Good morning from Sarasota. I got a late start to this Sunday and am not going to the minor league complex today. It’s a check in day for the remainder of the offensive players and by this afternoon the whole organization will be together. By tomorrow, they’ll be just about through with intakes, physicals and meetings. Plus today is O’s/Yanks right around the corner from my house. I’ll be at Ed Smith stadium soon and it should be crowded with ‘longtime baseball fans’ including a few friends I haven’t seen in a while so I’ll let you know what and who I see.
2:00pm Update-
Chris Davis is up now and I’ve been in the house for about an hour. He walked.
In my hour I’ve met a nice couple who taught me how to keep score. I’ve never known but in the second inning, Anthony Santander grounded out and she wrote a 4-3.
Also I saw Yanks prospect outfielder Estevan Florial hit an RBI double off Kohl Stewart. I’ve always liked Florial. Later, Richie Martin had a double play gifted to him standing at second on a perfect assist from Núñez at third. Martin took his foot off of the bag early and my mind took a nano-second to revert back to Twin Lakes and the first drill I saw with the infielders and coaches about foot placement.
Martin can learn on the job too and his game will be raised by a coach at Norfolk or by watching José Iglesias daily in an O’s uniform. Slight migraine. Martin was involved again as Dwight Smith had a runner pegged at second perhaps but his throw was more than a foot high, Martin jumped and no play. Back to the game.
5:45pm Update-
I watched the game and it included some great bullpen work as Hunter Harvey started the good before even harder throwing Tanner Scott finished it off to the tune of 101mph. Mixing in Bleier, Armstrong and Sulser showed their experience against the Yankees B squad allowing only one base runner as a group. The highlight for me was outfield prospect Kyle Stowers batting in the 9th with a chance to win the game after a Stevie Wilkerson walk. Unfortunately he didn’t maximize the chances he had during the at-bat and my seat mate @Weams highlighted that he guessed wrong on a slow curve that broke into his hot zone as he stayed standing for strike 3. Another opportunity to learn
