Spring training recap—Day 9

It was a milestone day for Giants catcher Buster Posey, who hit live pitching for the first time since May 25, 2011.

I don’t need to remind you what happened on that crappy day.

Today, on the other hand, was glorious.

Posey slowly walked into the batter’s box as Jeremy Affeldt stood on the mound waiting for the Giants catcher to get set. On Affeldt’s first pitch, Posey grounded one to the right side of the infield and—just like that—all was right in the universe again.

“I don’t think I’ve ever been that excited to take live BP,” Posey told reporters afterwards. He later got in a couple of good, solid hits off Sergio Romo.

In other spring training news…

Matt Cain was the first Giants pitcher to throw live BP this season, taking the hill against the Giants’ best hitter, Pablo Sandoval.

The Panda wasted no time getting his hacks in, swinging at the very first offering (it is batting practice, after all).

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A somewhat scary moment occurred when Giants catcher Hector Sanchez drilled a shot up the middle and tagged Cain in his left calf. You could have heard a pin drop (and trainer Dave Groeschner’s heart fly out of its chest) as Cain stumbled to the ground. But Shotgun quickly got up and let everyone know he was OK.

A few minutes later, Affeldt drilled Sandoval in the ribs with a pitch, sending the Panda to the ground. Like Cain, Sandoval got right up continued working. “Don’t be swinging,” Affeldt joked with Pablo grinning.

As GM Brian Sabean said later, “That’s a rite of passage that’s necessary, but nobody enjoys. Nobody’s got their bearings on the mound or at the plate yet.”

Well, let’s hope those bearings get greased up sooner than later. We don’t need a repeat of 2011.

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Along with Cain, Affeldt, and Romo, Eric Surkamp also threw live BP today. And so did Barry Zito—against the minor league squad. Guess manager Bruce Bochy wanted to do a little confidence boosting. For the minor leaguers. All joking aside, Bochy told reporters later that he was quite impressed with Zito’s outing on the back field.

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Pat Burrell dropped by the yard today to say hello to the fellas. No sign of The Machine, though.