I thought I’d start off by throwing out some numbers that were significant to my Arizona experience today…

1…

3…

5…

9…

13…

15…

17…

18…

28…

36…

78…

203…

If yesterday was a good day, today was even better. Hard to believe…I know. I had so many ideas of how to write this article, but I couldn’t pick just one. So, I’m going to try to incorporate them all. I’ll have numbers. I’ll have a narrative. I’ll have pictures and links. And of course I will editorialize.

Oh, you want to know what the numbers mean? Ok, I’ll tell you.

1…The home run (1^st) hit today by Alfonso Soriano as a member of the Chicago Cubs

3…The amount of hits Jacque Jones had against left-handed pitchers today

5…The number of rows away from the court I sat at the Phoenix-Charlotte game tonight

9…The number of base runners allowed by Joe Kennedy in 2 innings of work

13…The jersey number of two-time NBA MVP Steve Nash who I watched dazzle the crowd

15…The amount of combined walks allowed by the Cubs and Athletics in Mesa today

17…The amount of combined runs scored by the Cubs and Athletics

18…The temperature (in degrees F) in New York at the start of the Chicago-Oakland game

28…The temperature in Chicago at the start of this same baseball game

36…plus a D…the size of particular body parts on the Hooters girls wandering around HoHoKam Park and the Phoenix Suns dancer jumping up and down in front of me at the U.S. Airways Center

78…The temperature in Mesa at the start of the same baseball game I’ve been talking about since #1

203…The amount of minutes it took to complete the damn baseball game!

I ventured out to Mesa this afternoon to take in the game between the Chicago Cubs and Oakland A’s. I was running a little late (yeah again!) but not as late as Monday. I got to the park around 12:20 with the game scheduled to start at 1:05. I like to get to the stadium early so I can wander around and check out all the nuances of the park. As you’ve already seen, I also like to take pictures.

I headed right up to the press box this afternoon and found it to be relatively empty…at least compared to the one in Scottsdale yesterday. I was able to find a seat in the front row and decided to sit in the air conditioning today. It was pretty hot. (I’m purposely trying to rub it in! J ). The Cubs media relations people really had their act together. They had seats assigned to certain media members and a diagram outlining the locations. They also had their media guide available…the first team I’ve come across that had one complete for the 2007 season. There was food somewhere, but I couldn’t seem to locate that room. Instead, I just satisfied my thirst with a few cans of Diet Pepsi.

HoHoKam Park was nothing special. It’s an old structure, and the seats are much farther away from the field than they are in Scottsdale. The batter’s eye in centerfield is huge, and the scoreboard really isn’t very informative. The area surrounding the ballpark was significantly more populated than I expected. As it turns out, the city of Mesa has a population of more than 435,000 people and is one of the fastest growing cities in the United States. Not only that, it’s currently ranked as the 40^th largest city in the country between Virginia Beach and Atlanta! I don’t know about you, but I certainly didn’t know that.

The game got underway officially at 1:06 PM with the PA announcer providing the game time temperature in Mesa and in Chicago. When he announced that it was 78 degrees in Arizona and 28 degrees back in Illinois, the crowd erupted with cheers! It was actually kind of funny. I could appreciate it though.

The Cubs pretty much put out their starting lineup this afternoon with the exception of Ryan Theriot at SS. Carlos Zambrano was on the hill for Chicago. Not a bad bunch of players to see at a Spring Training game I thought. The A’s, being the visiting team, only brought a minimal amount of veterans as required by Major League rules. Nick Swisher, Jason Kendall, and Shannon Stewart were in the lineup for Oakland, and Joe Kennedy was the starting pitcher.

Zambrano kicked off the game by laboring through a scoreless first inning. But if you thought Zambrano had it bad, just wait until you hear what Kennedy had to endure. Joe took the hill and was promptly greeted by a home run off the bat of Alfonso Soriano…his first as a member of the Chicago Cubs. The scoring didn’t stop there, however. Chicago proceeded to send 9 men to the plate, picking up 4 runs on 5 hits (a single, 2 doubles, a triple, and a home run!) and a walk. I should have known this was a sign of things to come!

Zambrano continued to pitch for 2 more innings and finished with 3 innings pitched, allowing 2 runs on 3 hits and 3 walks. He also hit a batter.

The key word of the day was “walk.” There was no shortage of walks in Mesa on this Wednesday afternoon. The Cubs pitchers combined to walk 10, yes 10, batters. The Athletics gave up 5 free passes. Needless to say, it got a little boring around the 5^th inning when all the regulars began being replaced. Luckily for us men in attendance, a few ladies from these fine establishments started passing out flyers to the fans in attendance. It was a nice little distraction for a few minutes.

Meanwhile, back on the diamond, there were walks, and more walks, and still even more walks! When all was said and done, the Cubs had defeated the A’s by a score of 9-8. 17 runs, 28 hits, 15 walks, and 3 hours and 23 minutes later, we left the ballpark!

General Baseball Observations of the Day

• I did get to catch a few prospects I was looking to see including Kurt Suzuki and Javier Herrera of the A’s, and Felix Pie and Jeff Samardzija of the Cubs.
• As I mentioned earlier, Jacque Jones had 3 hits against left-handed pitchers today, and Derrek Lee looked to be swinging the bat well, collecting 3 hits of his own.
• Even though he was wild, Zambrano’s velocity seemed fine.
• Say what you will about Alfonso Soriano and his huge contract, everything the guy hits, he hits hard. The sound of the ball off his bat is very distinct…like very few others.
• Nick Swisher really needs a haircut. He should call Steve Nash!
• Maybe someone can enlighten me about the DH in exhibition games…I don’t understand why a DH was used in the Angels-Giants game yesterday at a National League park, but the pitchers hit today in the Cubs-A’s game, also at a National League park. What’s the deal with that?
• Quote of the day: A vendor at the end of the 7^th inning could be heard yelling out, “Last call for beer…it’s not too late in the game to start drinking!”

