The Big Toe

For lack of any other massive story lines on the first day of Spring Training, there is of course, always time to talk about The Toe.

Pedro did some long tossing and clad in his new, custom-made, toe-cushioned cleats, pronounced himself reasonably fit, under the circumstances:

"It's improving," Martinez said. "I'm feeling more comfortable. It's going to take a little time, but I'm very optimistic about the way things are."

And whilst we’re on the subject, in particular, it’s the sesamoid bone -- a small bone that protects the tendon that flexes the toe – which is the bone of contention, so to speak:



So study hard, boys and girls, this could potentially be the story of the Mets’ season and while we won’t bother worrying too much about it just yet, best to bone up on the area in question once we are overwhelmed with medical jargon to explain why the season is going up in flames…

On an encouraging if not outright sensationalist note, it appears that the number one pick last season, the 6’7 Mike Pelfrey wowed onlookers yesterday and has more than one person speculating on him making the rather incredible leap from Class A to Shea in one season. All good and well in the heat of excitement this early but for crissakes, he hasn’t even thrown a pitch against live hitters yet!

We’ve also learned that Tom Glavine is well adept at jumping cones and vertical and horizontal jumping all around – whether this means he’ll win 15 games this season remains to be seen of course, it’s like trying to pick a kid’s SAT scores before he’s even out of the womb.

One pitcher who didn’t get off too well, whacked by some sort of flu, was Billy Wagner:



Not a pretty sight to see our fire-armed closer looking like he had a rough night in the local pub – we won’t read far into the omens of his first day of Spring Training but well, let's just hope it isn't Bird Flu, ha!

Mere irony that Wagner was assigned Doc Gooden's former corner locker?

For those of you, like me, who aren’t partaking or watching the fun in the sun, here is a little video postcard from camp.

Also nicked off the mlb.com sight was the unusually candid admission from Ramon Castro:

"He unpacked his bags Friday morning, went through the physical and other tests and plopped down on the stool by his locker. "The first day is always the hardest," he said.

Why?

After an extended pause, he fessed up.

"It really isn't, but we just say that. I don't know why."

*****

How can you not root for Jose Lima to make the team? I mean, not only is his wife well publicised for being well, unusually fit, but I mean, the guy's just got style - and a sense of humour, a good clubhouse pressure reliever: