| | | CENTRAL ISLIP, N.Y. -- I'm 39 years old and 23 years removed from my last season of organized ball (1-for-2 as a reserve for my high school jayvee
team), but I just might be one more injury or roster move away from beginning a professional baseball career.
|  | | Lehigh Valley's Larry Bethea tries to get in the right frame of mind before the game. |
"We might need you," Lehigh Valley second baseman Harvey Hargrove said.
The Lehigh Valley Black Diamonds, the Traveling Wilburys of baseball, knew they were shorthanded for Tuesday night's game with the Long Island Ducks before the day even began. Infielder Joel Fuentes is out with a bad hamstring. Infielder Asbel Ortiz is out with a bad foot. Shortstop Vic Gutierrez is in Atlanta applying for permanent U.S. residency.
To compensate, manager Bob Flori planned to play reliable player-coach Edgar Tovar at shortstop and start center fielder P.J. Williams at third base. But then Flori received a call Tuesday afternoon. The Ducks were taking back Williams, who had stolen 20 bases since they had loaned him to Lehigh Valley about a month ago.
Effective immediately.
So Flori moved backup catcher Mark Williams, who was a police officer near Indianapolis last year, to third base, the first time he had played the position since 1993, when he was in the Cardinals organization. That left Flori without a healthy position player available on the bench.
|  | | Player-coach Edgar Tovar is not only starting at shortstop, he's carrying the bags, too. |
It wasn't the way you want to go about these things, but then, what is when you play a 126-game season entirely on the road? Just when you think the season cannot possibly get any more ridiculous, another dilemma walks through the door and introduces itself.
"Do we have another belt?" Fuentes asked, peering into Flori's office. "I gave mine to Justin Lombardi. Did P.J. leave his?"
See? Managing for Lehigh Valley must be like being one of those guys who would spin plates on the old "Ed Sullivan Show." Just as you get almost all the plates spinning properly, one starts wobbling and then another and another and another and pretty soon plates are crashing to the stage, the audience is yowling and your third baseman is an ex-cop who hasn't played the position in eight years.
As the players say, "It's something new everyday."
After Lehigh Valley went bankrupt last season, the Atlantic League took over the team and is running it as a road club. The league pays the salaries and
expenses, as well as signing the players -- some, like Williams and pitcher Mark Seaver, are on loan from other teams to get additional playing time.
|  | | Second baseman Harvey Hargrove prepares his pregame meal -- a peanut butter and jelly sandwich. |
The Diamonds remain surprisingly competitive -- they're 9-14 in the second half -- but it isn't easy. Two of Lehigh Valley's best players performed well
enough that major-league organizations bought their contracts. The team lost a couple more players recently when the Atlantic League allowed league teams
to buy their contracts.
Many players are convinced the league is determined to keep them from winning because it would be embarrassing -- and costly -- for a team without a home stadium (or fans) to make the playoffs.
Paranoid? Perhaps, just a little. But you spend a season checking in and out of hotels and saying good-bye to your best teammates, and you probably could
be convinced your opponents are secretly dissecting aliens in their clubhouse, too.
"Their logic is wrong. Lehigh Valley is here as a development team for the players to get playing time," said Atlantic League CEO Frank Boulton, who also owns the Long Island and Atlantic City franchises. "The other players weren't stolen, they were rewarded for good play. Selling those players should be uplifting to them, proof that somebody is watching them.
|  | | Lehigh Valley's John Adams tries to break a double play during the Black Diamonds' loss to the Ducks on Tuesday night. |
"But even though their logic is 100 percent wrong, it's good they have that fighting spirit."
Obviously, the league runs the Diamonds on a shoestring. That austerity means they don't have a team trainer, much to the disgust of some players,
who often tape and ice themselves.
"It sucks," first baseman Larry Bethea said. "You need a trainer. We play games like everybody else."
Ortiz has a sore foot from fouling pitches off the top of it. He fears it's broken, but the league hasn't been able to X-ray it yet (he's scheduled to have it X-rayed by the Long Island doctor today).
"You have to wait to go to the next town to see what they'll do," he said. "It's tough when you have to wait."
|  | | Anyone who can find a clean jersey just might be in the Lehigh Valley lineup. |
To reduce costs, Boulton said the league decided to have the opposing team's training staff and doctors treat the Diamonds whenever they're in town.
Lehigh Valley pitcher Darrell Rogue was in the Long Island trainer's room getting taped two hours before he was to take the mound against the Ducks.
The Long Island trainer also visited the clubhouse after the game to ask if anyone needed anything.
Ortiz and Bethea, however, said that they don't feel comfortable going into the opposing clubhouse for treatment, and that those trainers have their own
players to look after.
"One guy tells you one thing, and then we get to another city and the guy there tells you a different thing," Ortiz said. "That's the consequence of
not having a trainer. It takes twice as long for things to heal."
Despite the injuries and the loss of Williams, Lehigh Valley was tied 1-1 with Long Island until the fifth inning Tuesday when the Ducks scored seven runs, and P.J. reached base twice. Before the 10-3 loss was over, Williams had singled against his former roommate, reliever Mike Martini.
|  | | Without a trainer, the Black Diamonds must develop their own conditioning routine. |
Uh, make that current roommate. Because Williams doesn't have a place to stay, he's still staying with his old teammates at Lehigh Valley's hotel.
"I have no idea where I'll live," said a grinning Williams, who began the season in the Mariners organization but has switched teams five times. "I haven't even spoken to anybody. The next two days I'll stay in the hotel with Mike. I'll probably be there until they ship out. And, hopefully, by then I'll hook up with somebody here."
Lehigh Valley starts Craig Johnson against Long Island tonight and Terry Hayden, who just joined the team, Thursday.
Barring further roster moves, of course.
And if Flori needs a right-handed reliever, he need only signal the press box.
ESPN.com senior writer Jim Caple is spending this week on the road with the Lehigh Valley Black Diamonds. Page 2 will send out its personal trainer if he actually gets into a game. Send this story to a friend | Most sent stories
|
|
|
