Game 1 – Red Sox 25, Northeastern University 0

Saturday was my last day in Ft. Myers, but it was my first chance to see a game in brand new JetBlue Park.  We got there early and went in when the gates opened two hours before the game.  (Even arriving 2½ hours before the game, we were pretty far back in the parking lot.  One tip for next year is that with the practice fields now adjacent to the stadium, it would be fun to come early in the day and spend time watching the practices out back before heading into the ballpark.  Some of the big leaguers are out doing drills or throwing bullpen sessions, and there are minor league games going on.)  When we did go in, I was really impressed with how well they did with the new park.  I always thought the old City of Palms Park looked nice, and other than the appeal of having all the practice facilities in one place I didn’t really see the need for a new park.  But once I saw the final product I was a convert.  It has the same dimensions as Fenway (with the exception that the Green Monster wall is 6 feet higher than the original – a fact which does bug me) but still has a small, intimate, spring training feel to it.  The seats are spacious with plenty of legroom, and they all have cup holders.  The concourse isn’t crowded because there are tents outside the park with concessions, so there’s plenty of room to spread out.

Looking down the left field line really does feel like Fenway. This Green Monster has seats - covered by a screen - in the middle of the wall, and is 6 feet higher than its Boston counterpart.

Jon Lester delivered the first pitch thrown in a game at JetBlue, and we were underway.  He breezed through the first two innings, needing only 22 pitches.  One Northeastern batter did get a hit in the second inning, but he was quickly erased on a line drive double play that was fielded nicely by Jose Iglesias at short.  The Red Sox lineup wasted no time getting on the board.  Darnell McDonald singled in two runs in the first, and Cody Ross and Adrian Gonzalez both homered to highlight a 7-run second.

Unlike Fenway Park’s Green Monster, this left field wall doesn’t have enough room behind the scoreboard for the operators to sit inside.  (The Red Sox clubhouse is what’s behind that part of the wall.  There’s a small room for the scorekeepers further to the left.)  That means that every time there’s a hit or a run, they have to run out on the warning track between batters and update it from the front.  At least, that’s what they did in the first inning.  After the steady onslaught of offense in the second, they started waiting until the end of each inning to come out and update it.  Luckily for those of us trying to keep score in the stands, there’s a video board in right field that was kept up-to-date.

The scoreboard operators have to run out to update every hit, error, and run from the outside. And if it's the visiting team getting the hit, they need to bring a ladder with them to reach.

Keeping score was actually a lot easier for me than it was at the old ballpark.  Between the video board in right and the fact that there’s a new announcer who actually tells us about all the substitutions, my scorecard was much neater than in previous years.  I was even able to keep up with the all the names of the college kids.

The Red Sox “only” scored one run in the third inning, as the starters began coming out of the game.  But in the fourth they batted around again, producing another 7-spot.  This time it was Cody Ross’s grand slam (his second homer of the day) and Che-Hsuan Lin’s 2-run shot that did most of the damage.  By the time we stood for the fifth-inning stretch (the college games are only seven innings after all) it was 17-0 Red Sox.

The first ever game at JetBlue Park was a contest between the Red Sox and the Northeastern University Huskies.

After plating 2 more runs in the fifth, it was time to bat around again and score 6 more in the sixth, capped by Ryan Sweeney’s homer.  That made for a tidy 25-0 score, a new record for the most runs scored in a game that I’ve attended.  It’s good these college games are only 7 innings, or they might have run out of big numbers to post on the scoreboard.

Game 2 – Red Sox 6, Boston College 3

JetBlue Park before Game 2.

Between games, we walked around the outside of the park.  A statue of Ted Williams, just like the one outside Gate B at Fenway, was moved over from City of Palms Park.  It’s surrounded by 9 palm trees, representing The Splendid Splinter’s uniform number 9.  There’s also a sculpture garden where all the Red Sox’ retired numbers are honored.

Posing with Ted Williams' number 9.

Felix Doubront pitched the night game, and he had a very quick two innings of work.  He gave up a hit in the first, but the runner was thrown out trying to stretch it to a double.  Big Papi, making a surprise start at first base, fielded his position capably.  I captured the top of the first on video:

Aided by two walks and a wild pitch, the Red Sox took advantage of Mike Aviles’s double to score 4 runs in the second inning.  Unlike their afternoon counterparts, the B.C. Eagles actually had a little success at the plate.  They scored 2 runs on 3 hits off Junichi Tazawa in the third, and added another run in the fifth on a hit batsman, an error, and a groundout.  For the Red Sox, Alex Hassan and Juan Carlos Linares drove in insurance runs, and Doug Mathis and Chorye Spoone finished off pitching duties.

My final tally at the end of the day: I got to see 27 position players and 8 pitchers from all levels of the organization.  With that, it was time to fly back to New England and await my next game… Opening Day at Fenway Park.  For all the best photos of my week in Ft. Myers, including 6 days of workouts and a detailed look at JetBlue Park, see my Red Sox Spring Training 2012 album on Flickr.

