RMJ 118 June 13

FRIDAY, JUNE 13 ● Houston, vs Twins

This Friday the 13th could give a fellow triskaidekaphobia (fear of the number 13) – at least, a fellow wearing the livery of the Astros. Our interleague rivals in this historic game, the Twins, thought it was their lucky day.

About the only silver lining I could see in this one was that Chuck Knoblauch had a perfect day. Chuck is a native of Houston. He attended Bellaire High School, where he was coached by his Dad, Ray. Ray was such a good coach that Bellaire was a perennial powerhouse. Families would move across town so that their aspiring ballplayers could be coached by Ray Knoblauch.

Chuck went on to Texas A&M, then signed with the Twins, whereupon he became one of the stars of the game. I know it was a great thrill for him to play so well in front of his family and friends. And to be honest, I didn’t mind him tearing a hole in our defense, because our defense — the pitching and the fielding — was so bad that the Twins would have won easily, even if Chuck had gone hitless.

This was clearly our worst effort of the year. And our worst player in this, our most pitiful showing, was the returning hero, Derek Bell.

I had heard from Gerry that Derek was unhappy during his rehab assignment with New Orleans. I guess he didn’t get the star treatment down there: no special favors, no posh locker rooms. And to make matters worse, he didn’t even have his Bentley, so he couldn’t recline properly on the way home. Gerry said that he complained constantly, and he kept asking to go back to Houston to work out on his own.

Before we left on the trip, he told me that he could be ready in a week, but he thought it would be better to take couple of extra days to make sure.

“Besides,” he said, “I wouldn’t want to have to break back in in LA, against their pitching staff.”

Now there’s a real team player for you. Proud enough to own two Bentleys but still humble enough to fear the Dodgers’ pitching staff.

Since he did not take serious batting practice while he was in Indianapolis with the Zephyrs, he wasn’t ready — even for the soft-tossing Twins pitchers. He did manage to get a hit, but he also managed to screw up several plays in right field, his preferred position. On the second one, a slicing fly ball, he got twisted around and almost fell down.

Bill turned to me and said, “Watch this. Tomorrow he’ll want to play center again.”

 

We lost the game 8-1, and I was a little testy with the reporters. Not too much this time. I guess I was more subdued than anything.  What am I supposed to say about how I like interleague play? I wouldn’t like World Series play if we played like this. Honestly, there was no way to judge the Twins. They could be a great club, but we made so many mistakes it sort of darkened their spotlight.

I know Gerry and Drayton like to stay positive and upbeat. Most of the time it is easy for me to do this, because I’m generally a happy guy and my expectations of myself my not be as high as Tony La Russa’s or Jimmy Leyland’s. But no manager above T-ball could be satisfied with what we did tonight.

I told the press it was our worst game of the year. What else could I tell them? They were watching the game.

 

Drayton was right there in the front row tonight. He had to be aching. With each loss, our financial future dims. And with a loss like this, even the owner gets blamed.

I remember when we lost nine in a row last year. The talk shows killed us. People were blaming the players, the team, the general manager, the manager, and the coaches. I made a comment one night that we broadcasters would be next on the firing line. That very night, a caller ripped into the announcing team.

 

We have now lost two in a row, and we are two games below .500, but only a game out of first place. Still, there is growing unrest, and I don’t think it is totally unfounded. We have been bumbling along for six weeks now. The tough travel is behind us. Our injured players are coming back. We have no good excuses.

It’s time to play ball.