Palm Beach – Week 4

The first month of the season is in the books.  The month of May is right around the corner and with that starts a new month and new opportunity for myself and the Cardinals.

This week we played the Jupiter Hammerheads, aka Palm Beach Nemesis, and the Port St. Lucie Mets.  This was our first time seeing the Hammerheads since opening week and the first time of the season seeing the Mets.

Opening weekend against Miami we went 2-2, with two leads in the 8th and 9th innings.  We thought that the team was good, but we did not expect their record to be 14-3 the next time we played them.  They were playing good baseball since we last saw them, and they had three MLB rehab players on the team for our series. This time it was a nice three game series against them with a rain out on Monday.  Monday’s game was pushed back to a double header Tuesday, and a regular game on Wednesday.  The lightning on Monday was scary, and I was not having any part of it.  The good news however was that i had begun my rehab catch play.  I have been playing catch all week with the intention of being back into games soon.

Soon is a relative term because the time table is still hidden to me.  My plan is to ask when I will be facing hitters again, and I think the answer will depend on how I am feeling.  The feeling part is big, and I know that if I rush it back too soon, I could be in for a long season. The worst case scenario is not giving my arm enough time and then making it worse.  It turns a month rehab into an entire season rehab.

The St. Lucie series went well for us as we went 3-1 against them.  We also play them again this week so we will see what they have to offer the second time around.  It will get me prepared for AA when there are only eight teams in the whole league and you’re pitching against the same guys all year. That is the plan at least.

I know two members of the Mets but I was not able to speak with them.  The good news is that they come to our place this week which means the teams all warm up in the same place.  A perfect time to cross paths with former teammates and acquaintances This trip was wonky because there was a high school tournament being played which meant that we hit batting practice at our own field. Then made the commute to and from their field each day about 45 mins each way.  Any day that I get to play catch, work on my game, and not shag too much is a good day to me.

The second game we played it started raining right away and both teams almost lost their starters after one inning.  The third game of the series we played it was a different delay and something I’ve never been part of.  A light delay.  There was something wrong with the lights and about half never booted up.  The field was too dark to play for about an hour and we weren’t sire what was going to happen.  The delay was long enough and burnt both starters for both teams and fortunately for us we’ve had it a few times when a long reliever throws.  In the past that had been my role, and I learned what that is called.  A touchdown reliever.  You pitch up seven or down seven.

I wish i had more to report about myself and what the season has been like so far.   The rehab process is just that a process.  I am doing my best to come back and pitch as soon as I feel good.  I know that in my spot there isn’t room to dilly dally and let the season pass me by.  The Cardinals and my trainer Chris have been great to me understanding where I am coming from.  At first I was conscious about how it must look to be the first guy with a problem, but why would I want to sit out when this is my defining year?   Since I have bee n on the DL I have been been bullpen chief.  The chief is the guy with the clipboard and walkie talkie that tells people when to stretch, warm up, the situation, and when they will be going in the game.  The nickname Chief is nice, but I’d like to be known as something else than the walkie talkie guy.

Another interesting fact about this week was that each Cardinals coach has five off days throughout the season.  The five consecutive off days were the end of the week/weekend for our pitching coach.  We had the GCL pitching coach, Gio Carrara, as our instructor for a few days and he was great.  He was laid back and let us do our thing.  He also pitched in the big leagues and had a long career playing around the world.   He was also my throwing partner for a few days so I could get work in while the other pitchers were doing their thing or a fundamental. It was good getting insight from another coach that I had never met, and a different perspective on what Will our pitching coach is teaching us now.

This will be a big week for me as I plan on throwing more bullpens and getting back on the mound a few times.  It is a big week because based on how it feels and how I respond then I will be inching closer to being back in the games.  My arm will let me know right away how it is feeling after the treatment we’ve been doing when I get on the mound and feel comfortable throwing 100%.  I think part of the block is still mental and guarding my arm because I don’t want it to be painful.  It could also be guarding so it doesn’t get worse.  If this week doesn’t produce desired results I may ask for a follow up doctor appointment.  What is the worst thing that can happen with an image or two? The best case is the peace of mind it gives me going forward.  With all that on the horizon, this week we are heading to my old stomping grounds to play the Florida Fire Frogs.  From there we come back to Jupiter for a three game series with the Mets, followed by another series with the Hammerheads I believe.

I’m looking forward to this week and letting everyone know how the rehab and games go.

