On the rocks at the inlet!

We're finally a few days in and I've found some down time to update my blog. First off let me give you a description of where I'm at and why I'm here. The past couple days I haven't been able to stay awake once I got back to the hotel room which made it hard to go to sleep at night. So yesterday I went to Barnes and Noble to read, thinking that would give me something to do but instead I just ended up falling asleep there. So today I figured I'd try something new. At this moment in time I am sitting on some rocks right on the Jupiter inlet. It's a pretty relaxing place to be with the sound of the water hitting the rocks, the nice 75 degree weather, and the cool breeze coming off the water. Keep in mind that if this blog starts to sound a little like nonsense then you know that the soothing sound of the waves have got to me and I might just be falling asleep again.

It's nice to be back in a routine. We start playin games on Thursday so right now our days consist of stretch starting at 9 and we get done with our last bit of conditioning around 2:30. In between that we have a meeting, defensive specialties, situational defensive situations (i.e. bunt coverages, first and third situations...), live bp (off pitchers), and finally regular patting practice. I try to get in early and stretch and get the blood flowing a little bit because as hard as I worked this off season I'm still pretty sore from the first few days of spring training. At the end of the day I usually take some extra swings, usually off the tee and from front flips. I end the day with a short intense lift followed by a pretty extensive stretch. And that's my day at the field in a nutshell.

My roomate, Ryan Curry, and I usually try and go eat around 8 and usually back in bed by about 9:30. During spring training our choices for food are kind of limited (unless you want to spend money). For the guys that stay in the hotel we're give a packet of vouchers with a list of about 10 different restaurants on it. Each voucher is limited to $9.00 so if you go over that amount you can either use a second voucher or just use cash to pay the rest. Most of the places on the vouchers are close to the hotel so that guys without cars are able to enjoy just as many places as the guys with cars are able to. Tonight I think we're going to hit up the mall food court. It gives us a plethora of options, given that there are 4 places that are on the vouchers. So without a doubt our toughest decision of the day comes around 8:00 when we're trying to decide where to eat.

To start spring training I've been assigned to the triple A group. Within the position players I'm the second youngest guy, which is a lot different than in years past. It's been great for me so far, we've got so many guys that have been around the game for so long and when you see those guys you want to try and emulate what they do because to be around the game that long you know that they're doing something right. The manager of the triple group is Edwin Rodriguez who was my manager in '08 in Greensboro. We have a lot of familiarity with each other so it's been pretty comforting. Our hitting coach is Greg Norton. This is his first year in coaching after a career that jay ended last year after spending parts of 13 seasons in the big leagues. I love to pick his brain and try and be a sponge with him as much as possible.

Today was definitely my best day at the plate. The past couple days I've felt a little out of wack with my timing, but today everything seemed to click a little more which resulted in much more solid contact. During this part of the spring I've learned that it's all about trying to see as many pitches as you can so that you can get to point where you're timing is as close to mid season form as possible. It always seems that timing is the last thing to come, but you have to be patient with it just like you do with everything else in baseball.

That's about it for now, I'm going to enjoy a little more of this scenery before I head back to the hotel for the night. One more thing actually...I went down to the lobby today and saw something that is a very very rare sight. As I walked around the corner to the breakfast room I saw two hall of famers sitting together at the same table! Talk about a great way to start the day, if you aren't inspired by Tony Perez and Andre Dawson then it's time to hang 'em up. Maybe tomorrow I'll ask them if they have an extra spot at the table for me!

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