The simulated game gave me a chance to see some of the youngsters I don't normally see on the main field. Here John Bowker and Michael McBryde take their defensive positions in the outfield.

Dave Righetti was the second BP pitcher during the simulated game. Funny, maybe Rags read my comments the other day about him being a "hands off" coach. In all the years I have been coming to Spring Training....this is the very first time I have seen Rags throw BP of any kind.

They even had the pitchers attempt to lay down bunts. Matt Cain almost had a perfect "butcher boy" play but swatted the ball just foul by inches down the 1B line. Ultimately, Matt bunted a 2 strike foul ball for a strikeout.

Today they had a simulated game, where a coach would throw a BP type of pitch, a hitter would hit and all the fielders (including the real pitchers) would do what they were supposed to do based on the situation. Here Shawon Dunston pitches BP, while Barry Zito pretends to throw and then fields his position.

Another Missed Practice

Well, that thing called life got in the way of baseball again. I was expecting a package from UPS that I didn't want to sit, unattended, on the porch of my condo. Unfortunately, the package didn't get here until a little after noon......too late to go to the practice session.

So......I posted a few photos I took earlier but had not posted yet. Just miscellaneous views of spring in the Cactus League. Enjoy.

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.

Here Daniel Ortmeier practices fielding simulated short hops off of a coaches (Tim Flannery I believe) bat. If you look closely, you can see the ball between Ortmeier's legs as he prepares to backhand it.

Once again Kevin Frandsen did the most extra work on the infield. He took groundballs at both 2B and SS. Shawon Dunston has apparently become Kevin's guru. They are starting to be found together almost as much as Snow and Ortmeier. Here Dunston demonstrates technique on tossing the ball to 2B on the DP.

Randy Winn in the cage. Apparently, Randy was the only player to not get the memo today about wearing your jersey during practice.

New CF Aaron Rowand in the batting cage. Aaron has a bit of an odd stance. He looks like he just finished riding a horse all day. That's gotta be one of the most bowlegged stance I have ever seen.

Ray Durham finally decided to take a little extra infield today. Besides hitting the first "live" HR of the spring, he had a couple more during the second round of BP, including a shot that landed way up on the patio deck in RF.

The final pitcher of the day was 22 year old Kelvin Pichardo. This was the first time he has pitched on the main field. This kid brings some pretty good heat. In looking at his stats, he had 87 K's in 67 innings in 67 innings last year in A San Jose and AA Connecticut.

Because Benjie Molina was held out of practice again today, Pablo Sandoval got to take BP and play with the big boys on the main field. Sandoval was hitting line drives all over the field and he was making some LOUD contact. Pablo was a thirdbaseman who was converted to catcher, however, he took groundballs at 1B during BP. Pablo has very quick and soft hands, but has a very strange technique. Look at his right hand behind his back as he fields the ball. I guess they really drummed the need for a catcher to hide that right hand into his head. I never saw anyone do that at 1B though.

Jose Capellan followed Sanchez to the hill. Cappellan gave up the second "live" HR of the spring. An opposite field shot off the facing of the patio deck in RF by Daniel Ortmeier.

39 year old Keiichi Yabu was the third pitcher to throw. Yabu took a glancing line drive off his left forearm. He finished off his full session, but he left the field acompanied by a trainer. If you look at the larger version of this photo you can see the red mark on Yabu's left arm just above the black band.

The 4th pitcher of the day was Jonathan Sanchez. Sanchez gave up the first "live" HR of the spring......a long fly to the back of the LF bullpen by Ray Durham.

Non-roster invitee Scott Williamson was the second pitcher of the day. In the second picture, Mark Gradner does something I have NEVER seen Dave Righetti do........physically demonstrate pitching. I have seen Rags talk to his pitchers, but never actually demonstrate. Again.....doesn't mean much.......but I have always found Righetti's apparent lack of teaching puzzling. It's good to know someone is doing it.

The Giants went back to 2 rounds of batting Practice today. Barry Zito was the first pitcher in the round of live BP. Interestingly, after finishing his time on the mound, Zito walked right past Dave Righetti and went to Mark Gardner to discuss how he did. I can't say as how I have seen that happen before.......although today, Scott Williamson also went to Gardner and not Rags. I don't know if it means anything.......but it's interesting.

Another beautiful shot of baseball in Scottsdale Stadium. It was a much nicer day today as far as the weather goes. So naturally, this was the shortest practice since the position players reported to camp. With weather like this, I could have spent the entire day in the park.......but practice was over by 11:55.

