Chris Reitsma

One of the strangest moments in the early season took place in Syracuse on Saturday, April 14, in a game with the Scranton-Wilkes Barre Red Barons. With the bases loaded in the bottom of the fifth inning, Luis Lopez hooked a shot to left that appeared to curl to the outside of the leftfield foul pole, however, the plate umpire ruled it fair for an apparent grand slam. Mark Bombard, the Red Barons' manager, flew out of their dugout to argue the call which became so animated that SkyChiefs baserunner DeWayne Wise slowed to a stop momentarily to listen in. At this point his teammate, Aaron Holbert, passed him on the bases. So, instead of a strike or a slam, all Lopez got out of it was a three-run homer. In the ninth inning on Wednesday, April 18, Bob Boone used a pinch runner for a pinch runner, who was running for a pinch hitter, who was Ken Griffey Jr. hitting for Dennys Reyes. Then, after Griffey drew a walk, he used pitcher Chris Reitsma to pinch-run, but, when Reitsma moved down to second on a walk to Dmitri Young, Boone sent another pitcher, Jim Brower, in to run for Reitsma. "I didn't want Reitsma crashing in there (at home plate)," Boone explained. "I want to keep my job another week."

OF JEREMY WARE is the seventh Canadian-born player to appear in a game with the Ottawa Lynx. The Orangeville, Ontario native joins such other Canadians as IF/OF Matt Stairs, C Joe Siddall, RHP Derek Aucoin, LHP Denis Boucher, RHP Michel LaPlante, and RHP Mike Johnson.

Boston Red Sox pitcher DAVID CONE threw all of his pitches during a bullpen session on April 17 in St. Petersburg for the first time since going on the DL with right shoulder tendinitis, throwing approximately 50 pitches during his fourth bullpen session, only hours before the Red Sox played the Tampa Bay Devil Rays. He could begin throwing batting practise by early in the next week at their complex in Fort Myers. "My mind-set is to get healthy and go from there," Cone explained. "I'm very encouraged with the progress that I've made. I just have to get ready and see what happens. It's a little tough to project when I'll be ready." Cone, 38, signed with the Red Sox in January after spending the last five and a half years with the New York Yankees but was hurt during spring training and has yet not made a regular season appearance with Boston. "It's hard to feel part of the team when you're on the DL and you haven't pitched a game yet," Cone stated. "You still pull for everybody." He watched the series between his Red Sox and Yankees last weekend from his home in the Tampa area and if healthy it would have been his first opportunity to face his former teammates. "I was just envious not being able to be there," Cone said. "It was a great series. It's tough to miss that."

There have been three rain delays in the history of SkyDome, but there was never anything quite like April 12 when a game with the Kansas City Royals was postponed until April 30 because of a mid-afternoon collision between two of the roof's moveable panels. "Sounded like a 12-car collision on the I-70," said Royals designated hitter Mike Sweeney, referring to the main highway linking Kansas City and St. Louis.

Florida Marlins pitcher JASON GRILLI discovered what it was like to become a power hitter on Sunday, April 15. "I understand why (hitters) like going deep because you hit the ball well sometimes and you don't even feel like you've swung the bat," he said after hitting his first major league home run in their 6-3 victory against the Montreal Expos and Grilli's day on the mound? He did OK there, too. The RHP allowed only two hits in the first five innings, striking out the side in the fifth. He gave up two runs on three hits in the sixth in his third career start. When he ran into trouble later, the Marlins' oft-maligned bullpen was there to save the day. "We got a lot of positives coming out of this series," said Grilli, who homered in just his fifth major league at-bat in the third inning. "Everyone's knocking our bullpen for not doing their job and I thought they did phenominally getting me out of a big jam there. That was definitely huge."