Spring Training Workouts

Friday marked the final workout session for the Red Sox, before they start up their exhibition game schedule on Saturday.  After doing their usual stretching on the agility field, they broke up into groups and dispersed to the various practice fields.  I followed David Ortiz, Dustin Pedroia, Kevin Youkilis, and the other star players to Field 4, where they started with some long-tossing.  As they threw, they lamented the state of the televisions in the rentals they’re staying in during the spring.  Pedey turned toward the fans and shouted, “Seriously, I don’t even have cable in my bedroom,” which got a sympathetic “Aww” from the crowd.  Big Papi thought his situation was worse.  He acted it out as he described it: “My television, you have to sit this close” – he mimed sitting 6 inches away from a big, boxy TV – “and you have to do this” – he started hitting the side of his imaginary TV – “every time you want to change the channel.”  Moments like this, where we’re close enough to get glimpses into the players’ lives and see them as actual people, are what make the workouts my favorite part of the spring.

Clay Buchholz and Daniel Bard share a high-five and a laugh after one of their drills.

What followed was a special edition of Pitchers’ Fielding Practice, the culmination of two weeks of tedious PFP drills.  They were preparing to do a competition that I heard referred to on NESN later as the “PFP Olympics”.  The pitchers were broken up into two groups, and were told that the winning group would get a prize (”Win Papi a new TV,” cracked Youk).  Each pitcher took the mound and was given a game situation, like suicide squeeze or 1-6-3. They had 4 seconds to make each play, with the coaches hitting fungoes and their infielder teammates manning the bases, and if they messed up or took longer than 4 seconds they had to repeat it.  The coaches were recording the total time it took for each group to complete their given series of plays.  (I took the video below, but unfortunately too many photographers and trainers stood in my way while the second group went.)  The final tally: the second group – including Alfredo Aceves, Andrew Miller, Michael Bowden, Josh Beckett, and Daisuke Matsuzaka among others – ended up winning with a total time of 3:00.  (The first group had finished in 3:05.)  It’s fun to see the players enjoying themselves in drills like these that could otherwise become monotonous.

In between fields, I got an autograph from Red Sox legend Luis Tiant, and then I headed to Field 3 where the group of pitchers who had emerged victorious from their PFP competition went on to work on their pickoff moves.  I was finally able to get a look at new closer Andrew Bailey.  He wasn’t participating in the drills because of a mildly strained lat muscle, but he was out there supporting his teammates.

New closer Andrew Bailey watches one of the drills.

When that drill was over, the players headed out back for their nutrition break, and then the hitters went into the stadium to take batting practice.  Unfortunately that’s off-limits to fans, but we had figured this would be a shorter practice than usual since it was the final day, and the security guards had confirmed that in the morning.  Some of the pitchers were still out on one of the back fields and continued to do conditioning exercises.  I happened to be walking between Fields 3 and 6 just as Daniel Bard finished up and headed in, and he stopped for quite a while to sign autographs for everyone who was there at the time.  That’s when I noticed that the other pitchers were leaving the field through a different area – one that didn’t even have a barrier to keep the fans away – and a couple of them had also stopped to sign.  When I got closer, I saw that it was Chorye Spoone, Vicente Padilla, Rich Hill, and Mark Melancon.  Clay Buchholz and Doug Mathis were also signing, but I couldn’t get close enough to them.  I didn’t think any players would want to stop on the last day, especially these guys who were dripping with sweat after sprinting under the Florida sun, and in an area which must have made it more difficult for them, so I really appreciated that they took the time to interact with the fans.

New reliever Mark Melancon signs autographs after practice.

Spring Training Workouts

When we arrived at the complex at 9:00 on Thursday, we saw that the players had gotten an early start.  We stopped to watch Carlos Silva throwing on one of the mounds, when we realized that the players had already come out to the agility field to begin stretching, ahead of their usual 9:30 start time.  (We surmised this was because some of the players would be participating in an unofficial “B” Game at the Twins’ complex in the afternoon.)  Unlike the other days, there were probably only a couple dozen fans watching them stretch at that time.  When they finished, they split up among the other fields, with Dustin Pedroia and Kevin Youkilis jogging right past us on their way to Field 2.  Pedey looked out at the sparse crowd and said, “Where is everyone today?  Thanks for coming out, fans… all seven of you!”  Youk mused, “We haven’t even lost a game yet!”

The three shortstops competing for a spot on the roster - Nick Punto, Jose Iglesias, and Mike Aviles - take turns fielding ground balls.

After watching the infielders practice, I walked around to two other fields where rundown/cutoff drills involving the pitchers, catchers, and infielders were taking place.  The drills all move quickly, and before long they were setting up for batting practice.  Two of the fields had the various catchers in camp taking B.P.  I watched Dan Butler and Max St. Pierre, both of whom had signed autographs for us earlier in the week, as well as Luis Exposito and Jarrod Saltalamacchia taking their turns in the cage.

I think it's fitting on the day that Jason Varitek would be announcing his retirement to include a picture of his successor, Jarrod Saltalamacchia, who spent the past year growing into the position under Tek's tutelage.

