12:50 to Yuma

Hey folks!! We've arrived in the southwestern desert city of Yuma plenty in advance for Friday night's series-opener. Yuma is recognized as the Sunniest City in North America by the Guiness Book of World Records. Overall, it was a good trip. On our fourth long-trip on the bus, I certainly am sleeping easier. I must've been out for one six-hour stretch from 2am to 8am. Woke up as we were pulling into our regular stopping spot in Palm Springs. I didn't sleep 4 hours total, round-trip on that first trip to Tucson. The trip is a lot shorter when you're dreaming.

Was a good trip. Kangaroo Court for the first time this year (absolutely in-house, no questions). Only two movies. That should show how much we're all getting accustomed to sleeping in our seats. Two action flicks (boooooo). I prefer something funny as we roll along into the night in the middle of nowhere, although, the kidnap thriller "Taken" wasn't too bad on a 5 inch screen from six feet away. Evan White was named pitcher of the week right before we left, so that was a topic on the bus. And back to back wins to get us out on the road was beneficial as well.

Being back in Yuma is exciting for me and a few others on the bus. I met Greg Cadaret and BJ Underkofler here in Yuma at this past February's 2009 Arizona Winter League. Greg Cadaret was the manager of the San Luis Atleticos, who played in San Luis, Arizona...a small town right across the border from a rather large San Luis Rio Colorado, Mexico (300,000 population). You could very literally see the border-fence between the US and Mexico beyond the outfield fence. Underkofler was the primary catcher on Cadaret's Atleticos squad that won their division, reached the playoffs, and got ousted by fellow AWL'er Mikael Ryder.

I worked for the league as official scorer and website author. I wrote a blog back then for the AWL and you can find it at: http://theawl.blogspot.com/ The Desert Sun Stadium complex itself is a great place, the former home of the San Diego Padres spring-training. Meaning, back in the 70's, a whole lot of amazing Major Leaguers spent time in the very clubhouse we'll use. Willie Mays is the first name that comes to mind. It'll be nice to see Mike Marshall and the rest of the Yuma front office staff I worked with, and sit at my old desk...the first desk I ever occupied working for professional baseball.

So here we are...I've got a host family to catch up with (Bob and Susan Lauer), and the weather is forecasted as a high temperature no lower than 106 over the weekend. It's hot out there right now. Sitting in a hotel room watching television in the afternoon has never been a better idea. I expect to butcher some of the Colombian names on the Scorpions roster this weekend, so apologies in advance. And no crowd microphone as well. They have the Yuma press box sealed air-tight so we can enjoy the air-conditioning. And look for some Arizona Winter League memories to be posted up here on the blog from Cadaret, Underkofler and Ryder. I think we all left town about three and a half months ago thinking if we didn't return soon, it'd be too quickly. But here we are, and we'll now recognize how much more pleasant Yuma was in February and also how much fun we all had during the 2009 Arizona Winter League.