I know it has been a while since I have posted but we have been on the road and time is short. This morning we returned from a 6-game road trip that took us to Everett, Washington just outside of Seattle and then to Salem, Oregon about an hour from Portland. We left last Wednesday morning and we start every road trip with everyone throwing in a dollar to a pot and along with that dollar everyone gives a form of ID. The coach pulls the first ID out and that person is removed from the pot. The last name in the hat gets the money. It's a cool way to start every trip, and especially this time because I won the pot, a whopping total of $34 dollars, thats right, what's happening? Anyway, going across the border is a much bigger deal than is necessary with having to get all of our stuff we carried on the bus checked and then we boarded again and took off. Our hotel was nice, good rooms and good breakfast, just nothing to eat around it resulting in everyone attending Dennys every night which becomes quite gross after one sitting, let alone 5 in 3 days. We lost our first game, and then won the next 2 days, resulting in a nice win for the series. The day of the last game we had some time before we had to go to the field so we went to an outlet mall where I indulged and bought 2 necessary polo shirts and a pair of jeans to wear to and from the field.
The next morning we left for Salem and I got some sleep on the bus before we got to the field and got ready to pitch. I felt alright, body was a little tired but I was ready to go. I went through my usual warm up before the game, listened to the national anthem and toed the rubber. My first inning resulted in 2 runs, not a great start, but I did some damage control. My velocity was way down, I was throwing 85-86 mph and that is way off of my normal 88-92. Something hasn't been right since I have been out here. I'm not sure if it has been the amount of throwing or what, but my shoulder has been sore, and really achy, making it hard to throw unless I pop some pain killers before heading out. I came out in the 2nd inning disappointed but the head skipper could sense something wasn't clicking so he came to get me and I went into the locker room with the trainer. I started doing my exercises for my shoulder and stretching and all, then the trainer began to take my blood pressure because we were talking about where I have been sore. He began to notice that he couldnt feel my pulse when my arm is lifted at the angle I throw. This struck him as unusual especially considering my shoulder had been sore but I finished my stuff and went back to the hotel after the game. The next day I woke up and went to the field and during stretching the pitching coach told me they were going to shut me down from throwing until I saw a doctor to be safe. A good move to be preventative so today I saw that doctor during our game at home. He wasn't really worried but he said the same thing as the trainer regarding my pulse and my shoulder soreness and it appears I will probably get some tests run either in Vancouver or down in Florida and talk to a specialist with the Blue Jays. They all said, whatever it is, they will figure it out and get me back to myself on the field, something always good to hear and have confidence in.
Anyway, back to the game on Sunday. There was not a whole lot to eat around our hotel again other than who would have guessed? Dennys. A little further of a walk was Panda Express, a little chinese food joint that the latin guys love because of the rice and chicken as a main course. Anyway, our first basemen, Balbino Fuenmayor, ate that right before a game, probably not the best move considering it is fast food, and the combination of fast food and chinese food is something that should be banned in the United States. After the 3rd inning Balbino comes running off the field with the team as we got ready to hit. The Canadians go 3 up 3 down and head back out to the field...Balbino is no where to be found. Our pitcher finished warming up and is looking around wondering where our first baseman is along with the rest of the stadium and no one can locate him. Finally someone runs into the locker room where grunts and groans are coming from the bathroom. We send in one of our catchers, Luis Hurtado a Venezuelan guy but speaks very good english and aides with the language barrier, to find out what is going on. The relay comes out on the walkie talkie to the dugout to the strength coach...he is pooping. The head skipper (coach) responds with "ok well tell him to get out here, we dont have a first baseman". The walkie talkie responds, "he can't". Skipper, "is he done?"... response, "No he can't yet, it keeps coming". The dugout and coaches all start laughing as our head skipper points to our other first baseman, goes out to tell the umpire the situation who in turn starts laughing and play resumes after a 5 minutes wait. An inning later Balbino returns cursing in Spanish everything related to Panda Express, I think he even dropped a couple lines about Panda Express's mother. So we ask him, Balbi, what were you doing? Before Balbino could even respond, one of the other latin guys in the dugout in choppy english says "He take big number two! HAHAHA" and we all followed his lead and laughed until tears were coming. This was a scene I hadn't seen since little league, and never thought I would see in pro ball. It was absolute comedy. We lost that game, but everyone was a winner, except Balbino.
We won the game last night and got on the bus around 10:30. We watched a few movies and I passed out. We were due into Vancouver at about 5am so I got some good sleep on the bus. At about 4:30 I wake up to a BOOM, CRACK. Our bus driver, the jackass that he is, decided to go down a back alley a quarter of a mile away from the field instead of using the main road and smoked someone's garage and crushed one of the side windows to the bus shattering it all over the inside of our ride. His quote being, "If I trash truck can make it through here, my bus can"....Wrong there hombre, you could not. We got off the bus, took stuff to the clubhouse and then head home, I walked through my door at 5am, what a long ride. Our game tonight went well resulting in another win for the Canadians 7-4. I will figure out what the plan is for the whole shoulder issue probably tomorrow and update this later with the status, but everything should be good. Until next time.
-Ben
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