Funny who you see at the ballpark

I showed up at Captain Shreve's baseball field Thursday afternoon looking to shoot a couple of mug shots of the Gators baseball team and talk to new coach Todd Sharp about the upcoming season.

I got a lot more out of that.

While Sharp was mowing the infield, he yelled at me to "interview the big leaguer." Well given that said big leaguer was at the opposite dugout I had no idea who was hanging around.

Turns out it was Michael Aubrey and Sean West. The two were getting ready to hit in the cages, putting in some last-minute work before heading to spring training.

Aubrey needs a good season and we talked about his history of bizarre injuries. His mind-set is clear -- stay on the field and build off an excellent Arizona Fall League campaign.

For West, who somehow is even more reserved than the soft-spoken Aubrey, spring will start a little later as the former Captain Shreve left-hander is still recovering from surgery.

Still, a good spring for both would mean a sunny start to 2008.