Moving on to the rest of my day…I made the way back to my hotel to clean up a little before heading to the U.S. Airways Center to catch the Phoenix Suns – Charlotte Bobcats game. I left Scottsdale around 5:30 and made it to downtown Phoenix by 6:20. Once again, there was quite a bit of traffic. On the way to the arena, I passed Chase Field, home of the Arizona Diamondbacks. I was pretty impressed by the building. It will be nice to have something like that back in New York soon!

Traveling around Phoenix is a snap once you’ve been exposed to the streets of Manhattan. Phoenix reminded me of a cleaner Pittsburgh, a larger Providence, and a smaller Boston all wrapped up in one. The streets run much like they do in Pittsburgh, the concentration of skyscrapers are similar to those in Boston, and the overall layout of the city and its surrounding areas reminds me of Providence.

Anyway, I found parking pretty easily and paid a mere $5. That’s something I’m not used to. Anyone who has ever tried to park in a lot in New York City knows that it’s going to cost you a minimum of $20 for an event at Madison Square Garden.

When I reached the entrance to the arena, I was astounded. I know I’m fascinated with architecture (see Scottsdale Stadium yesterday), but this was the most beautiful sports facility I have ever seen. The facade is glass and the building is immaculate. The lighting was perfect and all entrances were clearly marked. Concession stands were aplenty and lines were minimal. You can check out a picture of U.S. Airways Center by going here or viewing this article in the blog. I picked up my ticket at “will call” and looked for the gate to Section 106.

I should mention that all Phoenix Suns games are sold out for the rest of the season except for some scattered single seats. I was fortunate enough to nab a 5^th row, reasonably priced seat behind the north basket. Don’t ask me how, but I did.

I had forgotten how great it was to cheer for a basketball team that actually played well! The arena was electrifying. People were pumped up, the gorilla was running around, and the dancers, man the dancers, were shaking everything. But I’ll get to that in a few minutes.

It’s been a long time since I’ve seriously watched an NBA game. So, somehow I was expecting Steve Nash to have long hair! But long hair or short, this is the same Steve Nash we’ve all come to appreciate.

I’ve been privileged to see (and sometimes meet) many Hall of Fame Athletes in person over the last 25 years…from Wayne Gretzky and Mark Messier to Michael Jordan, Troy Aikman, Cal Ripken, and Tony Gwynn. Steve Nash fits right in with that group in my opinion. When you watch Nash play, you immediately realize why this guy is a 2-time MVP and a future Hall of Famer. Not only does he pass the ball like he has five sets of eyes, he scores, rebounds and commands the respect of his team while being one of the most unselfish players I’ve ever seen. But most importantly, he really seems to appreciate what he has.

As the Suns were warming up for the second half, three very cute kids wearing Phoenix jerseys started calling out to Nash during lay up drills. The kids couldn’t have been more than 5 or 6 years old. To the surprise of us all watching, Nash actually stopped before his turn, looked over to the kids, smiled and waved…kind of a funny, playful wave too. It just was a simple gesture that confirmed the fact that Steve Nash, one of the best players in the NBA, really gets it. He understands what is important both on and off the court, and is someone who is worthy of being labeled an idol.

I had an absolute blast at the game, and it made me wonder why I don’t attend more NBA games. Then I remembered. The Knicks suck! Phoenix went on to win the very exciting game in overtime, 115-106.

Now for the dancers…admit it, you couldn’t wait. Sitting where we were in the lower tier of the arena, our section got an up close (and almost personal!) view of the Phoenix Suns dancers. There was one dancer in particular who literally sat right in front of our section. There are not a lot of words to describe the way she looked so I’m just going to sum it up this way. Jenn Sterger is no longer the official pin-up girl of Baseball Digest Daily. From now on, that honor belongs to Emily of the Phoenix Suns dance team.

If you don’t think she’s worthy, just check out this set of pictures. It would be really interesting to figure out how much time the men in Section 106 watched the game tonight as opposed to the dancers. Maybe we can even come up with a sabermetric calculation or something to figure it out!

So, that was my day. I wish every day was like today, but I guess that’s why this is a vacation of sorts. Until tomorrow…

Observations of the Day

• I’m really starting to like Arizona more and more, but I can do without the traffic. What is that all about?
• I still haven’t made it to any restaurants although a few of you have made some recommendations. Thank you!
• Tomorrow will be another busy day. I plan on visiting two baseball parks and then catching the Coyotes hockey game in the evening. Of course I mean FUN busy!

Upcoming Schedule

Thursday, March 8

San Francisco at Milwaukee in Maryvale @ 1:05

Texas at Oakland in Phoenix @ 1:05

(I plan to take in ½ of each game)

Canucks at Coyotes (Hockey) @ 7:00

Friday, March 9

Chicago Cubs at Texas in Surprise @ 1:05

LA Angels at Kansas City in Surprise @ 7:05

Saturday, March 10

Texas at San Francisco in Scottsdale @ 1:05

Sunday, March 11

San Diego at Arizona in Tucson @ 1:05

Kansas City at Colorado in Tucson @ 1:05

(I plan to take in ½ of each game)

If you missed any previous reports, you can find them here:

Day One (March 5, 2007)

Day Two (March 6, 2007)

Due to the length of today’s article, there will be no standard newsletter this evening.