Chapter 33

Oh boy! I woke at seven o'clock in the hotel in Milwaukee. I lay back with a woman on each shoulder as I thought of the past few days and the coming three. I knew Maddon wouldn't let Price pitch with two days rest, so it would be Alex Cobb today. He had been pitching very well lately, and the team had gotten behind him with some run support. It would then be Odorizi for game four if Cobb can win. That guy threw nothing but strikes lately. He had a couple of games where he fell apart in the early innings, but Odorizi was lights out if he was on.

The longer I lay there, the more I needed to get up and use the john. I also wanted to run and workout. I slipped from the bed and stared at the two beauties snuggled together. I pulled the covers up over them and went to the bathroom.

I put my hooded sweatshirt on after putting some workout clothes on, and went downstairs to run the streets. I was outside the hotel's front doors with the doorman watching me stretch, when Loney, Myers, Scott, and Andy came out to stretch too. We were running through downtown Milwaukee before eight in the morning after just a few minutes of warmup walking and jogging. Traffic was very light because it was Saturday and we ignored what there was and finished our hour run by ending back at the hotel.

We all went directly to the hotel gym and did our regimens. I'm not sure what regimen Andy and Scott had, but I'd bet they had the trainer help them with what they needed to do. I suggested we shower when we were finished and sweating profusely, and meet for breakfast. We agreed we would meet in an hour at close to ten.

The girls were up and the room maid was doing her job. I told the girls that I needed a shower and they should bring me clothes to wear for the day. Jeannie was being rude by making her thumb and forefinger into a circle and running the forefinger of her other hand through the hole. She kept pointing at the cute Latino maid while doing the finger in the hole bit. I know I was blushing and was thankful that the maid didn't see what Jeannie was doing.

I took a quick shower, shave, brushed my teeth, and put my boxers and slacks on. The girls didn't give me an undershirt or dress shirt. I opened the door to the room thinking the maid would be gone, but she was standing there staring right at me. Her eyes dilated as she took in my upper torso and grinned. Jeannie and Sherry were also grinning, sitting in chairs by the couch, holding my T-shirt and a long sleeve knit shirt.

I told the girls that we were supposed to meet people for breakfast in the restaurant downstairs. Are you ready? Sherry told me to tip the maid, so I gave her a ten and we left. She would still have to clean the bathroom. I didn't leave it in a mess, so it wouldn't be that tough to do. Jeannie grabbed a big bag on the way out the door, and carried it with her to go eat.

There was a sign at the restaurant entrance that announced the Tampa Bay Rays would be having a buffet breakfast in the banquet room. We walked into the big banquet room and found it full of the team, team executives, family, and a few fans. Stuart Sternberg's wife saw us and came to get us so we could sit where they were sitting. No one wanted to sit near Stu to make sure they didn't do something that he would find offensive. I figured the majority owner of the team to be an okay guy, but he really wouldn't be a threat to me or my career.

The man was often busy on his phone while we ate. He leaned over to tell me, "I'm close to finishing a really big deal. It should be a go, but the other party is dancing around now thinking that he's giving me more than I'm giving him. No one else is going to match my deal, so he'll come around. Come on, let's fill up some plates and eat."

The girls and Mrs. Sternberg, who insisted we call her Lisa, said she would first make sure her four kids, two boys and two girls, dish out a good breakfast. We followed and I was surprised to find a full menu. There was a sign over a warming plate with a big piece of steak on it. The sign said, "Reserved for Matt Williams." I had to laugh, but Stuart nudged me in the ribs and said, "Just for you. I think they have everything else you like to eat here, as well."

We had been eating our food while the boys were trying to lean over and talk to Lisa, their mother. The girls were joining in, so Lisa leaned to Jeannie and whispered something. Jeannie picked up the big shopping bag she had carried down and began handing out jersey's with 'Matt' and the number '19' on the back. On the front was the Rays normal jersey logo that I had noticed the girls were now wearing. Jeannie handed a jersey to each of the kids, one for Lisa, and then stood to walk around and hand one to Stuart.

