Dodger Days

Weather has often been a topic of these blogs. Many factors affect a baseball season, but weather is the one that draws the most attention and stirs the most frequent discussions. Therefore it pays to be somewhat of a Junior Meteorologist when you work in this sport and while I did take a Meteorology course in college, most of my knowledge comes from The Weather Channel. Jim Cantore is my professor and all of his T.A.’s have contributed facts and theories to my philosophy on weather. That philosophy reads, “The weather does whatever it wants to.”

The day I decide to give up sports and go back to school where I can learn a skill that will actually allow me to make money, I may take up Meteorology. When I do that, my thesis will eventually tackle the weather conditions covering a 10-mile stretch in Vero Beach from just beyond the outlet mall to the shore of the Atlantic Ocean. For 4 ½ months, whenever a storm popped up west of I-95 (the outlet mall), it would completely dissipate by the time it was supposed to reach Holman Stadium (approximately 6 miles east). On the radar, these storms look like unstoppable forces that threaten to wipe Vero Beach off the map and yet every time the city was saved by an invisible force field. 

This past week, that all changed. The impenetrable forces protecting Vero Beach were either finally defeated or packed up to fend off rain in a different cozy coastline community. Vero has been pummeled with rain, lightening and wind. The team has been on the road but has not fared any better. Wednesday in Brevard County was washed out an hour before first pitch. Thursday was a doubleheader in Jupiter scheduled to make up a game from June but typhoon-like conditions buried the outfield grass so that only a small patch of green in center field was visible. Now it is Friday with doubleheaders scheduled both today and tomorrow to make up yesterday’s contests. Would you like to guess what the weather conditions are like?

At least the rain isn’t dampening the fun for all. Yesterday a gigantic bullfrog hopped across the tarp from third to first (and did so faster than a few of these Florida State Leaguers). Today he could be seen sitting in the dugout, surveying the latest downpour and its effects on field conditions. I can imagine few joys in the life of a bullfrog that could rival sitting on the top of a drenched dugout step. Perhaps he was dreaming of managing the Southeast Boggy All-Stars.

Let’s face it. This team needed a rainout. The Dodgers have lost six games in a row and have no realistic shot at the playoffs.  There have been many days this year when it has seemed as if a washout could stop the ball club’s negative momentum and often on these days there was rain in the area.  Only it missed us.  Not tonight, though.  No, tonight the traditionally cranky Florida summer finally caught up to us and it caught up with a vengeance. 

At first it appeared the looming thunderstorm would once again pass us by and force the club to play in stifling humidity.  Then suddenly the thunderhead, frightening though it appeared, found compassion and spun directly at us.  Forty-five minutes and 1 1/2 inches of rain later, the outfield resembled the municipal pool.  If baseball were played with paddles instead of bats we would have played two. 

Instead, the players headed back to the Clearwater hotel which once was an Econo Lodge but is now undergoing renovations with new ownership.  In fact, when we arrived it was impossible to walk through the front entrance due to construction.  Let this be a sobering illustration of the life of a minor league ballplayer.  It never fails to amaze me that the average fan imagines these young men live glamorous lives in the minors and pull in incredible amounts of money.  That simply is not true.  In fact, minor league players make very little money, stay in hotels that are rated well beneath your average Holiday Inn and receive per diem of around $20 on road trips. 

Now that the team is essentially eliminated from the playoffs and each individual player has improved as much as he is going to this year, motivation can be tough to come by.  However, these last two-three weeks can be the most important of the year.  This is the time when a prospect can show that the daily grind of a full season does not effect his production.  If that player ever does make the major leagues, there is still an extra month of the regular season and hopefully another month following it to the World Series.  So not only is it a good idea to put up numbers over the final weeks, I would argue it is essential to the player’s development.  Sadly, that does not seem to be enough of a motivator sometimes. 

Tonight’s rainout will help, though.  Take the idea of the cleansing power of rain and apply it to the team’s filthy 6-game losing streak.  Instead of wallowing in the slump, out comes the rainbow of an unexpected night off.  The players can escape, reset and come back tomorrow suddenly hungry again to play baseball.  It will no longer feel like a burden and may remind them just how much of a gift it is to be allowed to play baseball for a living (meager though it may be at this stage). 

That is the hope anyway.  These guys have gone through too much this year.  They owe it to themselves to play hard the rest of the way in hopes of making a good impression.  Tomorrow is the first day of the rest of their careers.  Or perhaps it will rain. 

