Here is a shot of the pick off/run down drill. Pretty interesting to watch. They covered just about every situation possible.

A few of the kids came over from the Minor Leagues. The only thing I saw them do was be the runners during pick-off/run down drills. On the left is Casey Bond, a 23 year old outfielder who went .262/.327/.382/.707 for the AZRL Giants. On the right is Carlos Sosa a 26 year old outfielder who went .271/.352/.418/.770 for the AA Connecticut Defenders. The 2 guys to the left and right of Casey Bond are also from the Minor League camp......but I have no idea who they are.

The last pitcher of the day was Osiris Matos. Matos has a little bit of a strange delivery. In this photo it looks like he is reacting to something unusual about the last pitch. Actually, this is Matos' recoil, which he does on every pitch. After releasing the ball he snaps back almost like cracking a whip. Armando Benitez used to do that, but not quite so pronounced. That's probably not a good thing.

The 5th pitcher of the day was Pat Misch. Here Misch discusses his performance with Dave Righetti. I'm not sure what to make of it, but they talked for a much longer time than is usual.

After Lincecum......the next 3 pitchers were Tyler Walker, Jack Taschner and Brian Wilson. Walker seemed to be having a little bit of trouble with the strike zone.

Tim Lincecum was the first pitcher of the day during live batting practice. He really has reduced the amount of movement in his windup. He doesn't turn toward 2B at all. As a matter of fact he never takes his eyes of the target. He was throwing harder than anyone else I have seen. Timmy elicited a few oohs and aahs from a few of the batters, particularly Dave Roberts. Tim zinged a fastball by Roberts right at the top edge of the strike zone. I'm not sure Roberts even saw it.

Day Off

I am posting this so that regular readers won't have to keep coming back today wondering if I have posted the update yet. I have 5 or 6 days a year where I wake up in the morning and my back tells me "Guess what buddy, you ain't going nowhere today". Today is one of those days. So no Spring Training photos today. Sorry.

Usually with a little stretching/back cracking, rest and ibuprofen it lasts only 1 day....sometimes 2. Hopefully, I will be "back" on it tomorrow.....pun intended.

Wednesday, 1 Week and 1 Day from the First Game

I am not going to write much today. The drill was pretty much the same as yesterday and I covered anything special in the photo captions. Once again the hitters did NO "tracking" during live batting practice. They swung at everything in the strike zone....and some things not in the strike zone. Not a lot of good contact today.....but at least there was contact.......unlike in past years. Even in the second round of BP against the coaches....nothing much to write home about. I didn't see a single HR in either BP session. The bats were REAL slow......but I guess that can happen on the 2nd full workout. Even someone who does this for a living is going to be sore on day#2.......probably even on days 3 & 4.

I was happy to see some of the youngsters take groundballs on the main field. In the past, the Giants have always relegated the lower level players to the practice field and reserved the main field for the 25 man roster types. I hope they keep doing this. It's good for the fans.....and it's good for the young players. I was hoping they would rotate for the BP also.......but no such luck. Oh well.....baby steps.

As I said in the photo captions, Robb Nen showed up today. Still no sign of Shawon Dunston. Maybe tomorrow.

And last but not least, Ray Durham.......just because he was the only player too lazy to go to the clubhouse after warming up and put on a jersey. In past years....5 or 6 veterans would wear warmup shirts instead of uniforms during practice. Today, Durham was the only one. Even the old man, Omar Vizquel, almost forgot and was lined up at shortstop just before infield, when he suddenly bolted for the dugout and emerged a minute later wearing #13. Come on Ray.....get with the program!!

Randy Winn, just because I like the photo.

"It's a simple game. You throw the ball, you hit the ball, you catch the ball. Sometimes you win..... sometimes you lose..........sometimes, it rains. Think about that."

Rajai Davis...just because I don't think I have posted a decent photo of him

Rich Aurilia joined Ortmeier and Frandsen as the only Giants to take extra groundballs today. Strange because, in past years, Omar Vizquel has always taken more groundballs that anyone, starting before mandatory reporting date. This year, I haven't seen Omar take 1 session of extra groundballs.

