RMJ 136 July 1

TUESDAY, JULY 1 ● Houston, vs Indians

I have been answering a lot of questions lately about our play in the first half. We pitched so well in April that it seemed we would go on winning, no matter who we played. Then we encountered a hitting slump. Now we’re in a pitching slump.

It’s sort of like running a river on a raft: you launch in calm waters, float downstream on a dream. Then you encounter the rapids and are exhilarated to get through them without incident. Then there are more rapids. Someone goes over and is rescued. Everyone gets wet.

Then the sun starts beating down, and people start snapping at one another. You long for the cool of the evening, but it is still hours away.

Each set of rapids is rougher, and they come one after another. Your arms are weary, but your mind is racing. You try to stay calm and hope for smooth-running waters. You tell yourself that the worst is behind you, but you are not very convincing.

This is the state of the Astros on this day. Everyone knows it. There is no sense talking about it again.

 

Gerry called a midway meeting with the staff, and we met in the coaches’ room at 2:00. Everyone was asked to make general comments on the team, and the conversation wound right around to Derek Bell.

Everyone wanted to get rid of him, except José Cruz. Cheo still thinks Derek will get better. I listened carefully to what he had to say, because I think Bell will get better too. My fear is that he is so disruptive to the team that his own improved performance won’t mean that much.

Many baseball experts feel that if you identify a player who is a “poison” on a team, you should get rid of him — even if he is a star. Poison is too strong a word for Derek. He is not a bad guy; he’s just lazy. He’s not in shape. He is more interested in material possessions and status than in teamwork and winning.

Frankly, I don’t know what to do about it. I have talked to him many times. Just when you think he has a plan, he wakes up in the morning with another idea. It’s really frustrating, because he has exceptional talent — and at this point we cannot come close to getting equal talent back in a trade.

Still, all of our coaches except Cheo recommend trading him. Gerry said that we had a chance to get Carlos Garcia from the Blue Jays. Garcia is a middle infielder with a good bat. He seemed destined for stardom when he made the All-Star team in his second year with the Pirates.

His salary climbed above $2 million after several more good years. Then the Pirates traded him to Toronto in a cost-cutting frenzy that left the Bucs without any veteran players. Now the Pirates are doing well with a bunch of rookies, and the Blue Jays are unhappy with Garcia.

If he could play shortstop on an everyday basis, he could really help us. But I have my doubts. He hasn’t played the position for five years. Still, we would cut our budget if we made the deal. And we would improve our internal chemistry.  

There was also some talk about trading John Hudek. No one was opposed to this move. The Royals and Braves are interested in him.

 

Tonight’s game was a lot like last night’s. We got lucky when rookie pitcher Jeret Wright tried to bunt a ball with his finger instead of the bat in the fourth inning. We were up 1-0 at the time.  

Chris Holt surrendered the lead in the fifth. We came up trailing 3-1, facing a new pitcher, Albie Lopez. Lopez got off to a rocky start when Tim Bogar hit a spinner down the right-field line. The ball got stuck under our bullpen bench, and Manny Ramirez thought it was a dead ball; he stopped chasing it.

The first-base umpire, Angel Hernandez, kept making the “safe” sign, but Ramirez didn’t pick up on it. Bogey kept chugging around the bases for an inside-the-park home run.

Lopez faltered, and he finally pulled a calf muscle. Eric Plunk came in and threw a wild pitch. We ended up with a five-run inning and a 6-3 lead. Holt retired the Tribe in the sixth, but he ran into trouble in the seventh.

I brought José Lima into the game with the bases loaded. He got two quick strikes and then gave up a sharp single. Then he gave up a walk and another hit. Mike Magnante came in and got Tony Fernandez to hit a weak tapper up the middle. We had him shaded to left, and couldn’t keep it in the infield. When the dust settled, we were down 7-6.

 

In the bottom of the eighth, we had a chance to tie the game when Sean Berry doubled into the left-centerfield gap with two outs and Bell on first. Derek got a slow start at first, and he was thrown out at the plate on a perfect relay throw by Fernandez.  

We timed him at 11.2 seconds from first to home, which is below average. Although he is one of the fastest players on the team, he simply is not in shape. Every player we have except Tony Eusebio would have scored on the play.

We never got up after that; just sank a little lower when Ramirez atoned for his negligence by hitting an upper-deck home run off Blas Minor. It was only the ninth upper-decker in Dome history.