RMJ 134 June 29

SUNDAY, JUNE 29 ● Chicago, vs Cubs

It was difficult to find a comfortable position for sleep, so I propped myself up and read for a while. I am enjoying my new book, Midnight in the Garden of Good and Evil. It is a journal of sorts about Savannah, Georgia. I’m only halfway through the book, and I already know that its cast of characters will be hard to match — even in the wacky world of major-league baseball.

I drifted into sleep, but I sure didn’t arise that way. The wakeup call jarred me, and I felt a sharp pain as I tried to move my right leg. I had been sleeping with it bent, and now it was stuck bent.

I didn’t even try to answer the phone. Judy got it on the fourth ring. It took me a full five minutes to straighten my leg. All the while, I was thinking: I hope I don’t have to go out and argue with the second-base umpire. I might get the first delay-of-game penalty in professional baseball.

The leg loosened, and by the time I got to the ballpark, I was able to take the steps up to the clubhouse with a little pain, but with no fear. Everything is going to be all right.

In chapel, we talked about The Lord’s Prayer and the four parts of praying: praise, supplication, entreaties, and exaltation. It was short and sweet.

Afterward, I asked our guest speaker about thy kingdom come. 

“Does it mean the same as may thy kingdom come?.”

“No,” he said, “the kingdom is here already, just as it is in Heaven. It is more an acknowledgement of that fact.”

I confess, I’m not too good at religion. I am generally open to ideas and philosophies, but the emotional part of religion is hard for me. Supplication comes naturally enough, but praise, entreaties, and exaltation come hard.

I have cleared one hurdle. I expect the next will be taller.

I expect the next week of baseball will present tall hurdles, as well.

 

We got off to a good start, routing Terry Mulholland with six runs in the fifth inning. Our starter was Tommy Greene, just up from New Orleans to take Donne Wall’s spot in the rotation. Yesterday, Cubby asked me if I wanted to list Tommy as one of the extra men. “I know he can hit,” I said. “You don’t have to put him on the list.”

Sure enough, Tommy got the big blow to get us going, a double into the well in left field. Later, Ausmus cleared the bases with a three-run double.

Greene was pitching a powerful game, too. He had seven strikeouts, and the Cubs had no runs in the first four innings.

In the bottom of the fifth, Tommy hit the wall.

Matt Galante noted on his transfer form that Tommy had not pitched effectively past 90-100 pitches. He had only 78 pitches as he took the hill, trying to win a major-league game for the first time in two years.

It was not to be.

He retired Scott Servais, then Rey Sanchez homered. This seemed to unnerve Tommy, and he walked the pitcher, Turk Wendell. Three more hits and an error later, I limped to the mound to take him out with a pitch count of 95.

Tom Martin came in a gave up a couple more hits. Then Blas Minor came in and got a line-drive out.

Before Lima came on in the seventh, I told him to relax and concentrate.

“Down in the zone for outs,” I said. “Up-and-in for effect.” This has been my advice for him since spring training, and he really put it to use in the seventh. He got them out 1-2-3 without a murmur.

We came up and iced the game with three runs in the eighth. Actually, we should have had four runs, but Derek failed to move up when Sosa missed the cutoff man on a throw to third.

When Lima went out to the mound in the eighth, Vern asked if I wanted him to finish the game or have someone else pitch the ninth.

“Let’s let him finish,” I said. It’ll be a good confidence-builder.”

One single, two doubles and a home run later, I brought Wagner into the game and put Ricky Gutierrez in at third in a double-switch. The timing was perfect. Sosa smashed one down the third-base line, and Ricky dove to his right and backhanded it on one hop. He bounced to his feet and threw Sosa out by a half-step.

I think Sean Berry could have caught the ball, but I don’t think he could have made the throw.

Now it was 10-7, still a comfortable lead, with Wagner in the game. But the Cubs refused to die. With two outs, Servais doubled; Sanchez and Jose Hernandez singled. The tying run was on base when Glanville grounded out.

It’s never easy these days.

 

We lit down in Houston just moments after the Indians, our next interleague opponent. As we got on the bus, Barry Waters told me that the bags would be delayed because there was only one conveyer cart available, and the Indians were already using it.

The thought of the Indians getting the upper hand on us was disquieting. The way we’re pitching, we’re no match for this hard-hitting ballclub.