Palm Beach – Week 3

The first real road trip of the season is complete.

This week the Cardinals were on the road for the fist time in the 2018 season.  The opponents were the Bradenton Marauders, and the Port Charlotte Stone Crabs.  The teams are affiliates of the Pirates and Tampa Bay Rays respectively,

After Monday’s off day, it was wheels up to Bradenton.  This was our first trip that the charter bus was needed, and the first time you go on the road as a club the seating battle begins. The battles happen because who wants to double up on a bus when there are opportunities to sit alone?  The good thing here is that the trips by bus are short.  I think the longest ones we have are around three hours.  The seating battles would be more intense if there was a 10 or 12 hour bus ride ahead of the team.  Last year I shared a seat the entire season and it was not bad, and this year I went and sat near the front of the bus.  I left the seat next to me open, saying hello come sit here, that way I wouldn’t have to ask anyone.  I got lucky and had my own seat for the road trip which is nice, and nobody told me since I am on the DL that I should be doubled up.

With all that being said, I enjoyed being in Bradenton again.  It is a city I’ve spent time in training, and finally getting to play a series there was fun.  When I am healthy I will have to make sure to invite my trainers and coaches who are in the area.  The series with the Pirates went well, and we walked away 2-1.  The pitching staff did well and besides one home run, I would say we did very well keeping the Marauders off balance.  A good thing about being on a road trip is that you get meal money, which is enough to cover the clubhouse fees.  The bad part is that you are usually stuck in a random place with nothing nearby, but both hotels on this trip were in good locations.  During the Pirates trip, I got to play catch a few times, as well as do different rehab drills which makes me happy.  That means my arm is progressing into a better, less painful phase. There will be more on that later.

After we left the Pirates facility we went to the Tampa Bay Rays.  This is a facility that I am familiar with, but had never seen their big league field.  The backfields are where I spent my time with the Red Sox.  The Rays are similar to us, and they do not like it when we practice all over their big league field.  This made me feel at home on the backfields and I remembered the good vibes and pitches I threw.  I got to play catch back to back while in Port Charlotte which is a good sign for my forearm.  I took Monday off then will pick it back up on Tuesday.  There was also a raccoon sighting in the bullpen, and he came to say hello and nab our sunflower seeds.  When guys got too close, he was on the other side of the fence in a hurry and on his way.  There were some people looking for him but I don’t think Mr. Raccoon was ever discovered.

The Stone Crabs offense proved too much for our pitching staff and the Stone Crab pitching staff got the best of our hitters.  We rallied late in all three games trying to force the issue, but by then it was too late.  One of the promotions that the team ran was about how they hold the highest batting average in the league.  I guess that we ran into a hot team that was playing well and sent us home packing with three losses.  After watching the bullpen of the Rays pitch, I was confident that I could pitch on their team.  The Rays have been a team that has scouted me before but has never pulled the trigger on me.  That is alright, but I like to see what they go with instead.

I had to come back and edit this page because I forgot a key detail about the Stone Crab trip. AS you can tell in the photo below there is a light pole in the bullpen.  On one side of the pole is a seating area with a net for shade, and on the other side is the actual bullpen to warm up on.  At the game this weekend there was a bird that has a nest on the light poles.  I think the pole in the bullpen is where the chicks are and the other nests on the other poles are other bird families.  Anyways, the bird that was hanging on our light tower went hunting and brought a fish back up on top of the pole.  As it was prepping the meal for the babies to eat it was dropping pieces of fish from the sky.  The good news is that the netting caught the fish guts, but the bad news was the fish guts were hanging in the bullpen.  It was a unique sight and something I had never been apart of.  The next morning during the day game we came out to find a snake hanging in the catchers bag.  The grounds crew said it was harmless, but the bullpen was on edge after that snake hanging around our turf.

A nice surprise while being in Port Charlotte is Grandpa got to come say hello. It was tough being on the DL and telling him that I wouldn’t be able to pitch while he is here but he understands  He wanted to make sure that I was in the right spot mentally because being on the DL can play tricks on your mind.  The good news for me is that I spent time on the “phantom” last year which has prepared me for my time on the actual DL.  I’ve been using this time to better my mind and train it for when I am throwing competitive pitches again.

Thank you Mike Janes for the photo.

