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Notes From Doggs' Spring Training Camp
Las Vegas gets ready for 2006
By Conor Intabedd / The Weekly Reno Rag
As the smoke clears, a whole new team emerges. The 2006 Las Vegas Doggs, a very different team than its 2005 counterpart, started its workouts this past Monday in Panama City, Florida.
Recently, Aramis Ramirez said goodbye to friend and long time Dogg Miguel Tejada. Miguel was at one point the face of the franchise, serving as the team captain in 2003. Tejada was recently traded to division rival Shaddupu. When Ramirez heard the news he was devastated.
"I don't know what I would do if I was ever forced out of Las Vegas. I love it here. Miguel loved it here. I'm sad to see him go, but at the same time I'm glad it wasn't me," Aramis was quoted as to saying between drills at the Doggs training facility.
In actuality, Ramirez was traded on December 27, 2005 to the Golden Gryphons for Brad Lidge and a group of draft picks. Vegas management never got around to telling him during the off season, and never caught word of the transaction because he was so busy with his new workout regiment in order to push past last year's injury. When Ramirez showed up to the Doggs' camp on time and ready to go, no one had the heart to tell him he wasn't part of the team, so they let him in like nothing had ever happened.
"He just looked so eager to contribute and show everyone how far he had come during the off-season. I couldn't turn him away," team manager Roger Lodge said.
"When we saw how dedicated Aramis was, we did everything in our power to trade for him and get him back, officially, in black and gold," GM Howe Dogg told reporters, "Luckily we were successful and got him back on our roster before he ever found out the truth."
Mark Prior and Ben Sheets both have complained about stiffness in their throwing shoulders and will be handled gently during spring training. There is skepticism around camp about the two starters. Many think they both may need some sort of surgery soon, and may miss some significant time in 2006.
Carlos Beltran (Puerto Rico), Jason Bay (Canada), Albert Pujols (Dominican Republic), Jake Peavy (USA), Francisco Rodriguez (USA), and Brad Lidge (USA) have been the only ones missing from Doggs camps due to their involvement in the World Baseball Classic. Doggs' owner Adam Howe has been very vocal about his supporting stance of the tournament, and has ordered that a sign addressed to Dogg's fans coming to see the team in action this March in Panama City be put out at the box office window asking their fans to "please understand the importance of the event." Unlike other team's notices, all words were spelled correctly, including the team's name. In the alternate league, the MLB, the New York Yankees put up a sign apologizing for certain players not being present due to their involvement in the WBC. The team's name (Yankees) was misspelled (Yankess) on their sign.
Braden Looper was let go by the team 8 minutes after camp started. He was running late to camp due to his wife scolding him that morning for leaving the freezer open the night before, allowing the food to spoil and ice cubes to melt. "She likes her water really cold," Lopper said.
The Doggs and Rockets played an exhibition game yesterday. Roy Halladay looked great on the mound for Vegas, giving up only one run and 4 hits in 5 innings of work, but Rockets' starter A.J. Burnett threw 4 shut out innings while Javier Vazquez, Matt Morris, and Eddie Guardado combined for 2 hits and no runs to finish off the final 4 innings. The Doggs lost 1-0. Andruw Jones batted in Chase Utley with a double in the 3rd inning for the only score of the game.
Conor Intabedd writes an opinion column for The Weekly Reno Rag, and he's really getting sick of his editor taking forever to publish his stories. Hey, wait a second...
