Too many deadlines can
kill a pitching coach

Laying here on my bed in the hotel room of the Lee's Inn that is my summer home here in Northwest Indiana, I have passed the past couple of hours as I often do after ballgames -- surfing the Internet.

After a tough 5-4 loss at the hands of the St. Paul Saints tonight here at home, my mind is wandering and I am distracted. I'm probably not thinking very straight. After all, I really haven't been able to sit still and think for a few days now.

The past week has been quite a ride for all of us associated with the Gary SouthShore RailCats. Seven days ago, we clinched the franchise's first-ever playoff berth in front of more than 6,000 fans at our home stadium, the U.S. Steelyard, inciting a huge dog pile in the middle of the infield.

As I noted in last week's story, that win was followed by a whole lot of celebrating, complete with champagne and beer showers.

Two days later, we completed a three-game series sweep over the Joliet Jack Hammers to complete a "worst-to-first" turnaround that saw us bring home the club's first division title, as we won the Northern League's South Division second-half championship.

Fans, media and the like showered us with cheers and kudos, as we helped take the RailCats from the bottom of the league standings to the top, as we went 54-42, a distinct contrast from last year's team, which was just 31-65.

From there things just got more hectic for all of us.

After finishing the season last Sunday, we boarded our team bus for the 8-hour drive to St. Paul, Minn., where we were to open the league playoffs with two games against the Saints.

But before we left, there were charts to organize and decipher, equipment to pack, and a postseason pitching rotation to discuss with our manager, Greg Tagert, among other things.

Our two days in St. Paul were absolutely nuts.

In the first game, we raced out to an early 4-0 lead, only to watch the Saints rally to beat us 6-4. In Game 2, we came away with the victory in a knock-down, drag-out heavyweight bout that saw us emerge with the 10-9 win.

After the game, we boarded the bus again and made the return trip home to Gary, to prepare for the remainder of the best-of-five series.

Although we had an off day before the third game, I really didn't get too much time to organize my thoughts, as our coaching staff jumped onto another bus later that evening. This time, we were making the brief, 45-minute run to U.S. Cellular Field, where we were to watch the Chicago White Sox game from a luxury box, as guests of the Gary Post Tribune.

Today was busy as well, with our game and a coaches' postgame gathering at the local IHOP, along with our general manger from the 2001 Dubois County Dragons, Steve Tahsler.

When I returned to my room at the inn, I knew I had something to do. But I just couldn't put a finger on it.

After our loss, we had one definite deadline, as we enter tomorrow's game needing to win to keep our season alive. A loss tomorrow simply means that it's time to head west. Head home. A win keeps us alive for at least another day and another game, as a victory tomorrow would take us to a decisive fifth game.

But as I sat and pondered about what needed to be done to get us another win, I just knew that I was forgetting to do something.

So as I tried to think of what task I was leaving undone, I surfed the Web, checking out all my usual sites, and even made a few phone calls to my buddies Rick Kuwahara and Derick Kato, venting my frustration of coming up a run short tonight, as if they have nothing better to do.

As I checked out the upcoming music and movie releases on BestBuy.com, and read the recap from our league's other semifinal series, I just felt like I was missing the boat.

Not until I made my daily trip to StarBulletin.com, did it finally dawn on me.

Right about the time I scanned through Al Chase's story on the UH women's soccer team, I realized what I was forgetting about.

Friday night, story night.

As with every other week for the past five minor league seasons, Friday is the day I need to e-mail my weekly story to the Star Bulletin. I knew I was missing something.

Luckily for me, I had a lot to write about and a lot of energy to work with, as I can't sleep thinking ahead to tomorrow's big game anyhow.

With this story just about done, I'm hoping we can muster another couple of wins in this series to extend our season just a little more. We need to. I'm not quite ready to go home, not without a championship.

Now that I have met one deadline, I'm hoping we can push back the other one.