Wednesday, January 30
Kerry said the day started by his oversleeping. Apparently his travel alarm clock's batteries finally died and he didn't have a backup alarm set so he woke up at 7:15 instead of the usual 6:30 that he's been getting up. There is a premium to getting to the park early because the line to the trainer's room gets longer and longer as the week goes on. The good news on the injury front is that his leg wasn't any more sore than it was last night when he went to bed. It was stiff but he was able to work that out by walking around and jogging a bit. The trainers iced it and then covered the bruise with a sleeve and Kerry said that made a big difference. So his left knee has a protective pad over the bandage and the right knee is covered with a sleeve. It slowed him down a bit on the basepaths but not much. He said that between games, he went to ice it down some more and when he pulled the sleeve off it was "real ugly looking" so he had the orthopedist take a look at it. Kerry said the bruise had spread; instead of being a lump in the muscle, it was now spreading down his leg. The doctor told him this is what it would do and to stay off of it as much as possible when he's not playing. He can start applying heat this weekend. I asked about the blood clot issue, given Bob's experience with this kind of thing, and Kerry said everyone has assured him that there is no danger of something like that happening from this injury so that was good to hear.
The morning meeting had a funny moment to it. As a bit of background, Gentile managed an independent league team in Fort Worth last year. On Sunday, he read in the paper that they've hired Maury Wills to serve over him as the general manager of the team this season. Gentile said they had probably e-mailed him with the decision but he hadn't had a chance to pick up his e-mail for a few days so he learned about it through the paper. The thing of it is, Gentile doesn't particularly like Maury Wills. They came up in the Dodgers system together and they've never gotten along. Gentile had shared the news about losing his managerial position to Spencer but he made Spencer promise not to tell anyone. Well, Spencer isn't exactly the quietest guy around and he blabbed the story to Rocky Johnson who assured him he wouldn't say a word to Gentile about it. But Rocky is very competitive and likes to get every advantage. So right before yesterday's game, he went up to Gentile and said, "I hear Maury's taking over your team." Kerry said Gentile sat on the bench with his head in his hands saying "Maury &*@!% Wills" over and over. And this was the reason given for them losing to Rocky's team yesterday. So Spencer earned a brown rope for his role in their loss.
As for the game action, the first game was against Jack Voight's Vultures and they won 9-4. This was played under Veteran's Tournament rules where no pitcher can throw more than an inning in the game. What's more, I learned that there is a Six Inning rule that prohibits any pitcher from throwing more than six innings a day. Their goal in this game was to avoid using their #1 and #2 starters (Kerry is the #2 starter on Gentile's team this year) to save them for the afternoon game which was against their remaining divisional opponent. But the plan didn't work out the way they had hoped although Kerry did comment that they probably could've gotten away without using him and their #1 starter. He said they took a 6-2 lead into the fifth. Kerry came in and gave up two runs in the top of the fifth (only one was earned) but his team scored three in the bottom of the inning and that was the ballgame. He wound up striking out two and giving up two his in his one inning of work. At the plate, he lined a single to right with a runner on second and was credited with an RBI. He eventually came around to score himself. In his second AB, he singled to left and was forced out at second. In his final AB of the game, he blooped a single to left centerfield but was thrown out trying to stretch it into a double. He hadn't wanted to go to second but their first base coach waved him on and he followed orders. In the field he played third the first four innings, pitched the fifth, and short the sixth. Everything was routine except an over-the-shoulder catch in foul ground while he was playing third and a nice bare-handed catch on a dribbler past the mound that he was able to get the runner out on to end the game.
