Chapter 21 - "Baseball is a fun game. It beats working for a living." (Phil Linz)

Feb 10 2009 I realize its been a couple of days since my last post. Only a couple more posts to go. Sunday was a day to catch up on some posts and rest. Monday we left sunny and warm (finally) Florida to come back to the cold tundra of Boston.

Today, the alarm went off at 5:45 and I thought I was heading to the development center to play baseball. No such luck. It was back on the train and off to work. Did you know when a finely tune athlete like myself (ha ha) stops training and now has to sit behind the desk its tough (by the way I am telling everyone that the camera adds at least 40lbs). All through the day, the legs were aching, the back was cramping, the shoulder still hurts but all those things were not as bad as going back to work. I think I tweaked the only muscle that didn't ache all week lifting the phone off the hook. I did hear from some of the team about their first days back and sounds like they are suffering from Fantasy Camp withdrawal. Boy, I never thought I would say it but I miss it. It was a great time and experience but someone has to pay the bills regardless how fun it is. Kids, enjoy it while you can.

Got feedback on the blog from the folks at work and others and its sounds like I did not commit any errors. All enjoyed as I did doing it. So until a couple days from now signing off as I dream about maybe getting another chance to hit that hanging slider or turning that double play or maybe just the Hooter girls.

Chapter 21 - "There's no I in TEAM."

Feb 9 Monday: My body still aches even after taking the whole day off yesterday. My quads, shoulders, back, neck all are alternating between aching and hurting. I had a great week playing baseball with these guys. I realize that the blog has been mostly about my experience and exploits. So as Patti and I get ready to return home this afternoon I wanted to get a couple thoughts down on paper about my teammates.

Manager Chad Epperson: I know he has participated in several camps before this one and you can tell. His demeanor and the way he approached the week was just terrific. It was not only his demeanor but his attitude as well, let have fun but be competitive. Everyone on the team reacted positively to his leadership style. The RedSox organization is very lucky to have him managing the organizations young talent. They will learn a lot about baseball and life from Chad because he has their best interest in mind.

Coach Lou Merloni: This was Lou’s first camp and even he didn’t know what to expect. He was the perfect bench coach to Chad. A little more vocal and certainly entertaining. The nice thing about Lou was he took the time to help everyone on the team whether it was catching, batting or fielding. He gave us tips to better ourselves in the field. His insight into the game of baseball was very interesting. Basically, he made this fantasy experience for a bunch of wannabes pleasurable.

Let me touch on some tidbits about our team:

Art Agostinho:
Left pitcher, first base. I asked Art why number 47 and he said year of his birth. He was our starting pitcher and did a tremendous job. He made me look 72.

Paul Anderson: Paul was able to complete the circuit playing second base on Saturday vs. the Pros. He played every position. A couple team managers questioned a lefty at third but he made some spectacular plays. He hit the ball a ton as well.

Santo Atinello: Lou thought he drafted an All-Italian team and than found out that several of the Italians were Portuguese including Santo. He came to the camp via Portugal. He was truly our leader, our own Charlie Hustle. He caught every game for us. He also acted as our trainer taking over one of the tables in the training room for special treatment for our players. Here he is sans catching equipment at the Awards Dinner with Eppee's wife.

James Becker: Jim started out at third for us and when Mike left Jim took over the duties of shortstop. He covered every inch of ground like Derek Jeter. His agility was second to none. Once a slow grounder down the third base line looked fair but started to roll foul at last minute, he was able to tumble over the ball without touching it as it did indeed go foul. Butch Hobson went nuts when the umpire called it foul. At least twice we saw him make turn and throw tosses to first off of one foot.

Ernie Candelmo: They told us the first day of camp at one of the drills (outfield) that the center fielder was in charge of the out field. Well Ernie was that and than some. Both Eppee and Lou said several times he covered centerfield like Jacoby Elsbury. He had a great jump on the ball and caught just about everything that came his way. Super attitude and gave 125% all the time. At one point he went 12-14 over a two game span and of course that streak was broken because Lou made a big deal about it at the Camp meeting.

Dale Cookson:
Dale was tagged by Eppee with the nickname “Cookie”. He played left field and made several key catches in the outfield including a towering shot by Lou Merloni in the Pro game. My memorable story was him pitching on Friday and taking himself out of the game before Eppee had a chance to yank him. It was a 3-2 pitch and he turned to Ernie at shortstop and said you’re in after I walk this batter. Sure enough he walked him and the two switched positions. Eppee looked up and said it’s the first time a pitcher pulled himself before the manager did. Eppee also kept a close eye on him during the Awards Dinner, you noticed the WS rings Dale has on, they are not his.