The toughest part of being a fan of a minor league baseball team is reconciling your desire to see the players do well with the realization that when that happens it means he is going to leave.  It has been a joy this year to watch Blake DeWitt blossom in a Vero Beach Dodgers jersey.  Now he gets to continue his career at the AA level in Jacksonville.

As a broadcaster, you cannot play favorites on the air.  My favorite may not be your favorite.  Plus, it is difficult to be objective.  All that said, I have spent a good amount of time getting to know Blake and have had the pleasure of calling his games in all or part of his three professional seasons.  That is why this is a bittersweet moment for me.  I know Blake deserves the promotion but when I look at the lineup card tomorrow there is going to be a strange combination of letters in the #2 spot that does not spell “DeWitt.” 

Yet that is what we ultimately hope for these young men.  I am about to become a first-time father but I already feel like a proud papa when I talk about Scott Elbert, Cole Bruce, Brian Akin and Wesley Wright – all of whom have already made the jump.  Blake is going to be thrilled to join all these players, but it will be especially sweet to be reunited with Elbert.  Those two young men were both selected in the 1st Round in 2004 out of Missouri high schools.  They had climbed similar paths up the Dodgers minor league ladder until last month when Elbert got the call to Jacksonville.  So the two top picks from the state of Missouri will once again pair up as they step even closer to Chavez Ravine. 

What really makes me happy for Blake is the fact that he can now play for a winning team.  That has been the exception, not the norm in his brief professional career.  I will always remember last year when he was promoted from Columbus for the final 8 games of the regular season.  The Columbus team had not sniffed the playoffs since beginning the year 0-0.  Yet he joined a Vero team that already had a post-season bid locked up and he said it felt like a brand new season.  He then proved it by hitting .419 the rest of the way before smashing the most dramatic home run I’ve ever called – a walkoff homer with two outs and two strikes to keep the team alive in the playoffs. 

To top it all off, if I had never met Blake DeWitt I might never have heard of Lambert’s Cafe.  This idiosyncratic restaurant in Sikeston, Missouri (DeWitt’s hometown) sits off Highway 65.  During a road trip, Blake was reading USA Today and shouted, “Hey, my hometown is in the paper!”  The Travel section had highlighted Lambert’s Cafe as a must-see location when driving America’s highways.  Lambert’s is the home of “throwed rolls,” which is exactly what the term conjures up in your mind.  They actually throw the rolls at you and you better catch them.  After mentioning this on the air, Lambert’s sent me a couple of T-shirts and hats, as well has a 64-ounce mug that keeps drinks cold for up to six hours. 

Perhaps it is the generosity of folks like those who own Lambert’s that have helped shape Blake DeWitt into the person he is today.  I am sure you have heard of people who have met someone famous and say something along the lines of, “He was so down to earth!”  That is precisely what will be said about Blake.  I have no trouble believing he is exactly the same person in the clubhouse that he is when he goes home and eats Throwed Rolls at Lambert’s Cafe in Sikeston, Missouri.  He is genuine.  And I genuinely wish him all the best and continued success in AA and beyond. 

The Major League Baseball trade deadline has passed and as many of you have noticed even the Single-A Vero Beach Dodgers have been affected.  This should not come as a great surprise since the big league team is deep into a pennant race.  The LA Dodgers were also in the midst of a losing streak and as the deadline neared it became more and more likely Ned Colleti would part with some of his young talent for a chance at the division title.  We love our “Little Dodgers” in Vero Beach, but Mr. Colleti did the right thing.

First, let us offer a hearty “Good Luck” to Blake Johnson, Julio Pimentel and Sergio Pedroza.  The first two are headed to Kansas City and Pedroza is now with the Devil Rays.  They will all be given a chance to move as quickly as they can handle it which is something that might not have happened with the Dodgers simply because of the logjam of talent at AA and AAA.  Having seen most of those older players come through Vero Beach, we are well aware of how talented they are and we want to see players like Matt Kemp and Andy LaRoche play in Los Angeles.  With those players having survived the trading deadline, it has become certain they will be a part of the Dodgers next year but for now their positions are blocked by veterans. 

Blake and Julio were understandably shocked when they got the news.  This is the only organization for which they have worked and this organization has been telling each of them for three years how excited they are to have them as a part of the Dodger Family.  Suddenly, and still in the very early stages of their careers, the must make the transition from Dodger Blue to Royal Blue.  More immediately, the each went from the Florida State League – a pitcher’s paradise – to the California League, which is like pitching in Coors Field every night. 

