Chapter 15

I woke up smiling around seven, put my running clothes and shoes on without waking my sleeping beauties, and ran out to the beach. The tide was out, so I was able to run the packed sand at the water's edge. The morning temperature at just under seventy made for perfect running weather.

The girls were on the patio when I got back to the condo, and had the coffeepot out there. I sat and had coffee while they told me that they had meat thawed for my breakfast and would scramble some eggs.

I asked them, "While you girls are doing research, find a nutritionist to help me put some weight on. You must make them understand that I don't and won't take any form of pills or drugs, so to not even suggest any. I need the right food for muscle, and the weight so I can be a good ballplayer with endurance. They can either come here or I can go to their office."

Sherry told me, "I'll call the team's front office and talk to someone there for a recommendation. I'll also call the trainers to see if they might have someone they can recommend. They may know just the right person."

I ate my mega breakfast and prepared to leave for the big Ford dealership where Loney and I were going to appear. The girls wanted to come along, so I suggested we take Sherry's car as it was a Ford. I told them that I thought Loney had a big Ford Expedition, so we would now look like Ford people even if no one cared or observed.

We were at the dealership early and were able to visit with the dealer and the sales manager. They had moved some cars out of the indoor showroom and set up a couple of tables for us. The girls had several pens and a box of fine point Sharpies on the table. They said they were going to go out to the car for the photographs of Loney and me, and came back with two small boxes and a huge box that they put on the floor under the table. The two girls had both put on one of the T-shirts that they had made up with #19 along with 'Matt' over it on the front and back. The T-shirt was not a baseball club item, but something they had designed. The girls put a few T-shirts on the table with a small sign that simply had $20 on it.

I told them, "I don't know whether or not it's legal for me to do that. I think you better put those away until you find out whether the club will allow that."

Jeannie said, "There's not one place on that shirt that says the team name or your last name. These are the shirts we were wearing at the game yesterday. No one said anything other than ask where we got them. Let's see if they sell. We'll donate half of the twenty to Loney's organization. Please, let us see how they sell."

Loney looked at the shirts and said, "They really shouldn't be illegal, but I'll only allow you to sell them if I get one to wear. Come on, Matt, put one on. Give us both one Jeannie. That'll get people to buy them. We should probably jack the price up, but try the twenty today."

The girls handed us each a T-shirt and I pulled one over the T-shirt I was wearing. I did screw up the works as I had a Rays cap to wear. Loney did too, but said he usually didn't wear caps except on the field.

The signing was fun as a lot of people came through the line and the girls collected the buck a signature from the patrons and slid each of the dollars into a giant jar. They were also selling the T-shirts. I was amazed that they were out of them in less than an hour.

Loney insisted we count the money when we were done signing, and write our checks to match the take. The girls had a tally of the shirt sales, and had sold a hundred thirty-five of them. They separated thirteen hundred and fifty dollars and I wrote my check for half of the signature take. The dealer was taking pictures of us as we showed that we had taken in nearly five hundred dollars for signatures and Loney and I each matched half.

We were just about to leave when a newspaper guy came with a photographer and took some pictures of Loney and me with the girls and the money. The reporter said it would probably be in the Sports or Metro section as that is where stuff like this was printed.

I thought it was funny that Loney had a shirt on with my number and 'Matt' on it.

Before we left, the dealer asked if we needed to trade Sherry's car in. Sherry told the dealer that baseball didn't pay me much during the early years, so I might not be in the market until later. He guaranteed the girls he would work out something if I would continue to promote his store. Jeannie assured the man we would get back with him.

As we were leaving, Loney said, "Nadia, my lady, is in town. How about coming for supper? She will love to meet you three. She commented on your rooting gallery, Matt."

Sherry told James, "We'll need to go home to clean up first."

James told us, "Don't do that; come as you are, and we'll have a cookout or something. Let's have some fun."

Mr. Private Guy himself was going to share some of his private life with the girls and me. We followed him to his place where we met the very attractive Nadia, and enjoyed an evening with them.

The girls were talking at home later about how difficult it must be for Loney to have a home in California, but play ball in Tampa. He travels all the time, of course, so he goes back and forth often.

I was up at my usual early hour and running the beach by six thirty. We had time to cook in the kitchen when I returned to the house before the construction guys got there. It was possible they would finish by the weekend with the way they were coming along. I wouldn't be there, but the girls would have a good time filling the place with the furniture and the decorations they wanted.

