Working as a “professional newspaper reporter” means I must be “completelly objective” and all that other stuff I learned in journalism classes 15 … uh, 20 … uh, 30 years ago.
Then I became a baseball writer and, let me tell you, some days it’s a challenge. There are times I’d like to rip a guy a new knothole (in his bat, of course) but I don’t because it wouldn’t be fair. There are other times I’ve been critical of players who are nothing but true professionals on and off the field.
Generally, everyone in the clubhouse is a decent person (some much more decent than others). For every Erik Bedard (who right now amuses me as much as he annoys me in how he deals with the media) there are a dozen Chris Reitsmas and Mark Lowes.
We reporters aren’t suppoed to root for players, but it’s hard not to feel good for what Reitsma and Lowe are accomplishing this spring. Both are working their way back from elbow surgeries that might have wiped lesser men from the game, and both are throwing the ball better now than they have in a couple of years.
Saturday, those two took an important step forward, each pitching a scoreless inning against the A’s. They both must get through the next three weeks without setback, but it’s getting easier to imagine a Mariners bullpen this season with both of those guys pitching meaninfgul innings.
Manager John McLaren, who’s been reuluctant to say anything about his rehab pitchers knowing the perils that exist this time of the year, is starting to imagine it himself.
“I like the presence of both of them on the mound,” McLaren said. “Reitsma is a veteran and Lowe looks like a veteran out there. Lowe hasn’t been around that long, but when you see him on the mound he looks like a veteran out there. I like Lowe a lot.”
For Reitsma and Lowe, Saturday wasn’t “just another game” as other player might lead you to believe at spring training.
“This day has been on my mind for a while,” Reitsma said.
“I’ve been waiting about six months to get back out there,” Lowe said. “I was walking off the field with Reitsma and I said, ‘I forgot how fun that is.’
“Just being in competition with another guy, the adrenaline, breaking somebody’s bat, striking somebody out. Just stepping on the mound and looking down at the signs. It’s what I love to do and it sucks when I can’t do it.”
How can you not pull for guys like that?
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