RMJ 148 July 13

Top 5 Plays 

Inn	Score	Out	RoB	Pit(cnt)	R/O	@Bat	Batter	Pitcher	Play Description
t6	0-2	1	1-3	1,(0-0) X	RR	HOU	Luis Gonzalez	Jon Lieber	Double to CF (Line Drive); Biggio Scores; Howard Scores
b6	2-3	1	-2-	5,(1-2) ..FFBFX	R	PIT	Jose Guillen	Russ Springer	Single to RF (Ground Ball thru 2B-1B); Osik Scores; Guillen to 2B
b6	3-3	1	-2-	4,(1-2) BSCX	R	PIT	Kevin Polcovich	Russ Springer	Ground-rule Double (Fly Ball to Deep LF-CF); Guillen Scores
t6	2-2	2	123	4,(1-2) CBFB	R	HOU	Brad Ausmus	Clint Sodowsky	Wild Pitch; Gonzalez Scores; Bell to 3B; Gutierrez to 2B
b5	0-0	1	-2-	3,(1-1) BC.X	R	PIT	Jon Lieber	Ramon Garcia	Double to RF (Fly Ball to Short CF-RF); Polcovich Scores

Seven hours of sleep again. Enough, but not really enough after a tough loss. I haven’t been feeling too good the last few days. I don’t know if it’s a cold or allergies.

A win would be the best medication.

           

Sadly, we played like I feared we might. Not bad, but not good enough to beat an inspired young team.

Ramón Garcia pitched well, but misplays by Bell and Berry cost him two early runs. We took a 3-2 lead in the sixth on a two-run double by Gonzo and a wild pitch.

In the bottom of the sixth, Keith Osik doubled with one out.  We had Russ Springer warming up, because Chief had thrown almost 100 pitches and it was a hot, humid day.

I brought Russ in with Billy Spiers in a double-switch. Russ got ahead of Jose Guillén and threw him a good fastball inside. Guillen swung and hit a jam-shot on the ground, to the right side of the infield. Biggio was shaded up the middle, and he just couldn’t quite get to it; Osik scored as the ball trickled into right field.

Kevin Polcovich followed with an amazing hit: a double into left-center on a 94 MPH fastball about shoulder-high.

This guy wouldn’t even be in the big leagues with most teams, but on this team, he is destiny’s darling. The best hitters in the league couldn’t hit the pitch he hit; they wouldn’t even swing at it. But you have to give the kid credit: he hit it hard.

 After that, the Pirates slammed the door. They added one last run in the eighth on a double by Tony Womack.

 

The clubhouse was a morgue. Guys were sitting around in stunned disbelief. They hardly touched the postgame meal. We were right back where we started: two games under, in second place.

Gerry came by afterward and said he had talked to Matt Galante.

“Matt says he knows how you feel. There’s nobody in the bullpen you really trust except Wagner.

“He suggested we make a double move: We send Hudek down now when Shane comes back off the disabled list, then we bring José Cabrera up and send Minor down after we get back home. He said Cabrera is throwing real well, about 92-93 MPH, with a good changeup and a slider.”

“That’s fine with me,” I said. “I wouldn’t mind having someone different to go to. This will also send a message that we aren’t going to stand pat and wait for improvement.”

We limped solemnly to the bus, heading for Chicago, where I will attempt to sleep it off.  

At least we have a night game tomorrow. We need some time to recover from the last two days.

 

“Do you want to get some dinner in Chicago?” Gerry asked as we taxied down the runway. “Because I don’t want to eat on the plane if we’re going to eat when we get there.”

“Let’s do it,” I said. “Maybe a good meal will make us feel better.”

We invited all of the coaches, and we asked that they wait for us in the lobby while we broke the news to Hudek. It turned out to be a long wait; John wasn’t really surprised, but he wanted to talk about his pitching and his future.

Vern was with us, and between Vern and Hudie, we had a dual filibuster. Gerry and I talked a lot, too. It’s important that we give a guy like Hudie the encouragement he needs, because we may need him later.

Hudek’s discourse was disjointed. You could almost see the root of his problem in his description of it. He continued to talk in circles, not making much sense.

It is difficult to pitch without a plan, and John is clearly without a plan these days. His fastball is still above average — 91-95 MPH — but it doesn’t seem to have the riding movement it once had. With another pitch, he could be effective. But his other pitches aren’t that good.

We encouraged him to work on his changeup, more than his slider. I believe the changeup is the key to his return to form, but he seems to favor the slider. We agreed that he would throw at least one change or slider to each hitter he faces, using the change mostly on lefties and the slider on righties.

The other coaches were dutifully waiting when we finally got down to the lobby at 9:00. We went to Harry Caray’s because we knew we could get seated, and the meal was delicious.

I think the guys appreciate getting the royal treatment from the GM. We had a few laughs and talked a lot of baseball.

As usual, the conversation was centered on what we could do to get Derek Bell going again.

“The thing that makes it tough is that he’s not in shape,” I said. “If we could shut him down three or four days a week and really make him work out, he might start to improve. But if we still want to trade him, we have to play him. Maybe we’ll get lucky and he’ll have a good series or two.”

“The Yankees need an outfielder,” Cubby said. “They aren’t worried about taking on salary over there.”

“Don’t be so sure,” Gerry said. “I talked to Bull [Bob Watson, the Yankees’ GM] the other day, and he was interested. But he said we would have to take Kenny Rogers in return. They don’t want to take on any more salary than they give up.”  

This might have been a possibility, if we needed Kenny Rogers. Kenny has been a fine pitcher at times; he even pitched a perfect game for the Rangers. Recently, however, he has not performed well. Getting out of New York might help him. But then again, it might not. And we really don’t have a problem with our rotation.

We could use a veteran reliever, but Kenny is strictly a starter, and he makes more — not less — than Derek.

 

O sleep, sweet sleep! Deliver me unto a fresh awakening.