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Team travels too far for
a spot in the standings

Our bus ride Thursday night seemed to last a lot longer than the 7 hours of actual travel time it took for us to go from Joliet, Ind., to St. Paul, Minn.

Maybe it was because we lost a thriller to the Joliet Jackhammers. In what would become a pitching coach's nightmare, we dropped an 11-9 decision in the third and final game of our series, after our unfortunate starting pitcher gave up eight runs in the bottom of the first.

But to the credit of our guys, we never stopped playing, and soon, we had closed to within two runs, cozying up at 10-8 after the top of the eighth inning. After surrendering a single run in the bottom of the eighth, we scored another run of our own in the top of the ninth when our third baseman Tanner Townsend drilled a solo homer to center off of Joliet's closer, Amad Stephens.

Unfortunately, Tanner's blast would provide our final run of the night, as we lost by a pair to lose the series 2-1.

After taking our postgame showers, we packed our gear onto the bus and went searching for a nearby market where we could stock up for the long drive ahead. As usual, I picked up some turkey meat, a bag of chips, a few bottles of water, a bottle of Sprite, a loaf of cinnamon raisin bread and a Gatorade.

With "Be Cool" playing on our bus DVD player, I munched for a while, watching "The Rock" steal the show, before settling in for the night.

Watching a movie on the bus usually has a tranquilizing effect on me, lulling me to sleep as we cover mile after mile of highway. But for some reason that night, I just couldn't shut it down. So I picked up my cell phone and made some calls.

I talked to my buddy Rick Kuwahara for a while, and he gave me the rundown on his latest slow-pitch softball game. I think he went 3-for-3 and made a couple of catches or something. Then it was my mom and my friend Derick Kato, who talked to me as he shopped at the Longs in Kaneohe as he prepped for his three-week-long trip to the mainland.

After a couple more short conversations, I began to get a little frustrated with my inability to fall asleep, so I pulled out my iPod and tried that for a while. The last time I remember seeing on the digital clock at the front of the bus was 2:30 a.m. I closed my eyes for what seemed like a minute and the next thing I knew, it was 5 a.m.

About an hour later, we pulled up to our hotel in Minnesota and I quickly made my way to my room and knocked out for a while, as I was finally able to spread out.

At 3 p.m., I was on the road again, taking the pitchers' bus to the ballpark. Pitchers in pro ball often take an earlier bus than the position players so they can get their conditioning out of the way and be available to shag and hit fungos during batting practice.

Going to the stadium today was especially neat for lack of a better term, because we were playing the St. Paul Saints, arguably one of the most well-known teams in independent league sports. With an alumni list that includes Darryl Strawberry, Jack Morris, J.D. Drew, Leon Durham, Rey Ordonez and Kevin Millar, the Saints have been a top draw for years.

Adding to the anticipation, our hitting coach Andy Haines and myself were running the game today, as our manager was back home in California for his son's high school graduation.

The game itself went a lot better than the bus trip north. After falling behind 2-0 in the third, we found a way to keep pace throughout most of the game, and finally caught St. Paul in the top of the eighth at 3-3.

In the ninth, our right fielder, Josh Wettlaufer, led off with an opposite-field single to left to start us off. A sacrifice bunt by our shortstop, Jay Pecci, moved Josh to second, to put our potential tying run in scoring position.

Jay's bunt brought our second baseman, Alex Taylor, to the plate with a shot at helping us take the lead. Two wild pitches by the Saints' reliever allowed Josh to score and give us a chance to steal a win from one of the most storied teams.

Randy Vanderplow pitched the ninth for us and put up a zero to give us the win and improve our record to 11-8 for the season, good for third in the Northern League's South Division.

With the past 24 hours providing little peace, I am looking forward to a good night's sleep. With a doubleheader scheduled for 5 p.m., I need to sneak in as many hours of sleep as I can before our 1:45 p.m. bus.

All I need is enough time for a shower and some room service before I hop onto the bus. Another day of riding buses and playing baseball. Sounds like a pretty good day.