Spring is in the air...

This is a wonderful time of year to live in Arizona - it's 74f outside with wall to wall bright beautiful sunshine! What makes it more wonderful is that MLB Spring Training is just around the corner!

For those of you reading overseas who are not so familiar with Major League Baseball, Spring Training is a month/6 week long 'warm-up' session consisting of a series of practices and exhibition games that precedes the start of the regular season on April 5th.

Spring training allows new players to audition for roster and position spots, and gives existing team players practice time prior to competitive play. Spring training has always attracted fan attention, drawing crowds who travel to the warmer climates of Arizona and Florida to enjoy the weather, to get up close and personal to the stars and watch their favorite teams play while sat on grass embankments enjoying a cold beer, warm sunshine in small, cozy stadiums.

The 15 teams that play in Arizona will soon be arriving at the various sites around the Phoenix area, and Tucson. Here's a list of the 15 Cactus League teams... 

Arizona Diamondbacks: Tucson Electric Park, Tucson

Chicago Cubs: HoHoKam Park, Mesa
Chicago White Sox: Camelback Ranch, Glendale
Cincinnati Reds: Goodyear Ballpark, Goodyear
Cleveland Indians: Goodyear Ballpark, Goodyear
Colorado Rockies: Hi Corbett Field, Tucson
Kansas City Royals: Surprise Stadium, Surprise
Los Angeles Angels of Anaheim: Tempe Diablo Stadium, Tempe
Los Angeles Dodgers: Camelback Ranch, Glendale
Milwaukee Brewers: Maryvale Baseball Park, Phoenix
Oakland Athletics: Phoenix Municipal Stadium, Phoenix
San Diego Padres: Peoria Sports Complex, Peoria
San Francisco Giants: Scottsdale Stadium, Scottsdale
Seattle Mariners: Peoria Sports Complex, Peoria
Texas Rangers: Surprise Stadium, Surprise

The first game is March 3rd, and the last is April 3rd.  I plan on getting out to a few games again this year, especially as the Mrs is out of town for 10 days in March!

Here's the full schedule if you want to make some of the games yourself!

Cactus League 2010 Schedule 

At a fight, when a game broke out...

Often a fight between 2 baseball teams is just a lot of 'dancing', but that wasn't the case last night at a game between the Toronto Blue Jays and the New York Yankees at Yankee Stadium...towards the end of this video you'll see the Toronto pitcher has a sizable lump on his forehead...

The Yankee manager, Joe Girardi, is in the middle of it all, apparently trying to split it all up; he ended up with a black eye and a cut face for his troubles. Can you imagine Sir Alex Ferguson jumping in when trouble brews on the football pitch!?

The 'benches clearing' incident is actually pretty healthy for a club if no-one gets hurt; it shows the guys that the team will stand up for one other and 'have their backs', promoting a sense of unity and good team spirit as the Yankees head towards the Play-offs and hopefully another World Series Championship...

This all started because 2 Toronto hitters had been hit earlier in the game by Yankee pitchers...apparently accidentally. However, the Toronto team obviously didn't believe they were accidental, as this Toronto pitcher throws the ball behind the Yankee hitter (Jorge Posada) as a warning; eventually all hell breaks loose! The Yankees lost the game, but won the fight...judging by the lump on the head of the guy that started it!

It's a minute or so into the video before things heat up, so watch and learn how baseball is played...but it's not a good example for your kids in Little League...