On Sunday, April 22, RHP ESTEBAN LOAIZA failed in his bid to become just the eighth starter in Toronto Blue Jays history to win his first four decisions of the season. The seven others are Jerry Garvin (1977), Luis Leal (1984), Tom Filer (1985), Mauro Gozzo (1989), Pat Hentgen ( 1992), Juan Guzman (1992 and 1993), and Roger Clemens (1997) whose 11-0 start remains the best in franchise history.

RICKEY HENDERSEN'S 23rd season in the major leagues - and his pursuit of even more records - began on Tuesday, April 17, when he was activated by the San Diego Padres.He made his debut on that evening, working a full count before stroking a single to left in the ninth inning of the Padres 9-5 loss to the Colorado Rockies. The career steals leader was called up after going 2-for-4 with a double Sunday for Class AAA Portland where he was hitting .275 with five runs, three runs batted in and one walk over nine games. Then he and Tony Gwynn made history on Friday night when they became the first teammates in their forties to play in the same outfield since Doc Cramer and Chuck Hostetler of the 1945 Detroit Tigers. "We may not be kids to a lot of these baseball players, but we're still kids to a lot of people," Henderson, 42, said before the Padres played the Los Angeles Dodgers. Playing left field, he batted leadoff, and Gwynn, 40, played in right field and batted second. Together, they were the newest members of a different kind of 40-40 club. "I think me and Tony are just trying to continue playing as long as we feel good enough to go out there. I don't think age has anything to do with it. It's just a different era nowadays. People are living longer and people are much stronger and healthier." Henderson stated. "Whatever it takes to help this team win balgames. That's the biggest thing."

When the Tampa Bay Devil Ray's played in their 500th game in franchise history on Wednesday, April 18, 1B FRED MCGRIFF was one of just five players still remaining from the club's inaugural opening day roster in 1998.

KEVIN MALONE resigned on Thursday, April 19, as the general manager of the Los Angeles Dodgers, ending a 2 1/2 year tenure in which his actions and questionable baseball decisions kept embarrassing the team. He quit five days after threatening a Padres fan who was heckling Dodgers outfielder Gary Sheffield in a game in San Diego. It was the latest in a string of episodes in which he had caused problems with various statements. Among them, public feuds with former manager Davey Johnson and Padres GM Kevin Towers. Questionable decisions on player signings, including pitcher Carlos Perez and outfielder Devon White. Comments that embarrassed the Dodgers, including describing himself as "a new sheriff in town" after he was hired in September 1998. "I absolutely refuse to allow myself to become a distraction," Malone stated at a news conference. "I regret only that those who have judged me harshly didn't get to know me better. I regret I couldn't convince them how much I care. I hope my actions today will give them some indication." Smiling briefly before he began reading, he finished the statement, refused to take questions and drove away from Dodger Stadium. Assistant General Manager DAVE WALLACE will oversee baseball operations while the team searches for a permanent GM.

On Friday, April 20, 1B CARLOS DELGADO hit three home runs in a game for the second time this season, twice teaming with Raul Mondesi on back-to-back homers as the Toronto Blue Jays outslugged the Kansas City Royals 12-4. Delgado, who leads the American League with 10 home runs, now has three multi-homer games this season and 25 in his career. The 10 home runs tied a Blue Jays franchise record for the month of April. His third shot was a two-run drive in the ninth and gave him four runs batted in for the contest. Mondesi, who drove in five runs, hit a grand slam in the six-run seventh off rookie reliever Kris Wilson, who failed to retire any of the five batters he faced. Previously Delgado hit three home runs and had four runs batted in leading the Blue Jays to an 11-8 come-from-behind victory over the Tampa Bay Devil Rays on Wednesday, April 4. Raul Mondesi's two-run homer off Ken Hill (0-1) snapped an 8-8 ninth-inning tie, and Delgado added his second solo homer of the game four pitches later. Delgado, who hit .344 with 41 home runs and 137 RBI in 2000, also homered off Tanyon Sturtze and Doug Creek. It was the third three-homer game of his career and overshadowed the longest home run in the history of Tropicana Field, a 478-foot drive by Vinny Castilla, who went 3-for-4 and drove in four runs in the losing cause.

