Sunday, March 21 1999

Good morning and welcome to Day 2 of the 6th Annual Spring Training Trek 1999!

A couple of administrative notes. Thank you for the kind response to my first posting. I should explain that it is 1 AM by the time I get back to the Resort and begin typing up the day's events. In the game descriptions, I will often use standard phrases to describe play. For example, when a player grounds out to second, there is an implied throw to first. When he pops out, the ball goes real high, then comes down real fast to the infield. When he flies out, the ball goes real far real fast, and is caught by an outfielder. Portions of the game may be missing due to my being late, being busy sucking down food, or just being lazy and/or tired to write accurate descriptions. Hey, you get what you pay for.

One thing I must comment on is Disney Transportation. They have a difficult job, moving hundreds of thousands of people from dozens of resorts to over a dozen attraction areas. Today, they did not work well for me. First, my resort is the first stop in a 5-stop chain before going to the desired location. I managed to get to the stop just after my bus left, an automatic 20 minute wait. I get to MGM Studios, the transfer point to the Disney Wide World of Sports complex, and just miss that bus too. Fortunately, while finally riding the bus over to the ballpark, the rains pour (which caused a 10 minute delay of game which I also missed along with the first inning and a half). At least they were pleasant about it.

So as I said, the rain had just about stopped when I reached the 4th row directly behind home plate. The Braves had 2 runs off three hits and 1 error. Lopez drove in the runs, and Guillen had the error. The Astros had 2 hits, 1 run (unearned), and no errors. Tom Glavine was on the mound for the home team and had an easy top of the 3rd, with ground outs to short, 2nd, and 3rd. In the bottom of the third, Guillen walked, Chipper struck out, Jordon popped out to 2nd, and Lopez struck out to end the inning.

In the top of the 4th, Bagwell lined into center, but was tagged out on a double play by Camenitti. A ground out to short ended an easy inning for Tom Glavine. In the bottom of the 4th, Randall Simon ground out to 2nd, George Lombard, hitting .261, drew a walk. Grafannino flied out to center, and Glavine ground out to 2nd to end the inning.

The Braves were playing a split squad game, with half the team in Tampa playing the Yankees. I was listing to the gentleman behind me talk on his cell phone with a Braves fan at the game, reporting Odalis Perez getting 7 strikeouts in 4 innings, but then giving up a run on a walk, an error, and a balk. Turns out that the man, accompanied by his wife Susan, was non other than Dean Taylor, whose title (I think) is Director of Player Development. I am sure someone can correct me if I am wrong on that. Only at Disney would you dance between innings to the "Bare Necessities" from the Jungle Book. Now I will never get that tune out of my head.

The 5th inning went quickly for the Astros. In the bottom of the inning, Nixon beat out a ground ball to first. Mike Remlinger came on in the 6th and pitched two innings, throwing a lot of pitches but not getting into any trouble. Starting with a slow Spring, this was a good sign for the new relief pitcher. Also a good sign was Mark Wohlers in the top of the 8th. Mark received an ovation to start the inning, and a standing O when he left, after striking out two and getting three outs with just 15 pitches (9 for strikes, the last won at 96 MPH). The problem with being a closer during Spring Training, though, is that the starters have already been taken out of the game. So you don't get to pitch against the cream of the Major Leagues.

In the bottom of the inning, Brian Jordan lined into right field for a leadoff hit, then steals 2nd. Mike Mahoney, who had come in to catch, grounded to 2nd but moved the runner to 3rd. Randall Simon poked it into center, scoring Jordan to give the Braves a 3-1 lead. In the top of the 9th, the sun was shining and Kevin McGlinchy, a non-roster invitee, came in to close. Throwing 93 MPH, McGlinchy gets the Astros

1-2-3 to give the Braves the win. Totals for the Braves were 3 runs, 6 hits, 1 error. For the Astros, 1 run, 4 hits, no errors.

After the game and a quick change, I went to Downtown Disney's West Side for La Nouba, the new Cirque du Soleil production. If you have never seen a Cirque du Soleil performance, I can not possibly begin to describe it. If you have seen the Cirque, you know you have to just see it to believe it. La Nouba is a most pleasant visual and auditory assault on your senses, leaving you think not just how did they do that, but how did they ever think of trying it in the first place. Combining clowns, imagery, music, acrobatics, aerial gymnastics, and more, the show was well worth the pricey $60 price tag.

Afterwards, I went to Bongos, the Cuban cafe created by Miami superstar Gloria Estefan. A Cuban Fried Steak and Bacardi Mojito hit the spot and put me in the mood for some pleasure. Pleasure Island, that is. PI is an entertainment center whose cover charge is included in my 7-day resort pass. First stop was the Comedy Warehouse, where a 15 year-old's vacation is turned into food for laughter. Next stop was the Adventurers Club, a 1937 establishment holding a membership open house.

There I was selected to be named Steve, guard a stone mask of a goddess, genuflect and do the cha cha. And I still had to pay for my drink.

With 30 minutes before midnight, I stopped by the Jazz Company to catch a couple of songs by the R&B Kings before heading outside for the final New Years Eve countdown. Tomorrow will be another night game, so I will be taking advantage of the daytime to make my first visit to the Animal Kingdom. If I don't get mauled by a lion, I will check back with you all tomorrow, after the game. 'Til then,

Fuskie