JAHV

Anyone read the recent article about Weaver going back to throwing out of the old arm slot? He said his shoulder feels better than its felt in years. In theory that slightly lower arm angle should help fool batters, but I always get nervous when pitchers who have had a lot of success starts talking about tweaking their delivery.

Thanks to all. I hadn't done Spring Training since I was a kid in Palm Springs. Things have changed a little since then. The Tempe Diablo complex is amazing and the players and coaches were so much more laid back than during the regular season. They actually seemed to have fun with the fans. Of the guys we talked with Josh Hamilton, Howie Kendrick and C.J. Wilson were the friendliest. The first morning we were hanging out along the right field line waiting for autographs while the pros were stretching it out. A group of minor leaguers were making the trek down to the lower fields and one kid with a Hamilton jersey thought he saw Josh out there and called out as loud as he could "Hey Mr. Hamilton will you sign my jersey?" Hamilton who was in fact only about 15 yards from him stretching out on the ground called back "Hey kid, I'm right here...but I'll be happy to sign your jersey." He made a good first impression. Here's hoping he does the same with the stick.

Took my son to Tempe Diablo on a surprise 12th birthday trip this week. We live in Florida but work was bringing me out to San Diego, and I figured the timing was too perfect not to fly my son out with me and then drive out to AZ for a couple days. I could not have scripted it better if I tried. On Monday we showed up early and walked away with 7 autographs and 3 balls before heading off to Phoenix Municipal to watch the game against the A's. He was so happy. I was a little worried because Monday was so good I didn't think Tuesday could get much better. Showed up early again on Tuesday and got 4 more balls and he ended up with 19 total autographs. Then to top it all off, he was selected out of the crowd to be the Angel's batboy! I'm not sure who had more fun, my son running around in the field and in the dugout or me watching him from the stands. Sam had two favorite moments: Running out to get Josh Hamilton's broken bat and accidentally running into "someone big" and then realizing it was Mike Trout. My favorite moment: Watching Omar Visquel mess with him tapping him on the helmet and then pretend he was watching the field. Took a bunch of photos on my phone but my favorite pic was of Sam by the dugout with Howie Kendrick photobombing in the background (he also signed a personalized photo for Sam). Good Times.