After watching them for a while, I went back up to Field 1, where the heart of the everyday lineup – Pedroia, Youkilis, David Ortiz, and Adrian Gonzalez – were taking batting practice.  Just before they wrapped up, we noticed two-thirds of the ownership team – John Henry and Tom Werner – were making the rounds and watching too.  When B.P. was done, the players got on a cart and were whisked away quickly for their next drill, but the owners lingered a bit before exiting the field and walking down the pathway used by the fans.  Most of the fans had run off to follow the players, but I ended up right behind the owners.  I was hesitant to interrupt them, but once someone else flagged them down for an autograph, I was able to ask for signatures from both of them too.  We also got third base prospect Will Middlebrooks to sign as he came off an adjoining field a couple of minutes later.

John Henry and Tom Werner watch batting practice.

The final drill of the morning was Gonzalez, Pedroia, Youkilis, Mike Aviles, and Nick Punto – basically our major league infield – taking more fielding practice together.  By now there were a lot of people gathered around the one remaining field with any action on it.  I’ve definitely noticed how much bigger the new complex is compared to the old place on Edison Road.  The new place doesn’t feel crowded at all, but every day I’m amazed when we get out to the parking lot and see how many cars are there.  This time all the players stopped on their way in to sign some autographs.  Most of them went to the side of the walkway opposite where I was (which becomes roped off when the players need to cross from one field to another) but I was excited that Youk stayed out there a long time and signed for many people on both sides, including my mother and me (especially since we had both been close to getting his the other day when a bunch of people stepped in front of us in a place they weren’t supposed to be, causing us to miss out).

That ended the workout for the day, but we were just getting started.  We headed out to the car, ate the lunches we had packed, and then drove over to Hammond Stadium, where the Minnesota Twins play, about 6 miles down the road from JetBlue Park.  The Red Sox and Twins were playing a “B” Game in the afternoon, and admission was free.

Hammond Stadium, Ft. Myers

Twins 6, Red Sox 5 (sort of)

The Red Sox have 35 pitchers in camp this year, many of whom are starters, so it’s going to be hard to find enough innings for them all to pitch enough.  One of Bobby Valentine’s ideas, we read in the paper, was to make the college games the Red Sox play against Boston College and Northeastern be nine innings instead of the usual seven.  He even offered to have Red Sox pitchers throw the eighth and ninth innings for the college teams, but instead of doing that they decided to recruit a major league opponent for a “B” Game.  A “B” Game is just an extra exhibition game between two teams looking to get their players some additional time, and it doesn’t count in the standings.  Because it’s not a real Grapefruit League game, teams are allowed to bend the rules if they have a player who they need to get more – or less – playing time.  (My parents went to a “B” Game a couple of years ago when Jason Varitek was coming back from an injury, and he led off every inning, before continuing with the rest of the batting order, so he could get a lot of at-bats.)  Today’s game was being played at Hammond Stadium and was open to fans for free.  I was especially happy because I thought I’d mostly be seeing workouts on my week in Ft. Myers, and I didn’t expect to get to a game other than the college games this weekend.

Ryan Lavarnway homered in the first inning.

We were allowed to sit anywhere in the park, so we chose a spot right in the front row behind home plate.  The view was fantastic and I was able to take a lot of good photos.  Notice anything strange in the picture above?  There’s no umpire – it’s a “B” Game after all – and Minnesota third base coach Steve Liddle donned catcher’s gear and called balls and strikes for both teams. There was also no National Anthem before the game, no announcements over the loudspeaker, and the scoreboard was turned off.  After a while, a knowledgeable Twins fan took it upon himself to loudly announce all the Minnesota batters like a P.A. announcer would, which was actually very helpful.  I like to keep score at games, but going in I said that my new rule was that I wasn’t going to attempt a “B” Game.  But once I got there I realized that with “B”Games the rules are made to be broken – I feel lost when I don’t keep score, and it might prove to be a necessity in order to know what’s going on in the game, so I gave it a shot.

Ryan Lavarnway got the Red Sox off to a good start with a homer in the first inning.  Alfredo Aceves started for the Sox and gave up one run on two hits in his inning of work.  Both teams had scheduled nine pitchers to each throw an inning in the game.  In the second, it was Daniel Bard’s turn, and he also gave up a run on two hits, plus a wild pitch (or maybe it was a passed ball, but since I was the only one keeping score, I made the call on that). All of a sudden in the middle of the third, three umpires came out of the dugout and took their places on the field, with Liddle returning to his coaching duty.  It was almost an hour into the game, and we wondered if maybe the umpires got the start time wrong.  Good thing it’s a “B” Game!

Daniel Bard pitched the second inning for the Sox.

Clayton Mortensen, the player acquired in the Marco Scutaro trade, threw a 1-2-3 third inning, but Jesse Carlson, the former Blue Jay who’s trying to come back from a year lost to injury, gave up a two-run homer in the fourth to former Sox prospect Aaron Bates, who’s now with the Twins.  The Sox got a run back on a sac fly in the fourth, but then Tony Pena Jr. faced eight men in the fifth, giving up two more runs before finally leaving the bases loaded.  That put the Twins up 6-2.