When we got back from the road trip the first opponent on Monday was my old nemesis the Hammerheads.  The rain said no, not today, it is not time to see the Hammerheads yet.  This is nice for me because nobody throws, which means I am still in the mix when I come back.  The early day at the ballpark meant that we could get a lot done off the field, including committing to an apartment complex.  It is a nice two bedroom, furnished place, and reminds me of my home in Salem last year.  The joke I am going with now is that because I signed onto something long term, that I will move up when I come back strong from the DL.  There were two moves made today sending guys up to Springfield, and that makes me more eager to comeback.  I will comeback in a good way, but at the right time.  The last thing I want to do is come back earlier than I should and have a problem go on longer.  I do not know what the timetable is, because it is out of my control.  The higher ups and the training staff are making those decisions for me, while gauging my responses to their questions.

I am looking forward to this week because I think I will be playing more catch than I have in the past two weeks.  Once I get back to playing catch everyday it will be no time before I come back onto the mound.  It will be a great fourth week of the season and I am excited to report what happens.  Going through a real rehab process for the first time has been an experience.   An experience that hopefully be over soon, and something I never have to do again.  It has given me a different perspective on how things work in the training room, and gives me an opportunity to observe how my fellow pitchers go about their business. My days as 5th coach and bullpen chief are numbered.

I’ll be back soon.

Palm Beach – Week 2

The second week of the 2018 season is in the books.  It was a good week for the Palm Beach Cardinals as we went 5-2 on the week improving to an overall 7-4.

The two opponents this week were the Dunedin Blue Jays and the Florida Fire Frogs.  This is the first time we’ve played both teams as it is early in the season and the Hammerheads are on a road trip.  I was not participating this week physically but it was a good week regardless.

The first games of the week were against the Blue Jays.  The are the affiliate of the Toronto Blue Jays and play home games on the other coast near Tampa.  The series had a rainout in the middle which meant that it was time for the first double header of the year in the young season of the Florida State League.  From what I have heard about the league this certainty will not be the last time we get rained out, and the rain will continue to come as the season goes on.  The one highlight that stuckout from this team was that they had a guy throwing 99 mph.  You do not see that everyday, and it came at a funny time.  The bullpen and I were sitting around talking about how we had not seen anyone from the Marlins or Blue Jays throwing hard.  We wanted to see a guy come in from the bullpen throwing flames so we had something to talk about.  Well we got our wish when they sent the guy throwing 99 mph.  We won this series 3-1 overall.

The second team to come to town was the Florida Fire Frogs.  They are the affiliate of the Atlanta Braves.  In 2015 when I was with Atlanta I wanted to go play in the Carolina League.  The Mudcats were the A+ affiliate of the Braves at the time and the goal was to move up to them.  The team left for Florida and became the Fire Frogs last year and a new Florida State League team was born.  The Astros moved their spring training down here to Palm Beach and that meant a spring training complex was available.  The Braves took this opportunity to take over the Osceola County Ballpark and form a team there.  It works nicely for rehab and moving players when you have your A+ team close to your spring training.

With all that being said since 2015 I haven’t kept in contact with many of the Braves players.  After three years I was not sure who I would see sitting in the other dugout.  Also, the visiting team when they play us uses a backfield and throws their bullpens right next to us which means their players have to walk right by us heading back to batting practice.

I saw a few guys that I had known from my 1.5 seasons with the Braves.  It was good to reminisce some and talk about what has been going on in the past three years.  I was a surprise to the guys I knew because they weren’t sure where I had been in the past three years, and that is partly because after you leave a team it takes two people to keep up communications.  It is strange how you go from seeing someone every day all day for six months and then when you leave for a little it goes back to never talking and almost like you never spent time with the person to begin with.

The series with the Braves went well as we went 2-1 and won both games in the bottom of the 10th inning.  The new extra inning rules are in place for all of minor league baseball which meant that starting in the 10th inning there would be runner on second base to star the inning with no outs.  There is certain strategy involved such as am I going to bunt with my guy, what bunt defense am I playing, and if you are the home or visiting team.  The first time we had an man on second we bunted and the pitcher threw it past third base.  The second time we couldn’t get the bunt down, but ended up winning on a walk off pass ball.

