Detroit 3, Toronto 1

We started our day Friday by venturing to Honeymoon Island, a barrier island off the Dunedin mainland. Honeymoon Island state park offers a mix of activities including standard florida beach swimming, however we were there to hike the Osprey Trail in the more Floridian ecosystem zone of the island.

On our hike we saw multiple Osprey nest perched high in dead trees as well slash pines, a tropical pine tree (after I said there are no pines in Florida...idiot...). The highlight of the hike occured when we heard something sizable rustling in the brush and saw two other hikers paused ahead of us on the trail. On closer inspection it was an actual wild armadillo searching for insects on the forest floor. We patiently waited while the unqiue animal made his way into a clearing before snapping these pictures (kind of like Pokemon Snap?).

After a quick visit to the beach, we made our way through Dunedin in search of Checkers for a cheap heinously unhealthy lunch before the old ballgame. The game itself was a stark contrast to the offensive explosion we saw in Clearwater. Roy Halladay and Justin Verlander took the hill and set a pitching precedent that lent itself to a quick 3-1 Tigers victory.

The Blue Jays sent out a largely regular lineup consisting of David Eckstein, Alex Rios, Vernon Wells, Frank Thomas, Scott Rolen, Lyle Overbay (who drove in the lone Blue Jays run and played most of the game), Matt Stairs, Aaron Hill, and Gregg Zaun. The Tigers countered with a few regulars like Curtis Granderson who homered for the second straight day. Blue Jay relief pitchers included Scott Downs, Jeremy Accardo, Brian Tallet, Brandon League, Brian Wolfe (who struck out all three batters he faced), Jamie Vermilyea (pictured), and Kane Davis. Toronto's second string (Syracuse starters?) was made up of Russ Adams (3B), Ryan Patterson (RF), Joe Inglett (SS), Buck Coats (CF), Pedro Lopez (2B), Matt Watson and Scranton native Wayne Lydon (LF), Sal Fasano and Brian Jeroloman (C), Chip Cannon (1B), and 2006 first rounder Travis Snider (DH).

Since we had parked for free close to the center of town a few blocks from the stadium, we made our way back downtown at the conslusion of the game to do some Rochester-style bar hopping in delightfully different Dunedin. We had a quick drink at Flanigan's Irish Pub before hiking up Douglas Ave. to the Dunedin Brewery and Snug Pub where we shared an incredible beer and cheese dip. I'd highly recommend the brewery to anyone back home who likes Custom Brewcrafters or Rohrbach's. After a stroll out to the municipal pier, we ended up eating dinner at Casa Tina's, a semi-bourg mexican restaurant who serves up excellent beef quesadillas.

We are running a little bit late today, but the plan is to hit the St. Petersburg Saturday Morning Market followed by the Rays taking on the Jays and Dustin McGowan at Al Lang Stadium before we journey back to the Northeast late tonight. Wrap ups are likely to be posted Sunday.

Pittsburgh 11, Philadelphia 6

The ubiquitous "they" say that at this point in the spring, the pitchers are ahead of the hitters. By this axiom, I would have thought that we were treated to a rare offensive display. Instead, the 17 combined runs were only the 3rd most of the day's spring training games as four teams exceeded 11 runs around the country.

A stiff wind in Clearwater precluded any deep flies from reaching the left field berm or the built in tiki-bar at Brighthouse Field. This same wind did not adversely effect gopher balls launched by left handed hitters into the palm trees in right. Pittsburgh's Nate McLouth and Adam LaRoche found the porch as well as Philadelphia's Ryan Howard.

Legitimate major league starting pitchers Kyle Kendrick and Phil Dumatrait turned in fairly impressive performances before giving way to a parade of the anonymous and the journeymen. The score was 1-0 in favor of Pittsburgh after 2 1/2 innings before a pair of first round draft picks blew the game to pieces. The pitchers themselves are a study in contrast. Pittsburgh's Bryan Bullington was the #1 overall pick in 2002 and is taking a very slow route to the major leagues since being promoted to AA in 2004 where he struggled to limit his walk/strikeout ratio. Despite allowing five runs in the third inning (aided by Nyjer Morgan losing one in the sun), Bullington was named the winning pitcher. On the other side Joe Savery is only in his 2nd professional season. After a very successful college career at Rice, Savery spent last year at short season A Williamsport of the New York-Penn league. A five run, four hit adventure not only ended his hopes of making the Philadelphia Phillies in short order, but also his chance to make the Reading Phillies. Savery was tagged as the losing pitcher of record.

