The Alaska Baseball League @ Alaskan-Legacies.com

By Ken Peters
ASSOCIATED PRESS

TEMPE, Ariz. – Jeff Weaver hasn’t had much chance to ditch his little brother this spring, since Jered Weaver’s locker is just across from his in the Angels’ clubhouse.

Not that Jeff wants to anyway – the lanky right-handed pitchers have become best pals.

That wasn’t always the case.

“We were six years apart, and when I was in high school and he was nine or 10 years old, he was kind of the nagging little brother who wanted to go everywhere, hang out with the big boys,” Jeff said.

“It was kind of that usual sibling love-hate relationship.”

Jered grinned and recalled that all he really wanted back then was some mobility.

“Because of the age difference, we didn’t really hang out, didn’t go to school together or anything,” he said. “But when he was 16, I really wanted to hang out because he had just gotten his driver’s license. Of course, he didn’t want to hang out with his 10-year-old brother.”

They’ve spent a lot of time together this spring.

“I get to see him in action, we get to hang together, go to dinner,” Jeff said. “We’ve spent the most time that we ever have together, because we’d always been on different schedules in different places.

“So this has been really fun for me, and hopefully, we’ll have it for years to come. We’ll just have to wait and see.”

Said Jered: “The fact he’s here, we don’t have to talk on the phone. If I have a problem, or if I don’t understand something that’s going on in camp, I can just walk over and ask him.”

Jeff, 29, last month signed a one-year, $8.325 million contract free agent contract with the Angels, with another $600,000 available in performance bonuses.

After going 14-11 with three complete games, two shutouts and a 4.22 ERA in 34 starts for the Dodgers last season, he is set to follow 2005 AL Cy Young winner Bartolo and John Lackey in the Angels’ rotation.

Jered, 23, was a standout at Long Beach State selected by the Angels with the 12th pick in the 2004 free agent draft. After waiting 11 months, he finally agreed to a minor league contract last June for a club-record signing bonus of $4 million. He is slated to begin this season in the minors.

It’s obvious the two are related. Jeff is 6-foot-5, 200 pounds, Jered 6-7, 205. Both look a bit like California surfer dudes, with their long, brownish-blond hair.

Jeff noted another similarity.

“When I finally did get to see him pitch, it was eerie because we’re so similar, the mechanics,” Jeff said. “I’d never worked with him on mechanics or anything, just on things like approach and what he might want to throw.

“But until I saw him pitch, I didn’t realize there were so many similarities. It’s easy for us to talk about pitching because we are so close in certain things we do.”

There are differences, of course.

“Personality-wise, Jeff is quiet, more soft-spoken, and Jered is a little more outgoing. Jeff is stoic on the mound and Jered, maybe because of his youth, shows a lot of emotion,” Angels pitching coach Bud Black said.

“I’ve enjoyed them in the short time we’ve had them. They’re very engaging to talk to. And the one thing they definitely have in common is that they both love pitching and they’re both very competitive.”

Despite the age gap, it’s obvious the brothers always have been proud of each other.

Jeff talked about Jered being “really something to watch on the basketball court” in high school. Jered spoke of how his older brother inspired him by walking on at Fresno State, making the team, then going on to the big leagues.

Even when they were younger, they had some good times together. When Jeff made it to the majors, he would have Jered, then in high school, visit him.

“He would come out for about 10 days and stay with me and get to come in the clubhouse and hang out with the guys and kind of see how it all worked at the big league level,” Jeff said. “I think all those experiences helped him through his college career, kind of understanding how difficult the game is, and dealing with adversities.

“He’s a lot further along than I was at this time, that’s for sure. His second-best pitch is his changeup, and that’s the one that’s still a work in progress for me.”

Jeff grinned and added, “And he’s always had a level head, a good demeanor. That’s something that took me a while.”

