Chapter 14

I didn't begin running until seven mainly because my body was having a tough time adjusting to Eastern time after being in the Pacific and then Central zones. I figured it would get better when I learned to live in my own time zone and ignore local time where I was. I needed a watch with dual time zones; one local or home time, and one for wherever I was.

The girls had the grill hot when I finished my run and put a big sirloin on it as soon as they saw me coming. Sherry watched the huge steak while Jeannie scrambled a dozen eggs for us. The girls each had a piece of the huge steak, toast, and eggs, but I stuck with the steak, eggs, and a protein shake. I needed to weigh myself at the ballpark because I felt lighter. I had worked out and run daily, but I couldn't get enough food to really fill me up. Can you imagine it? I was in Houston, Texas, the cattleman's home, and I couldn't find a place to get meat in the morning. I hated to go to bed after having eaten a huge meal, but that's what I had done three nights in a row.

We took a nap until noon after fooling around and making a mess of our bedroom. I'm sure the noises we made had the construction workers ready to hide somewhere and take care of themselves.

When it was time for me to go to the ballpark, Sherry told me, "We have to stay until they leave and we can lock up. We try to clean up a little, but we'll be there with some of your fan club who live in the building."

I was at the ballpark by three, and immediately used the batting cages to beat up on some balls. After making sure I could still consistently hit baseballs, I found Scott and asked him if I could warm up a little with him.

He told me, "Joe told me to be cool with you because you're pitching the opener tonight. This is the best Boston offense in a long while. You need to be sharp."

I began throwing soft stuff and we stretched it to long toss. After feeling I was warmed up I threw a couple of fastballs then a couple of changeups. I alternated between fastballs and changeups, and then tried my curve. That was working, so I began throwing the split-finger and then the four-seam fastball. The wiggle or wobble was there again, so I knew my four-seamer would be tough to hit. I threw the slider that went from right to left, and then threw the back up slider that went from left to right. Everything was working, so I tried the palm ball a few times. That worked too. I was primed, and I was going to pitch against Boston who were supposedly the best offense in the majors.

I relaxed and waited to suit up. I ate heartily at five and dressed to begin fielding during batting practice. They wouldn't let me throw batting practice, but I did get to have a shot at both the left and right side of the plate to send balls to the stands.

When the team went in to chill for a few minutes, I was throwing to Hanigan in the exposed bullpen. We didn't work too hard, but he had me throw each of my pitches a couple of times to make sure I was still on track. We walked to the first base line for the national anthem together.

I threw my warm-up pitches as called by Hanigan as he explained how I delivered to the ump. I think the most impressive to this ump was the slider that looked like it was going to bean a right-handed batter, and then slid across the plate, or at least the outside edge.

I went through the first three innings like I was a veteran. I threw exactly twenty seven pitches before someone got a piece of a ball that Zobrist scooped up and tossed to Loney.

Lefties were a little slow sometimes on fastballs that were down and out, but still in the zone. A couple of those had Longoria charging them to get the runner at first.

We had suspended the DH rule, much to the displeasure of the Boston Manager. He even protested the game saying that we couldn't do that, but the umps said it was being done and we did it.

The first pitch their starting pitcher threw to me was a fat fastball they were expecting me to watch. I didn't, and the folks in the leftfield stands had a souvenir. The man didn't learn, and Longoria sent one right to where mine had hit for a two to zip lead. Meyers was now on the spot, since Longoria, his secret idol, had homered, so he put a ball in the same area as Longo to make it three to nothing.

Boston never recovered, and we were up six to one when I left the game at the end of the eighth. I kept giving away too many ground ball singles. I was going to ask for help with that.

Peralta closed the game and we walked away smiling.

Joe came in when I was getting dressed after a shower, and said, "You have to be here around nine in the morning because the other Manager protested the game. Come in and we'll get a conference call going to clear up the protest. I don't know why the guy is protesting, other than you had a hot bat tonight.

I took a bunch of food home and the three of us pigged out. We used the hot tub before showering, and a stack of towels for some great loving.