Kevin Frandsen continues to win the hard work of the day award in camp. Today he did everything everyone else did, then had 3 separate sessions of taking additional groundballs while other players took BP. One session at 3B, 1 at 2B and 1 at SS. Have glove will travel.

The Giants really cut down on the Spring Training roster this year. Last year there were well over 70 players on the Spring Training roster.....this year only 55. Plus many of the early arriving Minor Leaguers were allowed to workout with the team. Not this year. This is the first Minor League uniform I have seen in Scottsdale Stadium. Adam Cowart, pitcher for the Augusta Greenjackets (low single A) last year. Adam is 24 and went 14-7 with a 2.39 ERA for the Greenjackets. I have no idea why he was in the main stadium. All I saw him do was shag balls in the outfield during batting practice.

Just like yesterday, after a round of live BP off of the pitchers, the Giants took a second round of BP off of the coaches. Anyone recognize this BP pitcher? It's former Giants catcher Steve Decker. For those who don't know, Steve managed the Giants short-season single A team to consecutive championships the last 2 years in Salem-Keizer. He was named to manage the San Jose Giants in 2008.

As rumored, Robb Nen showed up at camp today. I am not sure what he did other than talk to mostly trainers and coaches, but it was good to see him. Dick Tidrow (former ML pitcher and current VP, Player Personnel for the Giants) was ribbing Nen pretty hard. "Oh, come on. Whatever was wrong with you, you gotta be healed by now. Get a glove and warm up, we're gonna need you". Stuff like that. He does look like he is in more than good enough shape to play......except for that shredded shoulder thing.

JT Snow continued to shadow Daniel Ortmeier everywhere he went. Once again Ortmeier took more extra groundballs than anyone on the team except Kevin Frandsen. They even hit short hoppers to Ortmeier with a fungo from 2B, to simulate low throws. Daniel made all the plays and received many kudos from JT. Scott McClain played 1B only today.

At 1B were Brett Harper and Travis Ishikawa.

The shortstops were Emmanuel Burriss and Brian Bocock.

The drill today was pretty much the same as yesterday except, during groundball practice, the Giants rotated the players and the youngsters took infield on the main field. Travis Denker and Justin Leone manned 3B. Eugenio Velez was at 2B to start but he also moved over and took some groundballs at third. Sorry, I don't have a decent picture of Velez.

When the team started doing situational infield.....the kids went back to the practice field and the vets returned to the main field.

And the final pitcher of the day was Osiris Matos.

Bartolome Fortunato was next to the mound after Messenger.

Big Randy Messenger was the 4th pitcher of the day.

Brad Hennessey was next up after Walker.

Tyler Walker followed Lowry to the hill. Tyler seemed to be having a little problem with his control today.

Noah Lowry was the first pitcher to throw live batting practice today.

By request, Pat Misch. Bunting of all things. Looks like he got it down. Hopefully, I will be able to get some of him throwing soon.

Here is another shot of Ortmeier....just because I like him and the other photo showed JT Snow's face and not Daniel's.

First Full-Squad Workout

First things first. For those of you who drink beer and are going to Spring Training this year, there is a new "Irish Pub" down the RF line. Guiness and Harp on tap!! The "pub" is in view of the field so you can still watch the game if there is a long line. I hope those mirrors aren't real glass. Where that thing is located I guarantee it will be hit more than once during the spring season.

Lots happening today. I arrived just before 10am today....thinking I would miss the running and stretching. I forgot they always hold a big meeting on the first day and the practice gets a late start. The actual drills didn't get started until almost 11:00.

