Just as we stood a few feet behind the batting cage last year with Brewers young slugger Prince Fielder, today we were almost in the cage with Kansas City Royals rising star Alex Gordon. Is he the latter-day George Brett? Time will tell.

Part two of the Fan Fest includes shots of Eric Byrnes, Brandon Webb, Carlos Quentin, Chad Tracy, Randy Johnson (Yes, the Big Unit is back from the Big Apple) and Connor Jackson. Note that Jackson overhears this reporter mentioning that Jackson is a Cal grad. Indeed is a proud Golden Bear.

At the Arizona Diamondbacks Fan Fest, 10 singers competed for the chance to sing the national anthem before a Diamondbacks home game. The first nine were women; the last one is the PA announcer at Chase Field.

Circled in red is the day pitchers and catchers report to Spring Training in Arizona. Today, we ventured over to Scottsdale Stadium to see the Giants 2007 hurlers in their tune-up sessions. Of course, our #1 mission was to see Barry Zito. As this clip shows, we were not disappointed. The position players reports next week--we'll be back (as well as to other Major League camps in the area).