And then in the sixth, things got strange. The Red Sox were batting and starting to mount a comeback.  With two men on via walks and two outs, Nate Spears hit a triple that drove in two runs.  Lars Anderson was next, and he appeared to take ball four.  He tossed his bat gently aside and trotted to first, so I wrote the BB down in my scorecard.  But then both teams, including the fielders, the baserunners, and the umps, walked off the field.  I thought for a minute that they had reversed the call to a strikeout, which would have ended the inning, but it really was a walk.  The Twins pitcher had reached the pitch count the team wanted from him, and both teams wanted all their pitchers to start with clean innings rather than bring a reliever in with people on base, so they had just decided to end the inning, even though there were two outs and runners at the corners.  I joked that the Red Sox should play the rest of the game under protest.  But the Twins returned the favor in the bottom of the inning, stopping after their hitters recorded their second out.

Alex Wilson pitched the sixth inning - which was stopped after two outs.

In the seventh, it got even weirder.  Anderson’s walk had ended the sixth, and catcher Dan Butler led off the seventh, presumably pinch-hitting for outfielder J.C. Linares, who followed Anderson in the order.  He hit a homer to pull the Sox to within a run, but the weird part was that the next batter was Linares, who was apparently still in the game.  The batting order then continued the way it had been going.  Linares played in center the whole game.  Lavarnway caught the first three innings, and then was replaced by Luis Exposito, who we saw catching the rest of the game.  We never saw Butler play a position, but he wasn’t just a pinch-hitter because he got another at-bat a couple of innings later.  Josh Kroeger was the DH, and he stayed in for the whole game, picking up four at-bats.  It was as if they had inserted Butler as a second DH, and played the second half of the game with ten batters in the lineup.  “B” Games are cool!

When Butler made the final out in the top of the ninth with the Twins up 6-5, that should have been the end of the game.  But by now I was getting the hang of these flexible “B” Game rules, and correctly guessed that they were going to play the bottom of the ninth anyway, because the Red Sox would want to get all nine of their pitchers some work.  Sure enough, Justin Thomas took the mound and pitched a nice 1-2-3 inning.  Here we were applauding his outs, even though we had already lost the game!  When the Twins went down in order, the game did finally end.  But the whole game was an unexpected treat.  It was fun to see the players I’ve been watching in the workouts all week in action, and there’s something appealing about seeing professional baseball players play a game like they’re in someone’s backyard.

Spring Training Workouts

On Wednesday we headed back to JetBlue Park for another day of workouts.  When we arrived at 9:00, we saw that some players had already taken the field.  Reclamation projects Aaron Cook and Ross Ohlendorf as well as Chris “The Other One” Carpenter, whom the Sox just received as compensation for losing Theo Epstein to the Cubs, were throwing on the back fields.  Cook and Ohlendorf are being brought along slowly since they’re coming back from injuries, so they haven’t been throwing on the same schedule as the other pitchers.  Cook threw off a mound to various players from minor league camp.  (I recognized Sean Coyle, Garin Cecchini, and Bryce Brentz as recent high draft picks who are currently in the low minors.)  Ohlendorf wasn’t even throwing to batters yet; he was just practicing pickoffs.

Ross Ohlendorf - formerly of the Pirates and Yankees - is working his way back from a shoulder injury.

When the pitchers wrapped up their sessions, we went up to the main field, where the players were just coming out and doing their stretching.  It looked like it wasn’t as many players as usual, and we soon realized none of the pitchers or catchers were there.  We had read in the morning’s paper that they were considering giving the pitchers and catchers one day off since the majority of them had arrived early and been working for several weeks straight.  The paper said that would happen on Friday, but we figured out that they had changed it to today.  I never saw where the infielders ended up, but I stayed at Field 1 to watch the outfielders.  They were practicing running in and catching (without gloves) balls thrown by the coaches.  Then they switched and did the same drill but running back away from the infield.  When they finished that drill they all disappeared, and we soon learned they were all inside the stadium practicing fielding off the replica Green Monster.  The bummer about that is that fans are not allowed in the stadium (they even halted the tours that usually run every hour) so we had to wait about a half-hour for them to come back out to the practice fields.

Will Middlebrooks could be playing at Fenway by the end of the year.

When the players re-emerged it was two groups of prospects who came out to take batting practice.  Shortstop Jose Iglesias has already made his debut last year, and is expected to take over the position for good once he’s had a little more seasoning in Triple A.  Third baseman Will Middlebrooks is ranked as one of the top prospects in the whole organization, and could get called up this year if Kevin Youkilis gets injured, or as a September call-up.  Centerfielder Che-Hsuan Lin is good defensively and could be an option in a couple of years if Jacoby Ellsbury leaves as a free agent.  They were joined by journeymen Jason Repko and Darnell McDonald.  On another field a group including Alex Hassan, J.C. Linares, Nate Spears, and Oscar Tejeda practiced baserunning – home to first, first to third, second to home, etc.

Che-Hsuan Lin is an outfield prospect.

