The glorious sun was shining today at the corner of Drinkwater and Osborn. A welcome change from the past two days of dark grey clouds and damp conditions. Finally, the squad could have the complete workout they had been expecting.
Live BP continued on two full sized fields. Essentially, it was the same pitching group that threw on Saturday, simply switching fields. That meant we got to get a better look at Cain, Zito, Affeldt, Ramirez, and Tanner. All of them looked relatively sharp to me. As the beat writers have mentioned, the pitchers are always more advanced than the hitters at this point in the Spring due to practice. Also of note was that Affeldt required a pitching screen during his session. This is the “L” shaped netting on wheels that you see coaches use to stop come-backers. Unknown as to why this was the case, but ironically I believe it ended up stopping a liner that would have drilled him.
Lincecum moved to the practice field which is nearly impossible to photograph. Obstacles include a ten foot green metal fence, covered by green backstop mesh, and the fact that you are abut 5 feet higher than ground level. There is a little cut out by third base that you can see the action, but there are autograph hounds that stake their claim there and you still have to shoot through two fences, the usual green and now another silver chain link one. To clarify, this field is predominately staffed by the non roster invites and non-regular players. Unfortunately, this includes most of the top prospects in the system. I’ll have to wait until the annual intra-squad game on Thursday to get photographs of them.
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I didn’t see Wilson during the whole practice although there has been mention of a 20 minute bullpen session in the back range. Some have said that this area isn’t out of sight and that anyone can view work over there. This is not entirely the case. In order to view this area without a field pass, you have to watch from the top of the pavilion. In order to get up there you have to pass a guard. 90% of the time the usual guard will not allow spectators to view the bullpen range or the practice infield. The caveat is when this guard has a day off. Then there is more leniency. Here’s to hoping he is planning a vacation for the rest of the week.
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One thing that was a fresh change of routine was the addition of infield practice for the position players before live BP. It was a much toned down version from that of the norm, but still good to see DP transitions and across the diamond throws from third.
Tejada looks good with the glove so far. I know defense has been a point of debate on him, but to be honest, he kind of looked like a more agile Uribe. DeRosa took the majority of balls at third with Pablo, however, he ended up moving to first for a stint. I don’t know if this was for fun, or just to take a look, but it wasn’t pretty. Pablo looked to be in great shape when ranging for balls in both directions.
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Lastly, a quick look at the Live BP sessions. Matt, Tim, and Barry throw a couple pitches. This time a better quality camera; the hand shake remains the same though….
Check it out HERE.
CLICK PHOTOS for full gallery.
