Tales from Crawdad's open practice

I posted this on the Newberg Report forums and it was reccomended that I also post here, so I complied.

Like any good Rangers fan would, I made my way to the Crawdads stadium to watch an open practice. The weather was less than ideal for baseball--it was 45 degrees and blustery. To my suprise, my daughter and I were the only people there and the field was empty. After about 20 minutes I wondered if the cold weather was going to scare the players off. There I was, in a cold, empty stadium with a 5 month-old bundled up in a stroller.

Thankfully, after about 30 minutes the team started to stream onto the field. The first player on the field was Clark Murphy. Of course I called him over immediately for a signature. What a nice kid. We small talked about the weather and his Arizona experience. Deffinately a guy to root for, and easy to spot since he's one of the tallest guys on the squad.

Shortly thereafter the rest of the team streamed onto the field. It's funny how jumping around in the cold, laughing all the while can be an excellent bonding experience. The players had great camaradarie. After about 10 minutes, the equipment manager emerged with a mountain of windbreakers. The team errupted in celebration and sprinted to the pile of jackets.

The team lined up for some running and stretching, still bitching endlessly about the cold. It was fun to try to pick out players that I had been reading about all spring. Man, Martin Parez is little. I thought he was about to blow away in the wind. I think i've seen bigger bat boys. I have a feeling Ranger fans will have to let this kid grow up and fill out. On the other end of the spectrum, WIlmer Font looks like a towering figure next to the smallish Perez.

So, after about 15 minutes of running and long toss, a gentleman in a Rangers windbreaker, carrying a bat approached me. There I stood, a strange looking fella with a stroller. The man shook my hand and said thanks for coming out. I asked him what his role was with the team....actually I think i asked him "so, are you an instructor or something." What can I say, I was cold and not really thinking straight. He responded, "I'm the manager, Hector Ortiz." What a nice guy. He proceeded to ask me about my daughter who sat next to me bundled up, speciffically he asked her age. He turned and walked towards his shivering team and shouted "We have a 5 month old that's excited to be here, surely you guys can deal with the cold too!" Immediately half the team turned in my direction with a stare of derision. I just shrugged my shoulders and sunk down into my seat hoping to return to my invisable state.

Eventually I got cold, packed up my little one, and went home to share the experience.

Not much hard info for you guys, but maybe you can appreciate the baseball experience. I know I did.