March 13, Tucson - Six innings into a Spring Training battle, the scoreboard tallied: Ojeda/Burke/Salazar-6, Milwaukee Brewers-3. On a day that Stephen Drew, Justin Upton and Mark Reynolds enjoyed a deserved day off, Augie, Chris and Jeff made the most of their afternoons.

Burke hit his third homer of the spring and Ojeda and Salazar each pitched in RBI doubles. It was just a few hours earlier that manager Bob Melvin was talking about his bench corps and how difficult it is to walk the line between holding on to the desire to play every day and embracing the role of team player.

"As a player you have to accept it and work accordingly. He (Salazar) and Augie know what they have to do to get ready," according to their skipper.

Melvin also proved to be a master last season in communicating with his role players and making sure that they received plenty of starting assignments to keep them fresh and more importantly, confident.

"And you have to get them a start when they have a chance to to have some success," shared Melvin, "I'll try to look at the matchups and make sure that they can succeed, like if a guy is 6 for 10 off of a certain pitcher, I'll do my best to get him in there. It wasn't always that way when I was a bench player."

It is hard to imagine that Salazar played in just 38 games last year for the Dbacks, isn't it? From the catch of th year to the game winning bomb in San Francisco, it felt like his impact was felt for much more than a month and a half worth of ballgames.

"For a guy who didn't start with us, he had quite the impact. One play (the catch) can accentuate your importance to a team and make you feel more comfortable, but we saw plays like that one all the time from Jeff."

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Juan Gutierrez looked very sharp in twirling three scoreless innings in the game. The Venezuelan right hander acquired in the Valverde trade could be a candidate to step into that stuntman role that we talked about below. To me, the only way he can take that spot is to find consitency and if Edgar is moved in a trade. Juan still probably remains behind Yusmeiro Petit as well for that spot.

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Finally, I thought we could all take a trip down memory lane together, with some help from my good friends Tim and Willy (http://timandwilly.com/). Give this a listen from last fall: Download ANYBODY-ANYTIME-timandwilly-2007.mp3

March 10, Tucson – The stuntman is the individual willing to the dirty work. The man who, while the star is in his trailer, is willing to fall off the roof, get run over by the horses or mix it up in a brawl scene. In 2007, Edgar Gonzalez was the stuntman. Randy’s not ready, Edgar will go. Team getting blown out, Edgar will eat some of the innings for you.

On June 13 at Yankee Stadium, Livan Hernandez took one on the chin, three homers, seven runs allowed in just four innings of work. Edgar grabbed the ball and went three shutout innings in a blowout saving the bullpen for an upcoming series against the Orioles at Camden Yards. In that series in Baltimore, Edgar again took the bullet. With Randy Johnson unable to make his start, Edgar made himself available on two, that’s right two days rest and answered the bell in Randy’s place. In that start, he went five innings, allowed two hits, and just a single run, outdueling Daniel Cabrera and pitching in a win as part of a three game sweep of the O’s.

In his seven starts from April 21 to September 16, Edgar went 3-1 with a 3.16 ERA, allowing just one run in five of those seven starts.

Here is a guy that could have packed his spikes out of frustration several years ago. In his first 15 big league starts went 1-13, while allowing 3 earned runs or less in 8 of those starts. In his next 14 starts, including last season, he is 6-4, with a 4.04 and has allowed three earned runs or less in 10 of those assignments. What makes it a bit more challenging is that he isn’t always quite sure when those assignments will be.

I would imagine teams might call with interest in Gonzo as injuries occur and starting pitchers are needed, and if he were to go, his shoes would be tough to fill. Yusmeiro Petit, Billy Buckner and Juan Gutierrez are all capable candidates to step in, but here’s hoping that they could handle a New York/Baltimore in three days type of assignment.

Every team needs a stuntman to make their stars look good. No stuntman, no box office hit in October.

January 10, Phoenix - Happy New Year! I got caught up in the Christmas rush and never dropped in the Dan Haren interview I enjoyed doing just before the holidays. This takes you beyond his numbers and standing in the big leagues and will allow you to get to know Haren a little better. He seems like a great fit beyond the obvious reasons.

Download dan_haren_interview.WMA

December 19, Phoenix - Happy Holidays everyone. Here are the third and fourth parts of my memorable conversation with Joe Garagiola.

Download joe_garagiola_interview_3.WMA Download joe_garagiola_interview_4.WMA

Don't forget that Joe's book "Just Play Ball" carries that same kind of optimism and heart surrounding the game of baseball as was heard in those conversations.

I had the chance to have a quality conversation with new Diamondback Dan Haren on Tuesday. It will be posted in a few days. In the meantime, many wishes to you and those important to you at this time of year and let the countdown to pitchers and catchers begin.

P.S.-Do you see Joe in this pic?

November 29, Phoenix - Shortly after the World Series wrapped up, I had the honor of spending an afternoon with Joe Garagiola. We spoke about baseball, broadcasting, history, family, faith and friendships. I even pulled out a recorder to capture some of the thoughts of the man we have welcomed into our living room for many years, only this time we got to visit his. They are unedited, so forgive the beginnings and ends, here are the first two parts of the four part conversation:

Download joe_garagiola_interview_1.WMA

Download joe_garagiola_interview_2.WMA

Joe went into the Hall of Fame as a broadcaster in 1991, here's hoping legendary and classy Blue Jays voice Tom Cheek gets his call as the Ford C. Frick Award winner for broadcasting excellence this time around. Cheek passed away in 2005 and was taken from all of us far too soon. Tom was best known to Canada's baseball faithful as the man who had a streak of 4,306 consecutive games called. To me, he was a friend, a colleague and a mentor..and one incredible game caller. Let's celebrate Tom in Cooperstown in the not so distant future.