Welcome to Spring Training 2008

Well, it's about that time of year again. Pitchers and catchers report the day after tomorrow, and hold their first workout on Thursday. I am torn between thinking that this year flew by and thinking the off-season was just too damn long. Even though I spent October and November in Arizona going to 25 or so Arizona Fall League games and only had to go through December and January without baseball…….it still seems like a long time.

I came to Scottsdale a little early this year. I have been here since January 26^th. It has been exceptionally cold here (for Phoenix). Yesterday was the first day to hit 75 degrees since Thanksgiving. There have been more days in the 50's than in the 60's and 70's since I have been here. I know that doesn't sound bad to those of you in cold weather locales…….but it is very cold for Phoenix. They have been running 10 degrees or so under average since I have been here. Apparently, Arizona didn't get the memo about Global Warming. Looks like it is warming up for Spring Training though as there are several days in a row forecast to be in the 70's. Of course it is predicted to drop down to 63 for the first workout on the 14^th.

Once again I plan on attending most if not all of the Giants' practices and have tickets to every Giants Spring Training game (excluding away split squad games when the Giants are playing at home at the same time). I bought a new ultra-thin camera, so that should make it a little easier to haul the camera around and take photos. It only has a 7X optical zoom, whereas my other camera had a 12X zoom….but it is also a 7.1 megapixel camera whereas the other was only 4. I used the new camera on my Mediterranean trip during the off-season and it seemed to take really good photos……as long as I managed to hold the thing steady. I won't be able to get the close-ups that I could with the other camera, so I may end up alternating between the two. Although, I said the same thing on my vacation and after two days ended up using the ultra thin almost exclusively. It is just so darn easy to carry around.

I am going to try to provide as much "coverage" as I did last year. We have visitors due to stay with us for a little over half of the games in March, so I can't guarantee it. It depends on how things work out, how time consuming entertaining becomes and how drunk I get during the games in the days and restaurants/bars at night.

Throughout the Spring, feel free to comment by clicking on the "comments" link directly under each blog entry. I put the blog on "monitored comments" during the offseason so that I could try and avoid all the spammers that showed up. That means that right now if you leave a comment, I will have to approve it before it is actually published. I plan to take it off "monitored comments" once I am posting everyday and hope to leave it that way through Spring Training unless someone causes problems. The purpose of this blog is mostly to let Giants fans know what and how the team is doing. Not to mention that I will probably post more photos in one day than you will see in the press for the entirety of Spring Training. While I encourage you to comment on that day's activities and that day's player performance, I would appreciate it if this blog does not become yet another "the Giants suck" site. There are message boards and blogs galore devoted almost exclusively to bashing Brian Sabean, Peter Magowan and the 2005 through 2007 Giants teams. I would appreciate it if this blog did not go down that road. That doesn't mean you can't comment negatively about a specific player's spring performance…..….I know I will.

As in past years, if you would like to see a specific photo or subject addressed….just ask in the comments section. I will do my best to post photos of whoever you want to see. This site downsizes the photos for display in the blog……but if you click on the photo you will get a larger version. Feel free to save the photos and use them however you wish. I only ask that if you post it on another internet site, that you give me or this blog credit.

Well that's about it for introductions and ground rules. Welcome to Giants' Spring Training 2008.

GF9