Ultimately, this move will help those two young men.  And they are young.  Johnson had just tuned 21 and Pimentel is still only 20.  There is plently of time for them to develop and it seemed they both needed a fresh start.  Pimentel especially had gone from a prize prospect to one the organization did not know what to do with.  He sputtered out of the gate this year as a starting pitcher so they tried him out as the closer.  When that experiement failed he pitched in middle relief but it was clear he not only had no confidence in himself but he felt the Dodgers lost confidence in him as well.  He is now with a team that really wants him and dearly needs him and I believe he has a chance to flourish in the Royals organization.

Johnson, too, needed a wake-up call.  For the first three months of the year he had been steady and at times brilliant.  In July, however, his fastball became a little too hittable and he had extreme difficulty finishing off batters and innings.  One start produced zero strikeouts in six innings.  Johnson now must prove himself to his new team and I am certain he can do it.  He still has room to fill out and add some velocity to the fastball.  He will certainly be tested, though.  The California League and later in AA with the Texas League and AAA with the Pacific Coast League he will be enduring environments that favor the hitter nearly every night.  Blake has an inner fire, though, and that competitiveness will allow him to rise.

As for Sergio Pedroza, he is also in a better place.  He was only a member of the Vero Dodgers for two weeks and though he struggled, his raw power became quickly apparent.  Remember, he homered in his second at bat in the league and later hit two out of the park in one game to help the Dodgers to a come-from-behind victory.  However, Pedroza does not fit the physical profile of a big league corner outfielder.  He is undersized with an ugly swing.  It is a swing that has produced 24 home runs this year and his power has never been questioned.  LA’s minor league system suddenly has several outfield prospects that are considered safer bets to make it to the majors and that made Sergio prime trade bait. 

Let’s not forget that he was drafted under the Paul DePodesta and his “Moneyball” approach.  Pedroza fit that particular profile like a glove.  He gets on base, hits home runs, played four years at a major college (Cal St. – Fullerton) and you had to know he would not be drafted as highly as his stats might suggest he should be simply due to the fact that he is undersized.  However, he also lacks several of the tools scouts look for.  He has a below-average arm, below-average speed and clearly will not hit for a high average.  That leaves him with power and plate discipline, though he also struck out one nearly every three at bats.  It is my feeling the current LA brass did not feel he had the upside of other outfielders in the system and therefore was expendable.  All that being said, he could still very well hit his way to the big leagues and would certainly not be the first player in history to do so. 

This is a difficult time for Blake Johnson, Julio Pimentel and Sergio Pedroza.  They are three very different players and very different people.  What makes them similar is that they share a talent for the game of baseball and they have been groomed in one of the most highly decorated minor league systems in recent years.  Now they get a chance to control their own destinies in way that might not have happened with the Dodgers.  We wish them the best of luck in their journeys and hope that when they make to the majors and face the Dodgers they take it easy on us!

For a writer, nothing is more exhilarating or terrifying than the blank page. The limitless possibilities white paper offers appear either as a bountiful fruit tree where ideas are ripe for plucking or as a black hole sucking all word choices into a vortex where they will be forever lost. The catcher’s mitt must seem that way to pitcher when he takes the mound for the game’s first pitch.

The score is 0-0, the count is 0-0 and there is no one on base. A game’s first pitch is like the first sentence of novel. Everything you need to know about what is about to transpire can often be interpreted from that initial moment. “It was the best of times, it was the worst of times.” That tells you the story is not going to be a lighthearted romp, but it begs you to read on. Perhaps that sentence is the equivalent of a first-pitch fastball that misses the strike zone but hits 98 mph on the radar gun. It might have been a ball but what a ball it was!

They say baseball is the most mentally demanding of the major sports. I believe that to be true because of moments like the first pitch. Baseball gives you so many possibilities and is not constrained by the clock. Dean Smith’s “Four Corners” offense could no more successfully run out the time of a baseball game than Quentin Tarantino could direct a sappy romantic comedy. Baseball is bigger than gimmicks and every outcome is in limbo until the last out is made.

Concentration, then, it was sets a major league baseball player apart from one in the minor leagues. Orel Hershiser wrote in his biography that the only thing that matters to a pitcher is the next pitch. How many times have you seen someone on the mound show disgust at a call, a sharpy hit baseball or where a bad pitch ended up? It is extremely difficult to step ahead of those unfortunate occurrences and concentrate on the next pitch.

