welcome to SPRING TRAINING 2008!

anyone have cactus league recommendations? i'm going to be out that way first week of march and want to catch a couple games.

All the Phoenix parks are pretty nice. The nice thing about Cactus is that the parks are closer together than in Florida. Also it's a dry heat.

Hohokam is my favorite. Maryvale has great food/beer (naturally). You should totally try to catch a Dodgers game.

Your reviews, please!

Peoria's fun. The facilities for the Padres and Mariners are next to each other so you can catch one or the other. The Royals' place isn't far from there either

Good to hear. I have tickets for one of the Peoria games.

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Voice of Boomhauer, body of Bobby.

Mets 4, Wolverines 4
Tigers 17, Moccasins 4
Marlins 7, Hurricanes 2

so, checking out royals and rockies at surprise tomorrow and d'backs v. cubs at hohokam on saturday.

pretty fired up. i'll post some pics later on.

the best part of college v. pro games is watching the pros take bp with aluminum bats

ooh my brother's going to that Saturday Cubs game. Take lots of pics!

PONSOOOOOOOOOON

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"When you go into rehab, they say you're always going to substitute a habit with a different habit," he said. "Lucky me, I substituted alcohol with ice cream. I should have substituted it with salad."

whoa that made me realize that sir sidney was in my dream last night! needless to say, he was being shelled

one wonders what Freud would say about that!

Was Sidney beached in your dream or could he move around?

he wasn't too mobile, but he was able to turn and wipe his sweaty brow while watching a moon shot

ECKSTEIN GRAND SLAM

"You load the bases for Eck, he's going to hit a homer," said Wells. "The little fellow can hit a ball a long ways. The little fellow comes through."

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he wasn't too mobile, but he was able to turn and wipe his sweaty brow while watching a moon shot

before or after he punched the judge?

so, i don't really have the gear to upload any of my pics, but hohokam park was pretty cool. much more of an old school ballpark than surprise. kind of funny that they sell old style there.

i also met lee smith and fergie jenkins!

Cubs win! Cubs win!

it was also cool to see fukudome in action.

fwiw, lieber looked pretty good, though outside of upton, it was the pretty scrubby half of the split d-backs squad.

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^^brother's pics

j.q., where did you sit?

oh, man...so your bro has, like, a GOOD camera.

i was in one of the last seated rows in the covered section b/w 1b and right field. reallya c nice place to watch a ballgame.

All spring training pics are good. Put your up!

s

no, no...i will, just haven't had a chance to upload. just commenting that i really like your bro's pics.

Thanks, I'll tell him (he's not allowed here). It's a Nikon D40.

Jair Jurrjens is making it hard for the Atlanta Braves to keep him out of the starting rotation.

Jurrjens ran his scoreless streak to eight innings Monday, limiting St. Louis to two singles and a walk over four innings as Atlanta beat the Cardinals 3-1.

''I'm trying to show I belong here,'' the 21-year-old from Curacao said. ''Until I get the news, I don't have a spot.''

The words he wants to hear might be coming soon.

''He's a true pitcher,'' Braves manager Bobby Cox said. ''I know he won't be perfect all the time, but he has been so far.''

Acquired from Detroit in an offseason trade for shortstop Edgar Renteria , Jurrjens faced just one batter more than the minimum. He picked a runner off first base and another was erased on a double play.

The right-hander threw 25 of his 39 pitches for strikes. He threw only one ball in each of his last two innings, needing just 14 pitches.

Awesome.

I'd think Mike Hampton's annual DL stint would make it easy for the Braves to keep JJ in the starting rotation.

could we get him, ambiorix burgos and yorman bazardo on the same team, please? maybe w/ a side of callix crabbe?

Can't speak for Ambiorix but Bazardo, Deik Scram, and Clete Thomas are taken.

Rocco Baldelli is "stalled by extreme fatigue," whatever that means.

lol yankee-rays brawl

i like this:

"Tampa Bay's Jonny Gomes was ejected, too, after racing in from right field and barreling into Duncan as other players poured onto the field."

not a YES game alas

they brawled in spring training!?

It's happened before (see Piazza chasing Guillermo Mota w/ bat roffles).

plz tell me Billy Crystal was activated for this and got his neck broken.

:|

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DRays Bay has video:

http://www.draysbay.com/story/2008/3/12/15053/2408

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LOLWRY's line last week was worse than it looked.

Caple:

Lowry walked nine batters -- he threw 24 pitches before anyone took a swing -- and fired three pitches to the backstop in one inning for this mind-blowing line:

1 IP, 0 H, 4 R, 4 ER, 9 BB, 0 K, 2 WP, 1 error

How bad was it? The Rangers batted around against Lowry without getting an official at-bat (seven walks and two sacrifice flies).

