No snow, thank goodness. It was cold when we arrived early Monday morning. When we walked in to the hotel we passed under an awning that had space heaters in it and I immediately flashed back to the first weekend of April here last year. There was a chill in the air, but even with the “Lake Effect” (I’m still not clear on what exactly that is, but it translates to “bad” for me) we felt fairly confident that we would not see the white stuff this time round.

Monday was an off day for the team which going in I was a little perturbed at. We have barely been home since spring training ended yet we were spending an off day here? According to a couple of team officials, it was the players’ choice to fly Sunday rather than Monday. Turns out it may have been what we all needed. I think I explained before that the road is easy because we only have to worry about our jobs. Well the off day was very relaxing for all. No guilt in sleeping in as long as you want after arriving late and being on east coast time. Not a lot to do in Cleveland so most people stayed close. JJ held court in the hotel lobby bar, taking a seat with a view of the elevator so he could call everyone over as they stepped out. A lot of people stopped by and just hung out.

Some ventured out. Trainer Rick Griffin, one of the avid outdoorsmen on the team organized a trip to a trout farm where he, Willie Bloomquist, Jarrod Washburn and Mark Lowe spent the cold and sometimes rainy day catching and releasing over 100 fish by Griffins count. The coaches weren’t as hardy, but for the record I don’t blame them. They canceled their early morning golf game because of the weather. The team held a team dinner at a bar/restaurant in the Warehouse District while the coaching staff and executives who were on the trip dined at a white tablecloth establishment next door. The broadcasters did the steak thing at Morton’s while I if you were wondering had an excellent pasta dish with giant sea scallops, tomatoes, baby spinach and lobster crème at a dinner with some of the fine PR people and video God Carl Hamilton. It was a nice night.

The final thing that stood out about the day was the fact that the Yankees were still in town for their series against the Indians. They were staying at our hotel and it was odd to see the likes of Derek Jeter, Hideki Matsui and Bobby Abreu getting out of elevators or wandering around the attached mall. Miguel Cairo seemed to enjoy catching up with his old teammates. It was just great to have an off day. We kind of forgot what those were like after spending so many of them flying here last year for make up games.

As for business on the field, the buzz of course is about Jeff Clement and Wladimir Balentien. Or Vidro, Wilkerson, Johjima and Sexson depending on how you look at it. John McLaren was very candid in his comments regarding the possibility of calling up the youngsters to replace the struggling veterans. He told us he was well aware of what Clement and Balentien were doing and that “they will be here sooner than later.” More importantly he said that when they get here, they will be here to play. The vets have been put on notice with Mac telling us “We have several guys around the 200 mark, they need to pick it up in a hurry.” Of course, as of right now, Vidro is 2-2 with 2 rbi, Wilkerson, well I can hardly recognize him as he actually pulled a ball to right today and is 3-3 with all three hits being legit. Unfortunately he was erased twice by Kenji double plays. Baby steps, baby steps. Scratch that, no time for baby steps now!

Other news, Batista threw a bullpen today without incident so it looks like the groin strain was truly minor. Erik Bedard has checked out fine too from his game and the M’s will stay in rotation in New York with Bedard matching up with Wang on Friday, Felix and Mussina going Saturday with Silva and Hughes wrapping things up Sunday. Hopefully all three will be fun to watch.