More New Faces

We arrived home from Yakima with a 3-2 series win and an 8 game homestand staring us down.  I found out early in the day that two more guys had been sent down to Arizona and that we would be getting more new guys in time for our series with Tri-City.  Word spread quickly that Burke and Colon were out and that Quintanna and Guerrero were coming in.  What we didn't know was that Mallex Smith, who I got to know pretty well during my time in Arizona, our lockers were very close, was also coming up.  With Ronnie Richardson dealing with an injury we needed an outfielder and Mallex got the call. 

Our first game with Tri-City looked more like an ugly batting practice scrimmage.  Hit after hit after hit, run after run after run, error after error.  It added up to a lopsided win for us, but it was about a 4 hour game that was a pain to suffer through. Mallex had two hits in the first inning and then dropped an inside the park home run in the 7th for one of the most impressive debuts I've seen.  When I got back to the hotel I found out the he would be moving in with me, and so for the first time since Del Castillo got sent to Arizona I have a roommate. 

Game two was a tough loss as we stranded a whole whack of runners and lost by a small margin, 5-3. Our errors and miscues added up and we were unable to mount a late inning comeback.  We all felt like we were in the game right up until the 9th, so much so that Kai, Murph's son, decided to leave the team box to get dressed in uniform and spend the last few innings in the dugout.  Kai is normally in our dugout, hanging out with the guys and doing random odd jobs for the players and coaches. He had chosen to sit upstairs with his dad during the game, Murph was serving a suspension after being tossed while we were in Yakima, but felt like he should be in uniform at the end of the game.  When I asked him why he decided to come down so late, he told me he wanted to be in the picture of our walkoff celebration. 

My first ever pro baseball card! I'm sure most
have already seen this either on Facebook, or
Twitter but its still cool

We won the last two nights without much flare or excitement.  The new faces continued to roll in, not just in the form of new players but in the form of all the minor league instructors.  Jonesy, the infield instructor arrived last night, and Glen Barker the outfield and base running instructor and Sean Berry the hitting instructor arrived the day before.  Randy Johnson (not the lefty) our pitching coordinator is here, as is "El Gato" another one of the pitching coaches.  Batting practice has turned into a fast 45 minute crash course in everything as we try to not only get our work in, but also to pick these guys brains for any little insight that might make our game better in any way.  Having Jonesy around means that I spend more time at 3rd base than normal, as he likes to keep me working on my footwork and throwing from the far side of the diamond.

The highlight of the last couple days has to be the fact that we got our Eugene Emeralds baseball cards.  Everyone was given a stack of 90 cards, and we used some to trade with the guys on the team to create a team set.  I'm now down to 70 cards, having reciprocated when other guys wanted to make a team set as well.  It's a pretty cool feeling having the stack of cards because it signifies the reality of this all.  There are some things that just say "I made it" and on a small scale this is one of them.