After running/stretching the Giants infielders took groundballs, while the outfielders had one station fielding flies from a pitching machine and a second station fielding groundballs off a coaches fungo. After that, the pitchers joined the infielders and they did situational fielding including throwing to the bases.The first error of the year was committed by Ray Durham when Bengie Molina fielded a "bunt" and threw a perfect strike to Durham covering 1B. The ball hit Durham square in the pocket of his glove and popped right out. Later Durham did the same thing again on a ball fielded by Ortmeier. I am hoping Ray was just breaking in a new glove. The coaches were not hitting weak grounders right at the players and for the most part the players fielded very well. Frandsen made a couple of nice stops on balls hit up the middle and put both throws right on target to 1B with some hair on them. Ortmeier made at least 1 nice scoop of a ball in the dirt. I actually got a photo of it.....but it was out of focus so I didn't post it.

After that was the live batting practice against the pitchers. The first group of batters on the main field was Rodriguez, Roberts, Rowand and Winn; followed by Durham, Vizquel, Aurilia, Davis and Ochoa; followed by Lewis, Schierholtz, Ortmeier, Frandsen and Alfonzo. I thought the batters swung the bats pretty well for this being the first day. The only HR of the day off of live pitching was Eliezer Alfonzo off of Threets. It was a drive that I thought was going to hook foul down the LF line but that just stayed fair and hit the foul pole.

After the live batting practice, the same groups took a second round of batting practice, this time off of the coaches. From what I saw, I'm not sure the players didn't do better hitting off the pitchers than they did off the coaches. Maybe it was the long day that slowed the bats down.

By 1PM, the second round of batting practice was only on the 2nd group of batters and I left. I hate to leave during BP.....but my car was parked in a 3 hr zone (from 10-5) and I was hungry since I hadn't eaten anything yet today.

Hopefully, the practice will get going a little earlier tomorrow and I will be able to stay for the entire thing. The weather is supposed to start turning bad again tomorrow, with chance of rain in the afternoon. I hope the weather man is wrong.

I think that Aaron Rowand has already established himself as a leader on this team. Two things happened today that confirmed this for me. In the first photo you can see how Rowand is talking and every single outfielder (except one) is paying attention to what Aaron has to say. Heck, the coaches can't get that much attention when they are explaining something to the players.

The second photo is of Rowand in the batting cage. As you may or may not know......the Giants tend to do a lot of "tracking" in their first batting practice against live pitching. What that means is the batter simply tracks the ball thrown by the pitchers, without swinging at it. I would say that last year the Giants batters swung at maybe 1 out of 10 pitches on the first day. They just watched the ball as it left the pitcher's hand and followed it all the way into the catcher's mitt. Rowand was the third batter of the day. He was preceeded by Guillermo Rodriguez and Dave Roberts....both of whom did a lot of tracking and very little swinging in their first go round.

I took this photo because I like to get any new player's first swing as a Giant. Of course you have to time the shot, because if you wait until you know the batter is swinging...it is too late to take the photo. Well, to my surprise, Rowand swung at the first pitch from Barry Zito and lined it down the 3B line for what would have been a sure double. If you look closely at the photo you can see the ball leaving the frame at the far right (it looks elongated rather than round). Well, after that....EVERY player (including Roberts and Rodriguez their next time around) started taking a lot more swings and as a matter of fact.......I would say no one was "tracking". Whenever a batter didn't swing, it was because he didn't like the pitch. This incident seemed pretty telling to me.

Nice of Dave Roberts to make it to camp. He is talking to 3B coach Tim Flannery. In the background are Guillermo Rodriguez and I believe that's Bill Hayes the bullpen catcher.

All by his lonesome at 1B was Daniel Ortmeier. JT Snow was on hand and was within feet of Ortmeier all during the infield drills. JT would have something to say to Ortmeier after virtually every play. In the foreground is Nate Schierholtz.

Once they went to situational fielding, Scott McClain moved over and played a little 1B and Frandsen moved over and played a little 3B....but not a lot for either of them. Once batting practice began.......Ortmeier and Frandsen took A LOT more ground balls with Frandsen playing a little more 3B. They were the only infielders to take additional infield.