Hopefully Paul Maholm is wild today.

crystal just went down swinging, but actually didn't look too bad for a 60-year old rookie. he did hit a weak grounder foul.

Andy, that line was posted in real-time *in-game* on the Giants thread! :-D

who was Buc pitcher?

maholm. nothing too harsh -- went to 3-1, then two not-so-fastballs slightly down and in for the k

MA (Athens, GA): So, what are PECOTA's comps for Billy Crystal?

Steven Goldman: Luke Appling, 1950; Julio Franco, 2007; Henny Youngman, any year.

No Minnie Minoso, no credibility.

Exhibition MLB Padres-Dodgers game in China ends in thai.

"Today, for me, was the best day of the spring, because there was no less than five or six guys throwing a ball from 95-98. There were 30 hits and 18 runs. That's why. So that shows you what baseball's all about. That 95 don't mean (squat). I get sick and tired of hearing about all these good arms (based solely on velocity). I've heard that all my life. Today you saw that. There were no less than five or six, both teams, throwing the ball 95, 97, 98. Some of them went on the building over here. Some of them went next to the building. It just tells you, if you're watching, that there's a whole lot more to this than just the good arms and all that. It's a great example about the art of baseball. It doesn't mean (squat) how hard you can throw it unless you can locate it and got something else with it." -- Jim Leyland

"That (stuff) is all overrated. Write that. All that (stuff) is overrated about the clubhouse. We've got a great clubhouse. We had a great clubhouse before Dontrelle got here, and we'll have a better clubhouse since he got here, because he's a good guy and a wonderful person. I'm interested in pitching and getting outs, hitting, making plays. I'm not interested in the clubhouse.

"All that (stuff) has been media (stuff) for years -- great chemistry, great clubhouse. That's the biggest bunch of (baloney) in the history of sports. Every time somebody wants to talk about great chemistry, (forget) the chemistry in the clubhouse. I'm interested in winning games, period. I don't know who came up with it, but the worst word ever used now is chemistry. That's something you take in school. That's a class you take. If he gets people out, he'll be fun in the clubhouse. If we win games, I'll be fun in the clubhouse. If we don't, I won't be fun in the clubhouse, either. He's a wonderful, wonderful person with a great personality. We've got a bunch of them." -- Jim Leyland

<3 <3 <3

that's the biggest bunch of (stuff) in the history of sports

haha, if some guys "write that" it'll be their last column.

Man - i took the biggest (stuff) this morning!

Mar 17 LHP Dontrelle Willis has had problems in his last two starts for Detroit. Willis, who walked four in 2 1/3 innings his previous time out, walked a pair and gave up three hits and three earned runs in the third inning of his Sunday start. Manager Jim Leyland professes not to be worried about Willis because his velocity is where it should be.

Clearly Leyland plans on beaning opposing teams into submission.

Vladimir Guerrero hit a grand slam in the seventh off Keith Foulke, and Gary Matthews went 4-for-4 with an RBI for the Angels.

Guerrero, a noted bad-ball hitter, swung at a pitch that was well outside of the strike zone for his third home run of the spring. He also took over the team lead with 13 RBIs.

“He’s something else,” Angels’ manager Mike Scioscia said. “It was out there.”

jeremy guthrie caddies for nick markakis...

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In spring training, veteran ballplayers have lots of time of their hands. Their daily routine starts to drag.

Pranks can help spice things up. The Chicago Tribune brought us the tale of Cubs strength coach Tim Buss and his 1995 Nissan Sentra.

On Tuesday, players told Buss to check out his car. It was a mess. As ESPN.com noted, “the windows were smashed, the doors tied closed, the trunk peeled up and the roof punctured.”

The criminals left their calling cards: bats and balls.

“I figured Lieber, Wood immediately, Dempster . . . ” he told the Tribune. “Then I realized it was every pitcher we have.”

That’s funny stuff, but how was Buss going to explain this to his wife? After all, the Sentra was really her car.

“It’s a shame,” Buss said after assessing the damage, according to the Tribune. “What kind of person would do something like that? It really just shocks me. I’m sure she’ll understand.”

After Buss had suffered enough, Dempster directed Buss back to the parking lot. There, Cubs players gave him the keys to a Nissan Xterra SUV.

The Tribune tells us that Buss misted up while receiving the gift. “They’re great guys,” he said.

o_O

Let's see, what's the cost differential in insuring a '95 Sentra and an Xterra? What's the difference in cost of plates? (I don't know about Illinois, but in MS it's based on the value of the vehicle.) Which gets better mileage?

Great guys.

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nice penmanship

this work?

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another...

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<3 Hohokam :)