No one wants to blow saves or lose games (Day 52)

I woke up feeling like I was about to get sick. I had a sore throat going, with an overarching feel of a cold coming on, so I took some ColdFX (so glad I brought that stuff with me) and headed to the field. Can’t let a little cold get in the way of something like garbage collection. I have priorities.

I gathered up all of the garbage in the stands and then found Gonzo to ask him if he’d gotten new sponges so I could get to scrubbing down the members’ stand. He hadn’t done that yet, so he said I should just come with him to get them. He also needed to get fuel for the leaf blower, for whenever Carl showed up ready to blow out the stands.

Somewhere along the way I learned that the guys had thought I was angry with them last night. I was already starting to not feel well and I just wanted to get out of the park as soon as I could, so I guess they took it as me being mad when I bolted from the RNA. I told Gonzo and Alan that I just wasn’t feeling 100 per cent and it was nothing personal. I’m sure they’re over it.  

Gonzo and I took a trip to a hardware store to get a new gas can and some sponges for me, among a bunch of other little necessities for Steve, the one-man groundscrew. While we were gone, Carl had shown up at the ballpark and texted me, but didn’t have much to do without the leaf blower. I asked him to start gathering the garbage in the members’ stand, since when I was there I hadn’t had access to it, so I guess he had one thing he could do.

When we got back that’s what he was doing, but he left to blow out the sunflower seeds and various other small garbage that I left for him and the leaf blower to tackle. I set to scrubbing down the seats, though it didn’t take much because I had done such a thorough job yesterday. Yes, that was me giving props to myself. I think most of the mess yesterday was because the seats hadn’t been cleaned in two weeks though, so it really wasn’t such a huge job today. I was pretty happy about that.

Every time I thought I was good to head back home though, Carl would come up with something for me to do to help him out. I was slightly bitter about it because I had been there for at least an hour before him, cleaning on my own, and figured that he could finish up without me. But I suppose it was my fault for showing up early, so I tried to help out with whatever he asked without sounding too exasperated.  

When we were both finished and I actually could head home, Carl and I both stopped and talked to Gonzo and Alan for awhile. Carl had plans to visit the koala sanctuary with his girlfriend during the day, so he asked the native of Australia about it. Alan thought it might be better to do as an all-day activity, so Carl might not get the most out of it, having to head back before game time, but it sounded like Carl was still going to make the attempt nonetheless.

I managed to get home before noon, and decided to try and have a pre-game nap. That worked out for me and I got a significant little amount of rest before waking up and deciding to get back into the day. It probably helped my cold a little bit, though I was still feeling slightly under the weather. With time still remaining before I had to head back to the ballpark, I went to the grocery store, made an attempt at reading some more of my book that I started on the plane ride here and still haven’t finished, started to catch up on another journal or two, and showered. It was a very productive few hours away from the field.

When I got back to the park, I stopped to talk to Chambers, Josh Warner and Chris Lamb in the bullpen. They were working out with a whip (an actual Indiana Jones-type whip), which was very confusing and interesting to me. Apparently using a whip is good for your elbow or something, making it beneficial for pitchers. Lamb was the one who brought it, and he was actually good with it, unlike anyone else who tried. Chambers wasn’t bad, but the first time he used it, he almost hit me on the backswing, causing me to pretty much run and dive for cover, falling along the way.

I had a lot of questions about said whip, but the answers weren’t as exciting as I thought they would be. Lamb had made the purchase online, from a website specializing in whips for farm animals or something. He’d heard from someone else that the practice is good for a throwing arm, and I think he might have specifically said for guys coming back from Tommy John, though I was really distracted by the whole thing and not really paying attention to the answers to my own questions.

On my way out of the bullpen, I ran into SJ and he informed me that he now has a car. I was kind of in disbelief at first, but I guess it’s the truth. The guy who hosted us for Christmas is selling his car, or just not using it while he goes away for a month (one or both of the above may be true, but when he told me this I was probably still thinking about the whip exercises), and asked SJ if he would be interested in borrowing it for the next few weeks. Of course SJ said yes and is now in possession of a Land Rover. I told him that I am expecting rides home from the park from now on. I need to keep safe, right?

Before the game, I got my questions together for my interview with right-handed relief pitcher John Veitch. I’ve been asking him for the last few days if he has time for me to talk to him and we agreed upon tonight after the game, so I needed to be ready for that.

The game itself was not awesome. Chris Mowday got the start, much to my surprise, because so far this year he’s been used only out of the bullpen. I guess it kind of makes sense though because it has appeared as of late that he lost the closing role to SJ. Mowday had a good day, going five innings giving up four runs (three earned) on five hits. That may not sound like the best day, but he kept the team in the game, which is all you really need from your starters. Or at least one would hope.

The Bandits lost it in the back end though. SJ blew the save opportunity and took the loss after Simon Morriss allowed his inherited runner to score in the 10^th, plus another runner of his own. It wasn’t a good day for the bullpen. Veitch threw two innings and completed his line with two strikeouts however, so he wasn’t in as sour a mood as everyone else. I was thankful for that, seeing as he was the man I was trying to speak with after the game. 

Before the game had ended, Carl asked if I would help out the guys from Fox Sports with a couple of interviews. I said I would, though I made it clear that I really didn’t want to ditch Veitch or put him on the back burner, since I’ve asked him several times to talk with me. I went to the field right after the game in the hopes of finding the guys from Fox immediately. Of course, they were nowhere to be seen. Apparently they were at the other end of the field, which I didn’t realize until pretty much everyone from Canberra had already gone back to the locker room. I managed to get KJ to do an interview for them, hopefully without pestering him too much after a rough game. It’s never pleasant to try and get things done after a loss.

Veitch was waiting patiently for me the entire time, and as I desperately tried to find someone from the Cavalry for Fox, Whitey came onto the field. I passed the buck to him, telling him that Veitch was waiting for me and asking him to grab whomever he could find from the other team and do a short interview with them for Fox. Whitey is good with that kind of stuff and he was able to help me out, so I was super grateful for that.

I’m sure Carl was unimpressed with me ditching the job he’d given me but I was sure I left the task in able hands. I got my interview done with Veitch in six-and-a-half minutes, only slightly more than the six minutes of his time I had told him I would take up. He didn’t seem too put off, but I still felt bad for having him wait around for me.

I walked by Maestri and SJ after the game, and no one was in the best of moods. I tried to be a positive presence, but my happiness probably just made them more upset about the sad end to the game. I didn’t ask SJ for a ride in his new car because I felt bad for him. No one wants to blow saves or lose games, especially when a playoff spot is in reach. So I walked home.

When I got to the apartment, I transcribed the interview with Veitch and made an attempt at starting to write the article, but I was far too tired to get that far. And it’s only the beginning of what is sure to be a long weekend.