Painting the Corners Again

by Weintraub, Bob;

  “What’s all that for?”

  “I’m looking for a particular kid I’ve heard about, but I forgot his name and who he plays for. I think I’ll know it if I hear it again but the other stuff may help.”

  “All right, with any luck we’ll know what’s out there by tomorrow night.”

  The Phillies closed out the series with the Pirates with a victory, sparked by Kyle’s three hits, including a bases clearing double. Diamond gave him a quick hug in the dugout, and said “That’s my boy,” but not loud enough for anyone else to hear.

  That night, after an early dinner, he joined Sherman and Debbie Newton in Sherman’s office. “Here’s what we’ve got,” Sherman said, “three choices to consider.”

  Diamond, impatient, interrupted. “Any in the big leagues now?”

  “I was about to tell you that, Jimmy. Sit back and relax. Debbie and I will lay it out for you.” He waited a few seconds before continuing. “Seattle will let us have Manny Marosco for a couple of prospects, one from Triple-A, one from Double-A. Marosco has played mostly second base for them this year, but he knows his way around shortstop.”

  Diamond spoke up again. “Yeah, I know, I’ve seen him play. Throws funny, but always gets it there on time.”

  “As I was saying,” Sherman went on, “the main problem I see is that he’s going on thirty-four and has been on the DL already this year for three weeks with a pulled groin. So how dependable he’d be we don’t know.”

  “Okay, next,” Diamond said.

  “The Twins have got a kid in Wichita,” Sherman said. “Darryl Coburn. It’s his second year there. Right now he’s hitting .317 and has fifteen home runs. So he’s on a pace to hit twenty-five, which is damn good for any shortstop, and the park he plays in is no band box. He’s got a healthy arm, but he’s thrown a few souvenirs into the stands back of first.”

  “What else do we know about him?”

  Sherman pointed a finger at Newton who looked down at a paper she was holding.

  “He’s twenty-four years old, Mr. Diamond, and grew up in a town in Oregon, called Milton.”

  “Do you have his birthday?”

  Sherman gave Diamond a quizzical look but didn’t say anything.

  “Yes, he was born on January 9, 1986.”

  That could be him, Diamond thought. Heather told him in September that the baby was due in about four months.

  “Anything about the parents?”

  This time Sherman’s patience deserted him. “Come on, Jimmy, what’s that got to do with anything?”

  Diamond ignored him and nodded at Newton. She understood that he wanted her to continue.

  “Very little,” she answered. “The Twins said they believe his father’s an executive in a farm machinery company. They don’t know anything about his mother. Someone was supposed to get back to me with their first names, but I haven’t heard anything yet.”

  “Okay, who’s the last one?”

  “Another kid in Triple-A,” Sherman said, “in the Cubs system at Akron. He’s tall and rangy and covers a lot of ground. They compare him to Luis Aparicio, if you remember him, and a little with Cal Ripken too.”

  “That’s pretty good company to be in, but the Cubs are giving you a selling job. Why would they want to move him if he’s that good?”

  “I asked the same question. They say he’s a pure shortstop who doesn’t want to play a utility role in the infield. He’s afraid moving around will hurt him when he’s at short. Since they’re counting on Rafy Trinidad being their shortstop for at least the next three years with the new contract he signed, the kid is expendable.”

  “Sounds a little like a prima donna. What’s his name, anyway?”

  “Matthew Norris.”

  Matthew, Diamond’s middle name. Heather could have done that for him, he thought, even though she might never want him to know.

  “And where’s he from?”

  “Tell him what you’ve got, Debbie.”

  “He grew up in Texas,” Newton said. “The name of the town is Hopedale. It’s very small, population about three thousand. It was hard to find on a map, but it’s about halfway between Houston and Dallas. The family still lives there.”

  Diamond felt himself getting excited, but without wanting Sherman or Newton to be aware of it. He knew Hopedale. It was about fifty miles from where Heather’s parents lived, and about eighty miles from the army base where he was stationed when he met her. He had driven through the town once with Heather while he was courting her. She probably returned to Texas when she left him, he figured, met her husband somewhere around there and settled in Hopedale after they were married.

