Well, spring training is over, and we're now finally into the meat of the regular season (I only count the Japan Series games under protest). Now, don't get me wrong -- I'm happy the regular season is here. But I also think it's important to pay homage to spring training, its quirks, its meaningful moments, and its less-than-honorable ones.
So, in no particular order, here's a "Top 8" list of the more unique moments from the 2008 Spring Training.
- Cardinals play their AA team. Friday 3/28 saw the Cards make a visit to Springfield to play their AA club in front of a whopping crowd of 9,567.
- Yankees play Virginia Tech. A class act, made even classier by ensuring the game was played in Blacksburg.
- Yanks sign Billy Crystal to a one-day contract. He did work the count to 3-1...
- Dodgers play the Colosseum. About 120,000 came out to see a pretty fun show.
- Dodgers and Padres play China. A long trip it was...
- Red Sox and Oakland versus the Japan League. The MLB teams managed to win their four exhibition games versus the Japanese league teams, but they weren't all easy. Seems that pretty much every article contains at least one MLB player commenting on the noise level in the games. Check out this link at MLB.com for coverage of the Sox' dust-up with the Hanshin Tigers.
- The Yankees-Rays rumble. How often do suspensions have to be handed out during Spring Training games?
- Tommy Lasorda comes out of "retirement" to manage the Dodgers. While Torre and Co. took the Dodgers to China for some sightseeing and baseball, the legend came out to manage a few games for the boys in blue. Tommy's low-key style went over well, as in his first game back Lasorda got into it the umpire over a call.
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