Stuart looked at the jersey and said, "Perfect, I'll be wearing this tonight and if you pitch another game. What do you say, Kids?"

In a chorus, there was a "Thank you for the jersey, Mr. Matt."

I smiled and told them, "Thank Jeannie and Sherry. They're the ones who can't seem to buy enough T-shirts and jerseys."

Once again the chorus, "Thank you, Miss Jeannie and Miss Sherry."

That was really neat. The oldest boy, Sandy, for Sanford, said, "Can you get Jake and me a game baseball signed by some of the team? That would be really cool. We want you to sign it too."

Lisa rolled her eyes, but kept eating. I finished my food and sat back with a full tummy. Stuart said, "We're going to tour a brewery while you go to work. I hope you get to play tonight. Every Rays fan sits up and watches when you're up at bat."

The two girls came over to me; they both gave me hugs, and whispered 'thank you' before I could get up. The youngest said her name was Ella, and asked, "Can you get Natalie and me a ball too?" I hugged her again and told her, "It's a done deal, m'lady." She grinned real big and joined her brothers and sister waiting with their parents.

Stuart shook my hand and wished me luck, and Lisa gave me a hug while saying the same. Jeannie, Sherry, and I watched the majority owner walk out of the room to go on a sightseeing tour of a brewery.

The whole room seemed to let out a sigh. Andy came over to me and said, "I didn't know the man was going to single you out like that, or I would have warned you. What did the girls give them?"

Sherry smiled and told Andy, "Some Matt jerseys to wear to the game tonight."

Andrew laughed, drawing attention to us. I told him, "Don't tell anyone. I didn't know the girls were going to give them all jerseys. I didn't know they were giving anyone jerseys."

Jeannie asked Andrew, "Do you want one? Maybe we should get Matt Silverman and his wife one too."

Andy just shook his head and said, "Let me find out. How did you know Stuart's kids wanted them?"

Sherry said, "We saw them after the game night before last, and the kids asked their dad if they could have a Matt jersey. Mrs. Sternberg, Lisa, said she wanted one too, and that Stuart needed to wear one, so there you go. Now we need four baseballs signed by the team. I know you have some because Matt's hand is always cramping up from signing balls."

Joe had come over to listen to the conversation, and said, "Are you trying to get on that guy's good side so he doesn't trade you?"

"No, Joe, you guys won't trade me until I'm eligible for arbitration. You don't have to worry until then, unless you want to trade me for someone better or a bunch of prospects."

Joe said, "That's not likely if we can continue to control you cheap for the next couple of years. I'll get you those balls, Matt. I have some already boxed up in my travel footlocker. I'll get them to you later."

Joe paused before walking away and said, "Heard the umpire from last night had a stroke and ruptured aneurysm. They were in time to fix him up and he's recovering. I'll bet the rest of the umps get physicals now."

Sherry and Jeannie were smiling, knowing that we would make Stuart's and Lisa's four kids happy.

I wanted to do my usual routine and take a nap until about one, eat lunch, then go bat and throw to get ready for the game. I was hoping to play, even as the DH, but I also knew that Joe may have something else for me. That's when I realized we were going to play by National League rules and wouldn't have a DH.

I was nearing a panic as I looked around the room, trying to find Cobb. I went to him when I found him, and asked, "How's your bat?"

Alex said, "Nothing like yours, but I was decent in high school and college. They didn't let me bat often in the minors, but I use the cages a couple of times a week and always take live batting practice."

"Do you want to come in with me about two or three for some cage time? You could sharpen up your eye by hitting fifty to a hundred balls."'

Alex laughed, "I've heard you do stuff like that almost daily, but do you really think I need to do that?"

