The last time I spoke with Dirk Hayhurst was 2009. He was standing about 375 feet from home plate at Wrigley Field in Chicago, shagging batting practice fly balls — but mostly he was just standing there with the other Las Vegas pitchers — before a special 51s game against the Iowa Cubs.
When they ran onto the field Sunday on an ideal day for baseball, the time was 12:08 p.m., the temperature was 67 degrees, the wind was blowing from left field to right at 8 mph and the Las Vegas 51s were the best team in minor league baseball, by percentage.
UNLV is tied for second in the Mountain West, four games back of New Mexico in the loss column, and what felt like a certainty a few weeks ago when it came to NCAA at-large chances for the Rebels isn’t all that assured now. Which in no way has their head coach worried.
On the cover of the new book Jerry Reuss finally got around to writing is a picture of him standing on the pitcher’s mound looking mostly irritated, and of Tommy Lasorda, looking mostly blurry, in the foreground. Blurry Lasorda, it can be assumed, is about to remove irritated Reuss from the ballgame.
When I bumped into Tim Chambers Saturday morning on the UNLV campus, the wind had not yet started to blow. The Rebels baseball coach was driving a golf cart, showing supporters around. He appeared happy, happy and hairy.
My pal Steve and I were talking about old baseball cards the other day, and that segued into a discussion about how sometimes they airbrushed the logos off the caps of guys who had been recently traded — and then that segued into another discussion, about “Who’s Who in Baseball.”
According to ESPN the Magazine’s poll of 143 major league ballplayers, Las Vegas’ Bryce Harper is the most overrated player in the game. But at least one American League All-Star thinks he is going to be pretty good.
On opening night of the 51s’ season, I saw a guy wearing a Bad News Bears jersey at Cashman Field. On the back, where the name of the sponsor usually goes, it said “Chico’s Bail Bonds.”
What would a baseball lineup of Batman characters look like? Who would play first base? Or steal it?
Former Bishop Gorman and College of Southern Nevada standout Donn Roach made his major league debut with the San Diego Padres Wednesday, facing seven batters against the Los Angeles Dodgers.
