Raising Arizona (Day 2)

Welp, another day in the desert in the books. Another day in which I failed to see Cody Buckel and Rickie Fowler in the same place, thus perpetuating the possibility that they are the same person. Another day of Gallobombs and poorly shot video. Another day of everyone staring at my Crown Vic in their rear view mirrors, and generally just gettin' the hell out my way. Another day of searching out independent restaurants in a town that enjoys their Applebees. And another day of awesome. Special thanks to Mssrs. Parks and Cole for droppin' true knowledge and lettin' me peek at their radar guns. Today was super-basebally, so here:

-Yesterday I got carried away with the yummerific parts of the Baby Rangers' game. [side note: last time I ever use that term for these guys. A. They're in full-season ball now and B. They're some oversized mofos.] Today, I was reminded of their youth. Gallo chasing slow and breaking, Alfaro going down swinging on 3 straight, Nick Williams takin' some kind of wonky route in left field. But, there was that moment Brinson drove a 94mph FB from hot-to-trot Royals prospect Kyle Zimmer over the left field wall. That was cool.

-I thought you'd like to know that in a land saturated with men in running shoes and khakis accentuated by the long leash of a stopwatch hanging from the pocket, Jon Daniels chooses to match his tan trousers with gray vintage-style Saucony kicks with bright green side logos. Saucony is owned by Wolverine, they make work boots, so by that rationale, his wheels are extremely appropriate.

-Good chatter about Nick Williams' swing and the power derived from his candle-extinguishing bat speed. Personally, I'd say it's one of the prettiest swings in the bunch, but he's got a fair bit to learn about left field.

-I finally got to see Jorge Alfaro's arm. I finally got to see him uncork one with a runner going. I got 1.81 which is the quantitative way of saying it's a freakin' clothes line. Seriously, he could kill an elephant from 130 feet.

-Parks loves Miguel Almonte from the Royals. Parks' affection is not misplaced. And when you see Miguel pitch, as I did today, your envy won't be misplaced either. Easy cheese, easy cheese.

-Remember the name Jon Edwards. Wait, of course you're going to remember the name "Jon Edwards", but not that Jo(h)n Edwards. No, this dude is a man. 6'5" 230lbs, full beard, and a pretty wild story that includes being drafted by the Cardinals as an outfielder out of Keller High in '06, flaming out on account of a light stick, converting to pitching and essentially starting the climb all over again. 2012 was his first full season as a pitcher and after staying in extended, he went to Spokane, then ended up in Myrtle, then ended up in Frisco for about 15 minutes at the end of the season. It's because the stuff is hard. Well, the FB is hard and that's what I saw today. Mechanically, he looks like an outfielder pitching, but who cares! He's gigantic and has a bit of mid-90s heat---maybe more. Needs lots of work, but it's a bullpen name to stock away for a bit. He looked good today.

-I ended the day by watching Lisalverto Bonilla. It was essentially the same stuff I'd seen in the televised big league games he appeared in, and the report Scott Lucas gave from Saturday night. Command issues and inconsistent mechanics led to a couple of walks and a couple of hard hit balls. I can tell you though, he's one of the few kids I've seen whose CH is good enough to get swings and misses even when there's no respect for his FB command. As the inning, and his troubles, wore on, he went to the CH more and more and it's a doozy of a pitch.

-I'm gettin' a little better at the videoin'. Thinking 'bout doin' a Godard-esque piece where Jon Daniels and AJ Preller will sit for hours staring at a field with no players, smoking cigarettes and wearing tinted glasses while not saying a word to each other. No, no I'm not. Anyways, here's some quick ball player clips.

Luis SardiSardi!

Sardi from the right side. March 25, 2013 (via Tepid Participation)

Roogie!

Roogie! (via Tepid Participation)

Sweet Lew! (side note: I think he wears size 31x48 pants)

Lewis Brinson March 25, 2013 (via Tepid Participation)

and here's a bad vertical shot of Nomar Mazara (He's 17!) and Joey Gallo:

Nomar and Joey. March 25, 2013 (via Tepid Participation)

Until we meet again, my friends! Love Ya!