FanNation - The Republic of Sport

It’s back to the ballpark today and a return of Fort Lauderdale where a visiting split-squad of Red Sox take on the home Orioles in my penultimate remote report from spring training. The weather is threatening west of the I-95 corridor although pretty calm and clear to the East. The wind is also blowing at 25 to 30 mph from right out to left field to there could be a bunch of wind aided big flies today from righthanded batters. But the temperature is predicted to reach 86 degrees toady (apologies to everyone experiencing horrible blizzard conditions that are hitting much of the country today).

The threatening sky is a worry because of the weather in the Broward and Dade county areas yesterday. More than two inches of rain fell as severe thunderstorms blanketed the area for much of the afternoon, with thick sheets of rain that even made the pelicans take cover. Just when it seemed like it couldn’t rain any harder, Mother Nature would crank it up a notch, unleashing her fury on the tourists below. The wind is quite audible through the jalousie-style windows behind me in the press box (back to the scene of the ball barrage from Tuesday) and due to the iffy weather overhead, the teams have foregone batting and infield practice (although it’s a perfect beach day a couple of miles east of here). Let’s hope they can get this one in.
 
Today’s starters have been posted and it’s a matchup of what should be the Orioles opening day lineup (with three notable potential exceptions, Brian Roberts is still an Oriole and leading off, Luke Scott sits in favor of Jay Gibbons in left while Luis Terrero is playing center and betting eighth for Adam Jones who was in the covered batting cage behind the rightfield bleachers taking extra BP a little while ago). The rest of the O’s order is Melvin Mora batting second at third, Nick Markakis in right batting third, Kevin Millar at first batting fourth, Aubrey Huff at DH batting fifth, Ramon Hernandez catching and batting sixth, Jay Gibbons batting seventh and playing left field, Terrero and shortstop Luis Hernandez batting ninth.

On the hill for the O’s is the man who should be their ace this year, Jeremy Guthrie who was 7-5 with a 3.70 ERA last season after being acquired from the Indians. He and Adam Loewen are really the only Orioles starters to consider on draft day. 

They’ll go up against a team that looks more like the Paw Sox than Red Sox, however Kevin Youkilis, Mike Lowell, Alex Cora and Bobby Kielty did make the trip to play today, while the rest of their regular teammates stayed home to play the Twins. Actually Boston’s lineup is a Who’s Who of their top prospects with Jacoby Ellsbury leading off, much sought-after infielder Jed Lowrie playing and batting second, then Youkilis, Lowell, Brandon Moss in left field, Cora at short, Kielty in right, former White Sox and Diamondback farmhand and first baseman by trade, Chris Carter, DH’es from the eighth slot and catcher Dusty Brown bats ninth and will be catching veteran Julian Tavarez who was 6-11 in 23 starts last year and is trying to solidify his place on the pen.

Come on back later to find out if we got this one in and if so, what went on. In the meantime stay warm and stay safe by driving slowly in the snow.