Bonds Watch - Day One

Well even though I heard from numerous media sources that Bonds would not be in the state until this afternoon or evening, that sure didn't keep the people from coming out. There were 5 times the number of newspeople and three times the number of fans at the workout today than there have been. I must have been asked 10 times if I had seen Barry Bonds. The answer is still "no". He will be here tomorrow for the first full-squad workout, like he always is.

Today's practice was very short. Mostly because the arriving players will be going through physicals this afternoon (and tomorrow morning), but also because the weather was cloudy, chilly and there were intermittent showers that actually were pretty constant for the last 20 minutes or so. It was dark enough so that my camera kept telling me it wanted to use the flash. I didn't use the flash so the photos aren't of great quality today. I started trying to get some action shots anyway....I like to try to catch the ball in midair, players in motion, that sort of thing.

Newly arriving players today (or at least the first time I have seen them) were Ray Durham, Randy Winn, Omar Vizquel and several others that I couldn't recognize without uniforms. Even though I do this every year......it takes me awhile to associate the faces with the players. I need the uniforms to help jog my memory the first couple of days. More players took infield today and most took some work, out of view, in the batting cages. Live batting practice was limited to just 1 group of three catchers. None of the early arriving position players were allowed to take BP.....although I saw several trying talk the coaches into it. Again.....the position players seem to be in very good shape as were the pitchers. So far it looks like they are all ready to play.

By 10:45 am, the workout was over. When I left the only baseball work that was going on was Kevin Frandsen fielding groundballs. Every time I have seen Frandsen workout he is on the field before everyone else and is the last to leave. No one comes close to taking as many groundballs as him except for maybe Omar. Practice is usually very short on reporting day, but I think today's was even shorter than usual due to the rain.

One other thing I have noticed is that Barry Zito is going WAY out of his way to be very fan friendly. He won't come over during practice (as none of the players will) but at the end he will sign autographs as long as there are people there asking him. He must have signed for 10 minutes while I was still at the park and he was still signing when I left. I have also been told that he will sign in the morning when he arrives and also when he is on his way out of the stadium at the end of the day. Personally, I don't get autographs....I think they should be for kids only......but it's nice to see a player taking the time time to sign for all comers. Pretty rare these days.

That's about it for today. The rain is supposed to be gone by tomorrow......I wish the same could be said for the media. I am sure tomorrow will be a media circus. I sure wish they would just let the players play.