After running and stretching, the Giants did full-team pop up/fly ball drills, followed by one round of batting practice with the coaches pitching and that was it. No live pitching and the only infield taken was by those players who took extra groundballs during BP. Because of the short practice and the fact that nothing new really happened, I didn't get many photos.

Omar Vizquel and Rich Aurilia participated and I saw no outward signs of their minor injuries. Once again, I did not see Benjie Molina at all today.

Pop up/flyball practice was interesting. It appears that "he who yells loudest, gets the ball". This seems to be a very verbal team.......lots of talking........lots of chatter. At one point Fred Lewis was in CF and I am not sure who was playing SS. On a "tweener" the SS called for the pop up.....then Fred called for it.......then the SS yelled louder.....then Fred yelled even louder. Finally, the SS gave way, at which point Fred ran under the ball.......and the ball hit him square in the middle of the glove.......and the ball popped out and landed at his feet. He caught a lot of flak from the team for that move. Unfortunately, that is a scene I saw play out FAR too many times a couple of years back when Lewis was playing in the Arizona Fall League. Believe it or not Fred lead his team in errors as a centerfielder that year. That's pretty hard to do......almost without fail an infielder, who handles the ball far more often, will be the team leader in errors. Lewis is still THE worst defensive outfielder I have ever seen. If I was the manager I would make a team rule that Fred gets last priority when calling for pop ups.

The players continue to hit the ball better little by little in each successive batting practice. Even Dave Roberts hit a HR today........a fly ball that made it over the fence to the right of the RF bullpens by inches. Randy Winn was cheering like mad for Roberts' ball to clear the wall. Winn had a couple of HRs himself. The longest drive of the day was a moon shot by Durham that just missed the roof on the patio way beyond the RF bullpens. As a matter of fact, I think that HR might have been the longest so far this spring.

Shawon Dunston pitched a little batting practice and may have been part of the reason why the guys were driving the ball better. Dunston still has a good arm and he was grooving fastballs right down the middle......throwing quite a bit harder than the coaches do. I could kick myself that I didn't get any photos of him throwing.

That's it for today. I think I will take this opportunity to get out and enjoy the sunshine for the rest of the afternoon.

JT Snow was not just content to instruct Daniel Ortmeier today. He had to strap it on and take a few groundballs himself. You just knew the way he was demonstrating for Ortmeier and carrying that mitt everywhere, that he couldn't go much longer without taking some infield himself. Snow to Dunston..........seemed like old times.

Eugenio Velez grabs the ball on the backhand.

My choice for RF......Nate Schierholtz.

Shawon Dunston (on 2B) helps Daniel Ortmeier work on starting the double play.

Ray Durham in the foreground........JT Snow in the background.

Around the batting cage. Rajai Davis is at bat. Dave Roberts is watching.......Aaron Rowand is spitting.

Rich Aurilia

“Back” At It

Well, my back allowed me to make it to the park today. Cloudy skies and rain returned to the Valley of the Sun and the temperature was back to 8-10 degrees below normal for this time of year. It sprinkled during the last 45 minutes of the practice. I tell you my aching back does much better in the warm sunshine than it does in the cool dampness.

Interesting day today. Two of the three players who were supposed to have minor dings and dents participated today. I did not see Bengie Molina at all, but Rich Aurilia and Omar Vizquel had a full day. Aurilia and Vizquel both took extra infield…..that was a first this year for Omar. I didn't see any signs of limping or other problems, but after the first round of batting practice, I heard Fred Lewis ask Omar "How's it feeling today "O"?" Omar did not reply but shook his head "no", indicating that it wasn't good.

Same drill as far as batting practice goes. As in the previous days, there was one live round off of pitchers and one round of traditional batting practice with the coaches throwing. The pitchers are still ahead of the batters……but the line drives are starting to come. There were no HRs in the live batting practice, but the balls are starting to reach the wall and warning track on occasion. During the traditional batting practice, the batters showed much quicker bats today. Aaron Rowand hit 2 HRs, both to straight away left field. One of them was hit WAY up near the top of the grass berm, for the longest of the day. Guillermo Rodriguez hit one too, but I think that was just about it for the veterans.

The group pictured above is my favorite group to watch hit. This photo was taken in the first round of live pitching. For some reason, the groups change slightly and the catchers all bat together during the second round, so Eliezer Alfonzo is not in this group for traditional BP. Besides hitting a ton of line drives…Kevin Frandsen, Daniel Ortmeier, Nate Schierholtz and Fred Lewis seem to be having a lot of fun. Whenever a ball gets hit hard, you can hear them all start shouting "that one has a chance" and "get up get up ball". Things like that. The kids bring life to the team. They are a joy to watch. Frandsen and Ortmeier are particularly loud and demonstrative. During today's traditional BP…….Lewis and Schierholtz each had 2 HRs and Ortmeier and Frandsen each had 1. One of Lewis' HRS hit off the facing on the patio above the RF bullpens, a pretty good poke. They were all line drives and with the exception of the one Lewis hit…..they all cleared the fence by 2-4 feet on a line.

