Heeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeere we go!

Alrighty... my blog is about to start with the longest post in blogging history. This will be a post starting from the first day I left for spring training, until today. They are dated for easy reading; enjoy.

GO TIGERS!

3/22/08
Well, I am off to spring training. My flight was early; really early. 6am to be exact. The flight would have not been so bad if it weren’t for the young couple and their 2-year-old baby across the isle from me. I know the kid’s age because the parents wouldn’t shut up the entire flight. The kid was annoying, but the parents were ten times worse. Then the parents, for some reason, mentioned where they went to college and it all became clear: they were Ole Miss graduates. Yep, shoulda known. So I get to Atlanta, get off the plane and see that my connecting gate is T19. I walk to T19. My flight is not at T19. It has been moved from T19 to A1. So I have to huff it to A1 and get there just as my section is called to board. Thing about it is: I didn’t get a chance to get any food. People who know me know that I gotta eat every 3 hours or else there will not be a happy Frankie. All I had to eat all day was 1.5 scoops of protein, half of a Diet Dr. Pepper, and a bottle of water. So by the time I get to the spring training facility, lunch was already over and teams were already on the field for stretch, pitcher’s conditioning and batting practice. So I change, get out there, meet some guys, and get to work learning the running, conditioning, and stretch routine. Then we go into the weight room to monitor the players lifting and seeing if they needed any help. I already had a headache from the combination of a lack of sleep and the aforementioned “cutest lil damn baby and parents in the world” and the hunger of pangs were not helping at all. We finally we to eat at about 7pm and I ordered a chicken sandwich with double the meat. FINALLY, the beast had been fed! The hotel was booked up because some players who were supposed to be released that day were kept on, so I had no room. Smitty said that I could stay with him. As it turns out, he and 6 other guys rent a house together a few miles from the facility. It is a 4 bedroom place and each bedroom has 2 twin beds in it. This actually worked out better because the hotel was about 15-20min from the field and you had to catch the bus that they ran every 15min. On top of that, there was only one restaurant within walking distance from the hotel. But because I was staying with Smitty, I caught rides with one of the guys to the field and, most nights, someone was going out to get some food.

GO TIGERS!

3/24/08
I was so freakin tired and there was only 2 guys in the weight room, so I sat down on a bench to rest for a sec. Next thing I know, in walks Roger-freakin-Clemens! He started talking to one of the pitchers who was in there riding the bike for his conditioning. I was going to go and speak to him, ya know, just shake his hand just to be able to say that I shook one of the best pitchers of all time’s hands, but he “big-leagued” me. For those of you who may not know, if a guy “big-leagued” you, it means that he basically ignores you, walks on past, and pretends that you are not even around. I mean, it was OBVIOUS that I was walking over to him… I wasn’t just walking like I was going to walk straight into him for no reason. Anyway, today just reaffirmed my belief that he is an ass. Oh and it looks like he has taken a little time off the sauce, because he is not nearly the size that he was... unless the camera DOES add 25lbs of muscle.

GO TIGERS!

3/25/08
Today I saw Woody Williams, Roy Oswalt, Hunter Pence, Michael Bourn, and Reggie Abercrombie today at the field. It turns out that Reggie will probably be on the Round Rock team with us! This guy is a great athlete; strong, fast, can hit for power and average, good arm. So I am looking forward to getting a look at this guy's game.

GO TIGERS!

3/27/08
Got to the Orlando airport at 6am, took me 45min to get through security (there were a TON of people flying out at the butt-crack of dawn), and then I got to the gate with 2 hours to spare. Me and one other guy sitting in the whole area… and then a woman and her crying, screaming, loud as hell 2-year-old decide to sit RIGHT ACROSS THE FREAKIN ROW FROM ME!!! Out of all the 200+ seats in this place, she chooses to sit right across from me; practically having to step over my legs and my bag to sit down. I sat there for a sec and then got up and got some food. So I wander around for a bit then go and sit alone, free of anyone within 50ft of me. It was getting closer to the departure time, so more people were coming to sit down. I left plenty of empty seats around me, then a family of 5 came and sat down around me… LITERALLY! I had a kid on either side of me and a mom, dad, and another kid right across from me. Is it just me or are people really strange? I never would just go and sit next to a random person, much less sit my family next to him, if there were plenty of extra seats around.

