Chapter 22

It was an 'Oh Brother' morning in Baltimore, because it was dreary and raining. We hadn't listened to the forecast the night before, so I was surprised.

I went out the room door after dressing in workout clothes and found a man sitting in a chair. I asked, "Are you a security escort for me, Matt Williams?"

The man said he was, and I asked if he minded if I went to the hotel gym. He said he'd go with me and we went in search of the gym. I found out where the gym was and went to it where I found Loney and Andrew already beginning on the treadmills. I stretched out and began with a fast walk, before finally getting up to a full run ... Andrew asked me, "We may not play today. This rain is supposed to continue all day, but should have cleared up by tomorrow. The stadium has some indoor cages that you can throw in if you want to work your arm. Joe asked about them last night and they will be open for us. Get Joe to shake Scott out and maybe Hickey, if you want him, when you want to go."

I asked Andrew, "Can you check the attitude of the people back home to be sure they are not thinking of me as a child molester? That's the one thing that I'm worried about. The only thing anyone hears sometimes is the first part and a video of the person being arrested, and then nothing, regardless of the outcome."

Andrew answered, "We have our public relations firm looking at the pictures, and we'll have some answers soon."

Loney said, "Don't worry, Bud, your teammates know you and love you. You can babysit my daughter anytime you want. I trust you."

"Thanks, Loney." I turned to Andy, "Both of us will need the batting cages too. Some locations don't have mechanized batting cages for visitors. Do you know if they have one here that we can use?"

"I'll ask Joe and he'll let you know."

We were slowing down to cool off before doing some lifting. I was feeling good and the soreness had passed. I felt good and ready to pitch.

We left for our rooms and breakfast after we finished using the machines for our lifting regimen.

The girls were up, dressed, and wanting to do something. I told them the plan was to eat breakfast in the room, go to the ballpark to loosen up, have some batting practice, and then go somewhere in Baltimore, or preferably in DC. They had a commuter train system that could get us to any of the neat tourist places in the capitol, so the girls should go with me to the ballpark and we would go from there.

I had to call Jim Hickey, followed by Joe, to be able to go to the ballpark to loosen up. Joe said that Andrew Friedman wanted to be notified whenever I was on the move, and said he would call him for me. On the way out of the room, two men introduced themselves as my escorts for the day while I was in Baltimore. We were able to get Scott to come to the park with us, and took a couple of taxis to Camden Yard.

Their indoor cages were decent, and they had a huge open area under the stands that was like a fieldhouse where Scott and I loosened up right through some long toss. We set up in the open area for my pitching practice, and Scott had me work up to my speed pitches until he felt I was throwing at a good speed.

The mechanized batting cages also were decent, and I went through about a hundred balls. I felt good with no soreness, even none in my wrists.

I gathered Sherry, Jeannie, and the two escorts after quickly showering, and discussed going to the Smithsonian for the rest of the day. The girls were excited and Scott wanted to go, so he called the bullpen coach to make sure it would be okay if he went with us. The afternoon game had already been declared a rainout, so all of us went to the Metro station at the ballpark to ride to DC.

This was better than a taxi, since we were able go together, and it was interesting to know that we were riding under the Chesapeake Bay at one point. It was amazing at how deep underground we were, as the escalators we rode on seemed to go up more than ten floors. Luck was with us and we didn't have far to walk in the drizzle getting to the Museum. The biggest problem was deciding what part to start with. I followed along as we moved throughout the huge place. We had chosen the transportation museum so we saw covered wagons, an old wood-fired locomotive, cars, motorcycles, and a space capsule. We moved fairly fast, but it was soon closing time and we started heading back to the hotel.

I asked the escorts if we could eat in DC, and they both said that we would be soaked by the time we walked anywhere and there were too many of us for a taxi. It was too bad we hadn't hired a limo. We used the Metro to get back to Baltimore, and the escorts knew the Metro well enough to get us within a block of our hotel. We managed to stay dry and went up to our room to order supper. I had Scott stay with us and told the escorts they were welcome to eat with us too, but they declined telling us they were going to be relieved now that they were back in the hotel.

