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My last spring training game

Man, the week flew by!

Today was my last day at spring training. I wish I was leaving with a win, but at least they fought back today.

The biggest surprise this week was how much playing time they've given Aubrey. Are they hoping to trade him?  Rouse has also gotten a lot of playing time, but the results have been mixed. Fultz had a good day today. He didn't impress in his previous two outings.  What happened to C.C. today? Wow, two home runs in 4 innings. Victor had three bases stolen on him.  Ouch.

I forgot to mention Jamie Moyer's unusual activity at the Phillies/Tigers game Sunday. Moyer was the Phillie's starting pitcher.  Rod Barajas was the catcher.  In the third or fourth inning, all of a sudden Jamie stopped and just stared at Barajas for about 20 seconds. Finally Barajas ran out to talk to him and I guess they got it straightened out. Not long after that Moyer turned and stared at his left fielder, Dobbs, for about 5-10 seconds. Dobbs didn't move and finally Jamie turned back around and pitched.  Does anyone know if Moyer does this regularly?  It felt to me like a put down of his teammates.

Back to Winter Haven. The minor leaguers here at camp got new uniforms.  They are blue, like the major league uniforms, and they have their names on the back. Great! Now if they would just do the same for the 40-man roster players/invitees who only have numbers on their back.

While I was hanging around the minor league diamonds this morning, I happened to meet the grandparents of Jensen Lewis. They have a winter home in Florida and try to visit him frequently while he's at spring training. I think they were pleased that I knew who Jensen was and had seen him pitch last year. He's a close friend of Jeremy Sowers (both played at Vanderbilt) and is rooming with him here.  They were great fun to talk to. They waved to me as our paths crossed. Later I saw Jensen standing with them.

Evidently a lot of the "fans" I see hanging around the minor league diamonds are actually family members of the players (duh!).  I wish I had known that.  Player's families usually have some interesting stories to tell.

Every year I come down to Winter Haven I get more savy about about how things work here.  I'm not happy with the Indians move to Arizona in 2009.  I can easily drive to Winter Haven in a day and it's affordable, but I'm sure I'll never be able to go to Arizona.

Spring training is a great way to start the baseball season.  Where else can you watch ospreys fly around with snakes hanging from their talons during a baseball game? If anyone else is coming down this month I'll be happy to share information (though tomorrow I'll be driving home).

I have more pictures ready to post at http://picasaweb.google.com/TrakkerToo/07SpringTraining

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