Jag Voice
Well-Known Member
http://www.theadvocate.com/sports/schiefelbein.asp?StoryID=18836
Joe Schiefelbein
Weeks beanings not accidental
Rickie Weeks is as humble and easygoing as he is talented. And let there be no mistake, he's all-everything talented.
Walking with ease at Lee-Hines Field in a cool evening breeze, left elbow wrapped and packed in ice, Weeks just shook his head and shrugged his shoulders.
"I'm all right. I'm all right," Weeks said.
The lesser man would cry.
The lesser man would vent.
For as much as Southern University's hitters used Prairie View pitching for batting practice (59 runs, 53 hits, including 13 homers and five triples) in two days of a four-game sweep, Panthers pitchers used Weeks for target practice.
Three different pitchers flung six baseballs at him Sunday, with five connecting to various parts of Weeks' body. (They also hit him once Saturday, giving him six plunkings, for a team-best 11 on the season, in two days).
Most seriously, Prairie View threw at his head twice Sunday.
The first of those that sailed at his head may have been accidental.
After all, the bases were loaded and Josh Herrman (seven walks, 15 hits in five innings) doesn't have much control. But then again, Prairie View already trailed 12-4 at the time and, what the hey, what's one more run? And then again, Herrman, who had earlier used obscenities on the mound, grabbed his crotch after throwing the pitch.
In any other conference in the country, players would be ejected for hitting the same player three times, with the third one connecting with the batting helmet -- let along grabbing yourself afterward. But in the hardscrabble, backwoods Southwestern Athletic Conference, anything goes. (Prairie View could have made a great gesture of sportsmanship by pulling their pitcher with the game out of hand, but did not.)
The second of those pitches at Weeks' head did not connect. But in no way was the throw accidental. Larry Henderson had been warned two batters earlier after beaning Farrand John. Then he gave up his third homer of the first inning, a two-run shot to Antoin Gray, to trail 9-0 and Weeks stepped into the batters box.
Zooooom. Right for the noggin.
Weeks ducked. But he didn't fling the bat, rush the mound or grab himself.
He just stepped back, that familiar determined look in his face, and waited as Prairie View argued. Henderson acted as though the greatest outrage of all baseball history -- call George Will and Ken Burns -- had been foisted upon him, innocent him, when he got ejected. He threw his glove at his own dugout -- making one of his own teammates the third player he'd thrown objects at it in one inning -- and flung both arms to the sky.
C'mon, the Panthers (1-29) may be the worst team in college baseball, but they know who Weeks is.
Weeks finished last season as a freshman All-American and spent the summer as a member of the USA Baseball team. He started this season as a preseason All-American, holds a .584 batting average and will soon get another invite to the USA team. Everybody in the know in college baseball knows who Weeks is.
In the first game, Prairie View's wild strategy -- and this may be a first in baseball (again, get Will and Burns on the horn) -- was to intentionally walk the batter ahead of Weeks, Gray, to have two players on base for Weeks.
Herrman turned to his dugout and, for all to hear, yelled -- with perhaps a shrill tone of fear inside -- "That's the All-American." You couldn't hear what the reply was from the dugout because of the laughter from the crowd.
Sure, Gray is no slouch. He's punched a team-best 10 homers, four on Prairie View in two days, and has a .517 average. But at some point, if you're already down 6-1 in the third inning, you take your chances.
As it was, Herrman, of course, plunked Weeks. Then he balked once, balked again to bring in Gray and watched as Weeks scored for a 9-1 lead on a passed ball.
But when it was all over Sunday and the cool air blew in, what's done was done. Baseball is baseball. Weeks has played this game almost continuously for a year, from Japan to Alaska to the backroads that are the SWAC.
He's all right. No problem. Ice the bruises down, take some aspirin.
Meanwhile, it's business as usual for Southern coach Roger Cador. Lose All-American Michael Woods, replace him with an All-American in Weeks. Lose hitters like Marcus Chandler and Jerel Johnson, replace them with the big sticks of Gray, a Meridian (Miss.) Community College transfer, and Trae Duncan, an LSU transfer (.371 with five homers).
Just like Weeks, no matter what you throw at Southern, the Jaguars (19-3) are all right. No matter how crazy the game gets or how easy the wins come: no crying, no venting and no boasting.
