The border patrol suffered a serious blow in the second game of
Friday's double header. Highly touted CF Rich Becker broke his wrist
chasing down a fly ball, and will miss 3-4 months. Two batters later,
catcther Mike Sweeney strained his back. Sweeney will miss 6-8 weeks.
Both players were immediately placed on the DL. Their spots on the
roster were taken over by veteran LF Darren Daulton and young CF
prospect Bill Brandon. Brandon will take over Becker's spot in center
against lefties. All-Star 2B Ray Durham will move to center against
righties, with lefty Todd Walker taking over at 2nd. Durham played in
the outfield for about a month in the 1997 season. Bill Grace will
take over the catching duties.
Brandon was tested in his first game for the Border Patrol. With one
out in the 12th inning, Macon reliever Scott Radinsky intentionally
walked Bill Grace to pitch to Brandon. Todd Hollandsworth had doubled
to open the inning, and Joe Randa flied out. With one out, Macon
wanted to set up a double play. Brandon responded to the challenge,
lining a 1-2 fastball into the right field gap for a game winning
double.
"I was just trying to put the ball in play. With Todd out there on
second, I knew a base hit could win the game. I was just lucky that
Radinsky threw me something I could drive." said Brandon after the
game. "I know I can't fill Richie's shoes, but I'm going to give it
my best shot out there."
Brandon's double rewarded Jeff D'Amico with his third win of the
season. Despite rumours that he should be starting in place of Mike
Morgan, D'Amico appears quite content to pitch out of the bullpen this
season. "The pressure's all off. I was really having a tough time
adjusting to the bigs, but now I feel like I just need to go out and
trust my stuff. I really was trying to nibble too much last season.
I fell behind a lot of hitters, and then had to groove a fastball. As
a result, I gave up a lot of homers. Hopefully, I'll be able to avoid
that this year."
D'Amico leads the Border Patrol pitching staff with 3 wins, despite
not having started any games. The top 3 of the pitching staff have
struggled here in the opening couple of weeks. Johnson, Benes, and
Pettite all have ERA's over 5. Fortunately, D'Amico has been strong,
and Jaret Wright pitched his second excellent game of the season
today, despite not getting the win.
Trade winds continue to swirl in Tucson, despite the hot start of the
team. "We thought we had good depth, and we did. We've been able to
patch together a pretty good lineup despite losing two of our most
productive hitters. Most of our depth is gone now, though, so
hopefully we won't have any other problems while these guys are out"
said owner/GM Scott Watterson. "I think the most likely deal to be
made at this point is trading Pichardo for a decent centerfielder. We
don't have much hitting depth left, so I'm reluctant to move any of
those guys."