The games and showing up to the field are different when I know that I am not going to pitch.  It is different being on the actual DL and physically being unable to perform compared to last season when I was on fake DL.  The fake DL I would go to the field preparing to pitch because any day could be the day that I get to toss in the games and become active.  With this seven day stint on the DL I know that the minimum time I spend here is seven days.   In that time my arm health has improved and I feel like I am close to being back on the mound.  I don;t know if this is going to be in Florida State games, or perhaps on the back fields in extended.  Either one is good with me because that means I am healthy and able to compete.  Seeing someone else do the job that you are supposed to do is never fun, and being in my shoes there isn’t room to dilly dally on the disabled list.

I am taking my time on the disabled list to get my mind right for when I get back physically.  It isn’t the ideal place to be but I can work on myself while I am sitting the bullpen not worrying about getting the call to warm up.  The only duty I have each day on the field is to be the bullpen chief which means I get to wear the walkie talkie, and tell other pitchers when to warm up.  It is a dirty job, but someone has to do it.

An irrational fear of mine is that the team and coaches think I’m being a baby with the arm problems. I don’t want them thinking I’m not wanting to pitch or compete. I say to them why would someone in my situation not want to be on the mound? Why would I want to sit out with my age and back story? I need to be competing everyday while developing my pitching ability. The trainer said that you can do everything right and then something goes wrong. Perhaps that’s what happened with me and my body is telling me to slow down.

This upcoming week is the first road trip of the season.  The first trip is to Bradenton for a few games then we finish out the trip with a few games in Port Charlotte.  The Pirates and the Tampa Bay Rays.  I am looking forward to being on the road, seeing new ballparks, and collecting meal money.  It will also be nice to be in a new hotel and get out of the extended stay after two weeks.  All in all I am excited for what is coming in week three of the season and look forward to getting back out there and helping the team win ball games.

Until then, I will continue to update and keep everyone posted on my health and what the ball club is up to.

Palm Beach Cardinals – Week 1

The season has arrived.  The wait is over and opening day has arrived.

After spring training ends so does our complimentary hotel stay.  The hotel was being weird with how the rooms were being settled and I was told on a few different occasions that I would be staying in my room, then told I am checking out, then being told I was moving rooms.  When it was all said and done I moved rooms with a day or two left in our stay and the entire time trying to figure out where I will be living for the next six months.  The Palm Beach realty market is a little tougher than the Salem, VA market, but I believe in May a nice place should be available until the end of the year.  AS of right now another reliever and I are staying in an extended stay hotel.  It gets the job done.  Now onto baseball.

Roger Dean Stadium

It has been an okay week for the Palm Beach Cardinals.  We ended up going 2-2 on opening weekend against the Jupiter Hammerheads.  IN both of the losses we had the lead in the 8th inning and the 9th inning and were unable to seal the deal.

As it went last season, I was called upon in the first game of the season.  The situation was bases loaded 2 outs and up 1-0.  I had the hitter down 0-2 early and was unable to put him away even after him fouling off about six or seven pitches.  The final pitch of the at bat was him hitting a triple to clear the bases and lose the lead for the team.  I didn’t think the pitch I threw was that bad, it wasn’t great, and overall I wasn’t as fully committed to it as I should have been.  After the tough eighth inning that we used three pitchers in, we ended up losing 3-1 and it was onto the next one.  My best asset last year was my ability to come into a bad situation for another pitcher and get him out of that bad situation.  This year I’ve gotten off on the wrong foot and allowed every runner to score that I have inherited.  You never want to be the guy that comes in and lets the other pitchers runners in.  Unintentionally or not it does not matter because all the other pitchers see is you letting their ERA go up. I went back out for a quick three groundout ninth inning and kept the game close. We ended up losing 3-2 on opening night, the Hammerheads played spoiler.

My next appearance came in the final game of the season where we played at 1 pm.  I came into the game with guys on base and two outs, and was facing the same hitter that I faced on opening day.  Instead of going with the high fastball to try and get him to chase I left a slider over the plate too much that he hit down the line.  My third basemen made a great play that saved a run, then he threw the ball away which cost us two runs.  I got the next hitter to pop out.  In hindsight if he holds his throw then we potentially get out of  the jam unscathed.  The game ended for the Cardinals in a sequence of: Walk, HBP, HBP, Walk.  A literal walk off for the Jupiter Hammerheads.  The weekend could have been a nice 4-0 start and sitting pretty, but instead we are learning together as a team and went 2-2.