I know I could have bought a big home somewhere nearby for probably less than I had paid for two beach condo units and the remodeling, but I was living on the beach with enough room to entertain all the family I wanted to.

We were playing Detroit tonight, and we had a pitcher who was having trouble. I thought Joe might assign me to the bullpen, but the lineup was already posted when I went in, and I was subbing for Will Meyers in right. I was surprised since I hadn't played right with the Rays yet. Joe apparently had my file in front of him to know that I had learned and played the position. There were other players who could have played right, but I was going to roam that area and enjoy it.

I loosened up after trying to wear out the batting cage machine, and used Scott to throw some pitches to. We went through my repertoire so he could evaluate my delivery. He was happy with my pitching, but said my speed was off. I really wasn't trying to get my speed up since I wanted to save the arm for batting practice and the game.

They did let me throw half of batting practice after I had batted from the right side. After pitching, I batted left and was connecting very well from that side of the plate.

Archer mowed 'em down in the first inning. Now the test as I was leading off. This was the first time that I had been leadoff batter since I was in little league.

I had watched the pitcher warm up and felt I had an idea about his delivery. You had to anticipate the pitch and be prepared to swing. The consensus was that he would either throw me a fastball strike, or a curve that bounced in front of the plate. The man gave me a knee that told me it was going to be a fastball. I used my hips and legs to put some power into the bat, and the ball went to the back of the second level in left center.

I was hoping that would help the guys following me get a rally started. It didn't and there were three straight strikeouts.

I shifted a little toward the foul line when some lefties came up, and it paid off as I caught two balls that would have been fair in the corner. The righties weren't catching up to the fastball, so their balls were going to right center or to me in right.

This lasted until in the fourth when Detroit began hitting Archer the second time through. Almost every batter was getting one over the center infield or between the zones. I was frustrated, as I couldn't cover the entire outfield. Zobrist even came out to me when I was near cussing because I couldn't catch up to a ball that Jennings should have had in center. I at least kept the game closer by keeping the hit to a single by backing him up.

I was thrown an intentional walk my second time up, because there were two out and a man on second. We died with two men on.

Detroit was leading five to two meanwhile. I faced a reliever my third time up, and he pitched to me. He had me at a full count when he blinked. He threw a slider that didn't slide, and I put it against the wall for a triple. I wish I could have homered, but I was lucky the centerfielder misjudged the ball off the wall to get a triple.

Jennings drove me home with a good single. That was it though, and we lost the game.

Joe came through the locker room and patted some of us on the shoulder as he went. I felt like I should have been able to do more, but there was nothing more to do. Our bats were quiet.

Wednesday night's game was all ours. I was the DH, and we were kicking butt from the first inning on. I only went three for four times up, with a strikeout and a walk, and no homers. The rest of the team decided to hit the ball, and drove in run after run until we had a nine to three win.

Thursday was my day to pitch, and I was nervous from the time I awoke until game time. I ran in the morning and ate as much as possible. I worked out in the gym, and then used the batting cages to relax.

Scott said he was told to let the Irishman, Hanigan, warm me up when I tried to get him to do it.

I went through my pitches and felt good about them. Both the split-finger and four-seamer were wiggling on the way to the plate, so I had two deceptive fastballs. My curve was working and the sliders were doing what they were supposed to do. The palm ball was dropping straight down on the plate, so that was going to work later.

I didn't get to hit during batting practice, as we were a little rushed to warm me up. I wasn't used to that since I was usually warmed up by Scott and ready for batting practice before warming up with the game catcher.

Jim Hickey could tell I was on edge and asked about it. I told him that something was wrong tonight. All my prep time was off or rushed, and I was still hungry. We didn't have time to eat before game time.

Joe and Jim laughed at that, but I was uncomfortable because I was hungry, so it made a difference to me.

The first inning was easy as everyone looked at a fastball strike, swung at a curve, and dodged a slider over the plate.

Joe had me batting fifth today, so we watched the Detroit pitcher convince our men to hit into easy outs.

My second inning wasn't as nice as I had to dive for a slow roller up the middle and just barely threw the runner out. The next batter hit a single over Zobrist, and then the next man hit a fly ball that advanced the runner to second. The next man laid down a good bunt that advanced the runner to third, and wasn't thrown out at first.