I called Joe to tell him I was safe in my room and not wandering around. I told him where we had been, but he already knew. He said he would notify Andrew and told me to get rested as tomorrow was supposed to be dry.

We watched some TV after supper, and told Scott goodnight. He said he needed to call home to talk to Nancy, and left. The girls wasted no time showing how much fun we could have and soaked a lot of towels. The two are funny as they aren't stationary lovers. They want to wander from couch, to chair, to bed, to the floor, continuously drenching me with their ever flowing squirt machines. They do make sex fun; messy, but fun.

My two escorts were in the hotel gym watching me at seven. Loney and Scott came in while I was on the treadmill, and stretched before getting on two other treadmills. Andrew then came in and stretched before getting on the last available machine. Loney opened the conversation with, "I'm concerned about your image at home, Matt. One of our autograph signings has canceled until this arrest thing is behind you. I know we're not making any money on the autographs, but the hospital depends on what we were bringing in. We're also not going to get any money from the dealer for his commercials. I wonder how much this bad publicity will cost you and us?"

Andrew said, "You need to call that attorney's office this morning and tell them about this, Matt. I'm now wondering if the Rays may suffer from the publicity as well. I'll call our firm and they will have a handle on it. They keep an ear to the public all the time."

I didn't comment, as I didn't have anything nice to say at that moment. The fact two men could do that to me in just one morning is amazing. I was now more determined than ever to pitch well. While we were going through our lifting regimen with the machines, I told Scott, "How about 3:30 in the cages or their indoor field to get loosened up? I'll find out who my catcher is going to be and have him work with me around 5:30."

Andrew said, "You know it's possible they might do a day-night double-header to make last night's game up since it's already toward the end of the season. You can pitch early, can't you?"

"You bet, and I can bat early too. How soon will be know if we'll play an early game?"

Andrew said, "We should know any minute and by nine at the latest. So get some breakfast and we'll see what the scoop is. I'm surprised they didn't announce the makeup game last night. It probably was to make sure it was going to stop raining."

I went to the room and showered with my two beauties. They were in a happy mood and hungry this morning. I had a big steak and scrambled eggs, along with milk and coffee. The phone rang at 9:05. It was Jim Hickey telling me there would be a game at one o'clock, with the second game at seven as usual. He told me, "You're going to be surprised at the crowd. They announced that there would be open seating for anyone not holding tickets for assigned seats. They can bring all the old-timers in for a game announced late like this. The place will be packed."

I normally wouldn't do this, but I called Andrew Friedman's cell phone and asked, "Can you get my ladies seats for the games again? They want to go, but I won't be able to use players' seats here because of the potential open seating."

The man was quick and said, "No problem, I'll get them seats in the owner's box again. I think Stu is still in town, and he'll probably be there too. Have them come downstairs to ride over in the limo at eleven-thirty."

"Thank you, Sir, that's very nice of you. Thank Stuart, also."

"I'm not a sir, I'm Andy. Just pitch a good game today and show these people you're someone to be afraid of."

I left for the park at ten, along with the rest of players. We had a bus do the door to door thing, and put workout clothes on when we arrived.

Scott and I went out to the field and stretched before playing catch and doing some long toss. Scott was smiling when he squatted to begin catching my pitches from my first curveball on. He was really giving me confidence with his smile back there.

I had already changed into the uniform of the day when Hanigan showed up to begin catching me. I was very pleased as I thought he might still be out. He was happy to be back and said he had been working hard to be in better shape. He caught my repertoire before we began batting practice.

Batting practice was fun as always. The ball was rocketing into the stands again without much effort for some reason, and without the help of any wind. The flags were slack, but everything we hit was into the stands.

Joe had me batting second for some strange reason, with Jennings leading off as usual, and Joyce following me. Meyers was still on the DL, so Longoria was batting cleanup, with Loney fifth. Hanigan and I were immediately studying the batters' book, getting an idea of what our strategy was going to be. I went to Shelton and Hickey to look at their pitchers' book and saw they had their top of the rotation man throwing today. It could be a low scoring game, or it could be a blowout from either side. I felt good about pitching and about batting.

