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It was truly a wild day in Laporte, Colorado, this afternoon. Two teams combined for 33 runs on 37 hits, with 28 men left on base. One starter didn't make it out of the second inning, and the other inexplicably pitched the entire game. Two players, playing their last game in a Larimer Knights uniform, both hit .333 for the day. Both of them, Randy Velarde and Rafael Palmiero, hit doubles, with Palmiero going yard with his second hit in six at-bats. One of them, Palmiero, is being traded from Larimer because of an attitude problem. Another player, Mark McLemore, was traded *to* Larimer because he had an attitude problem in Brooklyn and went 3-5 with a home run, even though he is slated for bench duty when Harold Reynolds arrives at Larimer County Stadium tomorrow, McLemore has certainly made a case for his playing ability with his name reportedly coming up in some trade rumors.
Manager Don Baylor retired to his office before the end of the game. The wild ride gave him a migraine headache. I don't blame him. It's giving this reporter a migraine just thinking about it as I write this.
Knights starter Cal Eldred was philosophical following the game. "Yeah, I gave up 8 runs. That happens sometimes. Today was just one of those games you have to expect to be in when you play at high altitude."
New arrival Todd Benzinger came to the locker room just after the game ended. He was the first arrival from Hartford following today's games, the last before the Hartford-Larimer trade is approved by the league. He immediately spotted his old friend Randy Velarde across the room and embraced him. Benzinger and Velarde came up through different minor league systems (Boston and New York, respectively) but saw a lot of each other when their teams played each other during those years and developed a strong friendship. It was a meeting tinged with sadness, however, as Benzinger was traded for Velarde and they will still be playing in separate leagues.
"Who knows?" sighed Velarde, who gave interviews as he gave Benzinger a tour of the clubhouse. "Maybe Todd and I will be reunited as part of another deal somewhere else. That's life in an FPSB league. You usually don't stay in one place very long."
Lenny Dykstra and Harold Reynolds were not available for an interview at press time. They missed their flight from Hartford and instead had to take a flight to Omaha, Nebraska, 400 miles east of here. As of this writing, their rental car reportedly was sitting on the side of the road near Scottsbluff, as the two newest Knights tried to find signs of life in the state. If that's the case, they may arrive too late for tomorrow's game. Maybe not at all.
Written by John Dybala