Craig “Charlie” Earl: Charlie played right field for most of the week. Had a couple of great catches and hit the ball hard. Didn’t recognize Charlie the other day at the Awards Ceremony, he shaved his goatee that he had all week. Charlie did have one memorable moment when after striking out he yelled at the umpire, “my #!@ that was no strike.” Everyone got a kick out of it including the umpire who was seen next to the fence laughing.

Craig Lawson: Craig was a multi-positional player seeing time at second, first, catcher, rightfield and pitcher. You already read my story about the batter we struck out. He pitched a gem against Lee’s Lefties, unfortunately I was one of the errors that caused a 5 run inning. Craig was good about it and always had a positive attitude toward the game and his teammates. He was our home run derby designee and actually hit the first home run of the derby. Unfortunately it was in the practice round and that was all he could muster. Here is Craig walking in with Paul.

Ben Lombardo: Benny was one of our elder statesmen. His first at bat he took a tumble tripping over the base line. He came up all smiles. Benny was our designated hitter the rest of the way out. After the first trip we had a base runner for him. One game he decided to try again running for himself. This time he went 10 feet down the line before tripping on that line again. Eppee taped the scene of the crime for further investigation. Benny ended up winning the Mr. Personality award for the camp.

Mike Heath: Mike (the one with the homerun ball in his hand) had the big bat on the team and led us all with on base percentage until he had to leave after Wednesday’s game. However before leaving, he did manage to hit a towering home run over the right field fence on field 5 almost to the batting cages.

Woody Starr: A medical wonder, complete player and great attitude. The other elder statesman on the team, this was Woody’s 19th consecutive camp. Hit left handed and speed down the first base line of course all relative to me (you saw how fast I ran). Played right field and had a strong underhand toss to get the ball back into the infield.

Guys, it was a pleasure playing with you and being able to socialize after hours. You made this a great experience for me and I hope I was able to contribute in some small way to your experience. Thanks for the memories.

Tim

Chapter 20 – “Baseball was made for kids, and grown-ups only screw it up.” (Bob Lemon)

Feb 7 Saturday Evening: After all the fun at the ballpark with the Pros, they gave up an unearned run in game 7 (will fill you in on details in a bit) Patti and I headed back to hotel to get some rest for the upcoming nights festivities. At about 6 we went downstairs to the cocktail party the Camp had for us and paid guests. Met up with Brent and his family and friend


Did I tell you that this was a first class organized event. Great job by everyone in the Sox organization. Patti became close email pen pals with Brian. Wow!

We were able to mill around with the Pros and campers re-living the Pros game and the events of the week. Got a good picture of my buddy Brent with his manager Bill Lee.

Hey Lee, here’s a picture of Rick Wise. Sorry did not get his autograph. Got Joe Castiglone to autograph on a picture. What a great time and to be honest I was ready to call it a day. I was tired and sore. I really did have a great time and experience but it was time to move on.

They sat us with our teammates which was pretty cool in that it allowed us to socialize one more time as a team. Eppee, our skipper, brought his wife and Lou was stag. He said he was going back to Boston for two days; listen to EEI on Tuesday 2-6to hear if he says anything about the camp. Then he comes back with his wife on Wednesday for a couple of weeks with Comcast to follow Spring Training.

After dinner they had the Awards ceremony. No hardware for this old boy, however one of teammates, Benny, got the “Mr. Personality” Award. Benny is about 70 or so, one of two on our team. He was a great guy and participated in the camp the way it should have been, having fun just like a kid.


Afterwards, Patti and I took some pictures of the World Series Trophy.

Eppee let us style with his WS rings from 04 and 07 (Cookie, one of our teammates was watched very closely by Eppees wife - he look pretty comfortable with those rings on).

The drinks kept flowing at the open bar for an hour after the dinner. Lou and Patti hit it off bigtime.

As it turns out, Lou made the error at second in the 7th game that caused the first unearned run. Patti said he was lucky that she didn’t see it or she would have given him a load about making that error at second base. No matter, once she found out she gave it to him anyway.

We were really lucky to have Chad Epperson and Lou as our manager and coach. They were great with us.
They had the right personalities to go with ours. I will have another blog posting about the team tomorrow.

We went into the bar afterwards and to be honest I was exhausted and a little drunk. We sat around for another drink and then retired for the evening. Let me just say that it was a great experience for me. It taught me a lot about what I can and cannot do. It also showed me that the things I can’t do are not that far out of reach if you want it bad and willing to work hard.

Patti and I left Sunday morning to come back to the condo and we rested by the pool most of the day. Will check in tomorrow with a new posting once I recover fully from the week.

Chapter 19 - Gardenhoser! You're going in... (Rookie of the Year)

Saturday Morning Feb 7: The end is near. A long week of games comes down to three innings against the Pros at City of Palms Park on Saturday morning. Stayed in bed a little later but the body was ready to go one more time, so time to get going. Patti and I jumped in the ‘stang and headed to the Development Center for me to get dressed. First, had to stop at the IHOP for some cakes. Boy were they good.