KEVIN NICHOLSON was claimed off waivers from the San Diego Padres on April 19 by the Colorado Rockies. He was the first Canadian to be selected in the first round of baseball's first-year player draft, when he was chosen by the Padres out of Stetson University with the 27th overall selection in1997. Then, in his MLB debut on June 23, 2000 vs the Cincinnati Reds he became the first Canadian-born player to ever play for the Padres.

When Justin Pope was 10, he had a chance meeeting with ROGER CLEMENS at Disney World. There was no way the Central Florida pitcher could have imagined that 11years later, he would break a record held by the five-time American League Cy Young Award recipient. Pope, who graduated from Wellington High School in 1998, broke Clemens' NCAA Division 1 record for consecutive scoreless innings on March 30. Pope shut out the Mercer Bears over 4 2/3 innings to extend the record to 38 1/3 innings breaking the mark of 35 held by Clemens when he was at the University of Texas in 1982-1983. "To be mentioned in the same sentence as Roger Clemens is unbelievable," said Pope, who struck out a career-high 15 batters in the Golden Knights 5-3 victory. Then a two-out bases loaded double emptied the bases snapping Pope's streak. However, even though he was lifted in the ninth inning, he still picked up the win to improve to 7-1 on the season. "I actually thought the record would be more like 60 innings," Pope said. "I didn't know until after the game when I was walking to the bus and the parents were saying that it was a nice record to break. I'm sure, though, that someone will come along and break it," Pope stated. "But hopefully it will stand for a little while." He was named Collegiate Baseball's national pitcher of the week for the second time this season becoming the first University of Central Florida hurler to receive this honor and the first Golden Knight athlete to claim a national award.

DAVID WEATHERS talking about County Stadium – "We had birds, fog, mosquitoes that could carry a baby away – biggest mosquitoes I've ever seen. We just had so many elements, and once it warmed up, we had every bug that's ever been born find its way to County Stadium. We thought about putting up one of those big bug lights in the bullpen so we could get through the game without swatting all night. We used to refer to County Stadium as a 3 3/4 stadium."

DAVID WEATHERS talking about the new Miller Park in Milwaukee – "Going to the stadium now is 200 percent different. Just walking in is different. You could go into the old clubhouse and walk right down the middle of the room and trip, because there were humps right in the middle of the floor. Here, it's nice to know you can walk around without breaking your nose or something. We're in the big leagues now."

Turnabout was not fair play for Expos outfielder VLADIMIR GUERRERO. Last week Marlins outfielder Preston Wilson stole home against the Expos while in Montreal, and Guerrero attempted a similar move on Sunday, April 22, without success. Marlins reliever Armando Almanza, who was going into his stretch when Guerrero broke for home, said he was looking toward first, where Milton Bradley had just reached on a fielder's choice and didn't expect Guerrero to take off. "You just react, there's no time to think on that one," Almanza said. "It's an easy out if you react right." Had Guerrero pulled it off, he would have been the third player within the last week to accomplish this feat."Two guys have done that now in the big leagues, and everybody see it," said Marlins catcher Mike Redmond. "Two things, maybe, you're going to get away with it but everybody's aware of that now. It's not going to happen again for a while, I don't think." Florida manager John Boles said he wasn't upset by the play, even though the Expos were leading 6-2 at the time. "It was an unusual play and surprising. I don't have a problem with it," Boles remarked. "They're trying to win, too."