On different side notes throughout the week.  Greg Holland was here getting ready for the season.  The Cardinals signed him recently and decided he should be part of the Palm Beach Cardinals, then he can pitch here a couple of times then go to the big leagues.  He threw twice and did fine both times, but having him in the bullpen was a good experience.  Having him around for stretch, catch, defense, everything was great because he was approachable and answered any questions we had.  We also got to hear his side of free agency, and learn about how he goes about his business to become a World Series champion a few years ago.

An additional perk of having a big league rehabber in the clubhouse is that he buys dinner on the days he is here.  When he was here we were eating good with steaks, Italian, Latino food, and he even got us a barber in the locker room for opening day.  All things that he does not have to do but big league guys have been through this process, and they know what it is like for us. Today was his last day, and I will certainly miss the meals and the friendship that he was giving to our club while he was here. After his first appearance the crowd was calling for him to be called up.  I thought that was clever.

View from the cheap seats

The crowds so far haven’t been the largest, but it adds a different dynamic to the game.  One that when you are just sitting in the bullpen you can hear about everything that is being said from the crowd and our own dugout.  When a guy hit a home run today we could hear the guys saying nice things to him in the dugout while they were celebrating.

It is fun being on a new ball team and hearing the sounds of the game again.  The games start at 6:30 which is nice, because we get done a little sooner than last year which gives more time to decompress after the games.  The guys on the team are friendly although I only know a couple of them.  Team wise we look good compared to the Marlins, which makes me think we should be competitive this year going forward. Coaching staff is friendly, although after the way we lost a couple games this weekend I am sure the manager isn’t in a great mood.   Overall I have enjoyed opening week and look forward to the next week of games. The only issue for me is something is being weird in my arm.

After opening night my arm was sore.  More sore than I have remember being, I figured it was because I was throwing after a week off, and I came in to a high leverage situation.  The soreness went away after two days and I thought okay no problem.  Then warming up today I felt good, came into the game and felt a little different.  My slider is my pitch, and I had thrown a lot in spring with nothing hurting or feeling weird in my arm.  Then all of the sudden today  throwing a few sliders my arm was feeling tight.  A tightness and soreness that I have never felt before in my forearm.  I know it is the cardinal rule not to mention upper forearm soreness or acknowledge that your elbow area is feeling out of whack.  That is the problem zone for pitchers.  All throughout my second inning I could feel this soreness and I was thinking about how this could be it for me and it could be my last appearance etc.  That is how my mind works, always being weird and jumping to conclusions. Anyways, with this soreness I was able to work out of a weird inning with a few misplays and a few hittable pitches.

I am looking forward to seeing what happens this next week with my body as well as on the field.  It is always nice being part of a team and feeling like you are contributing to something.  AS long as I have the jersey, I have a chance to move upward.  After watching Holland throw and see him work, I know that I have the physical tools to get to the big leagues, the difference is being consistent.  This week we host the Blue Jays and the Braves.  Should be fun.

Spring Training 2018 – Week 4

Spring Training has concluded.  The rosters are set, the early mornings are over, and the season begins on Thursday.

After the third week, the rumor mill in the locker room was that the rosters would be posted on Monday.  I figured the real rosters would not be revealed until later and that the rosters posted on Monday were going to be slimmer “working groups”.  I use the terms roster and working group interchangeably.

The final week of the spring culminated with me pitching against the AAA Mets, the final team from the five I have mentioned earlier, and the only one I had not thrown against.  When I began warming up and getting ready for the game I had a pleasant surprise warming up next to me.  My old friend and teammate Gerson Bautista was in the bullpen warming up for the AA Mets.  It was like the old days in Salem where we would warmup together, throwing partners, throw our sides, etc.  My role for the day was 1-2 innings, or about 35 pitches.  My outing went okay, I came into the game 1st and 2nd 1 out and was able to secure the next two outs on five pitches.  That is where I shine.   I went out for my inning and got knocked around with three straight hits, but came back with two strikeouts before the inning was over.  I had already hoped that the rosters were being set and this last appearance didn’t hurt me too much.

Locker hype

When Friday rolled around I knew it was official that I would be starting with the Palm Beach Cardinals.  It is the same level as I was starting last year with the Salem Red Sox, and I am pleased that I made a team out of spring training for the second year in a row.  That is the first step in the equation is being on a team and being able to pitch frequently in game situations.  The Cardinals have three short season teams including the GCL, and that is apparent by the amount of players in extended camp.  There was certainly a lot of salty attitudes to be had with the final rosters as is expected.  What players may forget is that they do not set the rosters, and the inner workings of the Cardinals minor league system are a mystery.  Perhaps even to the coaches on the working groups, the coaches have input but it is ultimately up to the higher ups who goes where.

