Arizona Wrap-up

Greensboro, NC -- It took me a over a week to recover from my travels out west, specifically to Scottsdale, Arizona for a couple of days of bachelor debauchery and catching a glimpse of some Spring Training baseball games.  The weather was absolutely perfect; 84 degrees, sunny, and skies as pristine as the Scottsdale streets.  Since it hardly ever rains, the roads and concrete throughout the greater Phoenix area are as clean and smooth as glass.

Day 1, A's at Cubs -- The Cubs offense looked very strong with Derrek Lee hitting a bomb during his first at bat.  Geovanny Soto looks more comfortable with the bat.  There was no sign of Alfonso Soriano, but maybe the hitting magician, Rudy Jaramillo, the Cubs' new $800,000/year coach was working his magic on "Sori" behind the scenes.  I'm not sure if the Cubs have the explosive offense that they think they do, but don't count out Jaramillo's influence.  I smell another 3rd place finish in the NL Central with Sweet Lou hanging them up at season's end.  There's not too much to say about the A's, other than their pitching and defense must make-up for their dreadful offense.  I saw Rickey Henderson in the dugout, who I'm sure was brought in to teach the youngsters some baserunning skills.  They'll need to steal some bases -- and contradict the Moneyball rules -- in order to generate some runs this year.

Day 2, Rockies at Giants -- In a beautiful park in downtown Scottsdale, the Giants and Rockies squared off in an intra-divisional, ace-pitching match-up of Jeff Francis and Matt Cain.  I'm always suspect of the Rockies pitching playing in the thin air of Denver, but they have some hurlers with excellent make-up; Francis, Hammell, Jimenez, and Cooke.  Conversely, I feel the same way about the Giants' offense -- putrid.  It's tough to manufacture runs when it's cold in the middle of the summer at your home ballpark, and the ball doesn't "fly out" of the park in the hot summer air.  But, it's difficult to generate runs when you don't have a masher or two in the middle of the lineup.

I had the distinct pleasure of residing in the W Hotel during my stay in Arizona.  On my final night, the Phoenix Suns hosted a Celebrity Event in the pool area of the upscale hotel.  I met Amar'e Stoudemire, Jason Richardson, and Leandro Barbosa.  All nice guys out on the town for the evening. 

So, what's the point of flying out to Phoenix to report on some Spring Training games?  It's fun, it's an escape of the cold weather for a few days, it's drinking beer at 1:00 in the afternoon, it's a surreal scene in anticipation of the opening of the greatest sport of them all.  Plus, it was my best friend's bachelor party.  Amen.