Just back from Phoenix...Wow!

I just got back from Phoenix and can't wait to tell everyone what a great time I had.  But most importantly I want to share with you my observations and impressions.  

Before I get to my impressions of the players I have to let you all in on what was probably the most exciting thing that happened while we were in AZ.  The first night in town my family went to a "Greeting" dinner sponsored by the tour service I used, Spring Training Tours.  The dinner included a talk by Mike Thalblum of the A's.  Mike has worked for the A's for 24 years, the last 11 as the Visiting Clubhouse Manager.  

Part of the activities planed for the evening was a raffle.  Most of the items were T-shirts, posters, and Bobble Heads purchased by the tour group.  Mike wanted to add a personal prize to that list and therefore included a tour of the A's AZ clubhouse.  There were about eighty people in attendance, 90% of which were senior citizens.  But as luck would have it my ten-year old son Austin had the winning ticket!  

Mike had us show up the next day at 9:30 in the morning during the A's batting practice.    I went down near the dugout and caught Byrnes attention.  Byrnes was great, you could tell he didn't necessarily want to be a messenger boy, but he headed up the tunnel yelling for "Mikey!"  About five minutes later Mike came out and took Austin into the clubhouse.  There were about 6 young autograph seekers who had shown up early and were lined up near the A's dugout when Austin climbed over the railing and went into the clubhouse with Mike.  You should have seen the look on their faces.  

After the hour-long tour Mike and Austin came out of the clubhouse where they sat together in the dugout watching BP.  Not long afterwards the A's players were starting to wrap up batting practice and started packing for the bus trip to Maryvale for the Brewers game.  It was at this point that Mike approached me and asked if it would be all right if Austin could ride in the team bus to the game.  (Like I was going to tell him that my son couldn't live my dream!)  Mike told me just to come down to the visitor's dugout before the game and pick him up.  

Upon arriving at the Maryvale ballpark we spotted Austin right there in the dugout with the whole team, leaning against the railing and spitting sunflower seeds.  When I went down to get him Mike said that, if it was all right with me, Austin could watch the game from the dugout.  Not only did he get to watch the game from the dugout, the batboy let Austin replace him for two innings.  

In summary, a personal tour of the A's Phoenix clubhouse, a ride to the game in the team bus, a seat in the dugout during the game, bat boy for two innings, and autographed balls for both him and his sister. Its going to be hard keeping down on the farm after all that!

On to the games.  The following plays and players jump out at me.

I got to Phoenix just in time for the third inning on Thursday March the 17th.  While the A's were already down 4-0 in the third by the time I arrived, from that point on they could do no wrong!  Outside of the first three innings on Thursday, and the Colorado split squad game, which I did not attend, the A's outscored the competition to 37 to 10!

Huston Street interacting with my daughter while giving her his autograph.  I felt like I was watching a screen test for the Natural.  Street really took his time with her.  He was kind and interested in who she was as a person and a fan.  

I also loved seeing him mow down the Brewers on Friday.  He struck out the side in the Sixth.  I think it was the second batter that he got with three pitches.  Good morning, good afternoon, good night.  After swinging and missing the last pitch, and looking very silly doing it, the batter just stood there looking back at Street as if to say, "What the heck was that!"

Keiichi Yabu pitching.  While he did not seem to have the control he is credited with, a lot of his pitches seemed to be very high in the strike zone, he might have just been working on a few different techniques.  He did seem to have a wicked curve.  One curve ball he threw came in straight, about letter high, but just as it reached the plate it seemed to stop and dive down and away from the batter.  If I had seen it on TV I would have thought it was a camera trick.  

Justin Duchscherer looked good.  Confident and in control.  

