[Jason]

March 6, 2006, 6pm; Lakeland, FL continued

Salinas took a deep breath and looked toward the door as if he was expecting someone to come bursting in at any minute. Either that or he was hoping there would be no witnesses.

“You may have been sarcastic,” Salinas said. “But you were exactly right.”

I’m sure I had a complete look of confusion on my face because Salinas began to laugh. When I realized he wasn’t about to rip the netting in two because he wanted to kill me I started to laugh as well.

“Look, there’s a reason I’m the only All Star on this team,” he said. “There’s a reason that I’m in the top 10 in home runs and batting average each year. It’s because I’m here in the batting cages two hours before everyone else shows up.”

“I noticed that the guys start to trickle in about 15 minutes before we’re supposed to be here,” I said.

“And how many of them are on the field ready to go when we’re supposed to be?” he asked.

I sat down on the concrete and closed my eyes. I pictured the clubhouse and the guys getting ready for each game. I was always out on the field on time because as a rookie I can’t afford to be late. The only other guy I could picture out there was Salinas.

“You’re having to think way too hard,” Salinas said with a laugh.

“Yeah, I am,” I said.

“There’s a reason this team hasn’t been close to winning in almost a decade,” Salinas said. “They don’t have players who want to go the extra mile. They’re happy just to be here and get all the perks of a major league baseball player.”

“Well, I can understand that,” I said.

“Understand it,” Salinas said evenly. “Don’t get sucked into it.”

“I’ll try,” I started to say when I noticed the look on Salinas’ face and shut up.

“Don’t try,” he said. “Don’t get sucked into it.”

“I won’t,” I said as my voice trembled.

“Now get up and hit,” Salinas said.

I was up like a shot and grabbed my bat. I set the machine to throw me 75 mph fastballs to warm up and slapped ten line drives. I hadn’t noticed that Salinas had come around the netting into the back of the cage. The eleventh pitch took a nasty dip and I looked like a fool swinging a good foot over the pitch. I turned around and Salinas was smiling.

“How often do you think you’ll know what’s about to be thrown to you?” he asked.

“I study films of the pitchers I face,” I said.

This wasn’t the answer Salinas was expecting because his face changed for just a split second. It wasn’t a look of anger. It was more a look of curiosity about where someone like me would have an answer like that.

“That is the right answer,” he said. “But the best pitchers know their tendencies as well as you will know them. Randy Johnson may tend to throw the slider when he’s up oh two or one two in the count but he’ll also know you know that. That’s why the first time you see him you’ll get the slider and the second time you’ll get the fastball.”

“So be ready for anything,” I said.

“Yeah,” Salinas said smiling. “That’s exactly right.”

I turned back around and Salinas spent the next half hour changing the pitches. Every time I thought I had a pattern figured out and adjusted to prepare for it Salinas would change his pattern. I only missed about five of the hundred pitches although I fouled off almost half.

Sweat pouring down my face I stepped out of the box and looked toward Salinas. He had a smile like dad would have after he watched me have a great game. That smile that just says I confirmed what they were thinking about me.

“Get your stuff,” Salinas said. “We’ve got ten minutes to get out on the field.”

I gathered up my bats and shoved them down in the duffle and turned toward the door to see Salinas waiting for me there. The two of us made small talk as we walked back to the locker room. Turning the corner, we saw Ben Marzano and Bill Sparks in a heated discussion. As we approached, I could see from their faces they were really angry.

“Where the f*** have you been?” Marzano said to Salinas.

“In the cage,” Salinas said. “I was putting the rook through his paces.”

“Well, you missed the big announcement,” Sparks spat out. “They canned Skip.”