Jennings led off with a bloop single over short on a first pitch curveball. I sort of figured I would be served a curve as well, because that was a weak spot for me sometimes. I was ready for anything and had been given the swing away sign. The man threw a slider that worked way outside.

The third base coach now gave me the bunt sign when I looked at him, so I set up as usual but my mind was going through the motions of being ready to bunt. I knew I wasn't going to be able to get out of the way as soon as the pitcher let the ball go. I threw my arms up and tried to lean back while stepping that way, but the fastball got me in the thigh. That's going to cause a bruise.

The home plate umpire stepped in front of the plate and gave a warning to both dugouts; another hit batter could be an ejection. The trainer came out to check my thigh, but I told him it was going to be fine. Matt Joyce loves curveballs and sent his first pitch into the stands for a three to nothing lead.

Longoria put one in the left field corner for a double and Loney hit a single to bring him home. This was followed by a visit from the pitching coach and three strikeouts.

I had a four run lead, so I should be comfortable to throw just about anything for a while. Hanigan and I had agreed on my slider to right-handed batters as long as I was confident it would bite. It had been in warmups, so it should now. I didn't throw as inside as I usually did, but it looked inside enough to make the batter jump back while the ball was over the white of the plate. My next pitch was a four-seam fastball at the knees. The guy's swing was very late. His last pitch was my slow curve that should be easy to hit, but it was like a changeup and a batter usually isn't ready for an eighty mile an hour pitch after seeing one at over ninety.

Batter two was supposed to not be able to hit a curve, so he got one that was going to be low, but he topped the ball back to me, and I relayed it to Loney. The third batter was a looker, but I was gun shy of throwing a fastball, so I threw a backup slider to the left-handed batter and it did the trick. The man was about to step back when he realized what I had done. The second pitch was a regular slider, and the third was an eye level fastball that he swung at.

We didn't do anything in the second, and they didn't either. I hit a long ball that hit the top of the right field stands in the third inning. I had switched around to bat left-handed as the pitcher liked to pitch inside to me too much. He still pitched dangerously inside, but he wasn't hitting me.

I was pitching to the bottom of the order in the third inning, when a first pitch slider was hit to second and thrown to Loney on first.

The next batter was a righty who pulled a slow curve that lined out to Longoria. The third batter swung at a first pitch slider and hit it to Loney. So far so good. We scored another run in both the sixth and seventh. The middle of their order was up in the eighth once again. Hanigan and I had discussed how everyone was swinging at my first pitch, so he said, "How about throwing some garbage first pitches to see if they swing. Throw your forkball while warming a couple of times to see if it dives. Throw it low and I'll be ready to block it. We'll use your slider or let you overpower them from there.

The first batter was thrown a forkball that he swung at hard enough to fall to his knees. The ball had disappeared on him. The next was a four-seam fastball that I sweated over, as I let it go a little early and knew it would ride up in the zone. The man watched his pitch go by. That's when Hanigan signaled the palm ball. The batter swung at a ball that wasn't there again. Hanigan gathered the ball and tagged the batter for the out.

The second man watched a curveball be called a strike, then didn't swing at a fastball just under the letters, also for a strike. I was hoping for a slider to be called, but the signal from the dugout was palm ball. I didn't figure the man would swing. I was wrong and he swung right through, and Hanigan had to throw to first for the out.

I was up third in the ninth. There was one out and Jennings hit a nice single up the middle. The sign was confusing when I stood in, as it was bunt at first, then swing, then a hit and run. I backed out of the box and looked at the third base coach to get the correct sign. He finally quit looking at the dugout and gave me a swing away sign.

The first pitch was inside enough to make me fall back and land on my butt. The second pitch looked like he was throwing at me, but I went down on a knee as the ball went behind me.

The umpire pulled his mask off and walked to in front of the plate and pointed at the pitcher and then pointed to the dugout. The Manager came running from the dugout yelling that the pitch was a wild pitch. The umpire didn't agree, and I heard him tell the Manager he had best get a pitcher up there or he would call one in for him.

A man who had been warming up trotted to the mound and threw about twenty warm up pitches. I hadn't seen this pitcher before, but I watched how the ball came out of his hand. It looked like he had a fastball and a fastball. His curve was telegraphed, and never made it to the plate.

