Darryl Strawberry - painfully sorry for troubled past

By Charles H. Roberts III

Darryl Strawberry is either one hell of an actor or he is legitimately sorry for the lives he's adversly affected and the pain he's inflicted not only on himself, but those around him.

The four-time World Series winner sat in the Bisons' dugout this morning with the look of a man whose fortune and fame sits back seat to reconciling the damage he caused as an addict. His book, "Straw: Finding My Way," is a detail not of his playing career and has very little to do with baseball. It was Strawberry's way of admitting where he went wrong and a brutally honest way of saying he's sorry.

"It's a New York Times Best-Seller, so I'm pretty happy about that," Strawberry said. "It's not about baseball. It's about real life. The struggles you got through and how you overcome and help others."

Sure - the guy is obviously promoting his book. Using the media to do so is an effective tool as well. However, when posed with difficult questions, Strawberry gave honest answers - and didn't beat around the bush in doing so.

"Life is a journey," Strawberry continued. "Hopefully that journey doesn't have to be as difficult as mine has been, but I have accepted that and take full responsibility and that's the most important thing. It's not about me - it's about who I can help."

"There's a lot of people that have lost the struggle, so hopefully I can be an inspiration," Strawberry said. "It can be done."

As the 6-foot-6 former slugger spoke, you could detect a true feeling of remorse in his voice. Far too often, especially in troubled athletes, we hear lame-duck, half-assed apologies that are more of an insult than anything.

That wasn't the case with Strawberry this morning. Although he is certainly well-versed in speaking with the media, having played 11 years in New York (between the Mets and Yankees), his thoughts didn't seem pre-planned or staged.

When asked if his book was in some ways therapeutic for him, you got the true sense of where he is at in his life and how painful being an addict truly must be.

"I wouldn't say therapeutic," he said. "I'd say painful. Looking back on what it was like and the people that I have hurt - I'm very sensative about that. Looking back on that was very painful."

Good luck, Straw.

"Old Bisons" vs. "New Bisons"

By Charles H. Roberts III

The stage is set for an absolutely perfect day. Not a cloud in the sky, Torey Lovullo and the Columbus Clippers return to Buffalo AND it's chicken fajita day in the press box.

What more could a guy ask for?

Pre-game tid-bits:

• 16 former Bisons, including 2007's Most Valuable Pitcher, Jeremy Sowers (who is slated to pitch here on Saturday), are among the Columbus roster.
• With his recent hot-streak, outfielder Fernando Martinez leads the International League with 22 extra-base hits. Keep your eye on him - with the slue of injuries on the parent-club New York Mets, as he could be a dark-horse call-up.
• It's a battle of left-handed pitchers this afternoon, as Mike Antonini takes the hill for Buffalo, while Zach Jackson gets the nod for Columbus. For Antonini, today is an important start, as his last outing led to his staggering 13.50 ERA. Granted that was in only 3.1 innings of work, but regardless, today is a chance at redemption.
• In a slight twist of irony, the Clippers (Triple-A affiliate of the Cleveland Indians) are sitting in first-place in the International League West, while Buffalo sits dead-last in the IL North.

Game on!

• It's not looking good for Antonini. After retiring the first batter, he was shelled for five-consecutive hits. The 19-minute top of the first inning resulted in four Columbus runs. This has the makings of another very brief appearence for the lengthy-lefty (6-foot-5, 220 pounds).
• The Bisons can thank former Bison, and by all accounts - big-time bust - Andy Marte for their three runs in the bottom half of the first inning. The third baseman's error resulted in Martinez making his way from second to score on a Wily Mo Pena shot down the line. With Mo Pena on-base, the next batter, Javier Valentin, blasted a two-run home run about 360 feet into left-center field. 4-3 Columbus after one.
• Travis Hafner, who is playing with Columbus today on a rehab assignment for the Indians, doesn't look like he'll be in Triple-A much longer. He's 2-for-2 with a double and two RBIs.
• Antonini's day is done after four innings-pitched. He allowed eight hits, five earned runs, struck-out two and walked one. It's 5-3 heading into the top of the fifth.
• Nice crowd on-hand today. Probably about 3,500 here soaking up the sun.
• The Herd had a splendid opportunity to steal a victory in the bottom half of the ninth, after the first two hitters got on base, but in a theme all too familiar this season - they left them stranded.
• Despite a decent day at the plate (10 hits), the Bisons drop to 10-28 on the season after losing 6-4.

POST GAME REACTION FROM EX-BISONS, CURRENT CLIPPERS:

"It was a little unusual, I'm not going to lie," said former Bisons manager/current Columbus Clippers manager Torey Lovullo. "It was like a family reunion for me for a lot of reason."

"I was happy with the outcome. I wanted to avoid that distraction (jitters about coming back to Buffalo)," Lovullo continued. "A lot of these guys were here last year and wanted to make a statement."

"It was a little bit awkward," Lovullo said. "I got here real early in the day."

"It's nice to be in a place you're familiar with," Clippers pitcher Jeremy Sowers said. "I've got a lot of family in Columbus, so it's been a pretty nice transition though."

