely hard after each hit. The park lacked some actual food food, mostly snacks available. On to the game:
We got there in the 3rd inning, due to a few delays, but this was a doozy. The Royals won 17-11. Up to when we got there in the end of the 3rd, the Royals scored 5 off Tommy Hanson and the Angels 2 via a Vernon Wells HR.
This game was full of errors. Hank Conger was AWFUL: he made the same error 3 times: a snap throw to first that went wrong. This game featured a total of 7, 7 errors with 6 by LAA.
So, we watched Ernesto Frieri relieve Hanson and had a stat line of 1/3 of an inning, 5 hits, 1 BB and 5 earned runs allowed - awful. But, it was cool to see Chad Cordero not only rail thin but really effective with a scoreless inning and 2 K's. I hope he makes the team. Offensively, Pujols and Conger hit bombs that I saw. Vernon Wells has decided to hit and my boy Kole Calhoun got on base all 3 times. I hope some team picks him up as a starter in OF or at 1B.
Kansas City offensively continued to be torrid. All of KC's starters got at least 1 hit. Bruce Chen was bad, giving up 5 runs and Aaron Crow was shaky. Bueno (one of KC's relievers) esta no bueno. Random comeback player Willy Taveras had a hit in one at bat. But, nevertheless, a fun game to watch a ton of offensive output. Not to mention one of my favorite lines of the spring, "Time to go back to the drawing board, Scioscia!!"

Dodgers vs. Brewers (Random comeback player of the day: Bobby Crosby)

This game was much more of a regular baseball game. The Brewers won 3-2, with all of the offense coming in the 4th inning. This was Maryvale Baseball Park in Phoenix-Maryvale area. This opened in 1998 and outside of the weird white overhangs which are ugly, another great park. Lots of grass area in the outfield, with a very weird CF wall. The scoreboard in left-center was pretty large. The food here was really good, I had the chicken tenders with a spicy breading, and there were a lot of choices available. Here, we changed it up and sat in the grass: everyone should give it a shot at one game.
I discovered that out of the every day lineup, only Norichika Aoki hits lefty. Wowzers, indeed. He also made a great catch in RF. Offensively, Rickie Weeks did most of the damage with an RBI Triple and he scored the tying run with Blake Lalli bringing him home for the winning run. Weeks also had 2 boneheaded plays at 2nd and OFs Carlos Gomez and Khris Davis made poor plays as well: Gomez's error led to LA's 2 runs. Starter Mike Fiers was okay but the bullpen was shut down: only 3 hits over 5 innings. Fiers also came out and signed for the fans but I didn't have a pen (damn). The clubhouse tunnel is exposed for fans to come over and ask for signatures. Bobby Crosby had 1 hit but is trying to make it as a utility man.
The Dodgers looked out of it. Hyun-Jin Ryu started for Zack Greinke and gave up all 3 runs. Mark Ellis, AJ Ellis and Yusiel Puig, top OF prospect, did the offensive damage. Puig looked impressive. Skip Schumaker misplayed Weeks' ball and give him his triple. Unimpressive game by them.
Fun parts of this game: Chris Narveson (MIL P)'s mom was in front of me in line at the Team Store. I wore my Seattle Pilots (who became the Brewers after 1 year of existence) jersey and I got SIX, count them, SIX individual compliments, including "Best jersey here today" by 1 guy. The Brewers store cashier even got the player I was wearing correct: Jim Bouton. Most popular dude at the game. Sweet.