The girls told me that they used about as many towels when I was gone, as they really enjoyed playing together.

They had convinced me to take them to one of the bigger adult stores in Tampa before I went on my first road trip. They bought a variety of toys that they wanted to experiment with when I wasn't home. These babes were a couple of hotties, probably randier now than when we were teaching each other fun stuff to do together.

I didn't run in the morning, because I slept late after enjoying the homecoming. I showed up at the ballpark at eight forty-five and knocked on Joe's door a few minutes later. Andrew Friedman was there, and they offered me a chair. Joe used his fancy spider looking conference phone and called the Commissioner's office. We didn't get the Commissioner, but an Assistant to an Assistant. They called the Boston Manager and when the Boston Manager and VP of operations were on the conference call with us, the Assistant in the Commissioner's office told the Boston manager. "Please walk us through the complaint and the basis for your protest."

The Manager wasn't well prepared, and hemmed and hawed until he finally said that the DH rule applied to all American League teams, and we couldn't suspend the rule whenever we wanted.

You could tell that he had read the rule and knew it could be suspended and not applied to a team on a per game basis. The Assistant to the Commissioner asked Joe, "Do you have a rebuttal?"

Joe made an introduction that what he was going to read was from the official rulebook. He read the rule without pause and said, "That should resolve the problem."

The Boston Manager asked, "Can't we stop teams from making their own decisions about whether or not to use a rule? This is a problem because a manager won't know how to prepare for a game."

The Assistant told the Boston Manager, "You know the lineup is only nine men and the roster has 25. You don't know the lineup until the opposing manager presents the card to you and the ump. How do you prepare now when you have a lineup that is only about one third of the roster?"

There was no response for a long, long time. The Manager finally said, "Well, there should be a rule about that. You guys have rules for everything known to man, so you should have a rule on this too."

The Assistant said, "There is a rule and it is plainly stated in the rule book. I think this matter has been discussed sufficiently to dismiss your protest. If you wish to further protest the game and the rule, please prepare a report of what you are protesting, why, and how the rule you are protesting doesn't apply to you or your team."

"Thank you all for assembling today."

There was distinct click and the line went dead. Joe hung up and said, "I figured they would be turned down, but not as radically as they were. At least now there is a precedent for the future. You sure are a shit disturber, Matt. But I love the way you kick the cow pies."

I went to the stadium gym and did my routine for the day instead of immediately going home. I could drive home, but I wouldn't be able to stay very long. I had to be back by two-thirty for some infield work, and I would have to do my pitches in a warm-up before the game if Joe wanted me in the bullpen.

I showered and drove home when I finished with my lifting regimen. I stopped for a huge bag of tacos on the way. It had been a long time since I had any, and I'm sure the girls would enjoy them.

The house was noisy and dusty, but the place was coming together. I could begin to see how the place was going to look and was anxious to see it completed.

I found the girls on the patio with laptops. They were working on one of the promotions they wanted to have happen. They had found several local businesses that were willing to sponsor me coming out to the businesses and sign autographs. I would show up early on a Friday or a Saturday afternoon and sign autographs for a couple of hours. If I could make it happen, I would get Will Meyers or Evan Longoria to come along.

The guy you wouldn't expect to want to participate was James Loney. He wanted to come when he later found out we could shill for his foundation as well. He said he would sign autographs for a buck each and the proceeds would all go to the Children's Cancer Center. That was going to get us a lot of name exposure for the sponsors. I made up an agreement that gave Loney half of what I was going to get for the promotion. He looked at me funny when he read the handwritten agreement, and asked, "Are you going to keep that money or are you going to donate it?"

"How about I donate it along with yours, and we can both match it for the Center, deal?" Loney was all smiles and shook my hand saying, "Deal."

The girls told me after I had made the deal with Loney that I was defeating the purpose of them drumming up sponsors for endorsements that paid us money. If I gave it all away, plus matched what I was going to get, all it meant was that I was losing money.

