Notes: Managers realize error in slump

Pitchers stayed in clubhouse for hitting lecture
By Beth Sass / hereforthesass.blogspot.com

KANSAS CITY -- Beth and Dawn admitted they made a vital managing mistake last week.

"We held a meeting for our offense in the clubhouse. However, except for Burgos, all the pitchers were in there as well. Although they were not part of the meeting, and merely sitting by their lockers, they were listening," Dawn said.

In the meeting, Beth and Dawn demonstrated to the hitters that the ball and the bat needed to come together in such a way that it was not caught. Unfortunately, they didn't realize the pitchers were listening to the lecture, and applying it to their performances as well.

"Well, why didn't they tell us that we weren't supposed to do that?" T. Ohka said. "It would've nullified our contest--we thought we were doing a good thing, not seeing who could suck the most."

A turnaround! After last week's demonstration on bad pitching, the Sass managed to turn things around so far this week. On Tuesday night, they pitched a total of 15 1/3 innings, giving up only three runs. They often found themselves pitching out of jams, so the WHIP wasn't superb, but the ERA was wonderful. On Monday, they pitched 2 scoreless innings.

"This is amazing," Ohka said, "Watching Lohse out there early in the game, I thought we didn't have a chance, but somehow he managed. It was an inspiration for me when I went out there later."

This means the team ERA for this week is at 1.56 so far, calling for Ghetto Cub balloons to be delivered after the game.

Right now there's a little concern that the hitting may be going into a mini-slump. However, outfielder J. Encarnacion almost hit for the cycle last night--only missing a single, offering hope that there was still some life in the line-up. There are no pending changes to the line-up today.

Johnson throws a tantrum, Part XVIII: Sass pitcher R. Johnson was upset on Monday night to learn that Sass management had decided to push back his next scheduled start on Friday to Saturday.

"Just because I'm old and tired doesn't mean that I can't pitch," Johnson said, although only gesturing with his right arm, and not moving his pitching arm at all. "I can still throw a ball hard! I could go out and pitch right now. The arm would pick up in a minute with no problems and I'd be striking people out!"

Clubhouse manager Rach said that all day she had to have a batboy assigned to Johnson to help him with most simple tasks--including tying his shoes, as he was unable to move his left arm.

"I don't know who he's fooling. Probably only himself. Only a person with a brain his size would believe that he could still grip a baseball," Rach reported.

Babysitting services provided: Looking to make an extra dollar, Dawn volunteered to babysit young Jimmy Grudzielanek-Mientkeiwicz-Pierzynski (the adopted child of second baseman M. Grudzielanek, first baseman D. Mientkiewicz, and A. Pierzynski. Also, Pierzynski's 6-month-old daughter and Mientkiewciz's 4-month-old son were there, giving Dawn a handful for a couple of hours.

"I was lucky all three children behaved well, but I still felt like I was changing diapers all afternoon," Dawn said.

While the infants spent most of the afternoon napping, Dawn was able to work organizing her shoe collection. She also reorganized Grudzielanek's box of video tapes, which included Barney (for Jimmy) and The Young and the Restless, his personal favorite.

A different take on clubhouse training: Third baseman E. Encarnacion and relief pitcher A. Burgos both spent the extra time before the game on Tuesday putting together a new train for the Lego(tm) train set they're building in the clubhouse.

"This is so much fun!" Encarnacion said. "We were at the toy store here this morning, and found the awesomest pieces to build new cars from. That's the best part of being a ballplayer. We totally get to hit toy store all over the U.S. and find all the unique pieces."

Burgos and Encarnacion both were scheduled to play in tonight's game, so Beth made them pick up their Legos early so that there was no mess before they went outside to play.

What color is E-mail? Brown. Dawn and Beth explained their decision to keep Sass outfielder E. Brown on the bench.

"Announcers often mispronounce his name so it sounds like 'e-mail Brown'," said Dawn, "I was unaware until Nick [manager of Mockball Madness] warned me. We put him on the bench to avoid the embarrassment."

Brown was grateful. "My name isn't that hard to pronounce, so it always amazes me when people manage to do it. And then when my friends here it, I suddenly get all sorts of bad jokes. 'No wonder you struck out--e-mail can't hit!' and 'Hey, e-mail me that!' It's really annoying," Brown said.