Back on the offensive side of the magical baseball equation, many players had two hits, but no one had more. For Pittsburgh, LaRoche, Josh Wilson, and Luis Cruz accomplished the feat. Philadelphia saw similar performances from Chase Utley and Pedro Feliz. In the bang for your buck category, the Pirates were the beneficiaries of incredible production from the 8/9 spots in the batting order. Shortstops Brian Bixler and Cruz, paired with second basemen Wilson and former Twin Luis Rivas combined to hit safely five out of nine times at bat with one base on balls.

In general miscellany, Doug Mientkiewicz of the Twins, '04 Champion Red Sox, Mets, and Yankees played half the game in right field rather than first base. Wilson, mentioned in the hitting paragraph, is one of three former Devil Rays (Jorge Velandia, Casey Fossum) in Pirate camp. I continue to follow utilityman Chris Gomez around North America. It is entirely possible that I saw a young Chris play with Toledo in Scranton in 1993. I know for a fact that I've seen him in action in Toronto in 2004 and in Baltimore in 2006. 1997 Cleveland Indian phenom and 2006 New York Yankee punching bag Jaret Wright also made in the home half of the 7th inning. Scranton/Wilkes-Barre Red Barons fans would not only recognize Pirates manager John Russell (the last manager in Red Baron and Lynx team history), but also first base coach Lou Frazier (SWB '99). Lou unfortunately was upstaged by the Phillies first base coach shown to the right, perhaps you've heard of him...

From an Ottawa perspective there was little to report. I made a list of FLP's (former Lynx players) this morning that contained four position players, three of whom were catchers as is the case with early spring rosters. Of the eleven pitchers identified, not a one took the hill in red today. Most notable was a player I completely missed, but a more integral part of Lynx history than any 2007 one-and-done player. Andy Tracy signed his first professional contract with Montreal after being drafted in the 16th Round of the 1996 amateur draft. He split the 2000 and 2001 seasons between Ottawa and the big club before returning in 2006 for an entire season, the last of the Baltimore era. Tracy walked in his only plate appearance filling in for the great first baseman Howard while Ottawa's 2007 everyday catcher Jason Jaramillo (pictured) relieved Carlos Ruiz, walked once, and flew out to left field. The aforementioned Frazier of SWB fame was also an FLP it turns out. Lou played 31 games with the 1995 squad in Ottawa.

Post game we made it to Brady's Backyard BBQ in the City of Safety Harbor. I had a half rack of ribs with a side of red garlic potatoes (better than salt potatoes, yeah I said it) and a try of their BBQ baked beans. Tia had a pulled chicken sandwich and liked the potatoes so much, she ordered her own side order after the fact. We then strolled the downtown of Safety Harbor which was surprisingly pleasant compared to what we've seen of the Tampa Bay area and will undoubtedly be a topic on my social consciousness blog.

It would be one of Captain Obvious' finest soliloquies to state that today was better than yesterday, but I'll do it anyway. It's amazing how much better baseball, followed by barbecue, followed by a human scale town experience can make you forget a cranky day of recovering from hockey, followed by 11 hours of travel related tasks including the huge mistake of assuming personal liability of a rental car in a no-fault state. In two days, with some extra-careful driving it'll be a non-factor I suppose. In a few years it'll be neat to see if today was the day Luis Cruz turned a token invite and a #80 spring jersey into a significant major league career.

Tomorrow we roll into Dunedin to see Honeymoon Island State Park, the Blue Jays vs. Detroit, and another Floridian Main Street including multiple Irish and Scottish pubs.

Significant Layover

Our flight out of Rochester to New York City went off without a hitch and we are currently in the JetBlue terminal at JFK, one of the few remaining free airport wireless internet services (even Rochester has become part of Frontier's Citywide subscription network).

We don't take off again until 6:40 so we are sitting down to dinner while surfing news stories and pointed humor blogs.

Interestingly, the most chatter about the Blue Jays that I've come across in recent days involves a minor league free agent signing. Shannon Stewart, originally drafted by Toronto in 1992, returned to the Bobby Mattick training center on Monday. Stewart spent parts of nine seasons with Toronto from 1995-2003 before being traded to Minnesota for Bobby Kielty (who was spun for Ted 'The Tease' Lilly).

Stewart's presence appears to be insurance taken out by the club on the health of Reed Johnson's lower back. With Matt Stairs also in the fold, and Adam Lind waiting patiently at the AAA level, the onus is on Johnson to perform in the spring season. I do feel however, that Stairs' greatest value to the club is pinch hitting and backing up Lyle Overbay in addition to backing up whoever the regular leftfielder is. Hopefully Johnson and Stewart make John Gibbons' decision extremely difficult through solid play (or they could carry one less useless bullpen pitcher, but they're stubborn).

Tomorrow the plan is to hit Philles vs. Pirates at Brighthouse Networks Field in Clearwater (watch out for Scientologists!) at 1PM and hopefully get to Brady's Backyard BBQ for dinner.