The second game was much more exciting, both in terms of action and it's importance. They played Grant Jackson's team (Buck's Buccaneers) who was their final divisional opponent of the tournament. Kerry started the game on the mound and pitched three innings. His team took a 2-0 lead in the top of the first and Kerry held them scoreless until the second, when they tied the game on two unearned runs. The game remained tied when he left the mound and nobody scored in the fourth. In the top of the fifth, Diamond's Jim's scored two but the Buccaneers tied it in the bottom of the inning. Kerry said the umpires were terrible and blew a lot of calls in the game. In the bottom of the fifth, the Buccaneers had runners at first and second with two out. The batter hit a ball to the hole that the third baseman picked up and then tried to tag the runner. The umpire didn't make a verbal call so the third baseman threw the ball in an attempt to get the batter at first but he threw the ball away. Kerry said he looked over and noticed that the umpire had his hand up in the air to signal "out" so he started shouting "He's out. Get off the field; he's out." He said it was never clear if the runner was out because he'd been tagged out or if it was for going out of the baseline. In the top of the sixth, they didn't score. They kept the other team scoreless in the bottom of the inning. And in the seventh (the one extra inning they play in fantasy camp games), their #9 hitter made an out. The #1 hitter singled between short and third. Spencer called Kerry over and told him not to hit a fly ball but to hit the top of the ball. Kerry told me he likes to hit line drives so this went against his natural way of attacking the ball. Sure enough, he ripped the first pitch foul down the LF line. He said he didn't even look in Spencer's direction although he managed to peek and he saw him shaking his head. Kerry worked a 2-2 count and then hit a grounder to third to force the runner. The next batter singled and that brought up their best hitter. He hit a ball to the right side of the infield and Kerry said he put his head down and went running, not even bothering to see if it went through. As he rounded third, Spencer was windmilling and he scored. The ball had gone through into the outfield. The following batter struck out to end their half of the inning. Their stud pitcher struck out the first guy, got the next guy to ground out and then had to face the meat of the order for Buck's team. The next guy singled but the pitcher struck out the following batter to end the game. This puts them at 4-1 in the tournament and 3-0 in divisional play. They'll definitely be playing for The Ring. It's just a matter of what seed they'll get. In his other at bats, Kerry said he flied out to left in his first AB and got a bunt single in his second AB.
Kerry also mentioned that "Diamond" (as he refers to Gentile) couldn't take the pressure of the game in the late innings. After the game, Gentile told them that he's had more talented teams in the past but has never had a team play as well as these guys do together. Kerry agreed with that assessment, btw. He said the team he played on for Gentile two years ago had more talent but this group is very good at the little things like hitting cutoff men, etc. The amazing aspect to this is there's no time for them to practice these skills as teammates.
Tonight's activities included a signing session with Earl and Frank followed by a signing session with the weekend pros. Someone Kerry knows had a team picture of Gentile taken back when he was playing for a minor league team that he wanted Kerry to present to Gentile. Kerry said Gentile marvelled at the photo, asking his wife to pick him out. Kerry asked him how many of the guys in the photo made it to The Show and Gentile told him only a couple even had a cup of coffee. Gentile also told him that he knows he was traded a couple of times because of his temper. Gentile was quite the hothead and that got him into trouble. As for the Earl and Frank signing, Kerry said that the guy in front of him had a copy of Jim Palmer's book Palmer and Weaver: Together We Were Eleven Foot Nine for him to sign. Anybody who knows Earl knows he hates that book. They guy had already had Palmer sign it and he told Earl "feel free to write you objections" so Earl proceeded to tell him that his wife's name was spelled incorrectly and that they weren't divorced (they've actually been married close to 40 years now) and a few other things. Kerry just had a ball for Earl to sign but he noticed that the guy behind him also had a copy of the same book. He didn't stick around to see if the guy actually had the nerve to ask Earl to sign it. Kerry said Frank was really good. One of the campers had inadvertantly signed himself up for a professional conference for Thurs. and Fri. so he had already left camp but his wife and six year old son were in line to get Frank's autograph. Kerry said the boy was clearly intimidated by Frank and Frank was asking him what his name was and talking about the ball, really engaging the boy. Frank has a reputation as being "tough" but Kerry's noticed that he's usually very good with people. The only thing Kerry had signed was a ball. His plan is to get all of the current HOF'ers to sign it and, if Cal and Eddie actually show up next year, get them to sign it as well so he'll have something with the signatures of every Orioles player who is, or in Cal and Eddie's case will be, in the Hall. If he is unable to attend in person next year, he'll send the ball to someone to get the signatures on it for him.