AZL Living

As I finally figured out the Arizona League operates on a system with scheduled off days every fifth day.  Each team plays four consecutive games and then gets one day off, a day that sees all of the complexes shut down, and locked so as to keep the players away. Our second off day since I arrived was July 1st, or Canada Day for my Canadian readers.  Having really settled in to the daily grind I was worn out, and decided that Canada Day was going to be "major sleep in day." I woke up and had breakfast after my alarm clock went off at 8:30, but immediately upon my return I fell back asleep until almost 1.  We had made a plan to go back to the water park but by the time we all got up, showered and ready to go there was no sense in making the half hour trip. We realized pretty quickly that we had completely blown the day off by sleeping through it. We decided to grab a quick bite to eat at the Corner Bakery and so Me, Max, Eflin, Drew and Miller all walked over.  We shared some good laughs and stories from hanging out the night prior and had a fairly routine lunch. That was until Drew knocked all of his chips on the floor while attempting to make a power move to grab his lemonade.  It was a pretty funny scene watching him and Max pick up chips off the floor of the restaurant.

We walked back to the hotel and guess what? I went back to sleep for an afternoon nap.  (This really is a tough life isn't it?)  I woke up around 5:30 and found out that J-Rod had gotten called up to Lake Elsinore, our High A affiliate.  I walked down the hallway to his room to congratulate him, and while hanging out in his room found out that we were all going to see Ted at 7:30.  J-Rod also told me that he decided to take some of the weight out of his bat bag, leaving behind four bats for me. That plan turned into a bit of a gong show.  Max, J-Rod and I got into the car at 7:15.  As we pulled out of the hotel Mallex called saying that he wanted to come.  So we waited. Mallex hopped in and we drove down the street to the, no, we didn't get to the theater as Jalen Goree called Mallex asking if he could come too. So, we flipped around, went back and picked up Jalen.  We finally arrived right smack on 7:30, and we ran to the ticket window. The people in front of us were turned away as the movie had just sold out.  J-Rod (being the catcher that he is) made the quick power move buying a ticket for the 10:30 showing.  We all followed suit, and soon enough we were at the door to the theater.  They were checking tickets.  We all covered the time of the show we were ticketed for and walked in, found our trainer Ricky who had saved 3 seats for 5 people.  Jalen and Mallex had to go find somewhere in the front to sit. The movie was really funny, really sad, and really sappy all in one.

A before and after mockup of what my #GrammaSwag
fake Oakleys looked like and now look like. #SWAG!

Yesterday we were back at it, and in trying not to be late I left the hotel for the mall extremely early.  I went to the Oakley store to buy ear socks for my #GrammaSwag fake Oakley sunglasses.  I was no longer content with red ear socks, and playing for a team that wears navy and gold. I got the ear socks, but they and a nose piece cost more than the original glasses! Oh well, it had to be done.  I grabbed lunch at the Bakery and then headed for the locker room.  I was there so early it was LOCKED! I was sitting out front when one of the rehabbing pitchers Zach Herr saw me as he pulled up.  He told me to always check all the doors since one of them will always be open.  Sure enough, the back door was open and I went into the clubhouse.  I changed into my Padres gear and then sat in the dining room to make all my phone calls. When I finished up I went and grabbed two of the bats J-Rod had left me, Louisville Slugger S356 models (huge head medium handle) and headed out to the cage.  I hit for about a half hour then came back inside to cool off.  Rodney had arrived and started playing his magical umbrella game again, and I still have no idea what the trick to it is.  It's one of those stupid bullpen/dugout games meant to confuse those who don't know the simple trick and provide laughs to those who do.  Cody Gabella, one of the newer (even though he's been with the Padres a couple years) guys came over to me and told me that to screw with Rodney we were going to play black magic.  It didn't work, as Rodney knew the trick to it and we left feeling a bit of a let down.

Practice was short, as we were on the road last night.  We took batting practice, and for the first time since I arrived in Arizona I felt really good at the plate.  I hit a lot more line drives and even showed a little pop (yes Molly, start shaking in those boots up there eh!) as I hit one into the screen in front of the weight room.  My defense was good, and I talked with Cody a bunch as we took our fungo reps and found out he played with former Toronto Mets teammates of mine Brett Sanders and Skye Irwin.  It's incredible to me how small the baseball community is.  Of all the places in the world for him to have gone to school, and for all of the minor league teams we could have played for, we both ended up at the same position on the same team.  It was a pretty cool discussion.

The view of one of Oakland's practice fields.  The other side
of the mountain in the background is the Army training base.

We packed into the white vans, not unlike my Seawolves of 2011 and headed out to Scottsdale to face the A's.  It was another one of the longer drives, it took about 40 minutes, and we passed Phoenix en route to a real nowhere town where their complex is located.  We drove by an army training base at the bottom of some smaller mountains with insane rock faces, and saw people scaling the walls with ropes.  As we passed through the two mountain faces we arrived at the A's complex.  It is not on the same site as the Spring Training Stadium so we played on a practice field.  We got an early lead, and Max made his debut.  I think everyone in the park could tell he was nervous, and he did his best Houdini impersonation, loading the bases with nobody out, only to retire 3 straight and not give up a run.  We were tied for most of the game and Tyler Johnson made his debut for the A's.  It was weird to not be playing behind him, cheering him on as I have for everyone one of his starts the last 3 years.  He threw well, and except for one change up that he left belt high to Fordy had insane sink. It was classic Tyler Johnson.  We lost 5-2, and TJ picked up his first pro win, in his debut.  I was happy for him, as there aren't too many guys who outwork him.  We took the trip back to Peoria, and me and Max met his dad at the Tilted Kilt for a late night dinner.  By the time we were finished eating I was about ready to pass out, and so immediately upon returning to my room, I fell asleep.

For anyone who really wants more reading you can check out Baseball Hot Corner's interview I did, the story is now on their website here.