As the players left Field 2, I called Alex Hassan over and he signed autographs.  I’ve liked Hassan ever since the Futures at Fenway game last August, when he put his offensive and defensive skills on display.  I also got Lin’s autograph as he departed from Field 1.  When they went in, the only action was Bobby Valentine instructing a player in workout clothes, not a uniform, whom we quickly recognized as Ryan Kalish.  He’s rehabbing from a shoulder injury and can’t swing a bat yet, but he was bunting balls out of a pitching machine with Valentine instructing him much the same as he had done with Carl Crawford the day before.  When Bobby V. finished his lesson and left Kalish to work with the coaches, he also stopped to sign for the handful of fans who were left at that time.

The Spaceman makes an entertaining appearance.

We soon saw another small group of fans converging, and lo and behold there was Bill “Spaceman” Lee, the colorful lefty from the Red Sox teams of the 70’s.  When I came over, he was telling everyone how he owns a company that makes bats which are used by several major leaguers.  Someone asked him to sign a bat (the bat was black, and Lee had to ask the crowd if anyone had a silver Sharpie, which someone quickly produced).  As he looked at the bat, he said, “This is one of my bats.  I made this bat.  Chopped down the tree myself.”  When it was my turn, he stopped and admired the photo I had brought before signing it.

At that point, the only player left on the field was Mike Aviles, who had already changed out of his uniform and into regular workout clothes and was just talking with some of the coaches.  We hung around, and he did come over to sign.  I had gotten his autograph last month on the Red Sox Road Trip, but he signed for both my parents and was such a good sport that he posed for pictures with them and a couple of other people.  It’s cool how this day with an abbreviated schedule and a less-than-full roster ended up being one of the more fun and fulfilling workout days.

Spring Training Workouts

On Tuesday we got off to a late start, and arrived at the ballpark a little after 9:00, right around the time that the team should be taking the field.  But instead, the players were nowhere to be found – even the orange cones that normally line the agility field had not been set up, and rumors abounded.  First we heard there was some kind of media event going on inside the park.  Then we heard that they weren’t coming outside to practice all day today.  Then we heard that they might come out around 11:00.  It wasn’t until we got home that night that we heard the real explanation – they were working on drills inside the stadium, off-limits to fans.  The drills involved playing caroms off the replica Green Monster and the positioning of the cut-off men.  (We had heard that in addition to the stadium one of the practice fields would have the same dimensions as Fenway, including a Green Monster, which I thought was an ingenious plan when building the new complex.  However, when we got here we saw that the practice field “Monster” is a 37-foot high chain-link fence with a green tarp over it.  That of course makes it completely useless as far as learning to play the caroms is concerned, meaning that any practicing they do for that skill has to take place inside where we can’t see them.)  Happily, the whole team did come out at 10:45, and went through all the normal drills.

Clayton Mortensen - the pitcher acquired in the Marco Scutaro trade - jumps rope during practice.

We watched infield practice for a while, then some live B.P. where Carlos Silva was throwing to Dustin Pedroia and Adrian Gonzalez.  In all of these sessions, Bobby Valentine proved he’s a very hands-on manager.  He makes his way quickly to all the drills, barking instructions (”Make David dive into foul territory”, “Ten more just like that and then switch”, “This is for ‘us’, not for me”) and ending with encouragement (”What do you think fans, is this the best infield in baseball?”).

Jacoby Ellsbury took part in a bunting drill.

Then I headed back up to Field 1, where several players, including Jacoby Ellsbury, Adrian Gonzalez, Kevin Youkilis, David Ortiz, Dustin Pedroia, and Cody Ross, were practicing bunting.  They were working three at a time – one at home plate, one at first base, and one at third – with different coaches throwing.  Big Papi admired Gonzalez’s form, but joked about not liking to bunt himself.  When his turn came, he bunted one, then stepped back and said “I’m done!” with a big laugh, before continuing on with his session.  The following video shows the rest of his turn, with him getting into it at the end and the crowd urging him along.

After the bunting practice, they switched to regular B.P.  It does seem that this year’s camp is moving much faster than the other years I’ve been coming, with the players involved in more drills and switching around a lot more.  By the end of practice, the players are tired!

The players take a break at the end of practice.

Usually batting practice is the last thing the players do before heading in for the day, but this year several of the infielders – including some of the big names like Youkilis, Pedroia, and Gonzalez – have been staying out even longer to do some more infield drills.  While they worked on Field 3, we watched Carl Crawford on Field 4.  He’s recovering from wrist surgery, so he’s not cleared to take full swings yet, but he was working on bunting with Valentine as the instructor.  Bobby V. was again very involved, not just speaking but acting out things like where the bat should be placed after the bunt so the player won’t trip on it.  Only time will tell whether all these new drills and lessons will pay off (like working on pickoffs with Jon Lester or baserunning with Jose Iglesias) or if it’s just meddling or a “P.R. move”, but I think the telling thing is that the veteran players are buying into it and staying late to keep working.  That’s got to be a good thing!  Another good thing is that when Crawford finished up, he came over to sign some autographs, the only one I picked up today.

Carl Crawford signs autographs after practice.

