RMJ 51 April 6
SUNDAY, MARCH 6 ● Houston, vs St. Louis
Before I knew it, anyway. Despite being warned several times, I forgot to spring forward. Because I left my alarm clock in Florida, I was counting on Judy to get me up. She usually rises before 8 o’clock, but this morning she slept in.
Cubby came by to pick me up at 9:00. Judy had just gotten up, and I was still snoozing. I made a quick change, and we were on our way at 9:15 — just like spring training.
After all these years playing mostly night games, I still have problems with day games, and for one reason and another, we have been playing more day games in recent years.
I really wrestled with the lineup for this game against Todd Stottlemyre.
Todd beat us several times last year. His breaking pitches are really tough on righthanded hitters.
Last year, all we had was righthanded hitters, so we didn’t have much choice except to hope he would make mistakes. He didn’t make many — last year or today.
But today, at least, I was able to make him face lefties. I couldn’t decide whether I should play all my lefthanders, or save one back. Because Bagwell has hit Stottlemyre well, I could save Bill Spiers in case it came down to needing a pinch-hitter against Dennis Eckersley. But Bagwell has a sore hamstring, and with a day off tomorrow and a night game on Tuesday, I had a chance to rest him almost three full days.
I finally decided to play all of the lefthanded hitters. That left me with Bagwell, Berry, Eusebio, Mouton, Bell, and Montgomery on the bench. The beauty of this lineup was that I had power and speed available to insert into the game when it was most needed.
As it turned out, it was desperately needed. And in the end, it paid off with another win.
Stottlemyre bent in the first inning. We had the bases loaded, with one run already home, when Bill Spiers popped up, Bobby Abreu struck out, and we came away with almost nothing. Still, that one run held up until the seventh, as Shane Reynolds pitched a gutty game without his best stuff.
When Ron Gant singled in the go-ahead run with one out in the seventh, I brought José Lima out of the bullpen. Lima got the next two batters out, and we came up down 2-1.
Tony Fossas
Ray Montgomery hit a ground ball in the hole at short off Tony Fossas. Royce Clayton threw the ball away for an error. I left González in to hit against the soft-throwing lefty, hoping he could pull one through the open right side of the infield. He tried, but he popped out to first base.
I brought Bell in to hit for Abreu, and La Russa brought in John Frascatore, a righthander. Derek grounded to third, with Montgomery taking second base. That brought Spiers up, with Tim Bogar on deck. Luckily for us, Spiers walked.
Throughout this game, I had been looking for spot to use Bagwell. Each time the opportunity seemed imminent, we ended up with an open base, so that La Russa could walk him. Now Tony could not issue the pass without putting the winning run on second.
When Bagwell came out of the dugout, an expectant roar came from the crowd. He doubled down the leftfield line, and the roar became hysteria. Both runners scored. Now we had a 3-2 lead, with Hudek and Wagner rested and ready in the bullpen.
Wagner came into the game as Hudek started lobbing the ball in the bullpen. It didn’t look like he would have to do much more than lob it, as Wagner struck out David Bell looking on a 3-2 count.
Then came the lapse.
Gary Gaetti pinch-hit for Mark Sweeney, and Wagner sprung a leak. I don’t think I have ever seen a pitcher lose so much velocity from one pitch to the next. He was throwing 96 MPH to Bell, then he was throwing 87 to Gaetti, a dangerous hitter.
Perhaps Gaetti was still looking for 96 when he got out in front of a slow 3-1 fastball and hit a ground ball to third. Sean Berry booted it, and I was worried about Wagner for the first time all year.
When Billy went 2-0 to Roberto Mejia, Vern said, “He’s rushing.” I sent sent him to the mound, for two reasons: I wanted to buy some time for Hudek, so I could bring him in if Billy walked Mejia; and I was hoping Vern could get him to slow down.
The advice — for Billy to come to a balance point before starting forward, toward the plate — paid a big dividend. After throwing ball three at 96, Billy came back and struck him out with three blazing fastballs. Then he fanned Ron Gant on three pitches to nail down the save.
That put the finishing touch on a wonderful homestand. We head out on the road tomorrow with a 5-1 record, two games in front of the Reds. The Cardinals haven’t won a game yet; they are already five games back.
In my daily postgame press conference, I sounded a note of caution.
“We’re delighted to be 5-1,” I said. “It takes a lot of pressure off me, and I’m thankful for that. But this isn’t even a down payment when it comes to winning a championship. And don’t write the Cardinals off, either. They’re not going away. They’ll be there in the end.”
I also talked about the difficulty of taking to the road against these same two teams. It will be nice to see the Braves’ new ballpark, but not so nice to see their stingy pitching staff.
Gerry came in as I was undressing, and Sean Berry was right behind him. I knew what this was about. Sean’s groin injury wasn’t getting any better, and Gerry wanted to make a decision.
He stated the obvious fact that the injury wasn’t getting better with Berry playing part-time.
“I believe we have two options,” he told Sean. “One is to put you on the disabled list. That is probably the safest thing to do. The other is to make a commitment to lay off for 5-7 days and then see where we are. If it’s healed, we gain a week of playing time. If it’s not, we backdate the DL and call up another player. The risk in doing it this way is that we are shorthanded for a week, and we are not sure if it will get better by then.”
Gerry asked for Sean’s opinion. Naturally, Sean said he would like to rest 5-7 days and then play. But he also said he understood our concern, and he could accept being disabled.
I mentioned that his shoulder was still not 100 percent, and that the during the time he was on the DL he could be building arm strength. Gerry told Sean that we would think about it, sleep on it, and come to a decision in the morning.
When Sean left the room, we already had our decision: the DL. Russ Johnson was coming to Jackson the next day for our exhibition game with our AA club. He is going to get a big surprise when he learns that he will not be going back to New Orleans, but coming to Atlanta with the Astros instead.
I’m not sure Russ is quite ready, and I know the Braves are going to be tougher in their new teepee. But this was no time to worry in advance; it was a time to celebrate.
Many of the players were going to a restaurant opening. The owner is a member of the Italian
American Sports Hall of Fame. This organization is closely involved with the team. Many of the best restaurateurs in Houston belong to this group, so you know that if you attend one of their charitable functions, you will be fed well. This was no exception. In fact, the food probably tasted a little better after the sweep of the Cardinals.
When I got back home, the sun was setting, and the sky was aglow with variations on a theme of orange. I strapped on my Rollerblades and took a spin around the neighborhood.
My first week on the job was heavenly. Who knows what the next week will bring?