The count was two balls and no strikes. The third base coach didn't give me a sign, so it was up to me. The pitcher must have loved his curve, and I didn't even take my bat off my shoulder since I knew what it was going to be. The ball dribbled over the plate. I knew it was going to be a fastball when the man stood up straight to throw his next pitch. I was hoping it was going to be in the zone and watched the ball come from his hand. It was a good one, almost to the letters, perfect for a level swing that took the ball to the area over the fence in dead center field. I kept thinking that I was giving Baltimore everything they had given me as I trotted around the bases, with the exception of the public opinion for a while.

My twenty-fifth batter was supposed to be a first pitch watcher, but I didn't want to throw him something easy to hit. I threw my back door slider to the left-hander and he hit it late between Longoria and Escobar. Well, damn, there goes another no-hitter.

The next man up was another lefty for whom I considered the same pitch. Hanigan signaled a forkball and it was elevated a little. The man hit it to short center, and that put men on first and second. Hanigan came out and said, "Throw nothing but low four-seam fastballs. It'll be a double play if they hit it. It shouldn't be deep enough to take a base if they pop it up. You'll probably startle them with your pitch, so just heat them up."

The first pitch was low, but called a strike. The next pitch was on the outside corner for another strike. The third fastball was back inside, and the batter swung over the top.

I was back to the top of the order, so I followed what Hanigan wanted. The first fastball was too low and called a ball. The second was a little higher and called a strike. The next one was more inside to the lefty, and he lined it directly at Zobrist, who tossed it to Escobar covering second for a double play. Game over; our win at six to nothing.

I had to do the Todd Kalas thing and relate how the Orioles weren't up to speed this afternoon and that the balls were coming to me in the zone after being hit by the ball. I think the team was happy that we had that game out of the way, and now started to get ready for the evening game.

Joe came to me and talked like he wanted to sit me. I told him, "I have to play. They'll think the incident did the trick if I don't play. I know I can't always hit this well, but I'm going to hit very well here in Camden Yard. Please let me play or be the DH.

Everyone on the team was stretched out on the carpeted floor getting a short nap. I pigged out on the buffet they had and drank a protein shake before stretching out on my back with a smile. We all began stirring, showering, and changing to fresh uniforms just before six, when we went out to warm up. We had a ten swing batting practice that let me know that I was still seeing the ball. I wanted to throw after hitting, but Joe told me to do some infield, so I took grounders from the batting cage and relayed them to Loney.

Joe had his lineup card filled in when we came in, and he told me he was going to play me at second and put the call up second baseman as DH, and have Zobrist play right. I was surprised I wasn't in right field.

I was in the number two position on the batting order once again. The pitcher today was a new guy that none of us had seen before. Our book on him came from Durham, but it was detailed enough for us to plan an offensive strategy.

This guy had a fastball, changeup, curve, and slider. His slider was always outside or low, and his curve and changeup often had trouble making it to the plate. His fastball was thrown with good command, and he was able to keep it low in the zone, but often too low.

Jennings struck out, so the bases were empty. I had already watched the pitcher enough to know he would get his knee up when he threw his fastball, and only a little way up for his slider. His other two pitches were done with a leg swing.

The knee came up on the first pitch, and I was almost tempted to watch it. I let my eyes direct the bat instead, and almost golfed the ball over the third baseman's head. That the ball stayed fair was a surprise, but the leftfielder kept me on first with a good throw in.

Joyce was batting third and benefited by our discussion of what we saw during the pitchers warm up throws. He put one into short center, but it allowed me to get to third as the fielder was playing way back on Matt. The call up second baseman was ready, and watched a low fastball be called a strike. The second pitch was going to be a curve or changeup that didn't make it to the plate. The next pitch was an obvious slider, and the kid almost swung at the ball but later said he remembered what we had talked about. He held up on his swing and watched the slider go way outside.

You would expect he would be standing there watching with the count at three balls and a strike, but the fellow rookie was ready. The fastball came down the middle just below the belt. The man hit the ball a little late and put it into the right center seats. I think the kid danced around the bases, while a bunch of people waited to congratulate him on his first homer.