When Crawford went in, we went back over to Field 3 to see the end of infield practice.  The session ended with Bobby V. calling young shortstop Jose Iglesias over to chat with him.  From what I could hear, the conversation was centered around Iglesias’s slick fielding, and how he’s so quick to get to the ball but he needs to slow down a little and pay attention to where the second baseman is before he throws.  (I was also impressed with how quickly Iglesias has learned to speak very good English.)  The other coaches were listening in too, and when they were done Valentine turned to the fans and said, “How about a hand for Jerry Royster, one of the best infield coaches.”  (Royster will be the third base coach this year, and is working with the infielders this spring.)

Shortstop prospect Jose Iglesias talks with coaches Tim Bogar and Jerry Royster and manager Bobby Valentine.

Spring Training Workouts

On Monday we were back in Ft. Myers early for more Spring Training workouts.  Again we watched them stretch out on the new “agility field” before they spread out to the six practice fields for their drills.  This time I mostly watched rounds of live batting practice, where pitchers throw to their teammates.  Some of the fields held minor leaguers like Alex Hassan and Juan Carlos Linares, or pitchers like Jesse Carlson, and I was able to get up close and take some good photos.  After a while I found a field where Alfredo Aceves was throwing to Dustin Pedroia and Adrian Gonzalez, and stayed to watch that.

Bobby Valentine watches live B.P.

I also discovered where the players disappear to from time to time.  We had read in the morning that the players get to take a break for “snack time” every day, when they’re served granola bars and applesauce.  Between Fields 5 and 6 there are some bullpen mounds where pitchers can throw.  They’re set back from the pathway, so we can’t get up close, but I noticed a lot of players continuing on behind the mounds, where I thought there were more mounds.  Instead I finally realized that this is where they have picnic tables where they can eat their snacks.

Off in the back, pitchers Franklin Morales and Carlos Silva eat their snacks. No word on whether they're provided with sippy cups for their Gatorade.

After watching various different combinations of pitchers and hitters in live B.P., I headed back up to Field 1 to watch batting practice (thrown by a coach) to Gonzalez, Pedroia, Jacoby Ellsbury, Kevin Youkilis, and Cody Ross.  They were joined by minor league prospects Jose Iglesias, Che-Hsuan Lin, and Will Middlebrooks.

Jacoby Ellsbury, Che-Hsuan Lin, and Will Middlebrooks watch batting practice.

I happened to be walking past Cody Ross as he left to go in when he was done hitting, so I was able to get his autograph.  When they were done hitting, the infielders all went back out to another field to take ground balls, about 100 per person, according to what I overheard from a coach.  We stayed around until everyone was done, and ended up getting autographs from first base prospect Lars Anderson as well as minor league catchers Dan Butler and Max St. Pierre.

Adrian Gonzalez joined his fellow infielders in taking extra fielding practice after finishing B.P.

Spring Training Workouts

The day after the 2012 Red Sox held their first full-squad workout, it was time for me to make my annual pilgrimage to Spring Training.  This is my tenth straight year of making the trip, and a lot has changed in that time.  My first year, 2003, was David Ortiz’s first year with the Red Sox, and now he’s the longest-tenured player on the team.  There were maybe 500 people a day at the practice fields, and just yellow ropes to designate where we could stand.  I remember speaking in hushed tones as we watched them practice, feeling lucky to be standing so close but not wanting to interrupt.  After the 2004 Championship, the atmosphere changed.  We heard that 2,500 people came on the first day of 2005, and everyone was whooping and cheering whenever any one of the players looked their way.  Metal barriers soon replaced the fragile ropes, and while the crowds remained large over the following years the access was still very close for those willing to wait it out.  It was clear the Red Sox were outgrowing their old facility, which had the added inconvenience of being a couple of miles down the street from the stadium.  So this year they moved to a brand new state-of-the-art complex where the ballpark, practice fields, and minor league facilities were all combined into one site.

New manager Bobby Valentine instructs the players before the workout.

The new complex is a lot bigger, with more room for large crowds to spread out.  But one of the things I was worried about seems to have come true – the players are able to enter and leave the fields without having to walk directly past fans if they don’t want to.  Gone are the “gauntlet” where every player had to run down a path lined with fans just to get to the first field to stretch (and where one year I got a high-five from Manny Ramirez), and the white fence where I watched media interviews and got many an autograph after practice.  Now players can enter the new “agility field” directly from the stadium and stretch at the far end away from the fans, before spreading out to do their drills.  I do like that once they hit the practice fields, our access is just as close as it was before – and maybe even better because there’s more space to spread everyone out.  I was still able to get a lot of good pictures, and by hanging around till the end I got autographs from top prospect Jose Iglesias, plus Darnell McDonald and hitting coach Dave Magadan.

Dustin Pedroia leaps to catch a ball during one of the drills, while his second base counterpart Nate Spears ducks out of the way.

One thing is true about the workouts this year – everyone is busy and always on the move.  Rather than have coaches hit fungoes for fielding practice while players stand idly by to shag flies, players flip balls for their teammates to hit.  In the video below, Kevin Youkilis is flipping to Iglesias, while Nick Punto feeds them to Big Papi.  A few minutes later they switched roles.