The Development Center was very quite compared to the last five days. Most of the lockers were cleaned out as the clubhouse personnel were getting ready for the real guys to show up. We all were dressing in home whites for the games against the Pros. I packed up all my gear, they give you the two uniforms, and Patti and I headed to City of Palms just down the road.

Last night over beers I mentioned that I would like to take a shot at pitching as did several others on the team. So we picked numbers out of the hat, 1-6, and I was going to be the third pticher. By Saturday morning I started to have some mixed feelings about playing a position I had not all week. Further, after watching a couple of the games before our turn, it was obvious to me the game was way too fast for me. All I could think of was a UL Washington or Mike Smith hitting one back at the pitcher and me losing 50 years of dental work. I found my team and took my name off the list.

As mentioned, Patti and I got to the Stadium well before our game so we were able to watch two games in which Oil Can Boyd was pitching – he’s still got it. Was able to watch my buddy Brent pitch to two batters, a pop up and come backer to the pitcher (see).

There was another game between Brent's and ours so we warmed up in the bull pen. Needless to say I was just as intimated as I was the first day. Going against the Pros who can turn it on like a light switch. Through four games that morning they had not been scored on. In fact, they have only lost one game in the last 20 years. Now it was our turn.

Joe Castiglione introduced each of the players on Eppersons Eagles. That was quite a thrill.


We than had our picture taken with the Pros.

Rich Wise was on the mound for the Pros. The top of the first, we had one hit but no runs. The bottom of the first we sent the Pros down 1-2-3 with Lou Merloni, our coach on the Eagles, flying out deep to left field. Our second inning we went 1-2-3. In the Pro’s bottom, they scored two runs; see what I mean about turning it on.

The thrill for me, I was playing the hot corner third (left field) base. I say that because the third base coach (Bob Montgomery) for the Pros said, "who do you think you are going to throw out from there?" I said, "I was playing deep to avoid getting hurt; no way I was playing even with the base." Well wouldn’t you know it, next batter a popup into foul territory came my way and this time I lined it up right underneath and in front of an overflowing crowd of 200 made the catch for the second out. Whew!

Our top of the third was also uneventful. I came up to bat against Rich Wise. First pitch was in the dirt for ball one. Nice speed and I was able to see the ball pretty good. Second pitch was a strike down the middle. Ok saw a strike and something I can hit. Was going to make this last. I pretty much made my mind up I was swinging at the next pitch. Right down the middle, made good contact (the bat didn’t rattle in my hands) but I grounded to UL Washington at second (he didn’t swallow his toothpick) and my tired old legs could barely get me down to first before the throw and that was that.

Final score 2-0.

We went through the line and I had a chance to thank all the Pros for the chance to play with them and against them. A sigh of relief came over me that it was over. We milled around a little and went into the clubhouse to sign some bats for our teammates.

I came out to the next game starting and Patti and I sat in the sun and enjoyed the game.

I am hoping that I can capture all my feelings in a blog to come but still have one more entry to come about the closing night ceremonies.

Chapter 18 - "Come on! Look at his beard. He's 50." ( Benchwarmers)

Feb 6 Friday Afternoon: They moved the games up because we finished early in the morning. We are in the consolation round and playing for 5th place against Johnson’s Jackals coached by Ron Johnson, the Triple A manager at Pawtucket. We had beaten them once before during the week. Mom and Dad came for the game.

Actually, at the end of the week, this was one of my better games but let me try to recap some of the drama. We jumped out to an early lead. I did nothing at the plate, couple of ground outs. On one ground out the umpire called me out before the ball even arrived at first. I heard my big foot hit the bag before the ball hit the glove. I asked the umpire if he called me out due to lack of effort? He smiled. My skip came out of the dugout and read him the riot act on my behalf. Later on I saw the pictures from the camera people and it was clear as day I was safe at first. Only now my dad tells me it was infield fly but I never heard the umpire yell it out. So to me it’s a ground ball and another missed call by the men in blue.

In the field, I started at second. Had a chance to make a put out at second but the shortstop threw right at the heel of my glove and it popped out. Naw not really, I had my glove turned the wrong way and while the ball did hit the heel of my glove it was my fault for not receiving he ball correctly. After that I settled down defensively and made a couple of put outs on ground balls to second.

