So, as far as I'm concerned, one of the purest pleasures a baseball aficionado can have is watching batting practice. I'm sure I've mentioned that before, multiple times. One thing about this spring training trip, though, is that I actually did not get to see much of BP. In Baseball City I was listening to Joe Torre, and then we got cut short by rain. In Dunedin the good autograph area was not a good sight line to the cage. At Legends the first time, we arrived minutes into the game and missed all the pregame festivities. So for our second trip to Legends we decided to get up early, arrive by ten in the morning, and see what there was to see.

Julian and Heather spent the night at a friend's apartment in Tampa and planned to meet us later, so me, corwin, Mom and Dad put our sunblock on and were getting out of the car just as the Yankees were starting their team stretch.

When we came over the footbridge we could see them, forty or so players in a circle around Jeff Mangold, the strength and conditioning coach. Unfortunately for us, they had formed their circle on the main field, inside Legends Field proper, which did not bode well for us watching BP. But over on the practice field, the screens were set up and there was a basket of balls on the mound, so maybe? Maybe?

We stood on the bridge with the other die hards who had come that early, ticket-seekers and some who had just come to see the place itself. Fans were already lined up along the walkway to the practice field, hopeful for autographs. The team finished their stretching and paired up to play catch.

If you've been wondering, as I was, who Derek Jeter's new long toss partner would be now that Chuck Knoblauch is gone, I have the answer. It's Alfonso Soriano.

When they were done throwing, the pitchers headed to the bullpen, and a group of position players broke off from the main group and headed to the practice field. It was all the backup catchers and utility infielders, and few guys who had already been reassigned to the minor league camp but who were brought over today for late inning substitutions. Drew Henson was among them, but I'd never really seen him up close. Standing at the fence by the batting cage, though, I kept thinking, hmm, who can that really tall, strapping, Gilette Commercial handsome guy be? The guy who looks like, well, a football quarterback? That has to be Henson, I thought, but no one around me could tell me if that was him for sure. Also in the group, Alberto Castillo, F. P. Santangelo, Luis Sojo, Chris Widger and others. Sojo has always looked more like a coach than a player in some ways, and he was the one hitting fungoes in the place of Don Zimmer, who had stayed with the main group inside. Then he went out to shag flies and joke with the crowd.

After they hit, Chris Widger, Todd Greene, and Ron Coomer all signed autographs until they really had to go in.

After a quick trip through the "Legends Room" souvenir shop, we went in ourselves. In there, the Blue Jays were starting their BP, and security was doing what they do at Yankee Stadium, namely, keeping the hoi polloi out of the season ticket holders' seats. Hmm. Last year, they had let us line up along the right field line and behind the dugout until a certain point, when they would shoo people without tickets away. Maybe we'd been in the shop longer than I thought, but it seemed to me they were being stricter about not allowing people near the field other than those with tickets.

As such, when Roger Clemens was standing around waiting for some family members to arrive, and he decided to sign some autographs, only those in that section could get near him. As it was, it was a bit of a mob, with the ushers trying to keep those seeking the signature lined up along the steps, but more and more people kept coming in from the sides. Roger signed a few short minutes and then his people came down. Security let them onto the field and they exchanged hugs with The Rocket as the crowd dispersed back to their seats.

On that day, we were looking forward to seeing David Wells in a Yankee uniform again. He had been pitching great all spring, and now the impulsiveness of George Steinbrenner, who signed Wells to a two year contract worked out on a cocktail napkin at a Clearwater burger joint, was looking like prescient genius.

Wells was not at his absolute best, but he was pretty good. Through the first four innings, he scattered three hits and walked one, which was quite good. But in the fifth, he gave up a lead off home run to Jays catcher Tom Wilson, and then successive hits to SS Chris Woodward and LF Shannon Stewart, putting men at second and third. Homer Bush grounded into a fielder's choice, plating Woodward. Boomer gathered himself to strike out Raul Mondesi and retire Brian Lesher on a grounder, having given up only two runs. He gave up another run in the sixth on a leadoff double by Chris Latham, a single by Chad Mottola, and though he struck out Eric Hinske, Tom Wilson hit an RBI single to score Latham and give himself a 3-for-3 off Wells. A double play ended the inning and Wells' day. Six inning, nine hits, three runs.

