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Wrong place, right time

Wily Mo Pena, in his return to spring training, sent one ball soaring over the fence in batting practice -- and broke his bat in the process. Not only did he smash the ball, but shattered the barrel, with the biggest chunk landing over by third base. Afterwards, even Wily Mo expressed some incredulity at the bat breaking and the home run. Meanwhile, he's just getting used to his first start of spring training with the Sox. He arrived in town from his house in Tampa yesterday with his agent, Josh Zeide, and tried to arrive early this morning at the minor league complex.

Except he ended up at City of Palms Park. Someone at the park had to alert him to the fact that he was the only one around, sending him all the way down Edison Road to meet up with the rest of the team.

Foibles aside, Pena seemed happy to be back, though he -- like a number of the players -- asked when Manny Ramirez was planning on showing up. He laughed when told the latest word is March 1. Just laughed. (His locker in the clubhouse is next to David Ortiz, with an empty space, and then Manny's locker.) He then proceeded to open some fan mail, including one with photos of a one year old whose parents called their son "Wily Mo" while the mother was pregnant. There was a picture included of the kid in a T-shirt with Wily Mo's name across the back. Fans from Cincinnati, apparently.

I also got a chance to talk to George Kottaras, who is quite the good talker. Kottaras, from Toronto originally, has only been playing baseball since he was 15. He spent much of his offseason in Phoenix before heading to Florida for the rookie development program on January 31. We were discussing the difficulty in putting names to faces with 60 or so guys in the clubhouse. When asked whether he studied the roster in the offseason, a big smile crept across his face and he said, "No comment."

More interesting about Kottaras is that he went to a small community college in Oklahoma. Which one? Connors State College. Yup, the very same one that Julio Lugo also attended. Both were coached by the longtime head man there, Perry Keith, and each spent two years in Warner, Oklahoma. It's a long way from a big city like New York City (Lugo) or Toronto (Kottaras). But it clearly has a way with players. Kottaras spent his time there with Humberto Sanchez, one of the minor leaguers traded from Detroit to the Yankees in the Gary Sheffield deal.

Tomorrow means physicals for the position players, which means they're all supposed to be here, so look for J.D. Drew and David Ortiz as the two big arrivals. That's all from me today. Check back in the a.m. for more information as it happens from down here in Fort Myers.