I threw as signed by the catcher and the batter did what he was supposed to do by hitting the ball straight up and it was caught by Escobar, the short stop. We were out of the inning without any damage.

They walked me when I came up with a man on second and two outs. Four straight balls were intentionally way outside. That's so frustrating. The man following me struck out, so it was a good strategy.

We still couldn't manufacture a run with two men on base.

I allowed a run on two singles and a long fly out. We were tied at one to one, and I could feel that my fastballs weren't cooking. My sliders were still working, but my curve was hanging a little. That's how I gave up the singles. I used my palm ball on the third strike on three successive players, and knew I wouldn't get them with it the next inning. They wouldn't swing once they knew it was coming.

Joe replaced me in the eighth and I left with the game tied and watched us lose three to one. That's such a hopeless feeling.

We were traveling to Minnesota right after the game. I talked to the girls on the phone before we took off, and was told to be good, but to enjoy the trip.

I hate to lose and it takes me a little while to get over a team loss. I shouldn't take it personally, but I did. Joe even talked to me to tell me that the guys just couldn't give me any run support today. It didn't help but I vowed to make sure I gave the other pitchers that run support.

The Minnesota games were fun and we won two out of three. We went to Cleveland where I would pitch the second game. The first game was all us and our bats. I was throwing everything perfectly the second game. None of the bats could find the slider or my curve. The changeup I had been working on worked today, and a fastball, changeup combination did the trick several times. It was in the ninth when I realized that I was still pitching, for one thing, and two, no one had hit me tonight. Hanigan was calling a good game that I agreed with as we reviewed batters between every inning.

The first batter of the ninth was the number seven batter. He struck out the previous times and almost got one past the infield on a curve. Zobrist intercepted the ball and threw him out. Batter number two swung at two backup sliders, and then couldn't catch up to a fastball.

The number nine hitter was batting .280 before tonight, and stood in at the plate as if he felt he could and would get a hit. Hanigan called for a fastball and I threw a four-seamer as hard as I could at the bottom of the zone. He didn't swing and it was a called strike. The man smacked his bat on the ground and voiced his displeasure at the ump. I kept remembering Earl and his sayings. He always said; make a man mad and he will make mistakes all night long. I threw a fastball inside enough to make the batter jump back and fall on his butt.

The man jumped up fuming that I threw at him. I did sort of, but didn't want to hit him. Hanigan called for a slider and setup inside so the ball would be right to Longoria if the guy hit it.

The ball went right at him again and he stood in to get hit. The ball didn't hit him but tailed over the plate for strike two. The guy was incensed and yelled at the ump when he made the call.

Hanigan called for the palm ball and I threw it the way it was supposed to be thrown. The batter swung at the ball while it was on its way to the ground. The ball tipped the bat, but Hanigan caught it and tagged the guy anyway. Game over and the batter smacked his bat on the ground hard enough to shatter the bat and shower the ump and Hanigan with pieces of bat.

I stood on the mound realizing that I had thrown a no-hitter. I didn't feel that good about it as we only had two runs, and one of those was a home run by me. Matt Joyce hit the other solo homer, so it was a Matt and Matt game. We did the high five for us and our fans in the area attending the game, and disappeared into the visiting clubhouse.

I was scarfing food down when I was called for a TV interview. A towel full of shaving cream smashed into my face on my way out of the clubhouse, while all of the guys were hollering their congratulations. I was handed another towel to wipe the stuff off and talk to the sportscaster at the same time. What can you say? No one could get hold of my pitches tonight, the defense was perfect, and I was able to hit one over the fence. That's about it.

I was finally able to get all of the shaving cream from my face and neck, but it took stripping in the shower and washing thoroughly to do it. I was stuffing more food into my mouth, to the amusement of my teammates, as soon as I was dressed. They told me that I was going to pitch all of my games hungry from now on.

I talked to the girls from the hotel room later. They were ecstatic that I had a no-hitter. They told me I was leading the American League in home runs, and the entire league in batting average. I told them that I should get some more instruction, and they were laughing. I kept thinking of how Earl always told me to keep getting instruction. I had to really work at not trying to pat myself on the back.

I had just ended the call with the girls on my cell phone, when the room phone rang. It was Loney. "Hey, Kid, are you still hungry? I could use something to eat. How about we get something somewhere?"