SATURDAY, FEBRUARY 11, 2017
There have been rumors that there would be no activities today, I was due to meet a friend for lunch at 11:15, so I decided to swing by the ball park to see if they lied to us. When I got out of the car I saw the parking lot attendantâs shed was locked, but when I entered the gate, I saw 10 players playing long toss in the outfield of the diamond nearest to the stadium(Schmidt Field).I couldnât recognized them, they were too far away. They broke up and went to the other side of the complex and started to put on gear in the pitching mound area between the Roberts and Carlton fields. I turns out that there were three pitchers, three catchers and two coaches. They went into full scale bullpen session.
The first bullpen session was Mark Appel. I think he was pitching to Logan Moore and he was throwing hard. Joaquin Benoit was the other pitcher. I donât know who his catcher was, maybe Numata. A third catcher was sitting there watching, he was Andres Blanco. I guess it is pretty much official now that Andres is their emergency catcher. That makes him a valuable member of the team and almost insures him a spot on the team. There were also 2 coaches present. One was Ray Burris and I didnât recognize the other. It might have been Nelson Prada.
I thought that Appel was throwing hard and appeared to be pain free. He hit his pitch count, talked to the coaches and seemed happy. When he finished, he came over to the dozen, or so fans that had collected and signed autographs and talked to the fans. He seems like a very personable young man and was very friendly with the fans. Actually, that can be said for all of the guys there. At the end of the session, they all came over and were laughing and joking with the fans as they signed autographs.
I have to say that Benoit surprised me. He still throws hard for a 39 year older. I could see him as a guy who can Gomez a rest from time to time. I think he is a guy to keep your eye on. At his age, you never know how much he has lost over the winter.
At about 10:45, I left to go look for a cover for this new notebook that I am going to try and use this year. I am not very good at these things and always figure computers are out to get me, but even at 77, I donât think I should be standing still. I wonder if the Phillies have a cover up in the Diamond Outfitters. Iâll look on Monday because they are not open on weekends until spring training actually begins.
The traffic has started. A word of caution. Between now and the end of April the traffic is horrendous. Defensive driving is not a sissy thing. There are loads of tourists on the road, They are not all baseball fans. When it gets cold, or snows up north, people come streaming in on winter vacations. When they drive, they donât know where they are going, but are in a real hurry to get there. I have been in three accidents in my 14 years down here and none of them were my fault.
Well, it was time to start looking for a restaurant. We wound up at Frenchyâs Outpost in Dunedin.