"You're going to be up at bat tonight, so yes, you do need that. You don't have to hit that many, but you do need some cage time. You'll hit better in live batting practice and feel good when you go to the plate."

"Okay, okay, I've heard how hard you work from Scott. Meyers is even complaining that you're a slave driver practicing. Let me get my cohorts, Archer and Odorizi, because one or both will be pitching the next two games."

I didn't want to tell him that David Price was working on Joe to let him and me pitch early.

The three guys agreed to meet at the field for batting cage time between two-thirty and three. I passed by my teammates Loney, Myers, Longoria, and Hanigan, to tell them when I was going in. They didn't look eager, but they would think about it and probably be there. This was game three and we needed to win this.

The girls and I went up to the room, played a little, and took a nap until almost one. I dressed again and we went to the hotel restaurant. We ate well and I told the girls that I would see them later. They told me the seats they had were behind our dugout, but about twenty rows up. I told them that I would stand on the fence and wave.

Cobb, Archer, and Odorizi showed up, and I set the machine to throw balls at about seventy mph. I also adjusted the throws to be right at the knees. I figured that I could speed the machines up as they became better at hitting the ball. We worked for an hour, and they did seem to improve. Shelton was watching and told me later that he didn't want to interrupt because I was getting the guys to practice. I finally took a turn and turned the speed up to the high 80s or 90. I only hit about fifty balls, but I wanted to throw before dressing for the game.

Hanigan was waiting for me and we loosened up before finding an open plate in the bullpen at the back of right field. I threw all my pitches and they all felt good. I kept working on the curveball to make it go both high and low. That could be a great pitch if I can control it.

I showered in the visitor's clubhouse, and put a fresh uniform on. The lineup wasn't posted yet, so I knew I was going to have to wait. With no DH, I didn't know whether Joe would use me in a position for my bat or sit me with the relievers.

Hanigan came to me and asked if I was going to play. I told him that there was a good chance I wouldn't play, but if I didn't, he could come down and sit with me and the social club. I told him, "We can work on the high curve and my sliders if we do that. I need to slow the sliders down so they do all of the crazy stuff better at a slower speed. I could be getting a batter to swing early or run from the ball that will be a strike that way."

Hanigan laughed and told me, "They run from your slider anyway. You only have to get your release points down so you can vary the height of the pitch the same as you're working on the curve. We'll play with both pitches until Joe wants us in the dugout for pinch-hitting.

Cobb opened the game retiring seven straight. His eighth batter in the third put a ball up the middle. The ninth batter popped up, but it came down between Escobar and Longoria because neither one called it. That would upset a pitcher. Cobb became preoccupied with the runners with two on and the top of the order coming up. He threw four straight balls. Hickey came out to talk to him, and he threw two strikes, then a fat fastball that the number two batter put to the wall for a triple. Three runs scored.

Cobb settled down and finished the inning, but I'd have to bet his confidence was sliding along the floor. Our bats must still be in Tampa because we could barely foul a ball off, much less put one in play.

Cobb made it to the fifth, when he walked the leadoff man, and then let a changeup get up in the zone. The score became five to nothing. Hanigan and I went to the dugout between the sixth and seventh innings and were greeted by Hickey, "Why are you here? You should be in the bullpen if we need you."

"I came in case we needed a pinch hitter," Hanigan told Hickey, "Your man has been working on his curve and slider for an hour. He's ready if you need him to relieve."

You could tell Hickey was frustrated with Cobb's performance, and Joe was frustrated that no one could hit a pitch. I watched the pitcher and didn't think he should be that hard to hit. He hid the ball well so you couldn't pick the rotation up right away. If it was a fastball, it was by you before you could identify it. If you hit him, you would have to time your swing and let your hand/eye coordination get the bat to the ball.

It didn't matter though, as the pitcher ran out of steam and walked the bases loaded in the bottom of the seventh. The manager came out and replaced him with one of their good relievers. The book had all kinds of tells on him, so we should be able to hit him and get some runs in.

