And the Hits Just Keep on Coming

After a brief writing hiatus, I am reporting live from a vehicle heading due west that will not stop until it reaches the water.  A few teammates are taking advantage of our second to last off day of the young season by going to the beach.  This off day comes at the conclusion of a nine-game home stand that has us one game behind the divisional leader and in the thick of the playoff race.

The last week has brought a lot of activity to Quakesville.  Last week's off day was spent at Angels Stadium for Quakes Day.  This publicity stunt had us signing autographs outside the stadium for about 40 minutes, getting announced on the field prior to game time, and watching the Angels beat the Tampa Bay Rays from a left field suite.  This was my first time to Angels Stadium and it was an interesting experience.

Joining the team during the home stand was Torii Hunter, the Angels centerfielder rehabbing an adductor strain prior to his return to the Big League club in Baltimore.  Hunter is very personable and could always be found talking to players, discussing the finer points of our craft.  He had a lot of enthusiasm and knowledge to offer the team and everyone benefited from his time with us.  After arriving on Wednesday, he played centerfield that night, was the designated hitter on Thursday, and player centerfield again on Saturday.

Hunter's absence on Friday was attributed to discomfort felt from a stomach virus that has been plaguing several players (myself included), coaches, and rovers.  Four players, two coaches, and two rovers got sick Thursday night, with some others getting pulled down over the past few days.  In what was first thought to be food poisoning, this bug has left everyone extremely uncomfortable and made eating undesirable.  I was scratched from my start on Saturday after feeling lightheaded and dizzy, but was felt well enough to grit it out during Sunday's finale against Lake Elsinore.

Apparently after my performance on Sunday, I might want to consider getting sick more often as it seems to boost my power numbers.  In what is a rare feat for me, I hit my first homerun in two years to give us a 3-2 lead in the bottom of the seventh inning.  This was my third professional homerun (which was erroneously reported by the Quakes as my first--I know the two I previously hit were two years ago in Orem, but they still count), and ironically, the second one I hit feeling under the weather.  During the game of my first homerun, our entire team was dealing with food poisoning from a tainted postgame meal the previous night.  Somehow, I got my first that day (on a hit and run, good thing I protected the runner). 

I know that it is said when you are sick you are not trying to do as much because you are not feeling up to it, and there may be some truth in that.  However, I would rather figure out how to do this when I am feeling healthy because only hitting homeruns when sick is a little absurd.  Regardless of my offensive output, the most important thing is that we pulled out a 5-2 victory and my work behind the plate aided the pitching staff overcome nine walks by scattering four hits and limiting the Storm to only one hit in 13 runners-in-scoring-position opportunities.  This was definitely not the best performance of the season, but it was a win nonetheless.  And this late in the season, you will take wins any way you can get them.