Farewell Cactus League 2000

It seemed like only yesterday that I was awaiting the first game of spring training. Now here I sit watching the last Cactus League game of the 2000 series. It is sunny and 82 degrees, perfect weather for baseball. Down on the field during batting practice, Buck Showalter is surrounded by reporters trying to get one more sound bite on Matt Williams’s injury. Lenny Harris, Greg Colbrunn, and Andy Fox now find themselves a lot more popular when it comes to interviews. When the game started though, it was back to business. Brian Anderson looked very good during his start even with an umpire that couldn’t tell a strike from a man hole cover. BA even managed to pick off a runner from first putting him in a run down between first and second. That is when the unthinkable happened. Tony Womack chased the baserunner back to first base and in tagging him out, he twisted his ankle having to be carried off the field. Just 24 hours after Matt Williams is lost for 6 to 8 weeks, Tony lay on the ground surrounded by his team mates. X-rays were taken for precautionary measures and showed no structural damage to the ankle and he will take it easy for a few days until Opening Day. Overall, it was a great day for baseball. The Diamondbacks led until Jim Corsi gave up 5 runs in his one inning of work. The score ended up 12-9 with the Diamondbacks having the bases loaded in the top of the ninth when Hanley Frias grounded out to the second baseman. After reading the paper and hearing the newscasts, I expected the sky to fall and western civilization to cease to exist because Matt Williams is out of the line-up. Just maybe this team will survive the adversity it faces and become stronger with Matt on the shelf for the first few weeks of the season.

Jeff Summers

Just a digital guy in an analog world pondering the metaphysics of baseball and whether the knuckleball defies Newton's first law of motion.

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Jeff Summers

Jeff Summers

Baseball Epistemologist

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