Chapter 16

Our four days in Toronto were a lot better. The off day was spent doing what I do best. I ran in the morning, worked out in the gym, ate breakfast, then read a book until lunch. I went to the ballpark after lunch where Loney and I were able to use the inside batting cages. We did some long toss and then we showered and found a great steakhouse.

We played like a real baseball team and decisively won all three games. I went ten for eleven, with a strikeout, and four walks, so my batting average was still through the roof. We loaded onto the plane after finishing the last game in Toronto and flew back to St. Petersburg Airport. The food on the plane was supposed to be their best, but believe me, I really didn't want it. It was some kind of chicken that should have been Marsala or something, but it was dry and tasteless. The ladies met me, as Nadia also met James.

It was late, but we stopped at a Village Inn to feed me on the way home. I had a couple of breakfast steaks with six eggs. I even ate a piece of toast that I used to sop up the egg yolk. The girls were anxious for us to get home, so I ate faster than normal.

I did a triple take when I walked into the condo. Holy smokes the place looked great. Straight from the entryway was the big living room that continued right to the sliding doors to the patio. To the left, on the other side of a partition, was the now expanded kitchen with a very deep counter in front of the rear counter with the, stove, oven, and refrigerator. The front counter would be the perfect place for us to eat 90 percent of the time as well as to prepare meals. There was one of those indoor grills called a Jenn-Air at one end, with a hood over that area. The girls had some very nice padded wicker swivel stools setting at the counter.

There was another partition to the right of the kitchen, but with an open archway to a good-sized dining room, with a nice table that had six chairs at the table and four more matching chairs on the side of the room. There was a small partition between the dining and play areas. The playroom was separated from the living room by a short wall that divided it between sort of formal and fun. The play area had a pool table, foosball table, dart game, real pinball machine, and a nice spinet piano. The girls had all of the game lights turned on so the place looked really great. A game table with chairs around it was at the end of the room. The rear wall was a continuation of the one on our original side, with more sliding glass doors that opened onto the patio. It would be interesting to see what the girls did out there.

We looked at three nice bedrooms with attached bathrooms, and came back into the living room area. I asked, "Was the new unit bigger than ours? It looks like the place had a lot more room than ours?"

Sherry said, "Yes Sir, bigger by almost half again. It was designed for three bedrooms, so we made them better with a bath for each. We're going to keep the spare bedroom on our side for an office. We're having a lot of activity promoting you. We've been talking to the Rays front office to make sure everything we do is by the book. They thought the T-shirts were ingenious and perfectly legal. Did you know that you get a piece of the action for every jersey and named paraphernalia they sell with your name and number on it? You won't get rich on what they give you, but it's more income on top of the rookie salary you get."

Jeannie told me, "You need to talk to your lawyer, or is he your investment counselor, tomorrow. That man is excited about something, so I think he made you some money."

I told the girls, "This place, our home, looks great but I'm bushed, so can we shut everything off and go to bed? I would really enjoy cuddling with my ladies for a change."

We were in bed snuggled together in minutes. A glance at the clock said it was almost three thirty in the morning. I sure hope there is no alarm set this time. The bad news was that tomorrow is the first day of a four game series with Boston, and I'm pitching the opener. I made love to both of my ladies and was sound asleep by four thirty.

Both ladies kissed me awake. Sherry said, "Come on, wake up and run. You need to loosen up and eat. You'll need to be at the ballpark by three or four at the latest."

I rolled out of bed, put my running clothes on, and went out to run the water line on the beach. The tide was coming in, so I was being pushed close to the loose sand on the way back. I could see the girls had the new area open all the way across the two units when I walked up to the patio, with the same type of foliage installed to give all of it privacy. In addition to our hot tub, we also had an outdoor shower on the opposite side to rinse sand off before going into the house. That was pretty smart.

They fixed me a huge steak and egg breakfast, and we talked while it was being grilled on the new Jenn-Air grill on the counter. The counter was very wide, giving more food preparation area, but also a lot of room for people to sit and eat.

The girls suggested a quick shower as soon as I finished eating, and said I could have a short visit with a nutritionist who has an office and lab on the way to the ballpark.

The lady nutritionist, who was also a physician, said that she needed to give me a complete physical and discuss my habits. She wanted details of my workouts, sleep patterns, eating habits, drinking habits, and for me to fill out a profile worksheet. When I said, "This is pretty detailed to find out how I can put muscle weight on."

The lady said, "I have to know your body as well as your ladies, but in a different manner, if I'm going to help you. Can we make an appointment for your physical? We can do it here. I'm a physician and have the equipment to do the exam. How soon can you visit for a morning? I think the appointment will be about three hours."