  “How old is he?” he asked.

  “He’s twenty-four, Jimmy, same as Coburn with the Twins,” Sherman said.

  Newton filled in the rest. “Actually, he was born just two weeks before Coburn, near the end of December.” She looked at her notes again. “On the twenty-seventh.”

  That still fit, Diamond thought. Heather had said the baby was due “in about four months.” That could have put his birthday in December. If either of the two players was his son, the chances were greater that it was Norris.

  “What do his parents do? Do we know?”

  “No, the Cubs have nothing on that,” Newton said.

  “The Texas kid sounds more solid,” Diamond said. “I think I’d go with him. What are the Cubs asking in return?”

  “Wait a second, Jimmy,” Sherman said. “Don’t you want to know about his hitting?”

  Diamond realized he had spoken too soon, that he was almost convinced Norris was his son. “Of course,” he answered. “Sorry, Gary, my mind was wandering. I was starting to think about tomorrow’s game.”

  “He’s not a long ball hitter like Coburn. He had seven home runs last year and he’s on that same pace this year. The good news is that he’s a solid contact hitter and is leading the Mountain League in base hits right now with a .322 average. The bonus is that he’s got good speed and would probably have at least twenty-two stolen bases this year if he stays where he is.”

  Diamond thought back to the four years he led the National League in base hits and the eight—or was it nine?—seasons he’d won a gold glove at shortstop. The boy sounded like a chip off the old block.

  “So that’s the good news. What’s the bad news?”

  Sherman laughed. “I didn’t mean there had to be bad news too. None that I’m aware of.”

  “Well, then I feel even stronger about him. If the Cubs aren’t trying to rob us blind, make the deal and get the kid here right away.”

  “Who are you going to play when he’s here,” Sherman asked, “him or Kyle? That’s a pretty sensitive situation. Kyle’s your stepson and he’s been with the club for almost a year. If you sit him down for this kid, it could be a morale problem and you know how those things can spread.”

  Diamond didn’t hesitate before answering. Sherman’s question bothered him but he spoke calmly. “You know that’s my territory, Gary, not yours. You get us the players, I make out the lineup. But the answer is that Kyle gets the call, and he stays in there as long as he does the job, both ways. Maybe he turned the corner tonight with those three hits. But if his batting average stays where it’s been so far this season, we’ll have to see what Norris can do.”

  “Will you get any pressure at home to play Kyle, regardless?”

  “A lot of people question some of the moves I make, even Katherine. That goes with the job. But like I just said, I make out the lineup, no one else.”

  The Phillies had a day off after the Pirates series, but had to use it to fly to the west coast for games against the Dodgers and Giants. Diamond scheduled a practice for four o’clock that afternoon in Dodger Stadium, three hours after the team arrived in California. As the players were putting on their uniforms in the clubhouse, a young man carrying a small Chicago Cubs duffle bag entered the room and was looking around, not sure where to go. Kyle saw him and went over to greet him.

>   “Hi, I’m Kyle Price, and you must be Matt Norris. Welcome to the Phillies. We’re taking the field today in about an hour for practice, so let me introduce you to the guys, and then you’ll want to speak to Sergio, the equipment manager, about getting a uniform.”

  They shook hands and Kyle led Norris around the room to meet his new teammates, all of whom greeted him warmly, most with words of encouragement. At the equipment counter, Sergio had a uniform all ready for him. “I know your size from information they already gave me, so those should fit. And the lowest number we’re not using is twenty-nine, so you got it unless you gotta have a different one to feel good.”

  Norris smiled and waved his hand. “No, that’s fine,” he said.

  “You’ve met everyone except the manager,” Kyle told him. “He’s Jimmy Diamond and he’s my step-father. You’d probably find that out from the guys at some point, but I want you to know it now because we’re the two shortstops on the team and he decides which one of us plays.”

  “Thanks,” Norris said, “I didn’t know that.”

