Rocket's fleet feet

by Phil Wood

My spring training travel plans are complete - I head south on 3/13 - and maybe it was that knowledge that triggered a pretty bizarre dream last night.

If you've been to spring training before, you'll see that after a pitcher throws his prescribed innings (or number of pitches) he runs in the outfield, while the game is in progress. They've been doing it that way for years.

Anyway, in my dream I'm in the pressbox at Space Coast Stadium, and I look out and the writers are running in the outfield. Chico Harlan, Ben Goessling, Mark Zuckerman and Tom Boswell are all in motion, but mlb.com's Bill Ladson is lapping the field.

Ladson is even outrunning the pitchers. He's running like a man on a mission, like an Olympic sprinter. His feet are on fire. I ask someone what's going on and I'm told that Jim Riggleman is making everyone run, and that the broadcasters are next.

Which is when I woke up. True story.

But let me tell you, that Ladson can really fly.