"I want to know how to accomplish my goals, so how about nine tomorrow morning? I usually run in the morning. Should I run in the morning, Doctor?"

"Run, Matt, and you don't have to call me 'Doctor'. I like my patients or customers to call me Marta. Please do that."

"Okay, Marta, I'll see you at nine in the morning."

The girls commented on the way to the ballpark that 'Marta' was going to be a lot more thorough than they thought.

I was glad I was at the park early since I was pitching. I needed to warm the arm up, as well as get some batting practice. Loney wasn't in yet, but I expected him soon. Scott said he would help me loosen up, but I was to hold my practice down until Hanigan came in. Scott let me throw all of my pitches a few times, and then told me to go use the cages.

It was while I was in the cages that Loney showed up. He said, "I should have known you would be here slaving away. You know we should have had an off day today, but we have to play Boston instead. Are you pitching today?"

"Yep; it's my turn unless Joe takes me out of the rotation. That's not likely with two starters on the DL."

I was warmed up and able to get a feel for live pitching by the time they began doing batting practice. I also did some fielding practice while the other players were hitting.

Hanigan showed up and said we would begin warming up after he had some batting practice. I stayed in with him to hit from the other side of the plate.

Jim Hickey, the pitching coach, wanted us to do the whole warm-up thing that included more stretching, some long toss, then throwing off the bullpen mound. He knew I had already warmed up with Scott, but also knew that I enjoyed practicing my pitches. The only thing that wasn't working right was my back door slider. I stayed with that pitch and slowed it up at first, but it wasn't biting. A slider is supposed to be a little faster of an off-speed pitch similar to a curve, but thrown differently. I put a little more speed on the ball and it began moving left to right the way it should. I went back to the straight slider that went from right to left, and it was still getting a good six inches on the tail. The fork ball was still sinking the way it should, and the curve was looking good.

Hanigan and Hickey both reminded me that some pitches were going to have to be off the plate or the batters would unload on me the second time through. I worked on my curve and my changeup to make sure my arm motion was the same as the four-seam fastball. Today's four-seam had a great wiggle on it. Hanigan said he had to trust my pitch or he would miss the ball trying to figure out where it was going to come in.

The first three innings were three up and three down. I was batting third today and followed Will Meyers. Longoria followed me and he was followed by Joyce, so we had a strong two thirds of the batting order. Jennings hit a single, Will put one in the left field corner that sent Jennings all the way home and got him to second. I was thrown three fastballs at eye level and hated when I was told to watch the next pitch. As always, the ball was so fat it hurt me to hold up.

I was then given the swing away sign, of course, and the next pitch bounced in front of the plate for a walk.

Longoria had been blasting balls in batting practice, so I wasn't surprised to see him hit a long ball just to the left of the left field foul pole. He didn't see another fat pitch and was walked. The bases were loaded for Matt Joyce. The crowd was really loud, getting everyone excited. Matt hit the first pitch and we all watched as it landed on the new observation deck near the sea ray tank. That grand slam put us up by five. The next four batters managed a double and a single that gave us a six to nothing lead.

My next at bat was better, as I was able to single and eventually scored a run on a Joyce double.

Hanigan and I had a strategy for the fourth inning and my second time pitching through the Boston lineup. He would pick the first pitch strike, and then the second pitch could be a ball or marginal to keep it on the ground. The third and fourth pitches would be slider, split-finger, or slider fastball combination.

They hit me a little the second time through, but not enough to score. We scored again to make it seven to nothing and my pitch count was low. You really have to tease the Red Sox with some fat fastballs, but not to everyone. The players who can't really touch a ninety-mile an hour fastball get the fat one to tease them, and then sliders and a curve. I was using the palm ball for the third strike by the seventh inning, and hoping it would carry me through the ninth.

I never saw the ninth. They decided to pull me after one out with one on in the eighth. Leaving a game with only 82 pitches was enough to make me a little less cordial for a few minutes. Joe waved for me to come up next to him when he came in. He said, "Your slider was starting to straighten and your arm motion on your changeup had changed somehow. You might have been able to get away with it, but why. Let the bullpen finish it."

Peralta got the two outs in the eighth and then Balfour pitched a perfect ninth. A nice shutout win. The girls in their seats behind the dugout were very loud tonight. The extra noise was coming from Mom, Sheryl, Sandy, and my old coach, Earl.

They told me we were eating at the fancy Vinoy before I went into the clubhouse, and that I shouldn't fill up there. I rolled my eyes, but knew I shouldn't eat too much.

