Eagle-Tribune Blogs: Burt Talks Sports

Can I just tell you that there are some spring training days which are horribly monotonous, and then others which are like today. The Dodgers are in town and with them comes plenty of people to talk to and talk about.

With most of the masses heading across town to watch what turned into an eight-pitch outing by Jon Lester (see later in post for details), I headed to City of Palms Park to hunker down for another Hero in the Dark (Hideki Up, as one comment said) performance. The first player I came across was old friend Ken Huckaby. At this time last year Huckaby was fighting to make the team as a backup catcher, but couldn’t put his best foot forward because of a knee injury.

Huckaby peered out at the Red Sox taking infield practice (which began with all infielders taking grounders on their knees) and commented on how much lighter Dustin Pedroia looked. He then asked who was pitching, and when told it was Josh Beckett the catcher instantly flashed back to one of his more painful moments of last season. “I’ve still got bruises from him,” Huckaby said, recalling Boston’s August 3 game against Cleveland last year (the 36-year-old’s only start) in which he blocked numerous curveballs in the dirt.

When asked if he remembered Curt Schilling throwing a lot of change-ups Huckaby said that he did in side sessions, but not so much in games. Huckaby explained what can make Schilling’s change-up so effective is that it plays off his splitter. “It has the same look, but hitters will lay off of hit thinking it will dip down in the zone but it will stay up over the knees,” the catcher explained. “It’s like PlayStation,” he added. Later in the morning I asked Schilling about the grip of the change. He showed the reason you make the circle with your pointer finger and thumb is to allow for the power finger (the pointer) to be taken out of the equation, which is key for power pitchers who often have a hard time gearing back on feel pitches.

Dodgers center fielder Juan Pierre walked by, which instantly reminded me of Jermaine Van Buren. Why? Van Buren, the self-proclaimed best video game player in baseball, said his most memorable video game moment came while playing Pierre in the minors. “He used to kill me,” said Pierre of Van Buren, who is currently with the Washington Nationals. I remember thinking how scary it was as to how specific the pitcher got when remembering a seemingly innocuous video game moment that took place six years before.

Ventured into the Dodgers clubhouse, where the lineup card had Nomar Garciaparra hitting third. In terms of Nomar, he looks in great shape, seems happy, and was cordial enough, but said absolutely nothing insightful when talking to the media. Once on the field he did seem to genuinely reuniting with some former teammates, such as Jason Varitek. (Although he didn’t greet Varitek like former Sox infielder Damian Jackson, who completely leap-frogged the catcher while Varitek was standing upright.)

Dodgers locker room was full with names which might sound vaguely familiar to Sox fans, such as Matt Kemp, Russ Martin, and James Loney. Talked with Loney a bit, the highly-touted outfielder who was originally drafted as a pitcher. He said his friends and family were keeping him up to date with the rumors regarding the possibility of heading to Boston in a trade involving Manny Ramirez, but didn’t have any roots in the New England area. He had played with Dustin Pedroia in the Arizona Fall League and came from a Houston-area high school that was near David Murphy’s school.

A few lockers down was former Sox pitcher Rudy Seanz, who was released by Boston on August 18. He divulged that he had been pitching with a bad case of tendinitis in his throwing shoulder since May, which remained with him right through the playoffs with San Diego. Seanz said on the scale of 1 to 10, the injury graded out at an eight as to how much he was forced to endure. He isn’t clear if he will make the Dodgers, but already has plans if it doesn’t work out. He has told his ultimate fighting trainer, Charlie Kohler, that if he gets released he will begin his quest to become a professional ultimate fighter. “I picked it up a notch this offseason,” he said of his ultimate fighting workouts.

While Garciaparra refused to give any kind of specific memories regarding his time at City of Palms Park (except that he remembered to turn right on Edison Ave.), Jackson was very specific in his recollection of the Fort. “I had my rims stolen,” he said. They did catch the culprit, but couldn’t salvage the ill-will Jackson still maintains toward his former spring training site. He still has fond memories of the 2003 Sox team, remembering an impromptu dinner in Toronto in which 23 of the 25 players showed up.

From the Red Sox side, by the time the Dodgers started taking batting practice Lester was already in the Boston clubhouse icing his shoulder following his one-inning in a B-game across town. Thanks to crack Hartford Courant writer Jeff Goldberg, we have the breakdown of Lester’s pitches:
Fastball, 88
Fastball, 89
Fastball, 89
Fastball, 88
Curveball, 72
Curveball, 69
Fastball, 88
Fastball, 90
The final pitch, which induced a ground out to shortstop off the bat of Mike Redmond, was his best pitch, tailing back in on the batter.

“Command was great,” Lester said. “I went away when I wanted to go away and went in when I wanted to go in. I was in the general vicinity [with] all my pitches. I don’t know what the velocity was. It felt good. We’ll just build from here and hopefully get stronger as camp goes on, and if the velocity isn’t there, hopefully it will build back up to normal … I don’t think the treatments are a factor right now. I’m still building it back up from the offseason, but I think I’m right about at 85 or 90 percent, getting close and starting to feel a little more comfortable with my body and how things are flowing.”

Coco Crisp, who was hitting leadoff today, told me something I hadn’t realized: When he broke his finger in Baltimore it was the first time in his career he had tried to steal second and third on successive pitches. Another first for Coco last year was when he was hit by a pitch, which had never previously happened to him as a professional.

Wanted to make another round through clubhouse before answering questions. If you have any more get them in before the end of the game today. Thanks.

Share This