Sunday, June 10, 2001
[ PROFESSIONAL BASEBALL ]
AS I sit here at the front of the bus watching the opening credits to "Meet the Parents," I find myself reflecting upon the first two weeks of my minor league coaching career with the Dubois County (Ind.) Dragons. Bus rides, movies all
part of mix in minorsLIFE IN THE MINORS
Hawaii Baseball Report
Brendan Sagara
Special to the Star-BulletinWe are heading off on our second road trip of the season, a three-movie, six-hour bus ride to a suburb of Chicago, where we will play a three-game set against the Cook County Cheetahs, a team once managed by former Detroit Tigers star Ron LeFlore.
Last week's movie menu included a tribute to Chris Farley, which consisted of "Black Sheep" and the late comedian's greatest segments from Saturday Night Live. Today, we follow up "Meet the Parents" with "The Wedding Singer" and "Austin Powers."
The bus rides of the Frontier League are infamous among professional baseball circles. Our six-hour ride to Cook County today is actually one of our shortest of the season. With 12 teams in various areas of Indiana, Pennsylvania, Ohio, Michigan, Illinois, Missouri and Canada, there will be a few 10-hour plus journeys.
Next week, we will be making the 14-hour trek back home to Huntingburg from London, Ontario as we cap off a six-game road trip.
In minor league ball, there are no travel days. About every three days or so, we will be taking the bus in some direction for about eight hours or so. We usually leave either late at night after our games, or early in the morning to head to our next destination. And there is a game every day.
Today's journey is quite different from our first road trip of the season.
When we left to play the River City Rascals in a suburb of St. Louis six days ago, we had just opened the season in horrific fashion, committing a total of 11 fielding errors en route to a three game sweep at the hands of the Evansville Otters.
Needless to say, even the sight of Ben Stiller desecrating Robert DeNiro's mother's ashes could not have elicited a laugh from the 30 players and coaches on our Beck Bus.
Today, however, the Dubois County Dragons are walking -- or riding -- with an extra bounce, even though one of Hawaii's hurlers -- Damon Yee -- arrived at the ballpark half an hour late for the bus (he overslept). After dropping our first four games out of the gate, we have undergone a remarkably quick turn around, ripping-off five straight wins to currently sit in third place in the West Division, at 5-4.
It's funny how the baseball gods always find a way to keep us all humble. Two weeks ago, we couldn't buy a break.
Everything we hit hard was caught, and when we did get a basehit, it was never with runners in scoring position.
Now, it seems like all of our opponents' hits are finding our gloves, and all of our hits are landing safely in the grassy outfield gaps of the Midwest. And best of all, our pitching has started to come around. Being the pitching coach, I was getting worried when we exited our first series with a team ERA over 5.00.
But on the wings of our five straight wins, we have lowered our team mark to a solid 3.49, good for second in the league.
Speaking of pitching, our local boys -- Yee and Ian Perio -- both bounced back from losses in their opening starts to post wins over the Gateway Grizzlies at home this past week. Ian went five strong to lead us to a 6-1 win, while Damon struck out nine to earn his first win of the year the next day. Despite their constant yearning for L&L plate lunches, both Ian and Damon are surviving just fine.
In the meantime, there are all the Denny's, Grandy's, and Taco Bells of the Midwest. Oh, yeah, and a whole lot of bus rides. Thank God for VCRs.
Brendan Sagara is a former University of Hawaii-Hilo pitcher
in his first season as pitching coach for the Dubois (Ind.) Dragons.
