Today is the only split squad game of the spring for the Braves. For the uninitiated, a split squad is where the team takes half of their players one place and half another place. Usually one of the games is a home game, but this is the rare away-away split squad.
I'll be taking the long and stop-lighted drive down Irlo Bronson to Osceola County Stadium to take in the Braves at the Astros. No, I did not want to drive two hours each way to the Gulf Coast; not after the 7 hour journey from Atlanta yesterday.
I'll be watching Kenshin Kawakami take the mound, followed by Manny Acosta, Michael Dunn, Jonny Venters, and Craig Kimbrel. Had I chosen to go to Dunedin and see the Braves take on the Blue Jays, I would be watching Kris Medlen, Stephen Marek, James Parr, Juan Abreu, Kyle Cofield, and Lee Hyde.
I'm gonna hit the road and hopefully get a good ticket. I may tweet some updates from the stadium, or I may try to mobile comment, we'll see.
Today was my first of two days at the Braves Spring Training complex in Orlando and I spent the whole day at my favorite place in the world, the backfields that comprise the Minor League complex. It was kind of an odd day because the players were getting their physicals in the morning and didn't start their workout until around 1 pm, which is usually about when they're wrapping things up. Also, about half of the Minor Leaugers don't report until tomorrow, which is the first day of full squad workouts, so the fields were much more sparsely filled than I'm used to seeing them in Spring Training. The workout was pretty light, consisting of a few rounds of BP and some PFP, although apparently the pitchers got worked out pretty hard by the strength and conditioning coordinator, so there wasn't much to really comment on, but I'll pass along what was interesting. At least what I can remember of what was interesting.
Today was the first day that Edward Salcedo worked out with the team, possibly the first day he's been in the United States after signing the largest contract the Braves have ever given an international player. I was very surprised to find that Salcedo is fluent in English; you almost never meet a young man just over from the Domincan Republic who can speak more than a few words of English and I kind of embarrassed myself by greeting him in halting Spanglish. Fortunately Salcedo appears to be a Braves kind of player, otherwise known as an outstanding human being, and he didn't give me a hard time about it. He took all his grounders at shortstop, which is where he'll play, and looked very smooth out there in the little bit of infield practice I saw him take. It was hard to take too much out of his one round of BP, but he did have a bunt that would have been an easy single, seems to be able to smoke the ball up the middle, and has a fair amount of easy pop off his bat.
Champion Stadium, Blue Jays vs. Braves, 3/13/10, 2:15pm, top of the fifth
I'm en route to spring training today, making the long hard drive down I-75 to Orlando. It looks like the rain has left the Disney area for the upcoming week, so I'm excited for warm weather finally. Maybe I can bring it back to Atlanta in a week.
I'm too early to know the batting order, but I do know that Tim Hudson will be on the mound for the Braves.
Spring training is in full swing, and with some regularity, we're seeing some actual baseball again. Box scores, game recaps, and player assessments are running afoul, and in less than a month now, we have real, meaningful baseball again. I'll be honest; ST trips don't intrigue me as much as regular, or dare I say it, post season trips do, which is why I've made such little effort to make my way down to Florida. But with all the excitement in the air, the stories and happenings all around the baseball world, and some of you folks having fun down in Florida, I have to admit that I'm enviously wishing I had the means to jet off to Orlando and just drive around and absorb as much baseball as I can, so that being said, maybe in future year I'll do such.
Now if it would just stop thunderstorming, I would say that this is a wonderful time of the year to be a baseball fan, but regardless, it's not going to stop Things Read in Other Moms' Basements, your look at links from the other teams in the National League East division, from happening every Saturday as we have it.
Jose Reyes does indeed have thyroid problem - MLB.com
This is unfortunate news for Reyes, the Mets, and their fans. Until further notice, Reyes is on the shelf until doctors can find out the best way to handle his overactive thyroid. It's one of those scenarios where he feels fine, and is itching to get back onto the field, but it's not until he exerts a lot of physical activity in which it could begin to hamper him. I was hoping that this wasn't the case, because regardless of whom he plays for, he's always a fun player to watch. But alas, since this is the Mets, it's never this simple - Jose Reyes claims he doesn't have a problem. Sigh. Admission is the first step to recovery. He'll be out anywhere from 2-8 weeks, and likely miss the opener.
Champion Stadium, Pirates vs. Braves, 3/12/10, 4:32pm, top of the third
It's a slow lazy rainy Friday afternoon, why not use this time to finally order your copy of the Talking Chop 2010 Baseball Annual. Click the book to order:
Rain in Florida is putting the kybosh on many a spring training games today. The Braves-Pirates game has been pushed back to a 1:30 start time. Here is the lineup for Atlanta (notice the big change at the top):
Martin Prado, 2B
Nate McLouth, CF
Chipper Jones, 3B
Troy Glaus, 1B
Brian McCann, C
Yunel Escobar, SS
Jason Heyward, RF
Matt Diaz, LF
Jair Jurrjens, P
This is very likely the lineup we may see on opening day. It will be interesting to watch how long they keep Prado and McLouth switched, and if that works for both of them.