None of the players stay on any one field for very long, before they break into different groups and go through different drills.  On one field, Jon Lester worked on his pickoff move.  At the same time, Carl Crawford, Jose Iglesias, and others perfected their base stealing technique.  (That particular drill was interesting, because they were having two guys stand together off first base, take the same lead, and take off at the same time.  It was particularly comical when Jacoby Ellsbury, the fastest guy on the team, was paired up with Adrian Gonzalez, the self-professed slowest runner on the team.)  While that was going on, other fields had live batting practice where new pitchers Mark Melancon and Vicente Padilla threw to an assortment of teammates.

Andrew Miller is really, really tall.

The best part of the day was at the end of the workout, when we got to watch Papi, Youk, Ellsbury, Pedroia, Gonzalez, and newcomer Cody Ross take batting practice.  I had a great spot, and enjoyed watching Big Papi hold court, keeping them entertained while the others batted.  A happy, carefree Ortiz is a sight for sore eyes!

Big Papi kept his teammates entertained during batting practice. It's impossible to see his big grin and not feel good.

I happened to have one day to spend in Ft. Myers this week, so I made sure to go over to the site of JetBlue Park, the new spring training home of the Red Sox.  It’s still 47 days until pitchers and catchers report, and we weren’t allowed through the gates, but I did get a good early peek at the complex.  All of the pictures below can be clicked to enlarge.

JetBlue Park as seen on 1/3/12. Click to enlarge.

There’s still a lot of landscaping to be done, but the stadium looks to be complete.  Look closely and you’ll see the replica Green Monster (with what looks like a roof over its seats for shade), a tall batter’s eye wall in center field, and green seats in the left field stands.  Behind the stadium are six practice fields, at least one of which has the same dimensions as the stadium (which itself has the same dimensions as Fenway) with yet another Green Monster for the players to practice on.

One of the practice fields at JetBlue Park has the same dimensions as Fenway, including its own Green Monster wall. Click to enlarge.

I also got a copy of a map of the complex.  With the stadium in the center, there’s a small paved parking lot to the right.  More parking is available on both sides of the ballpark on grassy areas that will double as soccer fields during the months when baseball is not taking place.  In the back are the practice fields, with the one closest to the paved parking lot shaped just like Fenway Park.

The layout of the Red Sox' new spring training complex, featuring JetBlue Park in the center, practice fields in the back, and parking lots/soccer fields on both sides. Click to enlarge.

I only had one day in the area (and as luck would have it, it was not only the coldest day of this year, but colder than any day all last year too) but it was fun to get a sneak peek at the place where I’ll be spending a lot of time in the coming years.  Two months from today the first games will be taking place against Boston College and Northeastern University.  I’ll be back for real when the weather is more spring-like, but at least now I have something tangible to look forward to.

Red Sox 7, Twins 6

Monday was my last day in Ft. Myers, and I had one last game to go to.  We arrived at 10:30, just as the gates were opening, and I went down near the Red Sox dugout to see if I could get any autographs.  The Red Sox were taking batting practice, and I had just pulled out my camera when I heard someone say, “Beckett looks hurt.”  I hadn’t even noticed him yet, but I found later that he was in the background of some of my pictures, on one knee and holding his head.  We heard later that Beckett had been hit in the head by a ball that coach Ino Guerrero had batted back toward the infield after shagging a fly, and had suffered a mild concussion.

Josh Beckett winces as he walks off the field after being hit in the head by a ball.

When batting practice wrapped up, we were able to call Darnell McDonald over for autographs.  After the Red Sox came off the field, we grabbed a bite to eat but then went back down by the dugout seats to wait it out, knowing that they won’t come back out until just before the start of the game.  When they did come out for their warmups, we called Lars Anderson and Clay Buchholz over to sign.

Darnell McDonald signs autographs before the game.

Daisuke Matsuzaka got his first start of the spring, and in the first inning he gave up a solo homer to Jason Kubel, one of the few major leaguers the Twins brought over for the game.  Dice-K walked a batter in the second, but other than that it was a decent outing, and he only needed 25 pitches for the two-inning stint.  Matsuzaka was replaced by Tim Wakefield in the third.  He gave up a home run to Luke Hughes, but all three runs the Twins scored off Wake were unearned due to an error by shortstop Brent Dlugach.  Wakefield’s second inning of work was less eventful, as he worked around a walk and a double to emerge unscathed.

Tim Wakefield throws a knuckleball during the third inning.

The Red Sox found themselves in a 4-0 hole heading into the bottom of the third, but with one out Jacoby Ellsbury singled and Dustin Pedroia walked.  Carl Crawford, playing his first spring game with the Red Sox, flied to left (he finished the day 0-3).  That brought up Big Papi with two on and two out.  He crushed a towering shot into right that actually went over the City of Palms Park sign and out of the park, bringing the Sox back within a run.

Big Papi got all of this one for a huge 3-run homer. He knows it, the catcher knows it, and the ump knows it.

Daniel Bard gave up two runs in his inning of work, but that was the last time the Twins would score.  Andrew Miller, the tall lefty who is now my personal choice for the last spot in the ‘pen, had an impressive 10-pitch inning which included two strikeouts, and Michael Bowden, Jason Rice, and Matt Albers also threw scoreless frames.

