3 Days and Counting

The clouds returned today, but it was much warmer than it had been on previous cloudy days. We got a few drops of rain during the practice, but not enough to get wet.

It was pretty much back to the full practice today. Situational infield followed by "live" batting practice, followed by traditional BP. The practice was over by about 12:45.

The batters are continuing their quest to catch up with the pitchers. Line drives and longer flyballs to the outfield continue to be on the increase as well as the addition of a couple of HRs today. Daniel Ortmeier's opposite field HR off of Jose Capellan was no cheapie.....especially going to the off-field.

During regular BP, Nate Schierholtz led the pack with 3 HRs, including one that went to RCF about halfway up the grass berm. I don't know if that one or the one Ray Durham hit way up on the RF patio was the longest of the day. Several other batters had HRs, including Omar Vizquel who just inched one over the fence down the line barely into the LF bullpen. It looked like Fred Lewis was making the mistake of trying to hit HRs. Of course he didn't get any and he hit pop up after pop up into the top of the batting cage netting. It kind of reminded me of Willie Mays Hayes in Major League. I kept expecting him to drop down and give me 50 pushups. Just keep with the level swing Freddie.........the HRs will take care of themselves.

Shawon Dunston threw BP again today. When he walked to the mound, I heard one player at the cage (maybe Durham?) say "OK, time to turn it up a notch". I gotta tell you.......Dunston still has an arm and still loves to be around the game. I would like to see him get a full-time coaching gig.

Once again Benjie Molina was nowhere to be seen. His strained quadriceps must be pretty bad. Omar Vizquel and Rich Aurilia showed no signs of the minor injuries they were reported to have.

I think that's about it. Only 3 more days until the first Spring Training game.