[Vision2020] Pitchers and Catchers Report Today!(Finally!)

Wed Feb 14 18:28:28 PST 2007

And who can forget the last meeting of these two rivals?

http://www.tomandrodna.com/Stuff/Step_1.mp3

Tom Hansen

"Life should NOT be a journey to the grave with the intention of arriving
safely in an attractive and well preserved body, but rather to skid in
sideways, chocolate in one hand, a drink in the other, body thoroughly used
up, totally worn out and screaming 'WOO HOO. What a ride!'"

  _____  

From: vision2020-bounces at moscow.com [mailto:vision2020-bounces at moscow.com]
On Behalf Of Scott Dredge
Sent: Wednesday, February 14, 2007 5:51 PM
To: viz
Subject: Re: [Vision2020] Pitchers and Catchers Report Today!(Finally!)

WooHoo!  I already have my opening day tickets...row 13 behind the visitors
dugout.  The M's open Monday April 2 at Safeco against the hated A's
(Hanson's team).

-Scott

----- Original Message ----
From: Tim Lohrmann <timlohr at yahoo.com>
To: vision2020 at moscow.com
Sent: Wednesday, February 14, 2007 5:44:31 PM
Subject: [Vision2020] Pitchers and Catchers Report Today!(Finally!)

http://seattletimes.nwsource.com/html/sports/2003571058_kelley14.html?syndic
ation=rss

Steve Kelley
Baseball comes to the rescue just in time 

The pitchers and catchers report today.

Repeat the sentence over and over again like a mantra. Close your eyes and
relax, thinking about the warm desert sun.

Take a deep breath and repeat the sentence again, imagining Felix Hernandez
throwing his first fastballs of the new year to catcher Kenji Johjima.

Find your baseball Zen and listen to the pop of leather as the pitchers
throw their first long tosses. Hear the crack of the bat, a spring sound as
familiar as the robin's first tweets.

Soon the doors of Safeco Field will creak open. Spring is coming. Baseball's
got next.

The pitchers and catchers report today.

That sentence is among the most magical in sports, filled with promise and
apprehension. It is the harbinger of hope.

Even if the pitcher is Jeff Weaver and you don't know if the Mariners are
getting the Angels Jeff or the St. Louis Jeff. Even if the pitcher is
Horacio Ramirez and not Barry Zito. Even if the catcher is Rene Rivera and
you wonder what kind of shape he's in.

This is the day when spring springs eternal. When all things are possible.
When you can convince yourself that the mass moves made by M's general
manager Bill Bavasi will be the difference between worst and first in the
American League West.

Maybe the Mariners are right to be excited about right-handed set-up man
Chris Reitsma. Maybe Jose Guillen is healthy again and ready to rip 30-plus
home runs.

If a baseball fan can't dream today he never can dream.

Put reality on hold.

This is the first real day of spring and all things are possible.

Adam Jones can play the outfield. Jose Vidro can hit the long ball. Richie
Sexson can hit in the clutch.

Hernandez can win 20 games. Putz can save 50. And Ramirez can throw sick
cutters that make hitters weak-kneed.

Spring is here and already the Mariners' Opening Day lineup is set. Manager
Mike Hargrove could mail it in today. At least 23 of the 25 roster spots are
taken. And the starting rotation will be Hernandez, Weaver, Jarrod Washburn,
Miguel Batista and Ramirez - guaranteed.

The pitchers and catchers report today.

Winter is dying.

The swallows return to Capistrano. J.J. Putz returns to the mound.

Ain't nature great.

There may be 12 feet of snow in upstate New York, but catchers are fielding
bunts again in Florida and Arizona.

The baseball fields in the Midwest might be hard as concrete and the fields
in Seattle might by mucked with mud, but in Peoria, Ariz., the grass is
thick and lush, the air is clean and dry and the white base lines are as
sharp as an Ichiro single.

All it takes is the first sight of Batista covering first on a sunny morning
in February, or the first cuts in the batting cage from catching prospect
Jeff Clement to let us know the wind, rain and snow that battered us this
winter have passed.

The pitchers and catchers report today and there is nothing else quite like
it in sports.

The opening of NFL camps comes in the optimistic middle of summer, when the
days are long and the living is easy.

NBA preseason practice practically goes unnoticed, lost in the beginning of
the baseball playoffs and the middle of the football seasons.

But the pitchers and catchers are the first wave of a sports tsunami.

March Madness is almost here. Opening Day is coming. And the Masters is
approaching fast.

The fire has burned out of the Hot Stove League.

Better days are coming.

So are the Red Sox and Yankees, Tigers and Angels.

The pitchers and catchers report today. 

Baseball is back.

This should be a national holiday.

Steve Kelley: 206-464-2176 or skelley at seattletimes.com

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