Day 2 at the Ed

The sun is shining, and I can see a palm tree from my work station. The fact that it's below 50 degrees has a lot of Floridians moaning. But anyone who just made the trip down from the Great Midwest knows how much worse it could be.

Just saw Homer Bailey throw off the mound. My expertise on pitching is similar to that of Earl Weaver about whom Jim Palmer once said, "The only thing Earl knows about pitching is he can't hit it." That said, Bailey looked like he typically does. The ball came out of hand easy and fairly exploded to the plate.

A couple of other guys threw off the mound also -- Matt Belisle, Brian Shackelford among them. That was pretty much the limit of baseball activities. Today is the last day with no official activity. The first workout is tomorrow at 12:30 p.m.

By the way, Belisle said he would very much would like to win that fifth starter spot. Based on stuff, I'd make him the favorite -- unless, of course, the Reds allow Bailey to truly compete for the spot.

Aside from the weather, the other popular topic of the diary last year was traffic. Sarasota traffic is bad, worse or the worst depending on the time of day. Anyway, I'm driving back to Siesta Key after work yesterday and I notice a small SUV about six inches off the bumper of the slow-moving white hatchback. The driver of the SUV is honking the horn wildly to speed along the hatchback. Riding in the hatchback are four older people, undoubtedly looking for the turnoff for the early-bird special. The road-raging driver of the SUV is a woman. She's older than me, and I'm a card-carrying member AARP (well, I really don't carry the card and I didn't do whatever you have to do activate it, but I do have one). Anyway, when the horn-blowing doesn't work, the white-haired women pulls in front of the hatchback and STOPS. In the left lane of Route 41 at 5:13 p.m. That's the way to get traffic moving. Welcome to Florida, where 55-year-olds get angry with old people.