Keith Ginter looked good at the plate.  His double on Friday was deep in the gap and almost cleared the fence.  His fielding is something else entirely.  On one play on Thursday he was on second for a routine roller straight at him.  He simply pulled his glove early allowing the ball to skip through his legs for an error.  The next day, while playing third, he backed up to take a three-hopper hit to his right.  When he looked up he realized he had to hurry the throw and threw so wide at first Hatteberg couldn't even get a glove on it.  My wife wanted me to point out that he had many chances after that play and handled all of them adroitly.  (Adroitly, her word, she is a physical therapist)

Dan Haren looked great.  I tried to keep track of any pitches up in the zone, and I bet he only had three pitches that were at or above the letters.  Haren spoke at a barbeque I went to on Saturday.  The first thing I noticed was how big he is.  They always joke about how skinny pitchers are, not this guy, he has the shoulders of a linebacker.  He admitted that he was disappointed and shocked when he was told of the trade, but is happy and excited now.  He never came right out and said it, but it seems as if things were a little tight in the St Louis clubhouse, and he feels quite at home in the A's clubhouse.  

Rich Harden was also at the barbeque.  Rich it seems has a lead foot.  He wrecked his truck over the break.  So what does he do but go out and get a black Corvette.  Ray Fosse was giving him grief about being a speed demon.  The same thing could be said about Rich's physique.  While he did not have the shoulders of Haren, you could tell by his arms he spends a lot of time with the weights.  I don't know if I just never got close enough to notice before or if he just always wore long sleeve shirts.

In addition to Ray Fosse, Haren, and Harden, Brad Fisher (outfield coach) also gave a talk.  He stressed that they are not worried about the slow start that Nick Swisher is having.  He referenced his recent surgery on his thumb and the fact that this is only spring training.  He then went on to point out that the A's were very patient with Crosby at the beginning of last year, stating that they should be just as patient with Swisher this year.  

Speaking about Swisher, I watched two separate sessions of batting practice while in Phoenix and the one thing that jumped out at me during those sessions was the power of Swisher.  To qualify that statement I will admit that Durazo and Chavez did not bat in either of those two sessions.  However, Dan Johnson did, as well as Byrnes and Crosby.  Nobody drove the ball as far and as consistently far as Swisher did.  Another interesting tidbit is that in both sessions Swisher practiced from the right side of the box.  

Another interesting story about Swisher came from Mike Thalblum.  Mike said he observed some of the autographs that Swisher was making for the fans and felt like they were crap!  Mike pulled him aside and told him that if a fan was going to spend the time waiting to get his signature that the least he could do was to make it legible.  Swish must have taken the story to heart because my daughter got his autograph the next day, along with about 15 others, and it is the most legible signature of them all.  

Jason Kendal was fun to watch bat.  Kendall would just stand in the box with the bat on his shoulder and watch the first pitch go by no matter where it was thrown.  He ever watched the second pitch on a few occasions, sometimes right down the middle for a called strike two.  Then on the next pitch he would softly serve the ball into the opposite field for an easy single.  I saw him do this three or four times.  The other thing I noticed is that he had four of five pitches get past him.  I just hope he was breaking in a new glove.  

I got to see a little of Daric Barton.  He was mostly a late inning replacement.  What I saw I liked.  The descriptions given of Barton were fairly accurate.  While not heavy he is thick.  By no means does he have a big waist, but his thighs and hips are seemingly disproportionately large.  Maybe that is where his power comes from, and it sure doesn't seem to slow him down.  I saw him hit an opposite field line drive down the left field line.  Barton sprinted around the bases and rounded second fast before heading back for an easy stand up double.  

Blez you will be pleased to know that the AN T-shirts were a big hit.  I can't tell you how many people came up to me to ask where they could get one.  I had mine on while going back to my room one night while sharing the elevator with Scott Hatteberg.  Hatteberg was with an older couple that I thought might have been his parents, and since he was out of uniform I didn't bother him with questions.  He did however take notice of the shirt and gave me a chin wave and a knowing smile while nodding toward the shirt.  

Bobby Kielty started to swing a good bat.  His ability to run is suspect.  He hit a long fly to left that was lost by the left fielder.  Kielty had been dogging it to first and did not seem to put much effort into his run down to second just barely beating the throw.  After the play he had his head down and seemed to favor the leg.  I was watching closely after that but he either walked or hit an easy single or a homerun all of which never caused him to turn on the speed.  I suppose if he's going to hit home runs he won't have to worry about his leg.

It was a great trip, I'm excited about the season ahead.  I'll definitely go to spring training next year, we had a blast.