I may need to go to confession for that title. We're all watching Rolen, looking for tiny little markers of progress. The more important thing is that the Cardinals seem to be taking a calm, rational approach with Rolen's rehab, although I won't claim to recognize the full inventory of irrational approaches. This looks completely different from what they tried last summer, and as such it's got me excited for 2006. The thing that caught my eye from that link was this though:

"I had been facing live pitching right up until I came here," Eckstein said. "So it wasn't as different for me today as maybe some other guys."

The Cardinals shortstop had been working out in Orlando with other Major Leaguers, including Dan Miceli and Danny Graves, who pitched batting practice to Eckstein.

Great, now Eckstein's going to be swinging for the fences all through spring training. And this also grabbed my attention:

Weather report: Another bluebird day is forecast for the Redbirds workouts as blue skies with few clouds and temperatures climbing to the mid-80s are predicted for the morning workout.

Over the next two months about the closest I'll come to that is listening to ELO's Beatles-esque Mr. Blue Sky. Matthew Leach recently reported that the Cardinals-Yankees exhibition game was sold out a month in advance (think about that for a second), but I guess part of the popularity of spring training is the weather. I hope other folks are enjoying it, because my next big trip is to Detroit.