  When they entered the manager’s office, Diamond was on the telephone. He held one finger up in the air to show he was about to finish the call, and, as he alternately spoke and listened, looked Norris over carefully. He saw a young ball player about his own height but with larger shoulders and a thicker neck. He had long eyelashes, like Heather’s, and lips that reminded Diamond of her also, but he couldn’t see anything of himself in Norris’s face. He remembered Heather telling him that their baby boy looked a lot like him and he expected to see that for himself when they met. But his disappointment was quickly tempered by his realization that twenty-four years had gone by since her description.

  Diamond had already decided that he would not tell Norris he was his father. He had to keep the secret out of respect for Heather’s feelings, at least until he had the chance to talk to her about it. And he didn’t want the team to get mixed up in it and think he was favoring his son if he had to replace Kyle at shortstop with Norris.

  He got off the phone and was careful to speak to Norris as he would to any player called up to the big leagues. He told him it would be a good idea to say little but to observe everything, both on the field and in the clubhouse. “You’re part of the team as of right now. That means you don’t shy away from celebrating on the field with the guys when we win. I’m not going to play you in our next two games unless I need you in an emergency, so find yourself a seat in the dugout and relax. You’re last in line for batting practice, and you get six swings like everyone else.”

  Diamond reached into a thin leather file on top of the desk and pulled out a sheet of paper. “Here are all the rules,” he said. “Do yourself a favor and memorize them all tonight. If you’ve got no questions, Kyle will show you your locker and you can suit up. We’ll give you some infield drill and then let you get those six swings in the cage. Glad to have you with us.”

  Kyle stayed hot. Over the next three weeks he batted .321 and had several timely hits, including a walk-off home run against the Cardinals in the twelfth inning. That hit capped the team’s comeback from a six-run deficit and gave it the momentum to keep its five-game winning streak alive and extend it to eight. Several games in the streak were “laughers” for the Phillies, and Diamond took advantage of the opportunity to insert Norris into the game in the late innings. There were small celebrations in the dugout after his first major league hit (a two-hop grounder up the middle), his first extra-base hit (a double, which also gave him his first two runs batted in) and, to his embarrassment, his first error on a no excuse drop of an infield popup.

  It was clear, however, that Norris knew how to play shortstop. He covered the same ground as Kyle but his strong arm gave him a better chance to throw out a hitter from deep in the hole. Although his defensive skills impressed Diamond, as did his speed on the base paths, he realized that Norris was not as advertised by the Cubs but rather a work in progress

  In the last week of August Kyle cooled off quickly and had just three hits in his next twenty-three trips to the plate. Diamond gave him a two-day break, but Kyle’s sudden ineffectiveness continued when he returned to the lineup, and he batted just under .200 in the team’s games that week. It was time, the manager decided, to find out what Norris could do over an extended period, and he notified Norris in the clubhouse that he’d be in the starting lineup the next day for the opening of a series in Florida. Diamond knew there would be less pressure on the rookie getting this chance away from the Phillies’ rabid hometown fans. He also spoke to Kyle, reminding him that baseball was a streaky game within a long season and encouraging him to keep doing his work every day.

  As he left the ballpark that night and walked toward the bus waiting to take the team to the airport, Diamond noticed Kyle and Debbie Newton in the front seat of her car in the parking lot. Minutes later, the bus driver blew the horn several times, signaling that it was about to leave, and the manager’s stepson was the last to board. Thinking about it, Diamond recalled that he had seen the two of them together on several other occasions.

  Norris’s play in the three games at Miami was impressive, but not outstanding. Although he had just three hits in eleven at-bats, he hit the ball hard most of the time and struck out only once. On the defensive side, he played errorless ball and covered his position smoothly. He twice started exceptional double plays with hard, accurate throws to second that gave Gerry Small, his infield partner, plenty of time to avoid the sliding base runner and make the relay throw to first.

  In the next series, at Pittsburgh, Norris had a surprise bunt single to start the winning rally in the first game. Two days later he stroked a ninth inning double in the rubber game that put runners on second and third from where they scored on a two-out hit that put the Phillies ahead by one run. The team’s closer was perfect in the last half of the ninth, and everyone was feeling good on the flight to Milwaukee, the last stop on the road trip.

