Spring Training Day 1: Planet Jupiter and the Ozzie Show

Greetings from my old stomping grounds, Jupiter, Fla. I checked out Marlins camp today and I’ll be over on the Cardinals side tomorrow. A little later today, I’ll be posting some photos I took, but in the meantime, some tidbits…

* Hanley Ramirez had a rough live BP session facing Alex Sanabia. One of the first pitches he saw was up and in, caught him on the shoulder and knocked him down. He was fine, and stayed in. A little later, he broke a bat on a ball he hit into left field.

* Jose Reyes appears, from today’s sampling, to be THE guy among Marlins fans. He has a gallery like a star golfer. When he goes from one field to another, the crowd follows. And, I might say, understandably so. There aren’t many players who are actually fun to watch practice, but Reyes is one of them.

* Mark Buehrle was among the guys who threw live BP, as were Heath Bell and hard-throwing lefty Mike Dunn.

* And, of course, I got to sit in on the Ozzie Guillen Show. It is, in fact, that entertaining. Much of it simply can’t be put up here, not even paraphrased or with …’s. Ozzie works blue. A few nuggets from his session…

* Talking about games starting very soon: “[That's when] the good things start. This is boring. That’s the fun. It’s fun to see people compete.”

* On Ramirez playing third base, and the fact that Ramirez is finding that the ball gets on you a lot quicker at third base than at shortstop: “Good. You don’t have a chance to think. Just grab it and throw it.”

* On retiring managers: “I wish I could do like Tony [La Russa]. Win a championship and go home. That’s awesome.”

* On tomorrow’s fan event in Miami: “We lead the league in fan fests.”

For more and better Marlins news, you should of course check Marlins.com and Joe Frisaro’s blog and twitter feed.