ashbury

If Molitor shares the view that attitude was an underlying problem for the last seasons of Gardy's reign, I'd expect to see somebody made an example of before Opening Day. So far I can't recall an instance of anything really "surprising". Maybe it's still coming.

I dunno. I'm not sure I'd want to be married to the woman who read this about herself and decided to take that last part as an unfavorable comparison.

Did I fail to remember/realize today was your last day in Ft Myers, when we parted company during the downpour? If so, safe travels to you and your brother, my friend.

I seem to remember him having a slow start at one of the earlier levels, and he figured it out soon enough. He might turn the corner already by June.

Check Back In July, indeed. No sooner.

Thrylos and I chatted shortly before the rain started, and I thought it very interesting that both he and I were eager to talk about that walk Sano coaxed. In my own blog writeup of the day, I didn't think to mention Polanco, but I must offer a very Chief-like "concur" that I have spotted nothing whatsoever to criticize with his play on defense in several games now. I'm not capable of spotting itty bitty things that good coaches do, of course.

Here is a photo of Stephen Wickens warming up this morning. Are you sad to see this? I'm not, and you shouldn't be either: Why? Because: No One Mourns The Wickens. Hey, we went to Miami the other night to see Wicked, and I had to get this groaner out of my system once and for all. (Really??? He leads off with THIS?) So. After missing a couple of days of spring training Friday and Saturday, and then Sunday's minor league activities cancelled for a well earned day off, I was back at the fields at last today. Had nice chats with fellow TDers Halsey Hall, Thrylos, and Stringer Bell. Our youngest son AshburySteven is now with us for the remainder of the trip, and that added to the atmosphere for me. After watching the stretching and the drills at the back fields, we came back front and saw batting practice in the major league cages - mainly Hunter, Rosario, Schafer and Mauer. Tony O was around the cages but I didn't get a good picture of him except his back. Kneeling and resting against a bat, almost as though he knows he'll get photographed. Then the hitters went to the adjacent field for a bit of fresh air and some swings against a live backdrop. Vargas put on his usual show with several very loud flies beyond the fences in all directions. I'm hoping to see him nick the top of the nearby cellphone tower one of these days - that would probably be only about 1400 feet total, seemingly within his reach. Meanwhile, May and Milone were getting their throwing sessions in. I snapped this shot just after they were finished and were chatting with their coach: Then it was back to the back fields: games against Baltimore's young'uns commenced at noon, and a pickup game between what I took to be divided between low-A and high-A Twins prospects was on the remaining field began at one pm. In the AA game there were early homers by Gonzalez, AB Walker and Kanzler, interrupted only by a loud out by Paulino. The wind wasn't yet as much of a factor as it later became, and I think all these were probably legitimate. Goodrum booted a routine grounder that should have been a DP. Not good. Meanwhile on the AAA field, Ervin Santana was getting some innings in. This is him warming up to start the first: He wasn't especially sharp in the first couple of innings, but after a while I saw that the batters were having a difficult time and getting fooled frequently. Back on the AA field, Baxendale proved to be little mystery to the Baltimores and I didn't keep track of the actual score to know if he gave back all the runs he'd been provided. Here he is during his warmup tosses: And later ABW hit another home run for the good guys. I don't think anyone doubts his power, and his success will hinge ultimately on not striking out so much, but watching this was pretty cool. Levi Michael reached first base, and then a pitch or three later he headed for second base a little too soon and looked like a dead duck. But the Orioles' pitcher, Bobby Bundy I think, inexplicably threw to first base; by the time his fielders had it all sorted out Michael was in at second safely. I guess the official scorer calls it a SB - the runner never deviated from going to second - but geez. PA of the day for me was a humble walk by Sano. It started with a called strike and then a foul down the third base line for 0-2, and I decided at that point it was worth watching even more closely. Sano showed remarkable pitch recognition, I thought, and took four presentable pitches calmly and without drama, yet without leaving me in doubt that he would have tried to smack one in the strike zone. A very professional appearance at the plate. Later in the AA game Meijia was in for Goodrum at SS, and I thought he also acquitted himself poorly on one play, a deep grounder where a good arm would have gotten the runner but he arced it. There was a long HR, possibly wind-aided by this point, by a Webb (Brenden?) for Baltimore. I made a note to myself to look him up, but I see now that he spent his age-24 season in high-A and combines decent power with a low BA. Not a prospect to watch, after all. And back again to the AAA game, I note sadly that Buxton still hasn't done anything at the plate my entire time in Florida so far. On the plus side, I believe Meneses made a very fine catch (racing over from second base) in foul territory. Rain clouds had been building this entire time, with the wind picking up, and by the time I noticed that the other (intrasquad) game was going, we had just walked over to see a couple of pitches from Jorge Felix (or is it Felix Jorge?) when the rain started in earnest. All three games were summarily halted, and within three minutes had been called. The Orioles players trotted toward their buses, and I headed for my car. We thus missed an hour or so of more baseball, but it was a very fine time nonetheless.

Not hoping so, of course, but what's your prognostication in case Pinto needs to be DLed?

And one particular tool, hit, is a lot more decisive than the other four. You shake the baseball tree and about 9 gloves fall out before you see a bat.

A more homogenized Low-A without any of the highly drafted prospects, maybe.

Lehigh Acres.

TK sounds like TK, though. Which for me has become an important part of spring training.

My wife and I are taking a side trip to Miami tomorrow and Saturday. I had a hunch you were the guy with the big camera. Stringer and I were with his brother who's in a motorized chair, so you may have noticed us as well. At game's end I meant to go see if I was right, but you had slipped away before I noticed. I think Stringer and brother will be there, and I'll try again Sunday if you're around.

A much abbreviated version of my notes today. Arrived after lunch and watched the two games offered. Perkins was the "starter" in the AAA game versus the Bostons, and seemed to do well in his one inning. Here is a photo of him warming up. Tyler Duffey started in the AA game. Warmup photo alongside pitching coach Stu Cliburn: I forgot to mention that I caught a glimpse of Gardy when he attended the UW Stout game Tuesday against our younger players - son Toby coaches Stout. So here's a belated photo that I took from a distance once I got over my assumption I was merely seeing the imposter ChiTown previously reported. (I don't know who the others are.) Photos aside, I can't say I paid close attention to giving a good report on how the games went. A throw from LF that missed a cutoff man allowed a runner to advance. Polanco did well at short but allowed one bad hop to eat him up enough that his throw was wide. Buxton did not have a good day at the plate. I believe Sano got another HR in the other game but I totally missed it. I think the AAA team won, I think the AA team lost. Nice day at the park, good chat again with Stringer, nobody's paying me to report, ergo... this is what you get.