  It all came to a grinding halt for Norris in the four contests with the Brewers. His offensive statistics took a sharp drop as he was hitless in two of the games, struck out six times in the series (four of them coming with at least one runner in scoring position) and was picked off first on one of the few times he managed to reach base. It was clear that the rookie’s performance at the plate affected his play in the field as he was charged with two errors and looked shaky on several throws that were dug out of the dirt by his first baseman.

  It hurt Diamond to watch Norris’s play, like the helpless feeling a father would have witnessing the ineptness of his awkward son in a Little League game. In his heart, Diamond knew that he wanted Norris to have a good game every day, to play better than Kyle, to be accepted by his teammates as the Phillies’ regular shortstop and to be in the lineup when the post season began. He even found himself recalling the thoughts he had years earlier, imagining the team in the World Series and his son either delivering the winning hit or making the spectacular play that would bring them the world championship. But he knew that at this point in time, with just fourteen games remaining to be played, he owed it to Kyle to write him into the starting lineup. Sherman had been told by the medical staff that Buddy Walters’ injury was not healing as quickly as anticipated and that his recovery would not be complete until after the World Series.

  The time Kyle spent on the bench did him a world of good. He was eager to try and regain his role as the team’s shortstop, and the energy he brought to his play was evident to his teammates, to Diamond, and the Phillies coaching staff. Although Diamond wanted to give Norris another chance to compete for the position before the start of the playoffs, Kyle’s performance put such a move out of the question. It was clear from both their conduct and conversation that the players and coaches believed Kyle had won the competition over Norris to start at shortstop. Diamond realized that substituting Norris for Kyle again could be totally disruptive as the team finished the regular season and got ready to meet its first playoff opponent.

>   With the best record in the National League, the Phillies were at home to play the Colorado Rockies in a best of five series. In storybook fashion, the Rockies had won their last ten games to overtake two teams and capture the wild card on the last day of the season. But their heroic struggle disrupted their normal pitching rotation, leaving their best starter unavailable for the first two games, and the Phillies eliminated them quickly with three victories in four games. Kyle’s contribution to the offense was minimal without being disruptive, and his defense, although effective, didn’t include any highlight plays that gained a spot on Sports Center later at night.

  The National League Championship Series, pitting the Phillies against the Houston Astros, opened in Philadelphia also. The two games played there were both pitching duels, the Astros winning the second game 2-1 after losing the first by the same score. Kyle had no hits in either game and, with the tying run on third, made the final out in the Phillies defeat.

  When the series resumed in Houston two days later, Diamond put the same lineup on the field in each of the three games played. His team claimed only one victory and found itself just a game away from elimination. Although Kyle had three hits and a respectable batting average for the three games in the Astrodome, his failures at the plate came, for the most part, with runners in scoring position. On two occasions the hitter ahead of Kyle was walked intentionally, loading the bases. Unfortunately, Kyle validated the Astros’ strategy each time by striking out and ending the scoring threat. The Phillies lost each of those games.

  On the return flight to Philadelphia, Diamond changed his mind several times while trying to decide whom he would play at shortstop when the series continued. On the one hand, he didn’t think it would be fair to pull Kyle out of the lineup and seemingly blame him for the predicament the team was in. The local media might question the move and would be in a position to rake him over the coals if Norris turned out to be the catalyst for the defeat that ended the Phillies season the wrong way. On the other hand, he knew he was looking for an excuse to have Norris at shortstop in the World Series, putting him in a position to bring Diamond’s fantasy to fruition. Diamond felt that the announced pitching matchups for the next two games were both in his team’s favor, and he was confident that his players, strongly supported by the sixty thousand fans shouting and waving their white towels, would respond with winning performances. If he was right, Kyle’s presence in the lineup for the two games could settle the matter and require him to be back at his infield position when the Phillies met their American League opponents in the World Series. But if Diamond switched to Norris “because I think we need more offense out there,” and his team sent the Astros packing, he’d be able to keep his son in the lineup when the championship series began.