Life In The Minors
THE other night, I was unfortunate enough to be watching, or actually listening to, our ballclub's game on the radio from the discomforting comfort of my host mother's living room. Dugout is the right place to be
Fifty-eight games into the 84-game schedule, I broke down, got sick. I guess sleeping only about an hour on our 11-hour overnight bus trip from Johnstown, Penn., and two 13-hour days in the 95- to 100-degree heat during our youth clinic wasn't such a good combination.
As I sat in the dugout around the sixth inning, I kinda got the feeling that I was in pretty bad shape. My vision was blurry, I had body aches, and felt like I was going to pass out. Besides that, we were losing.
After the game, our team trainer took my temperature and told me that I was simmering at a cool 100 degrees. Five Tylenols and three hours of sleep later, she busted out the thermometer again, and this time, as she attempted to hide her sense of panic, she told me to get set to go to the emergency room. I had elevated to 103 degrees.
Korey Stringer, the Minnesota Vikings lineman who died due to heat exhaustion recently, was reported to have a core temperature of over 108.
So here I sit, listening to our radio announcer, Keith Gerhart, ramble about how the Dubois County Dragons have just dropped six of the last seven games. Thanks, buddy.
Three outs into the game, we were down 2-0. A two-run, two-out double did the trick as the Chillicothe Paints, the hottest team in the Frontier League at present, jumped to the early lead with their 9-1 ace, Rick Blanc, on the hill. With uncanny timing, Gerhart dropped the note that we are 10-17 in games when the opponent scores first this year. Thanks again, Keith.
So the game went on. The Paints scored another to make it 3-0, then we rallied for three of our own.
Then they went up 5-3, and then 7-3, right about the time I started pulling out the hair from my head.
As a feeling of helplessness struck me, I realized that we should have been pulling away from the rest of the teams in the West Division over the past couple of weeks. Instead, we have struggled mightily, with a 10-9 record since the all-star break.
Within the minor league season, teams experience a bunch of streaks --winning streaks, losing streaks, cold streaks and hot streaks. We began the year by losing three before ripping off the best record in the league through the first month or so.
Over the past couple of weeks, the Dragons have been quite frigid. Fortunately for us, the other contenders in our division have struggled as well, allowing us to remain a half-game out of first place.
Cracking the bottle of Motrin for my next dose, the Dragons score a single run to cut the deficit to three, at 7-4.
In the bottom of the eighth, we started to click. Randy Morey's two-out, two-run bases-loaded single pulled us to within a run. I can't take it anymore, gotta pace the living room. Enter Chillicothe's stopper, a 93 mph-throwing 6-foot-4 lefty, with an ERA below 1.00.
As my host mom, Viola Scherry, and I joked about how if the team wins, that I should stay away from the games until they lose, we started to rally. A lead-off walk. A pinch runner. A two-base error. A stolen base.
Our cleanup batter strikes out. Then an intentional walk of our fifth batter to set up the potential game-ending double play.
After our catcher, Joe Kalczynski, flies out to shallow center, we stand a base hit away from defeating the only 40-win team in the league this year.
Two outs, bases loaded, down a run. A win would put us back in first place, with the Springfield Capitals. Up steps our right fielder, Adam Olow.
Just as I return to my pacing, I hear Gerhart.
"One-one pitch to Olow is laced into right-center field. Bakich will score, Delucchi scores. Book 'em, Dan-o. Ballgame over. Dragons win."
Once the fist pumping and high-fiving concludes, I realize how bad I want to get back to the ballpark and in the dugout where I belong ...
If they'll have me back. Baseball guys are pretty superstitious.
Brendan Sagara, a former University of Hawaii-Hilo pitcher,
is in his first season as a pitching coach for the
Dubois County (Ind.) Dragons