With all that being dropped on me on a Friday afternoon the scramble and hunt for a place to live is on.  I was fortunate to have the living arrangements from last year in Salem, and I am learning the hard way that Florida is not in the same ballpark as Salem in terms of housing.  The Cardinals do not have any options for guys and we are on our own to find a place for the next six months.  Another factor is that I was not in the Palm Beach group until the last few days of spring training.  This means that I know a whole total of zero guys on my team now.  Everyone went separate ways on Friday and did not reconvene until Monday.  I am finding out the hard way that everyone paired up already and seems myself and my hotel roomie are being left out in the cold.  It’s all good though we will make it work and have a nice stress free transition into the season.

In other baseball news the Major League season is underway.  The roster groups for the older teams, AA/AAA were amost locked into place bur then a few surprise big league moves made them change their mind.  That shuffled the lower level rosters on the last day of camp and guys thought they were going one place ended up either staying in extended or heading to a different place.  There was an equipment bus that headed north on Tuesday, and a few guys put their gear on it to find out that they were staying Florida for the time being.  Then, the Cardinals made a free agent signing for Greg Holland and he will take a roster spot on the big league squad from someone.

Greg Holland has been practicing with us and so far hes really cool.  He is a guy that I could learn from as he is a fastball/slider pitcher, and he lead the NL last year in saves with around 40.  He also did this while pitching in Colorado which is known as a hitters park of all hitters parks.  I have been watching him when he warms up, when he plays catch, when he throws his bullpens.  As far as I know he is starting the season on the palm Beach team while he works o get ready for the major league season.  This means I will also get to watch him go to work in games and warm up before he goes to work.  The Cardinals also have a few MLB injuries going on right now which shuffled the rosters again before the minor league season starts.

MLB Weightroom

The perks of playing for the Palm Beach team so far is moving into the big league clubhouse and using the big league facility.  The strange thing about the setup which I had never been apart of is that we have access to all the back fields from spring training.  This means that the last two days of practice we have not seen the big league field, aka the field that we will play our home games on, and been limited to the back fields.  I get it, if two teams are sharing that field everyday it would get worm out real quick.  The first game of the season is Thursday against our cross town rivals the Marlins.  We start the season with 11 home games, then an off day, then our first road trip of the season.

The mood in the clubhouse is optimistic. The locker room is sprawling as it is used for the big leaguers but now that we only have 25 guys it feels huge.  I have two empty lockers on each side of me, and can spread myself out when I am lurking around the clubhouse.  The rules of the clubhouse are standard, the clubhouse guys is nice, and the coaching staff is growing on me.  The head coach was here last year when they won it all and he would like to win it again.  The pitching coach is new to coaching this year, but he pitched in the big leagues for 10+ years, and the hitting coach is someone I don’t really know as I don’t hit these days.  Then the Cardinals have what they call a fourth coach helping them out and giving a potential coach of the future the experience he needs going forward.  He is a nice guy and I will get to know him this year.

I am feeling good about what is going to come this year for myself and the Palm Beach squad.  The pitching staff only has one full time guy returning from last year and besides that I am the elder statesmen on the squad.  When the games start up and the bullpen guys are all sitting together I’m sure I will begin to learn about what is going on and how each guy prepares for the games going forward.  The coaching staff reminded us again that we had no choice in the 24 guys that are on the team with us, we are stuck with them.  However, if we can find one thing that we like about each of the 24 guys then this year will go a lot quicker, and will be a lot more fun when you have an investment in the guy next to you.  The job of the relievers is to strand the inherited runners and pick up the guy he comes in for.  Then each other reliever is there to back up his fellow bullpen mate and toss up a zero for him.

Big League Spring Training

I’m looking forward to traveling around Florida and being to new ballparks.  Playing against familiar and brand new teams to me.  IT is all part of the next step in the journey and I am looking forward to the ups, the few low moments, and overall enjoying the season.  Two months ago I was still a free agent trying to make my way to spring training, last month I showed up to spring training with the goal of making a team out of camp.  Now I am here on the team, and the next step is to help this team win games.  If I am contributing to a lot of wins, that means I am pitching well.  Then when I am pitching well who knows what will happen.  Looking forward to reporting on how the season is going and sharing the sights and sounds with everyone here.