I was tempted to make the trip to Tucson with my wife to experience Spring Training for the first and last time down there…so glad I didn’t.

Today had so many great players to photograph it was literally hard to take a bad photo. About 1000 shots when it was all said and done, split among 2 games That showcased some of the best talent on the farm.

Diamond Notes:

- Tim Lincecum and Buster Posey stayed off the bus today and got their work in during intrasquad game #1 on field 2 at Indian School Park. Ironically, this was the battery I was scheduled to see up here in Surprise a couple weeks ago, but that game got rained out.

A funny note before the game began was that both defenses ran on to the field. It was AAA vs. AA and both teams wanted Tim and Buster to play for them. After a minute of squawking and some laughs it ended with Tim playing for the “Grizzlies” and Craig Clark starting for the “Squirrels.”

I’ll let the beat writers fill you in on the detailed stat lines and Q&A from Tim, I’ll try to focus on some interesting moments.

- Tim walked the first two batters of the ballgame, Tyler Graham, who advanced to 2B on a steal, and Nick Noonan. The Squirrels were running on Tim and Buster all day as 3 steals were recorded from Graham and Noonan in the first inning alone. With Graham and Noonan on 1st and 2nd a double steal was successfully completed.

Tim got out of the inning unscathed after striking out Thomas Neal swinging, and a F8-2 double play as Graham tagged up from 3B.

- In a nutshell, by my count Tim went 5 2/3IP, 0ER, 3H, 5BB, 6K (all unofficial). It was a pretty good outing, minus the walks.

- Of those 3 hits, 1 was a single up the middle by CJ Ziegler, and the remaining 2 were a double and a triple hit by Roger Kieschnick.

- For those of you that haven’t been to the Indian School complex, this game was played on Field 2, which is the exact same dimensions and wall heights as AT&T Park.

Roger’s triple would have been hit directly in to “Triples Alley”

- Since this was a “Sim Game” for the most part, after Roger hit the 2 out triple in the 6th, the inning was ended. Tim wasn’t lifted for another pitcher, they just went to the bottom of the 6th.

I bet Tim wishes they could do that during the regular season.

- Tim also had one crazy pitch. The pitch went “Backwards” and kind of ended up on the grass between 1st and 2nd base. It looked like it was a fast ball that he lost the grip on while bringing it over the top. If you’ve ever played baseball, you know that when you throw a ball your throwing hand facing away from your body until you bring your arm forward. I think that’s when he lost it and it kind of curved and boomeranged behind him.

For those wondering, it was counted as a ball.

- I don’t have the stats on Buster, but I think he ended up with a couple hits and an RBI. Crosscheck Baggs.

- I would also assume the AAA team won the game as I didn’t stay until the end. Joe Borchard hit a shot to left in the first inning and they kept rolling from there.

- Joe Martinez threw another bullpen session today. I asked him quickly yesterday how his arm felt and he said it was good and he should be back on the mound early this week.

- The other game on Field 1 had Zack Wheeler throwing. I got some shots of him in the bullpen early today and didn’t know he was prepping for a start. I did catch a couple shots on the mound though along with Andrew Romo, Jason Stoffel, and Shawn Sanford. I wasn’t able to keep tabs on how any of them did because I was primarily at the other game. Even if I did though, the coaches had teams stay on the field for more than 3 outs sometimes which throws a wrench in keeping stats anyway.

- I’ll just throw this out there, in the bullpen you had Tim Lincecum and Zack Wheeler warming up side by side. Then they took their respective fields probably about 200 yards apart from each other. I was able to see Tim make hitters looks silly with the Change Up and walk a couple feet to see Zack over power a guy with the Fastball. Like I said, it was a great day to stay back and be able to watch these guys pitch.

CLICK HERE for full gallery, There are a ton of great photos today!