Fantasy Camp — Day 1

Here are some tidbits from Day One of Fantasy Camp:

– This is Luis Gonzalez’s first taste of camp after rejoining the organization late last summer following his retirement.

“I still think I can play,” Gonzalez said with a laugh to the team he drafted. “So let’s go out and win this thing.”

– During the evening “Bull Session” Mark Grace and Damian Miller were asked about the missed popups in Game 3 of the 2001 World Series. The first one, Miller misplayed behind home plate and the second involved a collision between he and Grace.

“After the game there were all these reporters around my locker wanting to talk about the foul pop,” Miller said. “I said, ‘Guys don’t you want to go talk to B.K. [closer Byung-Hyun Kim] instead?”

It was such a funny line no one wanted to point out that Kim gave up the big homers in Games 4 and 5, not in Game 3.

The following Spring the defending champs went through a popup drill and missed 13 straight popups.

“That’s it,” then-manager Bob Brenly yelled at them. “Get off the field, I can’t watch this anymore.”

– Miller also had a good story about Curt Schilling’s near no-hitter in San Diego in 2001. That was the game in which catcher Ben Davis broke up the Perfect Game with a bunt.

Anyway, Miller said it was so quiet at Qualcomm Stadium that at one point when a fan yelled, “Nice mullet, Schilling” the pitcher had to step off the mound to stop laughing and compose himself.

– Mike Fetters talked about a game late in his career when he gave up a double in the gap to Barry Bonds. It was the third straight double in the gap he allowed.

“Hey Fetters,” a fan yelled. “Instead of throwing this next pitch why don’t you just turn around and throw it into the gap, you know it’s headed there any way.”