RICKEY HENDERSON took a leisurely stroll to first base on Tuesday night, April 24, and in so doing tied Babe Ruth's MLB record of 2062 walks. Always able to inject a little swagger into the moment he took off his batting helmet and waved to the cheering Padres crowd as a small display of fireworks went up from behind the outfield wall. "The name comes to mind and you think about the greatest baseball player that played the game, the guy that probably kept this game alive for so many years," said Henderson, who has been the major league stolen bases leader for a decade. "He's Mr. Baseball. Once you get in the category of a Babe Ruth, it means that you went out and you did the best job you can do. I'd say the Babe would have walked because he was such a big threat. His record is based upon the way he was able to hit the ball, hit home runs. Getting a base on balls to me is more the way I've been patient at the plate, being selective and knowing what the pitcher is going to do," he elaborated. Then, on Wednesday night, April 25, he became baseball's career walks leader with 2063 taking solo possession of the record he shared with Ruth for only a day. "If I'm getting on base and scoring a lot of runs, then I'm helping my team win ball games," he stated. "And, that's the key to playing baseball, period, based on what I do, trying to score as many runs as you can." Considered the greatest leadoff batter ever, Henderson has 2916 hits, including a major league record 78 leadoff home runs, leaving him just 66 behind the mark set by Ty Cobb, and said the runs record would be the capper to his career. "I think the on-base percentage to me is one of the biggest keys to baseball, but I don't think we mention it as much," said Henderson, who has a lifetime on-base percentage of .404.

THEODORE ROOSEVELT LILLY, left-handed, 25-years-old, his dark hair cut short, has a youngish look about him. He has had a couple of cups of coffee in the bigs, seven in relief with the New York Yankees late in 2000 with a no won-loss record, and nine games and a 0-1 mark for the Montreal Expos in 1999. Called up from the Class-AAA Columbus Clippers on April 21, he sat in front of his locker at noon the next morning at perhaps the least desired spot in the Yankees clubhouse, beside the large blue entrance door, conveniently located for pitchers who have been in his spot and have entered and exited with much regularity. One pitcher after another over recent years has been tried and found wanting. Wasting no time they scheduled Lilly to start against the Boston Red Sox, who had been slaughtering the Yankees' brains out over the last week or so. On this gorgeous spring day, the 6-feet tall but rather slight hurler, pitched so confidently and effectively it seemed he felt certain that he would nail down the No. 5 starter spot. He was ahead of nearly every hitter, and in six and two-thirds innings struck out 10 batters, tops so far this year for any Yankees pitcher, having a problem with only one Boston batter, Manny Ramirez, who belted two solo homers, being the only runs he allowed. However, he was pulled for a reliever in the seventh, behind 2-1 and, when he walked away from the mound the capacity crowd of 55278, gave the rookie a standing ovation. Lilly tipped his hat. "It was exciting to hear that. Gave me chills," he said. "He was aggressive, he went after people," Torre said of him "Getting hit by Manny is nothing to be embarrassed about. I was very happy with his outing." Lilly said, "I was confident in all the pitches I chose to throw, even to Manny. I had a lot of fun out there."