An infield ground out forced the runner at the plate, a strike out, and a popup took care of our bases loaded opportunity. Our relievers held them, but we never did recover. Longoria hit a solo homer over the left field wall, but that was our only run. We lost five to one.

The mood in the clubhouse was pretty morose. David Price was trying to rev everyone up and I saw him follow Joe out of the main clubhouse for a chat. David had a frown on his face when he came back, but still began revving everyone up again.

There wasn't much of a buffet in the clubhouse, but then we did receive money for food when we were on the road. I ate some little cubes of chicken and some kind of fish. You were supposed to use a giant toothpick to stab the meat and dunk it in a sauce before eating it. The little cubes kept sliding off the toothpick, so I found a fork and was able to get some food in me. It took an hour and a half before the bus was ready to go back to the hotel. We had been asked to stay together and ride the buses instead of taking taxis. I'm sure it was to keep the guys at a low key so they didn't overdo their partying and chasing.

When I got off the bus, Sherry said, "Come on, there is a good restaurant that we heard about that's close by. We can walk or take a taxi."

We walked out of the hotel and climbed into a taxi. The girls gave the driver the restaurant's name and address, and told him that it was just down the street a couple of blocks. The guy made a production about doing a U-turn to go the other way. I said, "Hey, the restaurant is about four blocks the other way. We don't want a tour of Milwaukee."

The guy stopped the cab on the curb a block from our hotel and said, "Get out of my cab. I'll drive you the way I want to drive you and you can shut up. Now get out of my cab."

I saw Sherry writing down the cabbie's license and the cab numbers as we got out. We walked back toward the hotel to cross the street at the next light. Once across the street, we walked to the hotel entrance and asked the doorman, "Can you get us a taxi to go to the 'Insane Tex Mex' just down the street?"

The guy looked at me and pointed to the taxis at the curb. I told him "We just used one of those, and the guy did a U-turn and went the other way. I asked about it and he became angry and made us get out of the cab. So," I showed him a twenty, "For this, I want you to make sure the driver knows I want to go straight to the 'Insane Tex Mex', not on a tour of your city."

The doorman looked at the bill and shook his head. "I can't take your money. You've had enough trouble. Did you get the guy's number?"

Sherry said, "I have it right here and the number on the license to report abuse. I'll take care of it."

The doorman went to the front taxi and talked to the driver. He then held the door open for us and told us to enjoy. The taxi took us to a brightly lit place about five blocks away. I over-tipped the driver and thanked him for not driving around in circles. He just waved.

The place was noisy and festive. All the waitresses were wearing bright low-cut dresses with short full skirts held out by a lot of ruffled slips. I don't know the names of that stuff. A man dressed in a fancy black-sequined outfit, complete with a pencil thin mustache and a toreador's hat, welcomed us and took us to a table. He said a waitress would be with us right away. There were some waiters running around dressed in cowboy outfits with fake guns in holsters. They had western hats. The décor was great.

A fancy dressed lady came to the table with a tray containing three glasses of water and three small drink glasses. She said, "Here are some great margarita samples. We have these in 20, 30, and 40 ounce sizes. I wouldn't recommend too many of the 40 ounce. They can get you." Jeannie and Sherry began laughing. I had to tell the waitress that we just had a run in with a couple of 42 ounce margaritas in St. Pete, Florida.

The waitress let a squeal out and said, "You must have been at Chica's. The owner of this place has a sister who owns Chica's."

Sherry, Jeannie, and I all said "Rosa" at the same time.

The girl cocked her head and said, "You're right. I'll see if Manuel is here tonight when I put your order in. He would love to talk to someone who knows his sister."

We went over the menu and then asked what items were spicier than others. We told her we liked gooey, cheesy, spicy food with meat and refried beans. She thought for a moment then said, "I know just what you want. Let me put the order in for you. It takes a little bit to make. Would you like something else to drink in the meantime?"