Phoenix Trip, Day 3

The first Indian I saw here was in a bar in the airport at 10am.

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Yesterday went pretty well. We saw the Rangers at Padres in Peoria. Rangers lost, but we had great seats and the facility was nice. It was great to walk around the practice field beforehand and watch guys from the Mariners camp (they share the facilities with San Diego) practicing. We saw Ritchie Sexson and Randy Winn, among others.

Last night we went to the Arizona State University campus to watch the Sooners take on the Sun Devils. Very lively, good game. Had a number of ejections, some good pitching, good hitting. It really got freakin' cold though. Had a jacket, but since I was in shorts... yeah, it was cold.

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It's incredibly dry here. I'm a guy with dry skin anyway, and let me tell you, I'm positively ashy. I have no idea how people stay hydrated here. Hood's knuckles are cracked and bleeding.

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He did bump into a Hawaiian guy here the other day. Had some name for him... I forget what. But it didn't seem to mean "let's bludgeon this guy from Texas" or anything."

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Today we headed out to Surprise to see the Angels at Rangers. Caught the Royals (who share the facilities with Texas) and Angels players practicing on the back fields. There was a definite air of tension among the minor leaguers in the KC camp, clearly giving it all their effort. Definitely a hungry bunch of guys.

And seeing Vlad Guerrero taking BP this morning... that was the most amazing display I've ever seen. No batting gloves, no hat... just in the cage, swinging at everything, and knocking a lot of it way, way over the fences. Sometimes the fielders didn't even turn around...

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The Rangers/Angels game was good, but our seats weren't so great. And food service was SLOW. God. Never get in a line run run by white-haired people...

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Chan Ho Park pitched 4-ish innings. Brilliant one batter, awful another... Paul Byrd pitched for the Angels and looked much steadier. Was nice to see Teixiera and Soriano and all. We left in the 8th; the park has a rep for really being tough to get out of because of the crowded streets.

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Leaving soon... shalom.