At 2B were Kevin Frandsen and Ray Durham. Here Frandsen uses perfect form to field a groundball. Imagine....a Major Leaguer using 2 hands. If you look real closely at Ray Durham, I think you can see him mouthing "miss it, miss it". Just kidding.

Stationed at SS were Omar Vizquel and Ivan Ochoa. Here Ochoa goes after a ball up the middle while Omar looks on.

During the first infield session of the spring, Rich Aurilia and Scott McClain were stationed at 3B.

I almost forgot Jose Capellan. Capellan pitched after Correia. He could be a sleeper find in the pen if Kline and Taschner haven't improved on their ability to get LH batters out.

After running sprints from the RF line to CF....the players walk back to the starting line to do it all over again. Lots of players in this shot. Rajai Davis, Vizquel, Frandsen, Durham, Roberts, Winn (Aurilia is hiding behind Winn), Lewis in the shades, Pablo Sandoval, Eugenio Velez, you name it......most of the position players are here.

The final pitcher of the day was Erick Threets. Erick has always had the "stuff" but he has had a hard time finding the plate. Think of a left handed Nuke LaLoosh. This could be his last hurrah as a Giant if he doesn't make the team coming out of Spring Training. Threets is out of options and it is hard to believe some other team wouldn't take a flyer on him if the Giants are forced to put him on waivers at the end of March.

Keiichi Yabu threw after Capellan. I don't know if he was trying to throw harder than the others because he is trying to earn a job or what. But he seemed to have a better fastball than the others for this point in the spring. He threw pretty darn hard for a 39 year old.

Kevin Correia was the third pitcher of the day on the main field. I still say that haircut is about 2 decades behind the times. In the background are Rich Aurilia and Ray Durham.

Steve Kline was the second pitcher of the day. I didn't think he did any worse than any other pitcher on the day.....he was as much ahead of the batters as everyone else......but he was complaining about something to Bengie Molina and later to Dave Righetti.

As expected, the Giants hitters faced live batting practice thrown by the pitchers today. Barry Zito was the first pitcher to throw on the main field. The Giants hitters swung more often and made more contact than they did on the first day of live batting practice last year.

Hey DrB.......Lowry looks quite a bit more svelte when he is walking near Randy Messenger.

Position Players Report

With today being the official reporting day for position players, it was a very short practice. Nothing happened on the main field at all except for the catchers taking batting practice. Without much baseball action to photograph.....I just tried to catch a few closeups in and around the dugout area.

I don't know if it is true, but I was told that Dave Roberts was the only player not in camp. He was supposed to get here later today. I find it interesting........theoretically, Roberts and Durham should be fighting for their jobs this spring. However, Durham was one of the few position players to wait until today to report and Roberts still wasn't here by the end of practice today. Not the way I would play it if I was fighting for a job. Of course, I'm not making $5-7 million either.

The pitchers did practice fielding the bunt on the practice field. They also had sliding practice. I wasn't able to get any photos while peering through the fence, but if you have never seen Major League pitchers practice sliding you have missed something that is both funny and tragic at the same time. It's a good thing they practiced sliding on long padded mats set on the outfield grass....or someone could have been killed.

There should be a lot more activity tomorrow. I read in the paper that the pitchers did not throw bullpen sessions today in order to "save their arms". That in all likelihood means that there will be live batting practice tomorrow with the pitchers throwing to the batters. That seems a little early.......but when you consider the first Spring Training game is only 9 days away...I guess it isn't.

Catcher Jackson Williams takes his hacks in the cage. Williams was a Giants first round pick (sandwich pick I believe) just last June. He spent the first part of 2007 batting .344/.426/.525/.951 for Oklahoma. He spent the last part of 2007 batting .231/.338/.369/.707 for the Giants' short-season team in Salem-Keizer up in Oregon.

The ageless one......Omar Vizquel. Cutting up as usual. The man sure seems to genuinely love his job.

That's Nate Schierholtz on the left and I really don't know who that is on the right.