This was the middle of the week and I wondered about the three mothers and Earl being here. I rushed through a shower and dressing. I jammed a bunch of food into my mouth as I was stuffing a lot of the great foods into containers to eat later.

I always think it's a hoot to give the keys to the Jeep to the valet for parking. The car in front of me was a Jaguar and the one behind was a Bentley tonight. Earl had a fairly new Lincoln, so he was driving in style. The girls were sure to make a deal with one of the luxury car dealers in town pretty soon, and we would be in a Mercedes or BMW one of these days. If not, the Jeep was fine with me.

The Vinoy is really high class with a Maitre d' in a tux. I'd hate that job. The girls had brought me a sport coat so I looked decent alongside them in their nice dresses. Earl had a sport coat over a knit shirt, the same as me.

When we were all seated, I asked Earl, "What are you doing down this way? I thought you had a minor league coaching job up in Rochester, New York?"

The man smiled and said, "I did, but I was sort of traded to the Rays. Today was paperwork at the front office and tomorrow I'm going up to be the new batting coach at the Triple A club in Durham. This is a nice promotion. I don't suppose you'll be coming back down to Triple A unless you really screw up. You pitched great tonight, and I was really impressed with your bat. Those numbers they showed on the screen can't be right, can they? How can you still be hitting in the six hundreds with as many at bats as you're getting playing the field when you're not pitching?"

"Joe's having me do relief work throughout the infield and in right field. I've done a couple of innings of relief, but I do a lot of DH on my non-pitching days."

Earl said, "They talk about you in the front office and worry you're going to wear out. You look great physically and the girls say you eat like a horse, or a ravenous lion, in your case. Make sure you're getting a balanced diet."

"I'm getting a physical by a nutritionist physician tomorrow that is going to help me get my weight up and put some more muscle on. I have to fill out a questionnaire tonight for the physical tomorrow."

Sherry spoke up, "We filled it out for you and didn't pad any of the workouts or anything. Jeannie and I keep track of your workouts and eating as best we can. It's easy to know where you are since there usually is a beef shortage when you're in that city."

"Ha, ha. I don't eat that much, but I do enjoy as much steak as I can eat. It isn't that expensive the way we buy it." I turned and looked at Mom, "We're buying meat by the whole loin or cut, and have them slice it for us, Mom. We get great meat at half the price of the grocery store."

Earl offered, "You don't make that much and I know you spent a fortune on your condo. That place is a palace. I spent a half hour on the pinball machine."

The largest steak the restaurant had was what the waiter called a 'huge sixteen-ounce sirloin'. I was going to order two but Sherry moved her head back and forth before whispering. "Eat the food you brought from the clubhouse later. Eat a potato for a change."

I ordered the 'huge' sixteen ounce steak while thinking about the twenty-four ounce steak I had this past week.

The conversation around the table was all about the condo and how much fun it was to be on the beach the way we were. The girls were telling about how they had to move a visit to the VA hospital from tomorrow morning to next day. They said I was going to visit the new wing there where amputees and other severe war injuries were being treated, at least once a month. My other goodwill visits would now be to the Children's Hospital with Loney. They were excited to be able to keep me busy when I was in town.

Sherry said, "We've arranged an autograph signing at Crown Eurocars, and we've picked out what we want to ride around in. It isn't practical, but it sure would be fun. They have a bright red SLK-250 that we fell in love with. It's the perfect beach car for a couple of girls. We'll make enough off of your extra stuff to pay for it if they can give us a decent lease on it. We sure hope it works out. You know you could drive one of those fancy SUVs they have too. You know how to make a deal for us, so do it."

Earl smiled at me and raised an eyebrow at what the girls were proposing. They would be looking at a Ford Focus if they were teaching, but we're now looking at Mercedes sport cars.

I ate the food I had taken from the clubhouse later at home, while everyone relaxed in the big playroom. Sherry and Sandy played the piano, Mom and Earl played foosball, and Jeannie demonstrated her expertise with the pinball machine. I had a great time watching everyone.

I finally had to suggest that I needed to go to bed so I could have the physical in the morning. We let the parents continue to have a good time in the game room, while we went to our bedroom to enjoy each other for a while.

I was awake by six thirty and dressed to run. It was pouring out, so I decided that I didn't need to run in the rain and would play with the girls instead before eating and going for my physical. They were eager for my attention and relieved me of any pent-up fluids I might have had. The way the two sprayed would make you think they would be dehydrated, but they never seemed to have a day when they weren't flooding their surroundings.