RMJ 160 July 25

FRIDAY, JULY 25 ● Houston, vs Montreal

Last year, on Julia’s 20th birthday, I promised to take her shopping for a camera. She just turned 21, and I thought it might be the right time to get it done.

We went to the Houston Camera Exchange, where she could shop for new or used cameras. I guess I felt a little guilty about letting last year’s promise linger so long, so I was putty in her hands — and she now owns a nice Nikon. I probably would have advised getting a slightly-used model with more lenses, but this is her birthday, not mine.

She thinks she might like photojournalism, and she is already enrolled in a class. She is also enrolled at the University of Houston, taking a full load.

I am really hopeful that Julia is turning the corner. She has been an aimless soul for several years now, hanging out with strange-looking kids and doing who-knows-what.

She met a guy named Chris recently, and he seems to be a good influence on her. Gone are the brooding eyebrows and the dark, somber clothes. In their place, there are bright eyes and an easy smile.

The anguish that has been Judy’s constant companion is gone, as well.

All together now! Say cheese. Smile for the camera. Smile for the camera-person.

 

On my way to the ballpark, I considered my options, in view of the lineup controversy and the knockdown incident. With a six-game winning streak going, I might be best-served to swallow my feelings and not to rock the boat. But my feelings are strong, and I think they might eat me up from the inside.

I decided to talk to the team after batting practice.

When I considered the lineup, I couldn’t believe my eyes. Bell was 0-for-10 with six strikeouts and a double-play grounder off Juden. Howard was 2-for-3 with a double.

I knew I was going to play Carr anyway; there is no way Juden can stop Carr from stealing. But with Gonzo, Carr, and Howard in the game, guess who was on the bench? This fit perfectly into what I was going to tell the team later. And of course, it was a provocative move — a move that had me answering many questions during batting practice.

Afterward, I stated my case:

 

I want to clear the air on this lineup issue.

First of all, I’m not playing favorites; I’m playing to win. When I make up my lineup, I consider many things. I check to see if the opposing pitcher has had trouble with lefthanded or righthanded hitters; I check to see if we can run on him; I look at matchups, but I am not inclined to make much of them unless a guy has hit against a particular pitcher ten times or more, and he has had real good success or almost no success against the other pitcher.

I understand that Tank was mad yesterday. That doesn’t bother me. It’s no big deal. In fact, I like it when a guy is mad about not playing, because it shows that he thinks he is the best man for the job. It shows he has an intense desire to compete.

I know that I can’t make everyone happy. Sean wants to play more; Mouton wants to play more; Ricky wants to play more.

You all know that I can only play eight guys each day. Someone has to sit. I don’t expect you to be happy sitting, but I don’t expect you to express your feelings in the media.

I know the situation yesterday was unusual: Derek thought he was talking off-the-record. But we have to be careful about talking off-the-record if we have something controversial to say. These people live off controversy; they feed on it. And they will try to drive a wedge between one player and another, or between a player and the manager or one of the coaches. We can’t let them do that.

We have a lot to gain this year. We have a shot at the ring. If you have a gripe about the lineup, come to me, and I will explain my thinking. I know my thinking won’t always get us the right lineup for a win. I have my streaks and slumps, just like you guys. But we have to stay together and plow through these family feuds, just like we try to play through our mistakes on the field. We have to stay together to win this thing — like it or not.

On another subject, I want to be perfectly clear: I am not going to let our hitters serve as target practice for the other team. We will protect our players. We will not back off. Our pitchers have been instructed to throw at a guy’s waist to send a message. It it hits him, so be it. I will not tolerate throwing at someone’s head under any circumstances, whether it is our pitcher or theirs.

If they throw at us, we will throw at them. But we will not throw at their head. If you think someone is throwing at you, tell one of the coaches, or tell me. We will take care of it.

Last night, a “hit” order went out without my knowledge. The Expos ended up tying the game, and could have beaten us because of it. I am proud of you guys for taking the momentum of the game back, and winning it.

But from here on out, I insist on knowing what is coming down. Winning is still our main priority. There will be ample opportunities for revenge. Opportunities that will not have a bearing on winning or losing.

That’s all. Keep playing hard. Let’s win another one.