"It's just different," Clippers center fielder Trevor Crowe said of walking out of the opposing dugout. "I enjoyed my time here."

NEWS AND NOTES:

• Lovullo said as far as he was aware, Travis Hafner will finish out the full extent of his 20-day rehab assignment. He was 3-5 today with a double and three RBIs.
• Today was the first of a four-game series, which resumes tomorrow at 7:05 pm, with Jonathon Niese taking the hill for Buffalo and Jack Cassel for Columbus.

Gloomy April has Herd praying for a brighter May - APRIL IN REVIEW

By Charles Roberts

April showers bring May flowers, right? The Buffalo Bisons sure hope so - and it’s not the weather forecast that has them concerned.

As April came to a close, the Bisons’ record of 2-16 was far and away their worst opening month in the Modern Era and gave them the not-so-glamorous title of officially having the worst record in professional baseball.

“It’s very frustrating to the point where it’s getting hard to sleep at night,” Bisons manager Ken Oberkfell said.

There’s a number of factors behind the lopsided win-to-loss ratio and one could even lean on the new city/transition period, but the bottom line for the Bisons is a lack of execution. Far too often in the season’s first month, the Bisons got in a bad habit of leaving men stranded or simply not hitting the ball at all. Night’s like the April 27 match-up with the Syracuse Chiefs are a perfect example. They jumped out to a 1-0 lead when Cory Sullivan hit a lead-off homerun to open the Bisons’ hitting – an occasion that in most cases would spark a team’s collective bat. In this case, the Bisons only mustered up one more hit the rest of the way and were dropped by a count of 7-1.

“When you’re getting two hits a night, it’s tough,” Oberkfell said.

The frustration was written all over Oberkfell’s face. He’s a mild-mannered, well-spoken guy with a baseball resume more like a scroll that basically didn’t quite understand how things spiraled as far as they did.

“I’m at a loss for words.” Oberkfell said. “I honestly don’t know what to say. I don’t know if I go in there and break a bunch of tables and chairs, does that get them going? I don’t know. In some way, someone has to step up and produce with men in scoring position. How that happens, I don’t know. Somehow, some way, someone has to step up.”

The two victories were the fewest in any month during the Modern Era.

……

An interesting story that developed late in the month was that of pitcher Freddy Garcia. The Mets signed the former World Series winner and Cy Young finalist to a minor league deal before the season, essentially as an insurance policy. After spending an extended spring training in Port St. Lucie, FL, he was activated to Buffalo on April 22, with all signs pointing toward a potential spot as the fifth-man in the Mets’ pitching rotation, should he be healthy.

However, the 32-year-old was simply not half the pitcher he once was, going 0-2 with an 8.18 earned run average. In 12 innings of work, he allowed 10 runs on 12 hits, walked five and only struck-out six. Following his second poor outing, it was evident that Garcia didn’t have much left in the tank, or at least that he wasn’t healthy enough to be on the hill.

Never however was it more evident than his seemingly near-retirement speech after the April 27 drubbing.

“I don’t feel any power, so (I) just try to do the best with what I have,” Garcia said. “"Maybe I want to try it one more time. If I don't feel the way I'm supposed to be feeling right now, I don't know. I have to make a decision what I'm going to do. I don't know yet. Hopefully next time I'll feel better. I want to wait for tomorrow and see how I feel.”

Unfortunately for Garcia, tomorrow, or in this case; April 28, resulted in a pink slip.

“Obviously he’s not the young Freddy Garcia,” Oberkfell said. “His velocity is definitely not there.”

……

The family-feel-good story of the month came during the first of a four-game home stand with the Scranton/Wilkes-Barre Yankees. The April 13 contest marked the first time that brothers Connor and David Robertson ever faced each other at any level, as the two battled in middle relief, combining to throw four and two thirds shutout innings.

Connor, who pitches for the Bisons, is just shy of four years older than David, so when he was a freshman in college, his brother was a freshman in high school – pretty much eliminating the possibility they’d face each other until later in life. They both went to the same high school, playing for the same coach, and had looked forward to this day for quite some time, although Connor would have enjoyed a chance to slug one off his little bro.

“We’ve been trying to setup where I face him at the plate,” Connor said with a chuckle. “Maybe during the year that will happen. I’d like to do that, but the chances where I’d have to hit are slim.”

Nevertheless, Connor not only seemed to have enjoyed competing against his brother, but likewise just an opportunity to see him, as obviously being two professional baseball players; they travel in different directions.

“It was good to see him, glad he did so well, although it wasn’t good for us,” Connor said afterward. “It’s exciting to know I can hangout with him the next four days. We’re going to probably go have some dinner, talk about it (facing each other) and hangout.”

David's performance that afternoon was strong enough to earn his first call-up of the season, as the parent-club New York Yankees were and still are in need of middle relief help.

Call it irony that the Robertsons are both middle relievers. The fact that one plays in the Yankees' system and the other in the Mets' - that's just cool. Simple as that.