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I took the mound a night earlier than I had thought I would. The day off after we had finished the series in Greensboro ended up bumping my start up a day.
The Blue Jays would have a couple of the toughest hitters I would face yet with catcher Todd Zeile and center fielder Glenallen Hill.
Coach Les (he hated being called Coach Moss) had a sit down with me before the game.
"It's good you listen to your catcher but you need to trust your arm," he said. "If your arm tells you to throw a different pitch, you need the courage to shake your catcher off. Okay? Your arm is an extension of you and, as long as you don't lie to yourself, it's not going to lie to you."
He was basically telling me I should have shook off the changeup from the last game.
I think.....
Why is there always rain in the forecast when I pitch now?
Plus, as I have mentioned, our pitching staff had not given up an earned run in twenty seven straight innings.
No pressure...
That didn't take long to end.
Zeile hit a two out triple and Hill brought him home with a single in the top of the first.
In the second inning, I had a 1-2 count on the second hitter of the inning and took Coach Les' advice and shook off a changeup. Porter then out down the one finger signal for the fastball. It sailed pretty high but it was called strike three.
I might have gotten away with one there.
Other than Zeile and Hill, I had taken care of the Blue JAys lineup with three strikeouts in two innings.
Then the Blue Jays tacked on four runs in the third with Hill getting a two run homer.
Remember what I had said about Reno all over again?
I was getting pounded like it was Reno all over again.
Of course, the next inning, the bases were loaded without the Blue Jays getting a hit and Hill was up again.
An infield single.
Another run scored.
At least that one was unearned, right?
In the bottom of the fourth, we loaded the bases with nobody out. And didn't score.
And I wasn't surprised at all.
It was going to be one of those games.
They put three more on me in the sixth inning, with Zeile hitting a two run homer.
Everyone, including me, at that point had to be asking why was I still on the mound.
Meanwhile, in the bottom of the sixth, the Florence pitcher recorded his tenth strikeout of the game.
A guy by the name of Mark Gardner. A hot shot prospect likw myself.
Except for one big difference.
He was actually pitching like it.
The thirty seven hundred fans in the stands were not happy to see me return to the mound in the seventh inning.
I got the three up three down with two strikeouts and then got a mock standing ovation as I walked off the mound.
A couple of the guys on the team were offended by the fan reaction.
"I pitched like trash," I said as Porter wanted me to go tip my hat to the sarcastic crowd. "I deserve this treatment. I have to be better to get them a real reason to cheer."
The seventh inning, mercifully, would be my last.
Seven innings. Nine runs. Eight earned. Eleven hits. Two walks. Six strikeouts.
Meanwhile, Gardner tied a Florence team record for strikeouts in a game with twelve!
Florence won 9-4.
I had no desire to watch my performance on film.
I did want to watch Gardner's.
See what I could learn from what he had done.
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