It works for the hitter as well. Maybe he just fouled off a heater over the middle that on another day he would have crushed. Perhaps he was looking for that heater but the pitcher pulled the string on a change-up so he just missed the pitch entirely. Somehow the batter must remember what pitch was made but forget the result and the self-doubt that comes from it.

In the past I have talked to players I felt were completely removed from reality. The way they talked about at-bats and game situations were utterly foreign to the way I perceived those same moments. Eventually it occurred to me that this is a necessary part of the game. Once the player assumes they have a weakness they are already beaten. Just because someone does not yet have a home run, the possibility – however slight – still remains that a long ball could come in the next at bat. This unwavering belief in one’s ability could be clinically diagnosed as insane if it were not an essential part of a ballplayer’s success.

There is a saying that it is a fine line between insanity and genius. I have come to believe it does take a type of genius to make the Major Leagues. Even to play in the minors an athlete must already be a world-class baseball player. So to last long enough to make the majors is impressive by itself and then it takes your breath away to behold those who perform at All Star and Hall of Fame levels.

So who was the greater genius: Babe Ruth or Ernest Hemingway? Willie Mays or Kurt Vonnegut? Roger Clemens or Stephen King? Clemens may actually be more terrifying, but the fact remains each of these icons face the first pitch or the blank page with the authority of conquerors. We are the spectators who breathlessly await the next sentence, the next pitch.

If you happened to have seen my bio on the Vero Beach Dodgers website, you may have noticed that I tabbed American Beauty as my favorite movie.  To me it is a nearly perfect film.  Arty but entertaining.  Funny and tragic.  The filmography is, in a word, beautiful. 

One of the more striking themes in the film is represented by the color red and it is this theme that makes me think perhaps the Dodgers should don red jerseys the rest of the year to conform.  The symbolism of the color red in American Beauty ties together the seemingly opposite ideas of beauty and death.  We are invited to witness the Burnham family, which lives behind a red door.  Later the red rose petals frame Lester’s idea of beauty and finally it is his bright red blood which closes the film and brings us to the conclusion of his life and the movie. 

Therefore, this suggests that perhaps the beauty in life lies in the fact that we eventually get to die.  Countless lousy things happen during our lifetimes and while we are in middle of living it is easy to become swallowed by the shark-like jaws of day-to-day details.  The movie suggests we do not truly appreciate what was wonderful about the world until we have passed on. 

It is not a particularly sunny philosophy, to be sure, but I think it can be applied to the smaller world of a baseball season.  As I wrote about in an earlier post, when you do anything every single day for an extended period of time it can become exhausting.  This is especially true when the team is not winning, as has been the case for the Dodgers in 52 of 83 games.  The hungry jaws that once seemed shark-like may now more resemble those of a T-Rex and escape seems futile. 

Yet when this season concludes, it will not take long for the players to miss it.  After a period of decompression each of these young men will begin to forget the days during a 5-game losing streak and start to fondly recall their time in uniform.  They will remember the heroics of players who were released, like Chris Westervelt who delivered a 10th-inning game-winning single against St. Lucie.  Or perhaps the 11th-inning home run from mid-season callup Drew Locke, also against St. Lucie.  Come to think of it, perhaps the Mets post-season memories of the Dodgers will be fewer than the other way around – even if they do win the head-to-head series and the Treasure Coast Cup! 

What is certain is that Mets and Dodgers and every other team in baseball will have moments they consider beautiful.  Being baseball players, they may not phrase it that way but the memories remain no matter how they are described.  What matters is that they are described.  It is easier to do that at the end of a season, but it never hurts to have a reminder of why a player goes to the park every single day of every eternal season. 

Yesterday the Vero Beach Dodgers committed five errors with several other mental mistakes and lost at St. Lucie 10-2. Of the Mets first seven runs, only five were earned and that helped doom the Dodgers to their fourth straight loss. The team is now 3-6 in the 2nd Half and 29-48 overall. Drastic times call for drastic measures so Vero Beach manager Luis Salazar ordered team defensive training at 10 AM on this Sunday morning.

Now most of you are thinking, “10 AM, what’s the big deal?” In the world of baseball it is extraordinarily unusual for any organized team activity to take place in the morning. To do so on a Sunday is even more rare. Given the few days off a team enjoys during the season, Sundays serve as “half-days” like you used to have in grade school. The games usually begin earlier than mid-week contests, the players are often allowed to show up as late as 1 ½-2 hours before first pitch and many regulars are given the day off. Therefore by the Dodgers skipper taking away the day of rest it sends a clear message. He feels the team cannot afford to take a break because it is not playing a level of baseball on par with the level of talent. It is one part punishment and one part functional.

