Spring Training Trip Day One

After driving seven hours to Phoenix, I was completely exhausted when I arrived to Camelback Ranch on Friday afternoon. My fatigue quickly disappeared when I saw Zack Greinke working with Rick Honeycutt and Don Mattingly during his bullpen session right when I walked on to the glorious Camelback Ranch facility back fields.There’s something incredibly magical about being only a few feet away from the players you watch and write about on a daily basis. It’s like being a kid again.

After I enjoyed watching Greinke up close, I then headed over to the batting cages. Andre Ethier, A.J. Ellis and Alex Guerrero were all getting some work in before the night game. I noticed over the course of my two-day stay, Andre Ethier was working a lot in the cages and on the practice field working on his hitting. Scott Van Slyke was also doing a lot of offensive work as well. Van Slyke’s swing was looking sweet during workouts, and the practice helped as he hit a beautiful homerun to left field against Cleveland on Saturday afternoon.

I walked over to the practice field, and Yasiel Puig and Scott Van Slyke were just finishing up. That’s when I took the infamous Scott Van Slyke photobomb picture of Puig and I. On Saturday I found out that Puig had been scratched from the lineup after falling ill with a stomach bug. Even if Puig was feeling sick on Friday, he didn’t show it. He was pleasant as ever, and he didn’t mind taking the selfie with me. I also filmed some of the Dodgers interacting with the fans as they screamed for autographs. Jimmy Rollins had fun with the crowd, Clayton Kershaw signed amongst M.V.P. chants, and Andre Ethier also signed autographs for awhile.

After the rush of taking in the backfield action, I made my way to the Camelback Ranch press box to take in the game between the Dodgers and the Reds. Brandon McCarthy had another solid start in the 3-3 tie. The right-hander pitched 3 innings and allowed 1 run on 3 hits with 1 strikeout and 1 walk. Joel Peralta was shaky in his first outing of the Spring, and he allowed a run on 2 hits.

Adrian Gonzalez picked up one of his signature RBIs while Justin Turner brought in the run on the Gonzo single. Joc Pederson had 2 hits in the game, and he scored the second Dodger run on a RBI groundout by Kike´ Hernandez. The Dodgers were down 3-2 going into the bottom of the ninth, but young Corey Seager had something to say about that. Seager’s sacrifice fly brought in Darnell Sweeney to tie up the game at three apiece after Sweeney had doubled and reached third on a fly ball to center field by Hernandez. It was an exciting ending for the sold out crowd in Glendale.

The Dodgers tied for the fourth time this Spring. The record for the L.A. Dodgers is 5 Spring ties which they had last season.

Once the game commenced, I packed up and headed back to my hotel in downtown Phoenix exhausted but still running on adrenaline. If my experience at Spring Training has given me any signs of what is to come for the Dodgers in 2015, it’s shaping up to be a very successful year for the Boys in Blue. There’s a lot to look forward to including the Joc Pederson era which is now upon us. With Corey Seager and Julio Urias also in the wings, the Dodgers have much talented youth at their disposal. The cactus may be in bloom this Spring, but the palm trees in L.A. will be swaying in the breeze once the Dodgers get back into town this April.