Spring Training 2011 Stop #6: Peoria, AZ

Entering his 11th season with the Mariners, Ichiro Suzuki remains a wizard with the bat. Yesterday against the Royals, he appeared more than ready for opening day.
Above: that sweet stroke powers the ball toward left field, where it drops in for a double.
...as Ichiro pulls into 2nd base.
Below: the former Yankee and Brave Melky Cabrera, now with KC, has been a much-improved hitter so far in Cactus League play.
The Royals' young star Alex Gordon gets ready to mash this ball toward right field... long enough, high enough and gone!

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

Rare Remnant of a Lost Ballpark

Image
When the subject of baseball in Brooklyn comes up, the discussion centers around Ebbets Field, the Flatbush venue most famously home to The Boys of Summer.  Those legendary 1940s and '50s teams that featured such historic and beloved players as Jackie Robinson, Duke Snider, Pee Wee Reese, Roy Campanella and Gil Hodges. Ebbets Field hosted its last major league game in 1957 and was torn down during the winter of 1960. But decades earlier, just before World War One, the Dodgers were based in the Park Slope area and played at Washington Park.  Once they moved out, the land was occupied by another stadium, which housed a different franchise.  The upstart Federal League, which played in the 1914 and '15 seasons, had a Brooklyn team called the TipTops.  Owned by a local baking magnate Robert Ward, whose company produced TipTop bread, the club took over the abandoned lot along 3rd Avenue and built a new brick and steel venue. The only no-hitter in the Federal League's two...
Read more

Will He Wear Zero in the Bronx?

Image
The Yankees bolstered their starting rotation with Thursday's signing of Marcus Stroman .  The Long Island native, who spent 2019 and '21 with the Mets before moving onto the Cubs, brings a 77-76 career record to the Bronx, along with a recent loyalty to uniform number (?) zero.  If he requests that, he'd become the third Yank to wear it, following the path of Adam Ottavino and Domingo German.  Of course, neither of their Yankee tenures ended all that well -- Ottavino struggled badly in 2020, before reviving his career with the Red Sox and Mets; German's alcohol and domestic violence issues sabotaged such Yankee highlights as last year's perfect game. Can a number truly be lucky? You can understand kids in little league or high school ball wanting to wear 2 in honor of Derek Jeter or 7 for Mickey Mantle.  But is there an heroic ballplayer associated with 0?  The closest I recall comes from pro football, where the Oakland Raiders Hall of Fame center Jim Otto wore...
Read more

Former Yankees Find New Homes

Image
A pair of onetime Yankees have landed free agent deals.  David Robertson will begin his 16th major league season in Texas.  The reliable reliever split his 2023 between the Mets and Marlins -- where, save for a rocky August, he was generally effective. For trivia buffs: since the retirement of Robinson Cano, he's now the last Yankee to have played at the old Stadium and is still active . (Below): Aaron Hicks , who bounced back, hitting .275 in a 65 game Orioles stint after being released by the Yanks, heads to Anaheim.  There, he'll both backup Mike Trout and try and help fill the huge void in the Angels offense after Shohei Ohtani left for the Dodgers.   Both of my images were taken in the Bronx during the 2018 season: Robertson was on the mound facing the Angels, while Hicks was batting against the Red Sox.
Read more