The Border Patrol started the season in Galena, home of the always
tough Hamsters. Unfortunately, they forgot to bring their bats.
"Hey, it's not our fault, blame UPS." said Owner/GM Scott Watterson.
Due to a mixup, the Border Patrol's regular bats didn't make it to the
game, and they were forced to go out and buy bats at a local sporting
good store. "You could see the guys weren't happy with that, but what
could I do? We had to play the game."
Tijuana lost to Galena in the first game of the 2000 season,
squandering a stellar performance by the Big Unit. Tijuana managed
only 5 baserunners, and lost 1-0. Johnson pitched 7 strong innings,
fanning 11, but gave up a run a bloop single by Guerrero. "It's
disappointing, but at least I managed to shut down their offense.
That's not an easy task." said Johnson.
"We've got to hit better than this. We can't waste pitching like this
by not getting any runs. You tip your cap to Appier, but you just
don't like to see this kind of futility up at the plate." said
Watterson
Tijuana wins Game two, but at What Price?
The Border Patrol picked up their first win of the season in a 10
inning duel, 1-0. "I don't know how we managed to shut down these
guys for the second day in a row, but I like it." said Watterson.
"What I don't like are the conditions in this ballpark. We had two
guys go down to injury today, due to this lousy pitchers mound. At
least our bats finally made it here."
Reliever Hippolito Pichardo was removed in the 9th inning after
experiencing some pain in his pitching arm. This was diagnosed as a
strained tricep tendon. "Not a crippling injury, but we're going to
send Hippo down to AAA to rehab for a while." said Watterson.
Of more concern is the fate of reliever Frank Allison. He took the
mound in relief of Pichardo. His first pitch was clocked at an
amazing 110 miles per hour, but he immediately fell to the ground in
agony. "The doctors tell me it's some damn ligament in my elbow, and
I'll be out for a couple of months. This sucks, especially after I
had a sub 2.00 ERA last year, and was finally given a shot a
co-closing." said Allison.
"It's a tough break. We were really counting on Frankie to provide us
with some good work out of the pen this year. Kerry's going to be the
closer by default for now, and hopefully this FA signing will work out
well for us." said Watterson.
Tijuana takes third game, but is struck again by injury!
Tijuana picked up it's second win of the season today, but again
suffered through an injury to it's pitching staff. Starter Andy
Pettite had to leave the game after he experienced blurred vision at
the start of the 4th inning. "I think they put something on the rosin
bag," said Pettite. "I was feeling great until I got out there on the
mound for my last warmups. As soon as I touched the rosin bag, I
started to have a little trouble seeing. By the end of the third
inning, I could barely make out the signs Mike [Sweeney] was holding
down. I tried to go out there for the 4th, but there was no way."
"We'll probably hold Andy out of the rotation for a turn, but we want
him to get right back in there after his vision clears up." said
Watterson. "I'm definitely going to be looking into what caused this
injury. This is our third pitcher to go down in as many games, and
I've got to say I find the whole think quite suspicious. I noticed
their starter, Tennessee Jones didn't touch the rosin bag the whole
time he was on the mound. That's probably why he didn't have as much
command as he usually has."
The Border Patrol still managed to win the game, on the strength of DH
Bob Higginson's 2-4 day, complete with a home run. Reliever Tom
Bradford came in in the fourth inning and completely shut down the
Hamster offense. They only managed three baserunners the rest of the
game, with none of them reaching second base.
"Obviously, you're happy when you have a good day at the plate, " said
Higginson. "Plus, we managed to take 2 of the first 3 from Galena,
which is no easy task. But we're kind of stunned in the clubhouse
with this rash of injuries. We thought we might have gotten past that
crap after last season. All I can say is at least only one of the
guys is going to miss a lot of time."
Jaret Wright starts tomorrow, and was understandably nervous. "These
Hamsters will do anything to win, I guess. I'll probably bring my own
rosin bag out there, and do the best I can. You don't like to see
these kind of injuries happening so often, but you just hope it
doesn't happen to you."
News and Notes:
Jim Koppe, and Mike Morgan have been recalled from AAA to take
Pichardo and Allison's spots on the roster.
At this rate, Tucson will have lost all of it's pitchers to injury by
the end of the month, including those in the LOW minors.