GEOFF JENKINS hit three home runs - a solo - a two-run - and a three-run blast - on April 28, in the first five innings of an 8-4 Milwaukee Brewers victory over the Montreal Expos. The power display earned him a well-deserved standing ovation from the more than 40000 in attendance at Miller Park. "It's just one of those days, where you're seeing the ball well and you're putting the right swing on the right pitch," Jenkins related. All 40877 rose to their feet again in anticipation when Jenkins came to the plate with the bases loaded in the seventh inning with a chance to "homer for the cycle.", but Expos RHP Masato Yoshii caught him looking at a split-fingered fastball for a called third strike. "I was kind of hoping he'd go one more," said manager Davey Lopes. "It would have been nice to see history in the making." Jenkins, who finished 3-for-4 with six rbi, said he was more nervous for that single at-bat than for any other in his baseball career. "With how loud it was, going up there in that situation, possibly hitting a grand slam, it was kind of overwhelming," he said. "That's probably why I struck out. The crowd was humongous today. It's more fun to play. It's louder, and everybody gets excited. It puts pressure on the other team." In so doing Jenkins joined Aramis Ramirez of the Pirates, Todd Hollandsworth of the Rockies, and Carlos Delgado of the Toronto Blue Jays, who has done it twice so far in the early 2001 season, as the only players to homer three times in a game. It was Jenkins first career three-homer game tying a Brewers NL franchise record with 12 total bases. On Sunday, April 29, Jenkins continued his hot hitting with two more home runs, tying a MLB record with five in two consecutive games. Starter Jamey Wright pitched a 2-hit shutout as the Brewers downed the visiting Expos 11-0. "I've never seen anything like it. This guy is hitting the ball on the screws every time he goes out there. He's the best hitter I've ever seen right now," Wright remarked. Jenkins had a two-run shot in the first and later a solo homer in the sixth inning to become the 22nd player to ever do so and the first NL player to do it in 10 years. He also had a two-run double and an rbi single to give him career highs with four hits and six rbi, scoring himself three times. "I can't really explain it. It's something I'll never forget. It's unbelievable when your home crowd is behind you," Jenkins stated. "There's no way to describe that, unless you're actually walking to the plate and you feel the energy of the crowd.". Milwaukee manager Davey Lopes said it even more concisely, "If he can deliver like that, I'll take it. Everything he does right now is very positive. He can't do any wrong right now."

On Monday, April 30, the International League announced that Pawtucket Red Sox OF ISREAL "IZZY" ALCANTARA was named the Batter of the Week for the period of April 23-29. With five multi-hit games and four home runs during the week he hit at a .583 clip to earn this honor. On Tuesday, in the PawSox first scheduled game of the week, he doubled and scored a run in a 4-3 win over Syracuse. The following day, Alcantara was perfect at the plate, going 4-for-4 (four singles), scoring a run and stealing his first base of the season but it was not enough as the RedSox fell to the SkyChiefs, 4-2. Division leading Buffalo came to town on Thursday, and the last place PawSox pulled off a two-game sweep behind the bat of the native of the Dominican Republic. In their 5-3 win, he went 2-for-4 with a double, while in Friday's 16-4 victory he reached base five times on three hits and a pair of walks. Alcantara drove in three runs on two doubles and a homer and also scored three runs in the PawSox victory. The club travelled to Syracuse on Saturday, but the change of venue did not stop the soon to be 28-year-old right hander as he had two solo home runs in the opener on Saturday, then added another homer as part of a two-hit effort in Sunday's 9-7 loss to the SkyChiefs. With his impressive week, he boosted his batting average to a season-high .321 and leads the RedSox in nearly every offensive category. Currently he is first (or tied for the lead) in average, games, runs, hits, extra-base hits, doubles, home runs, walks, slugging percentage and on-base percentage. Alcantara returned to Pawtucket after a 2000 season in which he averaged a home run every three games with both Pawtucket and Boston. In 78 games with the PawSox he had 29 homers (third in the IL), drove in 76 runs, batting.308. The 10-year pro also earned his first major league promotion, appearing in 21 games with Boston, in which he hit .289 with 4 HR and 7 RBI. He had a memorable Triple-AAA debut in 1999, when he hit 3 homers in a fourth of July game at Columbus. Before signing with Boston, in the fall of 1998, he had played in the Montreal, Tampa Bay and Philadelphia organizations.

An Ottawa Lynx 8-4 win over the Rochester Red Wings at Frontier Field on Monday, April 30th, gave Ottawa their 14th win in April, setting a new franchise record for the first month of any season in their nine-year existence. Ottawa now stands in second place in the International League North Division with a 14-11 record. Only two teams in the IL currently have more wins than the Lynx through the last day of April, with Buffalo (15) and Louisville (14). Curtis Pride drove in four runs, with a three-run home run and an rbi grounder in the fifth, as the Lynx overcame an early deficite to surge past the Red Wings, 8-4, giving Ottawa their 5th win in a row combined with losses by both the Bisons and SkyChiefs which moved the Lynx into second place.