No Sox today, and considering the news of Beckett and his back spasms that’s probably a good thing. Instead we crossed the state and met up with the Dodgers in Jupiter, the spring training home of the St. Louis Cardinals and the Florida Marlins. Roger Dean Stadium is like a nicer, more modern version of Fort Myers. You’ve still got the fence with the ads, but Roger Dean also more seats and funnel cake.

Today was apparently Joe Torre reunion day. When he was having his media Q&A he had to take a break to chat with Red Schoendienst. Later, after sending out a bench coach to do the lineup exchange, Torre realized that Bob Gibson was handing over the lineup for the Cardinals. In a move I’ve never seen before, Torre relived the bench coach to say hello to “Gibbie.”

Sadly no Gammons today, instead Bill Parcells made a surprise appearance at the stadium. I didn’t feel the need to get verbally abused, so I avoided saying hello. In my mind the real press-box celebrity was sitting two booths down from Parcells, Vin Scully. Unlike Parcells, Scully is personable and happy to talk and when you hear that sweet southern drawl, you listen. Very few people sound better in real life than on TV or radio, but Scully is clearly the exception.

The Dodgers pounded the living shit out of the Cardinals. In one inning they got 7 runs on 3 hits. You read that right. I’m guessing the Cardinals won’t lead the league in WHIP this season. The final score was 20-6 and it wasn’t even that close.

Following the game we headed up to Vero Beach, home of Dodgertown. Even though I’m a Sox fan the truth is Dodgertown, not Fort Myers, was the real reason for this trip. You see, this will (probably) be the final year for the Dodgers to train in Dodgertown. They’ve been there for 50 years, so you can only imagine how much history these fields have seen.

My Dad had to do his show “Dodgertalk” from the stadium tonight. The stadium is awesome, even in the dark. When I pictured “Spring Training” I pictured this. Old wooden seats, tiny press box and the dugouts don’t even have overhangs. It’s like a little league field with 7000 seats around it. There are palm tree amongst the seats brining a new meaning to “obstructed view”.

Since the place was empty and dark, I snuck onto the field for a few minutes (those 2 feet fences aren’t going to stop me). Every Dodger pitcher since the franchise moved to Los Angeles has thrown off the mound in Dodgertown and now I can say I have as well. I went into the full windup and threw a perfect strike…or a ball three feet outside. But either way, I can now say I’ve thrown from the same mound as Koufax, Drysdale and from the more Sox inclined Derek Lowe and Pedro Martinez.

Tomorrow is supposed to be the largest crowd in the history of Dodgertown. The last day here will certainly be an interesting one.