Spring Training: Opening parry

By Ed Piper, Jr.

First stories from the Cactus League in Phoenix have to include my experience at the "crack house", what I call the first hotel I checked into off Black Canyon Highway--it was a pit.

But anecdotes from the abyss will have to await more time at the new-hotel computer keyboard. Right now I'm rushing off a quick story on La Jolla boys soccer before speeding to Sloan Park in Mesa, where the Cubbies train.

I hit Camelback Ranch, the Dodgers' and White Sox complex for Spring Training here in Phoenix, Friday morning, Feb. 24, on my first day (on three hours of sleep at the wannabe-crack house).

Then, after that quick glimpse of Clayton Kershaw, Kenley Jansen, Sergio Romo, and the rest of the Dodger pitching staff doing situation fielding drills, I sped across the Valley of the Sun for the opening game of the Cactus League: the Giants playing host to the lowly Reds at Scottsdale Stadium.

Today, Sat., Feb. 25, I watch the A's play the World Series champion Cubbies in a 1 p.m. game. More to come.