This is the second time Salazar has gone to such measures. Not even two weeks ago the Dodgers suffered an embarrassing 9-1 loss at home to the Jupiter Hammerheads. Vero Beach goofed for a season-high six errors in that one. Following the game the Dodger manager ordered the team to sprint around the bases in front of the home fans. This is a tactic often used in high school but that I had never seen nor even heard about in my eight years in professional baseball.

Unfortunately, that is the kind of season it has been and those are they types of punishments and motivational tactics the Dodgers manager is reduced to using. He must feel like Walter Mathau in The Bad News Bears or James Gammon in Major League. They were the managers of seemingly hopeless teams that eventually put it all together and had some laughs along the way. Sadly this year the laughs have been at the Dodgers, not with them. Still, Luis Salazar continues to push buttons in an effort to turn the 2006 Dodgers from hopeless to hopeful.

Earlier in the year I told you about a "Sunny Sunday" in Vero Beach and how wonderful it was to be at Holman Stadium.  This time I will write about the opposite of that day.  Today is a Sunday in Viera, FL where the Dodgers are supposed to play the Brevard County Manatees.  Unfortunately, Tropical Storm Alberto decided to pay us a most unwelcome visit. 

Alberto has brought a little bit of wind and a whole lot of rain.  The field is not yet sufficiently soaked to call the game, however, so the inevitable waiting game has begun.  The players hunker down in the clubhouse where a good number will play cards, others will watch TV and perhaps an industrious few will find the covered batting cages and take some swings. 

If the game does get called that means a doubleheader Monday, right?  Not so fast, speedy.  The National Weather Service is predicting a 100% chance of rain.  Let me repeat that.  100% chance of rain.  As in, there is absolutely no possibility whatsoever it will not rain.  Death, taxes and Alberto is going to pummel us tomorrow. 

What is especially disheartening about all this is that the manager called a closed-door team meeting today.  Yesterday the ballclub dropped their fourth straight game and in the last three of the streak held a lead at some point during each game.  After falling behind yesterday, the team did not have a hit past the 4th inning and no baserunners after the 5th.  The Cardinals retired the last 13 Dodgers, striking out 8 over that stretch.  Performances like that are bound to prompt a team meeting.

So after their "pep talk" today, the players looked hungry to get on the field again.  At the very minimum they will have to wait another hour to two.  It is likely they will not see a live pitch until Tuesday.  Hopefully today's group therapy will still be fresh.  This team is too good be 16 games under .500.  Now if we can just convince Alberto to let them prove it…

People often express to me how wonderful it must be to get paid to go to the ballpark.  They are absolutely right.  Nothing can top it.  However, even if your job is to eat chocolate cake if you do it every single day for a long enough amount of time there will come a moment when you feel as if you cannot possibly eat another bite. 

Days when the heat index in 97 degrees at 10 AM and the team is 14 games under .500 are usually the ones when even a liver and brussell sprouts smoothie sounds better than chocolate cake.  Heat and the team's performance are one thing, but when you add personal disruptions to the mix it makes those first two "problems" leave an even more bitter taste in your mouth.  Some days can seem like too much when your ability to alleviate those problems is curtailed by road trips. 

Yet the great thing about this job and the wonderful power of sports in general is that no matter what is happening in your life, for three hours the only thing that matters is what happens between the foul lines.  It is a difficult trick to block out the day's stress-inducers but it is essential to the job.  Even more, you become to savor the sweet escape.  There is a freedom in knowing that for the allotted time you cannot allow personal defeats to weigh down the broadcast. 

Luckily that esacpe is not limited to broadcasters and ballplayers.  Fandom is what it is for the same reason.  It can be incredibly refreshing to completely invest yourself in something you have asolutley no control over.  Since you have no control, there is no consequence.  While the game is played, it is the most important thing to the fan and the rest of the world's problems are forgotten for a bit.  That is why it felt so good when baseball and football returned after 9/11. 

So it is a blessing to hold a job where I walk into a ballpark everyday and broadcast baseball games.  It is like getting paid to go to therapy.  Some days, though, it pays to remember that even though you have had chocolate cake before it is still chocolate cake and chocolate cake is pretty doggone good.