Elusive stint in majors still motivates Lindsey

Tell John Lindsey what more he has to do to get a call-up to the Los Angeles Dodgers.

Make it simple, don't spare his feelings, don't pull any punches. He can handle it.

Four home runs in his last four games, 24 for the season. Is that not enough?

Is it because the 51s' designated hitter is ancient in baseball years? Thirty-one now, having lost a step, if he ever really had one.

Is it because he never has sniffed the majors before? Fourteen years in the minors before reaching Triple A.

Is it because Dodgers first baseman James Loney is having a solid season in Los Angeles, batting .298 with 64 RBIs and 55 runs scored?

Tell John Lindsey what he needs to do to get the call.

Better yet, let him tell you.

"Every night, I go home and I think, 'Man, I hope I did something that sparked their interest, will make them give me a shot,' " Lindsey said Sunday after Las Vegas' 8-3 loss to Sacramento at Cashman Field. "It's a cliché, but I just gotta keep working hard. I guess they stack what they want to use in the big leagues, and until something happens or a change is made, it is what it is."

Manager Lorenzo Bundy said: "John's in a position where James Loney is our first baseman, and James Loney is our first baseman now and will be for the next seven or eight years. He can't do any more than what he's done. He's just got to keep producing. But baseball is a business, and sometimes it's not a fair business. A lot of times, it's not a fair business."

Lindsey can handle the harsh reality of his predicament. You want irony? He is playing the best ball of his life at 31, too old to be considered a prospect, too young to give up the game for a second time.

He tried it once, retiring to Mississippi after the 2006 season. A baseball connection lured Lindsey back, though. That contact was Bundy, a former roving coach in the Colorado organization who would become the 51s manager.

"From a business standpoint, I sure understand what (the Dodgers) are doing," Lindsey said. "But if I didn't believe I had a shot at all, I wouldn't be here today. I love to play the game, and I believe someway, somehow I have what it takes. All little boys dream of playing in the big leagues, and it'd be tough to get so close and not get there -- it would sting a little bit. But I can't get mad about it. I can still go home and sleep at night."

Bundy, for one, thinks Lindsey deserves his shot.

Partly for Lindsey, sure. But also for Bundy, himself.

"I see a lot of John Lindsey in myself," said Bundy, who played eight years in the minor leagues. "But I started managing when I was 30; he's still playing. People say I retired early. Willie Mays retired; Lo Bundy quit. I'm living some of my dreams through some of those guys out there."

Maybe Lindsey's call-up will come soon, if the Dodgers stay close in the National League West, where they sit 11/2 games behind the Arizona Diamondbacks. On Sept. 1, major league rosters expand to 40 players. Maybe then, Bundy's phone will ring with the call from L.A's front office, telling him Lindsey is about to fulfill his dream, Bundy's dream.

"For me, that would be a very, very fulfilling moment," Bundy said, pausing. "Every guy out here, you pull for. You want every guy to play in the big leagues. But you realize that they're not. If that day were to happen with John, it's gonna be more than just that player-manager relationship."

Added Lindsey, breaking into his familiar, engaging smile: "Any way he tells me would be great with me. We may have a prayer session in there; I wouldn't know how to react. I get goosebumps thinking about it."

Bundy knows what he'll do if he can tell Lindsey, his friend, to pack his bags.

He'll call him into his office and he'll sit him down on that tiny couch.

He'll make it simple, won't spare his feelings, won't pull any punches.

Lindsey can handle it.