Notes: Welcome back, Rocco!

DL needs revolving door
By Beth Sass / hereforthesass.blogspot.com

MINNEAPOLIS -- The Here for the Sass team needs to have regular flights to Nice. Not long after pitcher Matt Guerrier’s flight left for Nice, doctors announced that third baseman Edwin Encarnacion would need to be placed on the DL. All five rooms for players have now been filled at the Sass Rehabilitation Facility in Nice.

“If another players goes on the DL, our only choices are to let him hang out on the bench until there’s an opening, or to send him down to the Sarcacastics [AAA],” Dawn said. It depends on the condition of the player, as well as the position of the player on the team.

Matt will be out for six to eight weeks, while it’s expected that e.e. will be back in a couple of weeks. For more good news, Sass pitcher Tomo Ohka did start throwing from the mound this weekend. He’s not near coming back, but trainers and coaches saw this as positive improvement. Tomo had not set foot on a pitching mound since early May. As for relievers Grand Balfour and Justin Duchschererererer, it’s anyone’s guess.

“All my reports from Nice are from the trainers, who insist on writing in french. I have no idea what they’re saying. I’m pretty sure one of them told me that I was pathetic. Either that or my shoes needed polishing. I’m not really sure,” Beth said.

This lack of communication meant that Beth was completely surprised to stumble sleepily into her office Thursday morning to the grin of Rocco Baldelli--as well as an omelet breakfast.

“He told me that he was back with the team. It was a little shocking,” Beth said.

To make room for Rocco on the roster, Frank Catalanotto was cut from the team. Frank had earlier expressed a desire to join a rodeo, so it was a brief conversation with Frank, with Dawn via conference call (before her scheduled pedicure) that it was decided to give Frank the chance he wanted to fulfill his dreams.

Welcome to the Sass! To replace Matt and e.e. on the Sass roster, the Sassians called up two pitchers. When relievers Jon Rauch and Rheal Cormier entered the clubhouse on Sunday, there was much laughter from the Sassian team. Rheal, a 5’10” 40-year-old Canadian was chatting with the Jon, a 6’11” 28-year-old Southern boy. Jon and Rheal had been roommates on road trips with the Vancouver Sarcastics, and despite the age, cultural, and height difference, became close friends.

“Jon’s an amusing guy--that southern drawl of his always makes me laugh. Up in Vancouver, no one could understand a word he said!” Rheal laughed.

“Rheal’s a hoot--that Canadian accent always cracks me up,” Jon said. “We spent a lot of time together. His wife just knew that on off-days, I’d be over there. I’d come to the door, and his kids would be begging me to play ball with them. It’s great. I’m glad we both got called up together.”

Restraint? Beth showed great restraint on Saturday to not spend the entire night talking about Michael Cuddyer’s grand slam. Besides talking incessantly about Cuddyer’s grand slam on Saturday--which wasn’t that much different from his grand slam on Wednesday--Beth mentioned that Carlos Silva didn’t have an impressive outing, stats-wise, but did show marked signs of improvement.

“On Saturday,” Beth said, “It was more impressive only because he hit it at home, in front of all our fans. It was so awesome. Two grand slams in four days! Woooo!“

Gotcha! Outfielder Jermaine Dye thought he might have gotten Sass first baseman Adam Dunn, by tying up the home run hitting contest. However, Adam wasn’t one to rest, and on Sunday hit the go-ahead home run. This puts Adam at 20 home runs this year, while Jermaine is right behind him at 19.

“I will catch up to Adam!” Jermaine exclaimed. “I swear, no little kid is going to beat me.”

Adam laughed, “That old man can’t hit more home runs than me! Youth will always succeed!”

Sassians are taking bets as to which man will end the year with the most home runs. There is a mild edge on Adam, but the betting is fairly even.

Despite their strong words, Adam and Jermaine’s competition is actually a very friendly rivalry.

Seventh inning…nap? Sass Stadium had an odd change of the usual pace of baseball games this past weekend. Rather than a “Seventh Inning Stretch”, fans participated in the Seventh Inning Nap.

“It was a long two weeks of late games in California and Washington,” Beth said. “I was tired. I needed a nap more than I needed to stand up and sing. I know many of our fans stayed up late to watch the games, and I’m sure they appreciated the short naps before the grueling finishes of all Sass games.”

New start time: Due to conflicts in scheduling, the Sass front office announced on Sunday night that this week all games will start at 7:13:42 p.m.

“There were some scheduling conflicts with the local media--besides the schedule conflicts of Kat and I. As much as we’d like to devote our time and energy to the Sass, we realize that there are prior commitments that must be placed ahead of the Sass,” Beth said. “This allows us to do everything that needs to be done.”

Tonight: Tonight, the Sass front office decided that Aaron Harang and Kristin Benson need some more time pitching, and will start them both.