           

When I walked out, I was restive, pacing around in my office, dying to know what the players were saying about the meeting. A few minutes later, Gonzo came into my office to ask me to sign some items for a charity auction.

“How did they take it?” I asked. “Was it too strong?”

“No,” he said. “It was fine.  Most of us already know that stuff. Don’t worry about a thing.”

 

The Expos were ready for Kile in the first inning. F.P. Santangelo hit the first pitch of the game up the middle for a single. Mike Lansing followed with a double down the left-field line. Kile showed no concern. He stuck out Rondell White. He struck out Henry Rodriguez. And he struck out José Vidro. The Expos failed to score.

I held my breath as Juden delivered the first pitch to Biggio. Bidge didn’t give him a chance for another one.  He bunted down the first-base line and went to second as Juden threw the ball away. Chuckie popped up, and Bagwell walked on four pitches. On the last one, Bidge stole third. Gonzo followed with a grounder to second. Bagwell hustled into the bag to break up the double play. Gonzo beat the rap, and we took a 1-0 lead.

Mark Grudzielanek hit a flare to right leading off the second, and he went all the way to third when the ball rolled under the bullpen bench. Bogar made a wild throw to Bagwell on Ryan McGwire’s grounder. The tying run scored, and McGuire went to second. A single by Juden plated McGuire.

With one out in the third, Juden hit Biggio on the left arm. Bidge just ran down to first, trying — without success — to hide the obvious pain. He was really hurting.

Bidge immediately stole second and scored on Chuckie’s single.

I walked by Kile in the dugout and said, “be my guest.” Kile retired the side in order, and when he got back to the dugout he said, “Don’t worry, I’ll get someone.”

I wasn’t worried.

 

White hit a looping triple down the right-field line to open the fifth. Kile struck out Rodriguez again. Then Vidro hit a smash down the line first-base line.

Bagwell stabbed it and looked to third, where White was on the move. Bagwell took a quick step to his left, touched the bag, then faked a throw home to turn White around.

As White headed back to third, Bagwell faked to third. White turned around again, and Bagwell had him halfway. He ran toward third, faking every time White moved. We got him in a rundown and tagged him out to end the inning.  

Bagwell has baseball instincts like Willie Mays. He’s worth the price of admission, all by himself.

 

With two outs in the bottom of the fifth, Juden hit Chuckie on the knee. Chuckie got up and clapped his hands as he ran to first, as if to say, Nice shot. Too bad you didn’t throw it hard enough to hurt me. The players in our dugout came up to the rail and started yelling at Juden: You have to come up too, you asshole! and stuff like that.

On a 2-1 pitch, Bagwell got the best revenge. He hit a towering home run to center, and our dugout exploded with cheers and taunts. The whole Dome was rocking.

In the sixth, Howard singled and made it to third with two outs. Juden uncorked a wild pitch, and Howard came home. He slowed up a little when he knew he was going to score; I suppose he wanted to say something to Juden. Juden got the throw late, and he tagged Tank on the helmet. Tank jumped up and confronted Juden.

There was a tense standoff, but home plate umpire Jerry Layne got between them and took the ball from Juden.  Bogey went from first to second on the play, then went to third while Juden and Howard were facing off.

Afterward, Layne sent Bogar back to second, then came over to our dugout.

“I took the ball from Juden because I was afraid he would throw it at Howard,” he said. “I probably shouldn’t have done it, but I can’t give him third base.”

I had no beef with that.

In the meantime, Kile had settled down, and the last four innings, he ripped through the lineup with ease. I was a little surprised that he didn’t throw at anyone, but I was also pleased. Apparently he thought winning was the most-important thing, and he didn’t want to wake up the Expos. That is just plain good thinking, and I have to give Bidge and Chuckie some credit for not insisting on retribution.

 

There were a lot of reporters around for the postgame press conference. I suppose they thought there might be some extracurricular activity too.

After the reporters cleared out, I spoke with Kile.

“You did the right thing,” I said. “Winning the game was the first priority. We’ll have another shot at Juden — if he stays in the league long enough. If he doesn’t, that will be even better.”

It was another great win. Seven in a row now. We are four-and-a-half games in front of the Pirates, and six games up on the Cardinals.