RMJ 104 May 29

THURSDAY, MAY 29 ● Houston, vs San Diego

I woke up feeling renewed. The experience of spending 19 of 21 days on the road, and surviving the death of my father, had to take a little time off the end of my slate. But it was good family time; a time we will never forget.

But now it is time to move on, which means back to the ballyard. Which means regroup and get going again. We are clinging to first place by our fingernails. The schedule gives us an opportunity to reach up and get a good grip, but we will have to do the reaching and the gripping; no one is going to do it for us.

 

When I arrived at the ballpark, I had a telephone message from Charles Barkley.

“Sorry to hear about your Dad,” it said. “I read about it in the newspaper. Good luck the rest of the year. We’re going to kick some butt tonight, and I hope you guys do too.”  

What a nice way thing for him to do! We had a small crowd tonight, because of the Rockets’ game with the Jazz. Even Judy wanted to stay home and watch, instead of coming to see us. I don’t mind that; they’re on the precipice of another championship. But the Jazz are one up in the series, with two to go.

 

I talked with Gerry at great length today. He is troubled that we are not doing better, and he seemed to be a little impatient, as if he is leaning toward taking drastic action.

He said he was thinking about giving Chucky Carr a tryout.

“Chucky is the most despised player I have ever known,” he said. “But he can play center field, and he has a certain cockiness that might not be bad for our team.”

I reserved comment, mostly because I don’t think he is a very good ballplayer, even though he is lightning-fast.

Cubby came in and Gerry grinned and said, “Chucky is going to be in town tomorrow.”

“Just passing through?” Cubby said.

“No, we’re going to sign him and give him a locker right next to yours,” I said. Cubby rolled his eyes.

We went on to talk about some of our problems: Hampton, Hudek, and the shortstop issue. Gerry was upset over some things Mike said in the paper, and also some scuttlebutt he heard about Hampton and Hudek blaming Vern for their problems. I don’t like these things either, but I don’t take them personally.

I told him about Christy Mathewson’s assertion that a ballplayer must always have an excuse for failure. And I think there is a lot of wisdom in his words:

I will talk to these guys about this issue. I don’t mind the excuses, but a true professional does not divulge his alibi.

           

Cheo took the lineup card out in San Diego, and we won both games, so I asked him to take it out again tonight. I don’t know if he said anything to plate umpire Terry Tata, but we had the incredible expandoflex strike zone tonight. Terry is usually pretty consistent, but tonight he was all over the place. The hitters seemed to like it — especially our hitters. We won the game 10-6.

It took a little patience to get through the fifth inning, however.

We had a 9-1 lead when Kile went to the mound. But he had just scored from third on a wild pitch; it was a close play, and he had to slide. I think he was a bit winded when he went out there, but he struck out the first batter and then got two weak ground balls, but no outs. One was a hit, one an error.

He continued to pitch well, but he couldn’t put the hitters away. I think part of it was the umpire, but to his credit, Kile did not register any frustration. He gave up hard hits to Tony Gwynn, Steve Finley, and Ken Caminiti. Then Wally Joyner got a broken-bat hit.

But D.K. pitched like a staff leader. He didn’t give up, and by the time he left the mound it was 9-5.

Darryl gave us two more innings, and we finished up with Hudek and Martin. Hudek threw especially well.

 

When we got back to the locker room, the Rockets were up by two on the Jazz with two minutes left. It was tied at 100 with 26 seconds left. Clyde Drexler beat the 24-second clock with an off-balance, but open, bank shot. He just missed.

Utah called time out and worked an inbounds play that gave John Stockton an open three-pointer at the buzzer. He nailed it, and the Rockets’ season came to an end.

I felt bad for Rudy and the team, and especially bad for Barkley. I scratched out a message for Rob to send to Barkley via their PR guy:

 

 

Charles has taken a lot of criticism over the years, because he is outspoken. But he is good for the sport. He plays hard and with great skill all the time, and his honesty — though unpopular at times — is refreshing in an athletic world rife with cliché.

I remember when Charles said something about not being a role model for kids; I think he said that parents should be the role models for their own kids. I agree with him, to a point.

I believe it is important to maintain a good image. But I also think athletes are entitled to a private life. Fans can be intrusive, and I don’t think most of them understand what it is like to be on the other side. 

We need a character like Sir Charles on our team. Guys like that are hard to find.