I am sure due to Molina's injury, catcher Stephen Holm got the chance to take BP with the big boys. He did well, and was hitting most pitches on a line. Likewise, Eugenio Velez joined the vets on the main field for BP today. Velez replaced Ivan Ochoa in group #2. Eugenio was doing what he has always done when I see him play….slapping the ball around and through the infield and hitting balls that would be just over the infielders heads to pretty much every field.

The pickoff/rundown drills were pretty interesting too. However, I would say this is the first time I have seen Ortmeier not look like a seasoned firstbaseman. He had a little trouble determining when and where to throw the ball…….especially on the pickoff to 1B when men are on 1^st and 3^rd. Physically, Daniel was fine……his throws were strong and accurate…….but there was too much hesitation. I'm not too worried though. It's all new to him and JT Snow was right there to correct him every time he made a misstep. Kevin Frandsen was showing how much better his arm is than Ray Durham's. On one of the men on 1^st and 3^rd pickoffs, Kevin was running the runner back to 1B, when the runner from third broke home. Kevin tagged the runner he was chasing, and then while running toward 1B and without breaking stride, he got a throw off to home to nail the runner there. Even though it was a snap throw with nothing but arm…….the throw was a SEED that was right on target. I have watched Kevin play a lot and I know he has a good arm….but that throw even surprised me.

Robb Nen, JT Snow and Shawon Dunston were all in camp today. I don't think I have seen Daniel Ortmeier where he was more than 10-15 feet away from Snow since Snow got here. Snow always has his glove and is very much into giving physical demonstrations where as the other two seem to provide their advice verbally. Shawon Dunston was out in LF shagging balls during part of batting practice. For whatever reason, the right handed batters were all hitting the other way. Dunston started shouting "Hey, hit one to me", "Over here", "come on pull the damn ball". It was funny, but I wanted to tell him that Giants hitters HAVE been pulling the ball. They have been pulling the ball too much. I, for one, am glad they are taking BP to the opposite field. When lefty Dave Roberts came up Dunston said "Now I know I can get one out here". So what did Roberts do? Yep, you guessed it…..first pitch…….pulled to RF. Dunston just let out a squeal. Finally, he got some balls hit his way. He actually did a pretty good job of running them down. By the way…Dunston has a heck of a voice. I was in the 1B box seats…...he was in medium deep LF and I good hear him quite clearly.

That's it for today. Good day despite the weather. Of course, it's always a good day at the ballpark.

Guillermo Rodriguez with the new frosted hairdo.

Dave Roberts and Rich Aurilia get some face time with Bruce Bochy. I think Roberts is laughing because he just said to Bochy "Can you believe some of the fans actually believed you when you said Frandsen, Davis, Lewis, Schierholtz and Ortmeier actually have a chance to start over us old guys this year? Fans are so naive".

Ray Durham talking with Brian Sabean. From the look on Ray's face it looks like he just said "What do mean I have to actually EARN my job this year?"

As rumored, Shawon Dunston made his appearance in camp today. I should have had a wider angle on the previous photo....because just out of that photo to the right, Dunston was on the edge of the outfield grass. So you had Dunston advising Frandsen, Snow advising Ortmeier and Nen advising Wilson.......all at the same time.

A lot going on in this photo. Kevin Frandsen takes extra infield during batting practice. Daniel Ortmeier prepares to take the throw at 1B....under the watchful eye of JT Snow. Meanwhile, back behind the protective screen behind second base, Robb Nen discusses pitching with new closer, Brian Wilson. Earlier Wilson had a ball out and he and Nen were discussing different grips on the ball. You will notice that Frandsen's jersey is dirty again. No that's not left over from 2 days ago. He is still diving for balls while taking infield.

Instead of regular infield today the thirdbasemen all took groundballs while the firstbasemen practiced digging out short-hop throws. The coaches set up a pitching machine and had the machine fire balls at the firstbasemen at all angles and heights. Interestingly, Eliezer Alfonzo practiced with Daniel Ortmeier, Travis Ishikawa and Brett Harper on this drill. When it came time for the pick-off drills, Ortmeier was the only 1B involved.