On a Roll, Barely

Happy Birthday today to Don Buford, 73 years old -- and a Ponce hitting coach for the week (which can only age him faster.)

I sensed a growing overconfidence (two game win streak) for Team C-Stan Cliburn -- and it seemed to come home to roost today. Yesterday we beat Team A 10-4 -- after three innings this morning we were losing to Team A by a score of 6-1. We got two in the fourth and three in the fifth while holding them scoreless so were tied 6-6 going into the 6th and final inning. Our second pitcher shut them out for a third straight inning in the top of the 6th. When we came up to bat, our first hitter (the guy who tried to steal third with the bases loaded yesterday) led off with a hit. The next batter reached on an error -- men on second and first, no outs. Our next batter put a great bunt down the third base line. The pitcher went over to field it and threw the batter out at first, but our fearless base runner from yesterday kept running around third and slid home with the winning run before the throw from the first baseman could get him -- scoring from second on a bunt, shades of Jacoby Ellsbury! Our record is now 3-0. I went 3-3 including a double and was warming up in case we went into extra innings (actually a shoot out - the rules of which I don't really understand.) It drizzled throughout the morning and then at lunch the heavens opened and the afternoon session was canceled.

We have a couple of great trainers from the Twins system to put liniment on sore muscles -- some special hot stuff called Atomic Balm -- and ice us down after, etc. When I was getting the hot stuff in the morning I asked the trainer, Larry, about a knot in the back of my right shoulder -- he said "just some rotator cuff tendinitis -- keep it stretched out." A philosophical question: How are you supposed to react when the trainer says to you, "You aren't pitching today are you?" When I told him I expected to, he said, "Well then see me again after lunch?" I didn't take that as a positive sign.

Some scuttlebutt picked up from the various coaches. The Twins coaches hope the report that Mauer is signing a 10-year contract with the Twins is true -- and they think the new stadium in Minnesota that opens this season will help them get the revenue to keep players like Mauer and Morneau. They said the Dome really prevented them from keeping stars like Hunter and Santana.

Darrin Garner, a coach in the Mariners system, was giving some guys fielding tips in the clubhouse and used Adrian Beltre, formerly of the Mariners now with the Sox, as the example of a naturally gifted fielder who continues to work hard to stay sharp. He said that no one works harder at fielding than Beltre -- who he called the best fielding third baseman he has seen in a long time. He said that Beltre works so hard taking ground balls ("hit them as hard as you can") in practice that he wears out the coaches hitting to him. He said he is a hard worker, great teammate, and a real good player.

Rick Knapp had spent 15 years as a minor-league pitching coach and pitching coordinator for the Twins and then last year was hired as the major league pitching coach for the Tigers. We all give him credit for the vastly improved pitching for the Tigers last year but he -- perhaps too modestly -- said he thought the improvement was much more due to the improved defense the Tigers had. For example, the Tigers pitchers had much more confidence in Adam Everett as their shortstop (2009) than Edgar Renteria (2008) -- a "cardboard cut out" in the field. It was interesting to hear Rick talk about the relationships and process that led to his hiring by the Tigers and the adjustments of going into a new system after 15 years with another team in the same division.

One of the coaches said that Boof Bonser is likely to be much more help to the Red Sox than "that kid Masterson who they sent to Cleveland. He just can't repeat his pitching delivery. If he weren't so tall he would have been injured long before now." Interesting insight considering how high Red Sox fans, including me, were on Masterson.

A brighter weather forecast for the rest of the week.

Some have asked about pictures -- I didn't bring a camera (imagine Big Papi taking pictures in the dugout of Pedroia sliding into second base!) However, there is a professional photographer here for the week (he did my poster that is on the side of the blog.) You can see his pictures that he posts each day at www:wagnerphotography.com. Just hit the links for Ponce baseball. My team is Team C for the pictures from our games.