Later in the game I changed positions for the first time all week and caught one inning (played catcher). That was a treat. Remember a couple of postings ago when I bought that protection for the boys. Well I wore it Monday morning during evaluations but it came right out at lunch and did not see the light of day until now. I had it in my bag for safe keeping. Now, putting it in its rightful place turned out to be somewhat troubling. First I tried outside the pocket but thought it might slip. Then I tried going against bare skin and said no way to that. Finally I found the pocket and tried my best to stuff it in as deep as I could (sorry for the graphic detail). Success sorta! Next was trying to figure out the shin pads. Hey Larry, did you know that they do not mark on the guards in the pros left from right either, thought I had two lefts. Oh well, I figured it out and went and caught my inning. The highlight of the inning was the third out, their big hitter. We had him 2-2 in the count and I asked for a high fast ball. So I stood up and he fouled it off. I asked for it again and my pitcher zoomed it in and the big guy swung and missed. He wasn’t the only one, while I asked for it high it came in at the waist and the umpire ended up catching most of it. The batter broke the bat over his knee. The only childish display I saw all week.

After that experience, they shipped me to third for an inning and than out to centerfield for two innings. I kept yelling to the pitcher to pitch ground balls. Had my wish until two outs in the 6th when a ball came zooming my way. First step was back and than in. I had a beat on it and stuck my glove out (I failed to get in front of it) and caught the ball right next to my left ear. Thank goodness or else that ball would have rolled all the way to the centerfield wall.

All in all a great day and a win 13-11. We ended with a 5-3 record. Pretty respectable.

After the game, Patti and I went to City of Palms park to see the Championship Game. It was won by Gedmans Bombers (the team that beat us in the morning). They beat Bob Montgomery team 2-1. What a game. Remember the father son duo I mentioned from this team. The father (lets say mid 50’s – his son was 30) pitched 7 strong innings and his son played shortstop like he belonged at least in the minors. Of course we had our own rendition of Sweet Caroline.


Later that night we had dinner at Shoeless Joes in the Hotel. Lou Merloni joined us and we had a great time listening to him talk about his RedSox experience and some of the personalities both past and present on the RedSox. But you know the old saying, whats said in the locker room stays in the locker room. Tomorrow the big three inning game with the pros.

To be honest, I am tired, sore and feeling my age. Its’ time to go home.

Chapter 17 - The hardest thing to do in baseball is to hit a round baseball with a round bat, squarely. -- Ted Williams

Feb 6 Friday Morning: Sorry for being late in these postings. The week finally caught up to me. Its really Sunday and I am exhausted. The first day I slept passed 7am. But before I get ahead of myself let me recap the last couple of days.

The Friday morning game was a big game for us. If we win, we would have a good chance to go to the Championship game. If we lose, we fall all the way to the 5th vs 6th game. This was a coach’s pitch game vs Gedmans Bombers coached by Rich Gedman. They had only one loss and featured a father son combo that were incredible. The son finished second in the home run derby. I started at second base. Second inning tried to turn a double play but the ball sailed by me from the shortstop. This led to a couple runs. My first at bat, strike out – on coaches pitch??? Chad our skipper was not happy with my effort. Next at bat was a fielders choice. Had a couple of plays in the infield without error.

Maybe you can figure out by now that we did not win the game. We lost 9-3. This was our only loss at coaches pitch during the week, however our third loss in the morning. We are definitely not a morning team but can not be blamed by drinking and and partying the night before. Sorry no pictures, my cameraman took a break today.

Chapter 16 - "Hello again, everybody. It's a bee-yooo-tiful day for baseball." (Harry Caray)

Feb 5, 2009 Afternoon. After the disappointing loss and my less than stellar play we went back inside to warm up, literally. I would not even coach in those situations when the whether was just darn right nasty. While sunny, the temperature was brutal. Lunch was some type of chicken. They had a rice melody which I thought was hot and turned out to be cold. Needless to say lunch was quick and about as painful as my quads, shoulders, back, and other body parts. We did not have to change uniforms for the next game given we were the visitors again.

During the break Kevin Yuk was signing autographs. Also, Mike Greenwell was our special appearance Pro. He came out to the field during our afternoon pregame stretch and entertained us with some great stories.

By the start of the game the sun was warmer and the wind seemed to die down. It was truly a beautiful day for two at the old ball park. Lucky for us we were on Field 5 which was situated in that the wind was blowing out and the sun was not a factor. We played Treuls Trolls coached by Ralph Truel, minor league pitching coordinator and assisted by "Oil Can" Dennis Ray Boyd (what a character). My first at bat was fielders choice RBI. Second at bat was a shot to right center for an RBI single. My last at bat was a pop up to second base.

Defensively did much better with a couple of ground out plays and two assists at second. Made up for the morning. Seems to be a pattern. The only drawback was a play up the middle which was way out of my reach. I heard from the sidelines (Coach Merloni) yelling for me to get dirty, that my wife said I should have gotten dirty on that attempt. I looked over and Patti signaled it was not her. I mumbled under my breath that I made it this far and with two games to go was not going to get dirty and hurt myself. It was a non event in that we won the game 7-2 to bring our record to 4-2 tied for second. Big game tomorrow as we play the first place team in our division - Gedmans Bombers. So until then....