Chapter 70

Brock awoke early Friday morning as was becoming his habit more and more. As Meredith continued to sleep, he took a few moments to watch "Nightly Sports Update" on ASN and to slip outside for a newspaper that was delivered to all the suites.

He sat down and opened the sports section to peruse the standings. The playoffs weren't that far in the future and he wanted to mentally assess who his team might face.

The Marlins had played the night before and lost, dropping them 12 games out of first place.

Miami, buoyed by an influx of cash from a new publicly-funded stadium (and some creative accounting from its owner), had made a splash in the free-agent market during the offseason. Notoriously cheap, the Fish had spent more than $120 million to lock up the top available position player and one of the top relief pitchers.

Sadly for the fans that had seen their tax rates increase to pay for the stadium, the new players hadn't translated into more wins. The Marlins were stuck in fourth place in the five-team division, ahead of only the not-so-amazing Mets, who seemed to lose no matter how much money they spent.

Miami's problem was simple: The acquisition of the best free-agent on the market had necessitated the move of one of its best young players from third base to left field. Already a prickly sort, the player had bellyached and complained until the entire team was affected. Neither the new third baseman nor the old one had performed up to the standards set the season before. The new relief pitcher had bombed brilliantly and spectacularly, blowing the first four games he was sent out to save. By June, he (and the three years and $36 million left on his contract) had been relegated to middle relief.

Miami was looking up at Atlanta, Philadelphia and surprisingly, Washington. The Braves were perennial playoff contenders so their presence wasn't a shock. Philadelphia had crawled out of a hole in July to put forth a respectable season. They wouldn't make the playoffs but they wouldn't finish 25 games under .500 either.

The biggest shock in the league was the resurgence of baseball in the nation's capital. The Nationals had parleyed back-to-back No. 1 overall draft picks into a pair of potential franchise pitchers. Both hit the Majors this season and both were vying for Rookie of the Year honors. The Nationals had a seven-game lead in the division over Atlanta, which was pretty much a lock to grab one of the wild card berths.

The NL Central was the same as it had been for a decade, despite the loss of Houston to the American League. The Cardinals were at the top. Pittsburgh and Chicago were at the bottom. Cincinnati and Milwaukee were somewhere in between. The Cardinals had all but wrapped up the division by late August. They held a 10-game lead over the Reds and Brewers, which seemed to swap second place on a daily basis. Whoever wound up there at the end of the season was the odds-on favorite to claim the second wild card slot, unless someone from the NL West put together a 25-win September. Chicago, because of front-office ineptitude, and Pittsburgh, because of an ownership group that would rather pocket the profits than put them back into the team, were destined to be afterthoughts for the foreseeable future.

The West looked identical at the start of September as it had at the end of the previous year. The Dodgers were on top, but the Giants were close on their heels. Los Angeles headed into Miami with a two-and-a-half game lead in the division. The teams would play each other six times in the final 27 days of the year and no one doubted that whichever team came out on top of the head-to-head matchups would still be playing when the calendar turned to October.

Colorado was seven back and fading fast. The Diamondbacks went from five games ahead in early June to 10 games behind in September, courtesy of a 6-23 stretch in August. The team had traded away two prospects in late July to grab the top available arm on the trading block – and the pitcher, acquired from Kansas City, had promptly blown out a knee when he slipped getting into the clubhouse sauna and would miss the rest of the season. It was an even bet he would leave via free agency in the offseason and the Diamondbacks wouldn't even get a draft pick as compensation for losing two kids who were playing well for the Royals because the pitcher had been acquired in midseason.

As usual, San Diego, beset by financial problems, was out of the running by the time Brock left Susan's bed the September before. They had traded off any player earning more than league minimum during the offseason or at the trading deadline, and were embarking on the third rebuilding phase of the last 10 years.

The league's sole purpose in adding a second wild card team was to generate interest in the latter part of the season. The premise had failed miserably. Only four teams were vying for the last two playoff spots in the National League. Either Cincinnati or Milwaukee would win the second wild card and either Los Angeles or San Francisco would claim the NL West. The other races were all but decided with a month left in the season.

That was even truer in the American League. Tampa's swoon against the Dodgers had left them a game up on the Yankees but both teams would make the playoffs barring a complete collapse. The Rays had a slight edge because New York faced a brutal September schedule – 31 games in 30 days, courtesy of a late April blizzard that not only had postponed two games in Colorado but had stranded the team for an additional day so that it missed a game in Seattle. The Yankees had to travel from New York to Seattle on one of their two off days in the month – and play a doubleheader in Colorado on the other.

The Red Sox had spent $150 million in payroll for a .500 record but they were still ahead of Baltimore, which spent a slightly lesser amount for a worse record. Toronto brought up the rear in what might be the toughest division in baseball.

Cleveland was a whopping 17 games ahead in the AL Central – in what might be baseball's worst division. No one else had a winning record, although the White Sox stood an outside chance of sneaking to .500.