That's the demeanor Weeks, as determined as he is humble, has set for this team.
Joe Schiefelbein
Weeks beanings not accidental
Rickie Weeks is as humble and easygoing as he is talented. And let there be no mistake, he's all-everything talented.
Walking with ease at Lee-Hines Field in a cool evening breeze, left elbow wrapped and packed in ice, Weeks just shook his head and shrugged his shoulders.
"I'm all right. I'm all right," Weeks said.
The lesser man would cry.
The lesser man would vent.
For as much as Southern University's hitters used Prairie View pitching for batting practice (59 runs, 53 hits, including 13 homers and five triples) in two days of a four-game sweep, Panthers pitchers used Weeks for target practice.
Three different pitchers flung six baseballs at him Sunday, with five connecting to various parts of Weeks' body. (They also hit him once Saturday, giving him six plunkings, for a team-best 11 on the season, in two days).
Most seriously, Prairie View threw at his head twice Sunday.
The first of those that sailed at his head may have been accidental.
After all, the bases were loaded and Josh Herrman (seven walks, 15 hits in five innings) doesn't have much control. But then again, Prairie View already trailed 12-4 at the time and, what the hey, what's one more run? And then again, Herrman, who had earlier used obscenities on the mound, grabbed his crotch after throwing the pitch.
In any other conference in the country, players would be ejected for hitting the same player three times, with the third one connecting with the batting helmet -- let along grabbing yourself afterward. But in the hardscrabble, backwoods Southwestern Athletic Conference, anything goes. (Prairie View could have made a great gesture of sportsmanship by pulling their pitcher with the game out of hand, but did not.)
The second of those pitches at Weeks' head did not connect. But in no way was the throw accidental. Larry Henderson had been warned two batters earlier after beaning Farrand John. Then he gave up his third homer of the first inning, a two-run shot to Antoin Gray, to trail 9-0 and Weeks stepped into the batters box.
Zooooom. Right for the noggin.
Weeks ducked. But he didn't fling the bat, rush the mound or grab himself.
He just stepped back, that familiar determined look in his face, and waited as Prairie View argued. Henderson acted as though the greatest outrage of all baseball history -- call George Will and Ken Burns -- had been foisted upon him, innocent him, when he got ejected. He threw his glove at his own dugout -- making one of his own teammates the third player he'd thrown objects at it in one inning -- and flung both arms to the sky.
C'mon, the Panthers (1-29) may be the worst team in college baseball, but they know who Weeks is.
Weeks finished last season as a freshman All-American and spent the summer as a member of the USA Baseball team. He started this season as a preseason All-American, holds a .584 batting average and will soon get another invite to the USA team. Everybody in the know in college baseball knows who Weeks is.
In the first game, Prairie View's wild strategy -- and this may be a first in baseball (again, get Will and Burns on the horn) -- was to intentionally walk the batter ahead of Weeks, Gray, to have two players on base for Weeks.
Herrman turned to his dugout and, for all to hear, yelled -- with perhaps a shrill tone of fear inside -- "That's the All-American." You couldn't hear what the reply was from the dugout because of the laughter from the crowd.
Sure, Gray is no slouch. He's punched a team-best 10 homers, four on Prairie View in two days, and has a .517 average. But at some point, if you're already down 6-1 in the third inning, you take your chances.
As it was, Herrman, of course, plunked Weeks. Then he balked once, balked again to bring in Gray and watched as Weeks scored for a 9-1 lead on a passed ball.
But when it was all over Sunday and the cool air blew in, what's done was done. Baseball is baseball. Weeks has played this game almost continuously for a year, from Japan to Alaska to the backroads that are the SWAC.
He's all right. No problem. Ice the bruises down, take some aspirin.
Meanwhile, it's business as usual for Southern coach Roger Cador. Lose All-American Michael Woods, replace him with an All-American in Weeks. Lose hitters like Marcus Chandler and Jerel Johnson, replace them with the big sticks of Gray, a Meridian (Miss.) Community College transfer, and Trae Duncan, an LSU transfer (.371 with five homers).
Just like Weeks, no matter what you throw at Southern, the Jaguars (19-3) are all right. No matter how crazy the game gets or how easy the wins come: no crying, no venting and no boasting.
That's the demeanor Weeks, as determined as he is humble, has set for this team.
