by Sportswriter Dean O'Brien
Laporte Herald-Tribune
As is our custom here at the Herald-Tribune, your number one (well, okay,
only) local newspaper of the Larimer Knights, we called Knights owner John
Dybala to get a report on his team for the weekly column. When one of his
roommates handed him the phone, Dybala was heard mumbling what sounded
like an alien language interspersed with much cursing. Turns out he's
rebuilding a computer and couldn't get it to recognize two hard drives
patched into the same cable, though it would recognize each one
individually. (Otherwise, he reports, it is working beautifully.)
The team opened the 1998 season at 10-1 but has since played .500 ball and
dropped out of first place. Dybala does not seem worried by this: "It's
only the end of April. There's a lot of ball left to be played. And don't
forget we haven't really been at full strength over the last several
days."
In reference to "not being at full strength" Dybala clearly considers the
15% injury to Jim Edmonds's foot to be more consequential than Lenny
Dykstra's trip to the DL for 6 to 8 weeks. "Edmonds is a natural center
fielder, so losing Dykstra, while noticeable, was not a huge loss. But Jim
is limping all over that field."
Now, with Mark Lewis also playing a percentage injury, manager Don Baylor
and owner Dybala may just decide to rest their offensive star Edmonds and
defensive star Lewis and adopt a philosophy something like that of the
Denver Nuggets ... be willing to lose now and pray they'll be able to win
enough later to make up for it. "Of course," said Dybala, "I expect we'll
play better than .090 ball while we rest all these guys."