“Mommie, mommie! Where should we sit?”
“Well Timmy, you sit on one side of that stranger over there, and Billy, you go sit on the other”

I mean, seriously? Jezz… Thank god that they started calling out rows to be seated on the plane, so I could get up and get the hell away from that family of nutballs. I gotta make this next part short because if I really typed out everything that happened, I would still be typing well after the baseball season is over. When my plane got to Atlanta, my connecting flight to Austin was cancelled 30min before hit was supposed to take off. Everyone rushed to the Delta customer service desk, to stand in line for 3 hours and get a flight into Dallas. From Dallas, I rented a car and drove to Austin, where my freakin luggage had STILL flown (even though I couldn't? Strange, I know, but what can you do?), picked up my bags, and then drove to Round Rock to check into the team hotel. After all that crap, I still got in bed before midnight. I actually didn't mind the drive from Dallas to Austin... it was kind of nice to just be alone, not around a bunch of strangers on a plane. I found the local ESPN radio stations as I drove through towns, so I could listen to the NCAA games. Overall, it was a long, stressful day, but in the end it worked out okay.

GO TIGERS!

3/29/08
We played our first game today, albeit an exhibition game, but game none the less. We won 2-0 over the Astros' Double-A squad, the Corpus Christi Hooks. From the looks of things, we are going to have a solid team. Our starter went 5 innings (he had reached his pitch limit) gave up 2 hits, 1 walk, and had 7 strikeouts.

GO TIGERS!

3/30/08
Today we played our second game (another exhibition game against the Hooks), except this time we played in Corpus at Whataburger Field. Man, that brought back some memories: we had played 3-4 game series there when I was working with San Antonio. The crowd really gave Dave a great reception when he was introduced. Dave had managed the Hooks the past 3 seasons, including leading them to the Texas League championship in 2006. Reggie Abercrombie led off the game with a first pitch BOMB over the left field fence. This ball was crushed! Anyway, earlier in the week someone had said something about the game was moved from 1pm to 4pm because there was a movie being filmed at the field. At the time, I thought nothing of it... until I started walking down the tunnel to go into the locker room and nearly ran over Justin Timberlake! I was kinda of taken off guard, but I introduced myself, shook his hand, and we spoke for a few minutes. He is a really nice guy, not at all the "I-am-so-much-better-than-you-because-I-am-a-singer-and-now-a-moviestar-and-you-are-just-some-guy-who-works-for-a-baseball-team-so-why-don't-you-just-get-away-from-me-before-I-have-my-huge-350lb-bodyguard-beat-the-crap-out-of-you" kinda guy that one might expect. He is starring in a movie called "The Open Road" where he plays a Hooks baseball player who is playing in his last game before he moves up to the big leagues. They filmed a scene at the end of our baseball game where his character was going to hit a pop-up to right field for the last out of the game (in the movie) and the last out of his minor league career. JT took some batting practice from one of our pitchers (our team was on the field for the scene) and after about 15 takes they had their shot. In those 15 takes, he was supposed to hit a pop-up, but he either hit it on the ground, or didn't hit it far enough, so the director said for everyone to pretend that the ball was hit in deep right field and they would put the ball in later. I am proud to say that I will be making my silver screen debut as the strength coach in the grey t-shirt, leaning over the dugout rail in the shot behind JT's character as he is running to first base. Yes, yes, small I know, but I think this could be my big break, I mean, the acting was pretty brilliant; watching an imaginary pop-up that takes our right fielder to the edge of the warning track, only to have him catch it for the last out of the game. Watch for it coming to a theater near you.

GO TIGERS!