I told them, "From what the investment counselor tells me, and the account statements that we're getting show, along with the dividend checks coming in, we're going to need some tax write-offs and me donating and matching is going to help take care of that. You know that you guys should make deals with auto dealerships and you can probably talk them into a free lease car for you two. Sherry's car is decent, but you'd both look good in one of those sporty Mercedes or BMWs. Work on those guys and see what you can do for me to endorse their businesses."

While we ate the tacos at the table on the patio, Sherry told me, "We have the Men's Wearhouse working out an endorsement, because we told them we had just purchased a huge amount of clothing for you to wear here and on the road. They want to film you wearing their clothes as you go in and come out of the ballpark. You can wear a little tag that says clothes from Men's Wearhouse when you do any of the other endorsement signings. We can get some good bucks for that.

Jeannie told me that Nike had been receptive if I would wear one of their undershirts with my uniform. They would supply them, of course, and they would show me wearing their stuff along with Michael Jordan. That will give you more name recognition and put you in the class range of one of the most popular sports stars ever.

I joked with them, "How about I use a bat and put a baseball on a tee and pretend to drive it toward a hole. They can show my swing and then show the ball rolling to the hole and getting stuck there in a hole in one."

Sherry said, "That would be awesome. It will also give you a tie in with the golf sponsors. That's a great idea, Matt. See, you know how to do this stuff. You just need us to get it done."

I told them, "Since the house is a disaster and those tacos were only an appetizer, how about I grill something before I leave and we can eat out here away from most of the noise and dust."

Jeannie said, "We have a few steaks thawed so you could stoke up. You eat two and Sherry and I will split one. You start the grill and I'll get the steaks. I'll bring all of the stuff you like to doctor them up with."

We ended up having some decent meat for lunch and then walking it off along the beach. The girls were wearing their modest two-piece suits and I was wearing some surfer shorts. We headed back to the house when it became time for me to head to the ballpark. I showered real quick and told them to buy some hair clippers the next time they went to Walmart. No one cut hair here, and I don't want to have to sit around in a beauty shop to get a buzz cut. I'm beginning to look shaggy, so get some clippers and you two can cut my hair."

The girls laughed at me for being so cheap, but recognized the aggravation I had with waiting around for someone to spend two minutes and charge me twenty bucks plus tip for a haircut.

I told them, "Mom used to do it for me all the time. She said my head was easy to cut because it was shaped to be easily cut. She would run the clippers over my head with a short adapter and then cut the sides and neck without any adapter. I'll bet you two can do an even better job.

Jeannie said, "You can have your teammates come by for a quick haircut for fifteen bucks if we do a good job, and we don't take tips. How's that for part time entrepreneurship."

We were having fun living together and working toward creating some revenue for our future.

As soon as I walked into the clubhouse, one of the equipment men said, "Joe wants to see you as soon as you come in. He's in his office; go now."

I knocked on the door and Joe looked up and smiled. "We're going to need you in the rotation, Matt. Moore is out for probably most of the year, and Odorizzi has a sore elbow too. I can't understand how everyone is having physical problems. You're not sore anywhere, are you, Matt?"

"No Sir. I get stiff from not working as much as I should, if anything. You really need to let me throw batting practice or at least half of it every game. I won't ask to do it on days I start, but I beg the bullpen manager to let me throw my pitches when I'm sitting on the bench in the bullpen. Scott doesn't mind, and it helps me stay sharp. The bullpen is like a death sentence to pitchers who want to work. You need to have them warm up everyday with all of their pitches. Scott is good at evaluating, so let him do it and interact with the relievers."

Joe was still smiling when he said, "There are some of the guys who don't want to hear from the catcher. You know, like Balfour. He hates to hear anything from a warm up catcher. He has a hard time with the game catcher."

"I know, Joe, but you know what I'm saying. The guys in the Social Club sit there and read books or fall asleep waiting to be called to stretch and warm up. They could be practicing their pitches. I know it's tough to do here, but it can be done. One guy at a time can run through his pitches and throw a couple extra of a pitch he's having trouble with."