Going Yard

The San Francisco Chronicle has a story today about Buster Posey’s first backstop gig with acquired closer Greg Holland yesterday.  Asked about how it was to catch someone he’d never caught before, Posey responded: “It’s not like I’m not somewhat familiar with him.”

You know the season is nigh when managers start babbling in baseball doublespeak, as Yankees’ skipper Aaron Boone did in an answer to a reporter’s question at Tampa: “We have certainly some guys athletically with some speed that we’ll be able to take advantage of hopefully taking some extra bases when they’re available.”

Masahiro Tanaka combined with two other NYY hurlers to pitch a no-hitter against Detroit, an unusual feat in Spring Training.  New York Times sportswriter David Waldstein had a clever way to capture the significance–or lack thereof–of the event: A no-hitter in spring training is like a broken pitch tracker: It doesn’t count.

Headline of the day award goes to New York Yankees’ blog Pinstripe Alley for this regarding Greg Bird’s hot spring and another dinger: Greg Bird Singing in the Dead of Night

On today’s YES broadcast of the New York Yankees versus the Blue Jays, Michael Kay described Blue Jays’ catcher Saltalamacchia’s name as an “armpit name,” because it extends from left underarm to right underarm.

Eric Walk, who is 10, also noticed some nuances and enjoyed the easier access to players during Spring Training. The Cardinals were trying out some new players during spring training.  They constantly switched pitchers, to see what skill their new players had.  I saw that the catcher, Yadier Molina, was doing some things I’d never […]

My young baseball buddies Jeffrey and Eric Walk have written their impressions of their first Spring Training in Florida following the St. Louis Cardinals. In this post, Jeffrey Walk, who turns 13 this month, describes what can’t be seen from the stands during the regular season. This spring I went to my first ever spring training […]

Commenting on former Yankee Nick Swisher failing to latch on to the Atlanta Braves squad, Yankee skipper Joe Girardi said: “Sometimes injuries take their tolls.”

Introducing some new baseball jargon courtesy of Thomas Boswell, the sui generis baseball writer for the Washington Post.  He quotes hitting coach Rick Schu as follows: “The only time we’ve been healthy the last three years was from July ’13 to the end of that season,” said Schu. “We rolled the poles.” Excuse me, a […]

MLB Spring Training is its own season. Whether you are in front of a computer or watching from the stands, the joys come through: silence (no over-amped stadium exhortations), the sight of managers and coaches seated on folding chairs, and lengthy dugout interviews with players and managers touting how good their pitching, hitting and defense look–now. It’s also […]