Not too bad considering that the Yankees had a 6-3 lead when Wells left the game. I've mentioned before that the Yankees have been scoring a lot of runs in the first inning of their games this spring. This day was no exception. Soriano led off with a long fly to right that looked like it might go foul. But it didn't go foul, it fell fair after being touched by the rightfielder, putting Sori on second on the error. Jeter walked. And up came Jason Giambi.

Hmm, just like yesterday I thought. But this time I had said to corwin as we had taken our seats; "Today Giambi is going to hit a home run."

Well, my Giambi mojo is still not in mid-season form, as yesterday it misfired--he hit the ball 400 feet but it was only a double. Today? Now? Damn, same thing. He walloped the ball to the wall, almost a homer, scoring Sori and Jeet, and landing himself on second. John Vanderwal then singled, moving Gigi (my nickname for him, please don't tell him) to third. Robin Ventura then grounded into a double play, but that scored Giambi, 3-0 Yanks.

We got two more in the fourth when Shane Spencer doubled, moved to third on a wild pitch from starter Brandon Lyon, and then scored on an RBI single from Marcus Thames. Blue chip prospect progress report the day? Thames went two-for-two with a walk, a stolen base, and two runs scored. OVer-the-hill outfielder report of the day? Gerald Williams went 2-for-4 with a single, a double, and a run scored. Not bad, Gerald. As I've said before, I hope he can be a contributor and not a dead weight.

The Yankees tacked on two more runs in the sixth on the aforementioned Thames (reached on an error), Williams single, and a Luis Sojo single. No one gets a louder cheer at Legends Field than Derek Jeter, but believe it or not, Luis Sojo comes pretty darn close. We didn't get to see him do it, but they tell me he's been doing the YMCA with the ground crew some days. Let's face it, we fans love him, and always will. Ron Coomer had an RBI single as well. And Drew Henson got an at bat, and worked a walk. When the inning ended, the score stood 8-3 Yanks.

Randy Choate pitched the seventh and was quite good except for one pitch Raul Mondesi got a hold of and hit for a home run. Mike Stanton pitched a nice eighth in which the one man who reached on a leadoff single (Latham) was picked off by the lefty. Would we see Mo in the ninth?

No, Torre brought in Steve Karsay, who they say has closer stuff, and that's why we are paying him so much to be a set up man. It would also be nice to have someone who could close if needed, if Mo were overused at some point. But Karsay has not quite reached his midseason form, as we would discover.

His stuff was mostly good. He threw strike one to every batter, and went 0-2 on almost all of them! But he faced seven men in the ninth. Kent Huckaby singled to lead off. Chris Woodward doubled him home. Then Dave Berg got the third consecutive hit and Homer Bush hit a sac fly. Uh oh, now our comfortable 8-4 lead had shrunk to 8-6, one out. Mondesi grounded out. Then Darrin Fletcher pinch hit, and hit an RBI single. Now 8-7, two outs. Could Karsay slam the door?

The loudest I had heard the crowd since the introduction of Sojo in the sixth came with Karsay getting two strikes on Chris Latham. The two-strike clap is alive and well at Legends Field. Latham took a pitch--yes?--oh no, the ump called it a ball. Suddenly the crowd was loud, booing and groaning. Do it again. Karsay came set. The crowd began the rhythmic clap. This time Latham swung, and missed. Yes! And Frank Sinatra began to sing. Yankees win, 8-7.

Julian and Heather weren't there to see the end--they had to leave for the airport midway through the game. Baseball Christmas was coming to an end. corwin and I would leave the following day, hurrying to the airport straight from the game in Clearwater. Another early morning. I'd be picking up my media credentials at 9:30 am and under twelve hours later, be on a plane for Boston. Sigh.