The Red Sox got some more runs in the bottom of the sixth, but it wasn’t an easy trip around the bases for Josh Reddick.  He had come on to pinch-run after J.D. Drew’s one-out single, and he had second base stolen – complete with a late throw and a safe sign from the ump – on Luis Exposito’s strike three, but for some reason he had to go back to first.  (Earlier in the game Ellsbury had gone down to first base after an apparent walk, and the next batter was even introduced before the pitch was changed to a strike and he had to come back to the plate.  He ended up grounding out.)  I missed why Reddick had to go back, but he was back at first and Exposito was out.  The next batter was Dlugach, and he drove one into the gap in left-center for a double.  Reddick came all the way around from first to score – except the ball had bounced over the wall and was called a ground-rule double, so Reddick had to go back (again) to third. Finally, first baseman Drew Sutton lined a single, and both Reddick and Dlugach were able to score.

It's another battle in the quest for the Mayor's Cup, as the Sox take on the cross-town Twins at City of Palms Park.

Reddick came up again in the seventh inning with one out, a runner on first, and the Sox still trailing by a run.  This time he hit a home run out to left, giving the Sox a 7-6 lead and allowing for a much easier trot around the basepaths.

The Red Sox pulled off a nice come-from-behind win and evened the Mayor’s Cup series with the Twins at 1-1.  “Dirty Water” blared (only one verse, though, before they switched to the dreadful “Happy Trails”, which for some reason they played in its entirety) but as much as I love that dirty water, I wasn’t really looking forward to my 6 am flight back to Boston the next morning.  The Grapefruit League was just getting underway, but for me it was back to the land of snowbanks and black ice.  The next time I see see the Red Sox will be Opening Day.  It’s a little over a month away, and I certainly won’t be picking up a sunburn before the game like I did today, but that’s OK as long as the result is the same.

Twins 8, Red Sox 4

The Red Sox took on the Minnesota Twins in the first Grapefruit League game on a warm night in Ft. Myers.

After getting warmed up with the college games on Saturday, Sunday brought the long, grueling journey to the other side of Ft. Myers (and anyone who’s ever sat through those red lights knows I’m only half-kidding) as the Red Sox visited the Twins for the first of five Mayor’s Cup games.  We arrived early, as usual, and I found a spot at the end of the concourse that overlooked the visiting team’s parking lot.  I hadn’t known about that for my previous trips to Hammond Stadium, but I camped out there for a while to see who came in.  Terry Francona and DeMarlo Hale walked in first, and when someone shouted, “2011 World Champions,” Tito looked up and waved.  Some of the coaches, including Dave Magadan, followed, with Scott Atchison arriving a few minutes later.  I knew from previous years that when they play the Twins, the Red Sox warm up and take batting practice at City of Palms Park, and then just the players who are scheduled for that day’s game go over to Hammond Stadium at the last minute.  Eventually a bus pulled up with a bunch of the younger players, like Daniel Nava, Ryan Kalish, and Oscar Tejeda.  I figured the bus must be there for anyone who wants it, but the veterans must drive themselves over.  I waited until about 6:25 (for a 7:05 game) before getting something to eat and heading to my seat, but I didn’t see any of the other starters come in.

Terry Francona arrives at the game.

It was nice to have a nine-inning game played under normal rules, and as a result it was much easier to keep score.  Josh Beckett started and went two innings.  His first inning was quick and smooth, but he gave up some hard hits in the second.  There was a double and a triple, and only a great ranging, leaping catch of a line drive by shortstop Jose Iglesias prevented further damage.  Clay Buchholz took over after that and had a really good two innings, with three popups, two groundouts, and a strikeout.  Hideki Okajima got knocked around (four runs on five hits, including a bases-loaded triple), and Dan Wheeler’s debut did not impress (he gave up a homer and a double, but was helped by another good play in the field – Daniel Nava to Iglesias to Mark Wagner – to throw a runner out at the plate).  After a quick, efficient 1-2-3 inning from Atchison, Brandon Duckworth allowed another two runs in the eighth.

Clay Buchholz had a strong outing.

On the offensive side, Mike Cameron beat out an infield hit and stole a base after reaching on a fielder’s choice.  It’s good to finally see what he’s capable of when he’s healthy, because we never got to see that last year.  There wasn’t much else going on early in the game while the Red Sox fell in a 6-0 hole.  But the subs gave us things to cheer for late in the game – Lars Anderson and Mark Wagner both homered, Oscar Tejeda hit a double, and Josh Reddick drove in a run.  Ryan Kalish also stole a base.

Mike Cameron had a good night at the plate and on the basepaths.

While the game resulted in the Twins gaining an early advantage in the Mayor’s Cup, the night wasn’t a total waste.  We did get to see some good pitching, a couple of good defensive plays, and good hitting by the prospects.  And we even got two free grapefruits when we left.  (That’s a promotion the Twins do every year at their first game.  But all the other times we’ve gone to their first game, all the grapefruits were gone when we left at the end of the game, given away to the people who bailed early while we who always stay to the end got nothing to show for it.  I was prepared this time to once again be a victim of what I’ve dubbed “The Great Minnesota Grapefruit Scam,” so I was pleasantly surprised that they had enough for everyone this time.)