Notes: Sass Fishing Extravaganza

Off-Day Free Time Event
By Beth Sass / hereforthesass.blogspot.com

CHICAGO -- The Here for the Sass team will return to Minneapolis after their game Wednesday, and face another limited-play day on Thursday. With over half of the offense available, and a number of pitchers, there was a lot of free time to kill. To fill the time, the Here for the Sass will be having a fishing extravaganza. Unlike other tournaments held by the Sass and other teams in both the BFL and MLB, this is not a charity event, but more of a chance for people to get together with Sassians and fish.

“Some of the guys will be fishing from the shore, some of them from docks, and some of them will be on different boats. It’s a chance for the players and the fans to connect in a non-baseball setting,” Rach said.

Bait will be provided by the Sass, but fans will need to provide their own equipment.

“I’ve never been a person who’s been huge on fishing,” said pitcher Aaron Cook, “But it’ll be fun to hang out with the guys and the fans. It’ll also be interesting to see if Beth or Dawn even comes close to touching a fish. I really doubt it, but with those two, anything is possible.”

The event will start at 8:00 a.m., and will end at 3:00 p.m. Lunch will be a pot-luck, so anyone planning on attending should also bring with food to share. Sassians will also be bringing food.

“I’m sure the biggest hit will be Rocco [Baldelli]’s contribution. But unless he brings store-bought potato chips, I’d stay away from Aaron C.’s. He can’t cook,” confided pitcher Aaron Harang.

Bullpen Woes: After their stellar performance last week, the bullpen has given up more runs than the starting pitchers so far this week.

“It’s really a baffling situation,” Dawn said, “We had come to depend on our bullpen as the strength of our team, and were very concerned about the state of our starters. And suddenly it’s all upside down.”

In an odd twist, the Sass were again able to use reliever Ambiorix Burgos as their reliever. Earlier in the month, Kansas City had imposed a restriction on Ambiorix’s closing duties, leaving the Sass to try to piece together the ends of games. Ambiorix has responded favorably, picking up a save in his first opportunity. Ambiorix’s pitching has always been a bit suspect. As a young pitcher, he is susceptible to poor outings, but the Sass have no plans to move him out of his closing role.

“Honestly, I don’t think we could do any better on the market without giving up too much talent,” Beth said. “Our minor league system is too valuable. Our market doesn’t allow us to grab the most expensive players, so we really need to build from within.”

Coming up: Tonight, pitcher Aaron C. will try to build on the successes of his fellow Sassian starters, particularly the complete game shut-out by Aaron H.