Baseball, sun, repeat as necessary

PHOENIX -- If you're not in the mood for doing a lot of reading about my spring training trip, just check out yesterday's blog and swap out the dates.

Honestly, yesterday was just like the day before. And I'm not complaining. Not one tiny bit.

As any spring training veteran will tell you, that's sort of how it is down here. Wake up, watch baseball, relax and do it again. There are worse ways to spend a day.

Yesterday we got to Maryvale early enough to scope out a seat in right field -- the game was crowded because the Brewers were playing the Angels, a team whose fans travel especially well. We ran into a few Milwaukee friends, too, happy as we were to be outside enjoying the hot Arizona sun.

With Jeff Suppan starting, we made a little gentlemen's bet on many runs he'd surrender before being chased off the mound. I predicted four. It turned out to be five in three innings. If nothing else comes from this trip, I hope Brewers General Manager Doug Melvin agrees with me that Suppan doesn't deserve a spot in the rotation.

After the seventh inning, we wandered over to the Brewers' minor league facility and watched dozens of unknown baseball players practice in one of those sights that only happens out here. Baseball is everywhere, and maybe we caught a glimpse of the future of the franchise with Cutter Dykstra taking a few hacks.

Our hotel, the Sheraton Crescent, is really close to Maryvale, so for a change, our commute back and forth was quite short. It even allowed to us to slow and down make a leisurely trip to James' house, where our group got together for a great barbecue.

But this group kept growing, as friends of friends jumped in, and, not feeling terribly creative, we returned to Old Town Scottsdale.

We picked Salty Seniorita's, and oddly, it was dead. After much hand wringing, we ventured a mile west to the T.T. Roadhouse, 2915 N. 68th St., a bar that felt more "Milwaukeee" than almost anywhere I've encountered out here.

This is the kind of place where you can drink a can of Pabst, and it bumped our mojo right back up to ride out the rest of the night -- which ended way too late. A few hours of sleep later, we're ready to start anew, back to Maryvale for the Brewers / Royals match-up.

Three days into our trip, it feels like three weeks. And that's exactly what I hoped for. Tan but barely rested, it's time to do it again.