Spring Training Trip: Day One (3/9)

Yesterday marked the return of the (almost) annual RN/TRT excursion to Arizona. Rather than form some long-winded introduction, I'll just provide some simple photos and a general synopsis of the day (from my website Royals Nation) below. (*Edit* It took me about 10 min. to edit this post after posting those pictures. Blogger freaking sucks). (*Double edit* Now Blogger is effing up my spacing. Screw you, Blogger).

Enjoy!

Non-baseball related:

- Stunning weather - highs in the mid 70's and lows in the upper 50's. Monday was a partly cloudy today, with the sun not typically shining too bright. Definitely plus-plus weather.

- I lost my ID at the KCI Airport yesterday. Thanks to security (if, by some .00000001% chance, you're reading this forum) for handling the transfer, so I could actually rent a car.

- They screwed up my Rent-a-Car service, so I now have a nice Nissan Maxima until Thursday. Pretty sweet.

- My hotel location = awesome.

Baseball related:

- Kyle Farnsworth looked terrible today. Straight fastball and falling behind hitters. Walks and flyball tendencies are not a good thing. Overpaid, and hindsight is 20/20, but foresight wasn't exactly 20/1000, either, with regard to that contract.

- Saw prospect Kyle Martin hitting in the cages today. He can rake. He was on a role, cranking at least two home runs and several more deep to the gaps. He's an intriguing prospect, and one could at least make arguments for top 20 or 25 on a Royals list.

- Saw other top prospects Eric Hosmer and Mike Moustakas up close today, as well as virtually every other minor leaguer and top 'spect (Giavotella, Bianchi, among many more). Some major emphasis on bunting in Spring Training, at least today.

- Who knew the Minor Leaguers use training/baggy pants for sliding? Rather than getting your polyester uni's wet, this is an excellent idea.

- Royals hitting was anemic, and resembled their Hacktastic ways of 2007 and 2008. Definitely not good. Ah, life in a Dayton Moore offense. Be aggressive!- Gload starting in right field, Pena starting at SS, and Bloomers starting at 2B. Not a good omen for Opening Day.

- Brian Bannister resembled the Banny of '08 today. Too many fallen behind hitters and home runs/fly balls allowed. He has no out pitch, folks. I'm worried.

- Bullpen other than Farnsworth (Wright, Waechter) didn't look much better.

The Royals lost Game 1 at Mesa (vs. the Cubs) 9-1. Here is Kaegel's KCRoyals.com summary.

And below are four pictures from Minor League camp and Monday vs. the Cubs at Hohokam Park. For the complete picture set, you'll have to access Facebook. If you don't have Facebook, then too bad.