Saturday, February 16, 2008

First Complete Practice

Although it wasn't under typical Scottsdale weather, the Giants pitchers and catchers were still able to get in a full practice today. It rained some more last night and the sky was cloudy (no sun at all) this morning. The sun finally broke through for about an hour in the middle of the practice and it was comfortable. But by the time practice ended, the sky was cloudy again and my car thermometer said the outside temperature was only 52 degrees. Once again, I believe it was warmer in San Francisco today.

It was a typical practice for pitchers and catchers today. Practice starts at about 9am with agility drills, followed by running, followed by more drills. Then they stretch. After that, the pitchers broke into groups with 1 group throwing their bullpen sessions and the other 2 taking bunting practice off of a pitching machine. Then the catchers did a drill where the coaches hit balls to them at home while the catchers field the balls and simulate blocking the plate and tagging an imaginary runner. While the catchers did this the pitchers disappeared into the other practice locations. Once the catchers finished this drill, they took live batting practice with the coaches throwing and the pitchers were done.

As is always the case, the catchers did not hit the ball with much authority this early in the spring. Only Guillermo Rodriguez had consistently good contact. After 2 groups of catchers (plus Eugenio Velez) hit, practice was over. The pitchers were done by noon......the catchers by 12:30.

That's about it for today. I think the photo captions contain enough detailed information, so that I can use the narrative post as just a summary. I am not sure I trust the weatherman......but the forecast for tomorrow is sunny and 71 degrees. I think today's photos were better than yesterday.......but they always seem to be of a higher quality when the sun is shinning.

1 comment:

Anonymous said...

Great summary GF9...

I'm sure it will warm up soon.