Hawaii Baseball Report
Statistics of players in professional baseball with Hawaii ties through Friday's games:Player
| Team, League | Class | AB | R | H | 2b | 3b | HR | RBI | Avg. | |
| Chris Truby | New Orleans, Pacific Coast | AAA | 72 | 12 | 25 | 7 | 0 | 4 | 23 | .347 |
| Key Voshell | Richmond, Frontier | Ind | 43 | 8 | 14 | 6 | 1 | 1 | 12 | .326 |
| Keith Luuloa | Portland, Pacific Coast | AAA | 116 | 16 | 36 | 7 | 2 | 3 | 10 | .310 |
| Benny Agbayani | N.Y. Mets, National | ML | 118 | 12 | 34 | 8 | 1 | 2 | 10 | .288 |
| Shane Victorino | Wilmington, South Atlantic | A | 228 | 43 | 63 | 13 | 6 | 3 | 11 | .276 |
| Darren Blakely | Tampa, Florida State | A | 150 | 22 | 41 | 8 | 3 | 5 | 17 | .273 |
| Keoni DeRenne | Greenville, Southern | AA | 202 | 18 | 53 | 3 | 2 | 2 | 22 | .262 |
| Rodney Choy Foo | Columbus, South Atlantic | A | 40 | 2 | 10 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 5 | .250 |
| Chad Santos | Burlington, Midwest | A | 195 | 28 | 47 | 16 | 0 | 7 | 33 | .241 |
| Dane Sardinha | Mudville Nine, California | A | 185 | 20 | 44 | 12 | 0 | 3 | 24 | .238 |
| Mike Tejada | Asheville, South Atlantic | A | 169 | 18 | 39 | 8 | 0 | 10 | 25 | .231 |
| Jason Ross | Richmond, International | AAA | 113 | 15 | 26 | 5 | 1 | 5 | 7 | .230 |
| Brandon Chaves | Hickory, South Atlantic | A | 136 | 13 | 31 | 7 | 2 | 1 | 18 | .228 |
| Scott Suraci | Evansville, Frontier | Ind | 32 | 11 | 7 | 1 | 1 | 1 | 8 | .219 |
| Patrick Scalabrini | Quebec, Northern | Ind | 23 | 5 | 5 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 1 | .217 |
| Miles Luuloa | West Michigan, Midwest | AA | 133 | 22 | 25 | 6 | 1 | 1 | 9 | .188 |
Pitcher
| Team, League | Class | G | IP | H | ER | BB | SO | W-L | ERA | |
| Tyler Yates | Midland, Texas | AA | 27 | 29 | 27 | 9 | 12 | 29 | 2-2 | 2.79 |
| Justin Wayne | Jupiter, Florida State | A | 7 | 34-1/3 | 27 | 11 | 8 | 27 | 2-2 | 2.86 |
| Damon Yee | Dubois County, Frontier | Ind | 2 | 11 | 12 | 4 | 4 | 14 | 1-1 | 3.27 |
| Brandon Villafuerte | Oklahoma, Pacific Coast | AAA | 19 | 34-2/3 | 41 | 14 | 16 | 42 | 3-2 | 3.63 |
| Mark Johnson | Toledo, International | AAA | 11 | 71 | 65 | 29 | 14 | 43 | 5-5 | 3.68 |
| Scott Karl | Nashville, Pacific Coast | AAA | 11 | 68 | 61 | 28 | 16 | 45 | 3-3 | 3.71 |
| Hawkeye Wayne | Wisconsin, Midwest | A | 12 | 28-1/3 | 24 | 12 | 22 | 22 | 2-1 | 3.81 |
| Thomas Ford | Frederick, California | A | 4 | 4-2/3 | 6 | 2 | 1 | 6 | 0-0 | 3.86 |
| Dusty Bergman | Arkansas, Texas | AA | 12 | 72 | 84 | 35 | 23 | 40 | 4-6 | 4.38 |
| Jeff Martin | San Angelo, Tex-Louisiana | Ind | 5 | 31-1/3 | 30 | 17 | 12 | 41 | 1-2 | 4.59 |
| Jay Spurgeon | Rochester, International | AAA | 12 | 72 | 66 | 37 | 25 | 48 | 3-5 | 4.63 |
| Corey Miller | Modesto, California | A | 17 | 27 | 25 | 14 | 14 | 32 | 2-4 | 4.67 |
| Mike Fetters | Los Angeles, National | ML | 22 | 19 | 17 | 10 | 8 | 17 | 2-1 | 4.74 |
| Ian Perio | Dubois County, Frontier | Ind | 2 | 8-2/3 | 10 | 5 | 4 | 11 | 1-1 | 5.19 |
| Jerome Williams | Shreveport, Texas | AA | 10 | 47 | 43 | 29 | 19 | 30 | 4-2 | 5.55 |
| Onan Masaoka | Las Vegas, Pacific Coast | AAA | 17 | 45 | 59 | 35 | 18 | 35 | 6-3 | 7.00 |
>> Tyler Yates is tied for first in most appearances (27) and is second in saves (10) in the Texas League.
>> Justin Wayne had his best game of the season Tuesday, pitching seven shutout innings for Jupiter (Florida State League), allowing four hits, no walks and striking out four. He was not involved in the decision in the extra-inning game.
>> Shane Victorino is tied for second in triples (6) in the South Atlantic League.
>> Dusty Bergman is second in hits allowed (84) in the Texas League.
Compiled by Al Chase, Star-Bulletin