Detroit and Kansas City were in the same mode as Pittsburgh and San Diego. The Tigers had moved all their veteran talent at the trading deadline to rebuild with youngsters – and Kansas City's ownership would never invest the money necessary for it to compete.

Minnesota had gone from first to worst – from winning the World Series to finishing last in its division the following year. The team lost two veterans to free agency and another to identity fraud charges. Injuries and under-performance added to the doom and gloom in Minneapolis.

The AL West featured the last two playoff teams: Anaheim and Texas. The Angels were a half-game up on the Rangers but both would make the playoffs. Seattle was an afterthought (as usual) and Oakland was still singing the "Small Market Blues." They had tried to find a taker for Wallace Blake after the Dodgers had backed out of a three-way trade but the A's were looking for half a club's farm system for the pitcher and no one bit. The club would try again in the offseason – because the pitcher was going to be awarded $15 million a season in arbitration and would want more than that when he hit free agency a year later.

A new league alignment did nothing to change the Astros' fortunes. The team that finished with the worst record in baseball the year before would finish with an even worse record this year. To make matters worse, the No. 1 overall pick had refused to sign with the club, electing to attend college at Tennessee rather than collect a $6.9 million contract from Houston. The high school kid had told the Astros he would sign but changed his mind after they made the pick – and probably after he realized it would be 10 seasons before the team was competitive again.

Brock finished perusing the sports section shortly before Meredith made her grand entrance for the morning – looking sleepy and bedraggled in a short robe and slippers.

But Brock still thought she might be the most beautiful sight on the planet.

There is an unwritten rule in baseball that a team out of contention puts its best players on the field whenever it faces a team who is. The Marlins either had never heard of the rule or they simply didn't care.

The lineup they started on Friday night would be hard-pressed to break even in Class AAA, let alone in the Majors. Brock was almost positive he was going to witness his second no-hitter of the week (from the correct side this time).

Andy Bergman, the No. 4 starter for the Dodgers, held the Marlins lineup in check until one was out in the eighth inning when Miami's No. 6 hitter doubled to the left-center field gap. He got no farther and the starter allowed only the one hit (to go with one walk) on the way to a 5-0 Los Angeles win. Brock played shortstop again in the series opener, with Driesbach shifting to third base to give Josh a day off.

Broderick Williams joined Eddie Cruz in being unhappy that his playing time had decreased as the season drew to a close. Neither had spoken publicly but Cruz had mentioned to a couple of players that he wouldn't return to Los Angeles when he contract expired – conveniently forgetting that he would have started the season in Las Vegas if Al and John hadn't been injured in the spring.

Williams was another matter, to Brock's way of thinking. He had always been a guy who would go with the flow. He had never made waves and seemed happy to play once or twice a week.

He had been the team's primary right-handed pinch hitter off the bench for two seasons but he was enough of a realist to understand that his skills didn't translate to a starting job. He didn't have enough sustained power to be a corner infielder in the Major Leagues. He wasn't versatile enough to be considered a utility guy. He was what he was – a decent glove at third, a good glove at first and a guy who could get a hit in occasional appearances. But he was a valued member of the team, just as Eddie Cruz was. Brock decided that when the team got back to Los Angeles, he would speak to Al about pulling the pair aside to let them know everyone appreciated that they will willing to step aside for a week or two until Brock was able to get some Major League at-bats.

Randi and her bodyguard, Erika, arrived in time for the game and they sat with Meredith in the visiting family section. She greeted Brock with a hug and kiss on the cheek when he returned to the resort after the game.

With Florida, Florida State and the University of Miami opening their college football seasons the next day, the media was almost as sparse as the crowd. Brock slipped away without having to utter a word to anyone not affiliated with the team.

Saturday morning was rare in that Brock was the last one out of bed. Meredith was awake and bustling around hours before she usually made her way out of the shower. Randi and Erika, still on West Coast time, were a little slower to get moving. Brock figured he could get up 10 minutes before they would have to leave and still be ready in time that no one was held up.

Of course that didn't happen. Meredith wanted to make sure he was going to be able to get showered and dressed in time for her to meet the photographer and the makeup artist at 10 a.m. She woke him up at 7:30 just to certain.

"Wake me at 9 o'clock," Brock said, pulling a pillow over his head. "I have a game tonight and I don't need to be up until then."

"We need to leave by 9:15," Meredith insisted.

"So wake me at five 'til nine," Brock countered. "Not a minute before. I don't need to watch you race around like a madwoman."

"Fine," Meredith said. "But we're leaving with or without you."

"Splendid," Brock said. "Now scoot. And close the door behind you."

Randi came in an hour and a half later to nudge Brock's foot. She knew he was probably naked beneath the sheet so she stood there and waited for him to get out of bed.

"Meredith is angry with you," she informed him.

"She'll get over it," Brock replied. "Now get the hell out so I can get in the shower. If we're late, I'm going to blame you and then she'll be angry with someone besides me."