Freshman Allan Dykstra tied a school record with three home runs to lead Wake Forest to a 14-6 rout of Davidson last night at Wilson Field. Wake Forest improved to 20-7 overall, while Davidson dropped to 10-14.

Dykstra went 3 for 5 with a solo home run in the fourth inning, a three-run shot in the fifth and another solo homer in the ninth. Dykstra tied the school record shared by eight players. Former All-America Jamie D’Antona was the last Deacon to hit three home runs in a game. D’Antona hit three against Tennessee Tech on May 26, 2001.

Dykstra was one of six Wake Forest starters with at least two hits. Junior Matt Antonelli, leading off for the first time this season, went 2 for 5 with a run scored, an RBI and two doubles. Freshman Dustin Hood went 2 for 6 with an RBI and three runs scored. Redshirt junior Brendan Enick went 2 for 3 with a run scored, junior Brian Shust went 2 for 6 with a run scored and RBI, and freshman Evan Ocheltree went 2 for 4 with a run scored, a triple and three RBIs.

Wake Forest scored at least one run in eight of the nine innings.

Wake Forest 212 151 101 - 14 16 1Davidson 230 010 000 - 6 8 3

Byrum, Young (2), Souders (5), Ellis (6), Hunter (8) and Jones. West, Meade (5), Kayne (6), Lennox (7) and Obermeier. WP - Young (1-0). LP - West (3-4). SV - Hunter (9). 2B - Antonelli 2 (WFU); Hood (WFU), Enick (WFU), Shust (WFU), Ocheltree (WFU), Wilson (D), Eden (D). 3B - Ocheltree (WFU). HR - Dykstra 3 (WFU). Records - Wake Forest 20-7; Davidson 10-14

March 30, 2006

Junior outfielder Jared McGuire and the BC baseball team open a three-game series with Duke at Campanelli Stadium in Brockton, Mass. on Friday, March 30. Friday’s contest (3:30 p.m.) marks the baseball program’s first ACC home game. McGuire, the 2005 Big East Player of the Year, is currently hitting at a .264 clip with 16 RBI and two home runs. BC and Duke square off at 1 p.m. on Saturday and at noon on Sunday.

Q: With a 14-10-1 record right now, what would you say have been the keys to your team’s successes and struggles?

A: Well, we’ve struggled and that partly comes from this being our first year in the ACC. Obviously, it’s going to be tough. In our first two series, at NC State and at Wake Forest, we got swept. That was tough, but I think it’s just a matter of us getting comfortable in the ACC. I think we found that [comfort level] last weekend when we swept Virginia Tech. Sometimes, our success comes from our bats - when we’re hitting well that day - or from our pitching. But we have yet to put the two together. Once we do that and our chemistry is there, I think we’ll be all right.

Q: Last season, you earned Big East Player of the Year honors. Coming into this year, did you feel any extra pressure? What goals did you set for yourself?

A: I felt a little pressure, but it wasn’t anything I couldn’t handle. I came in with the same expectations as I did last year - to hit the ball and to get hits. I’ve struggled a little at first, but it’s starting to come around now. Hopefully, I’ll finish off a good year.

Q: Tell us about your experience playing baseball in Alaska this past summer - how was the competition?

A: Being from the Cape [Harwich, Mass.], I could have played in the Cape [Cod Baseball] League. But, I wanted to have that experience in Alaska. I’ll probably never get to go to Alaska again. It was fun, but there was a lot of traveling involved. There are only six teams and the closest team was about three and a half hours away. The experience was definitely worth a lifetime. Not that many people get to go up there. It was good baseball, and it was a lot of fun. It was high-caliber, Division I players. They had players from schools like Pepperdine and Florida State. It was definitely top-of-the-line baseball.

Q: While in Alaska, what did you do to keep busy when you weren’t on the field?

A: I was living in a place that has become a big tourist attraction - it’s a big fishing area. The salmon were crazy there, and people flocked to town for those three months when I was there. My host dad was a commercial fisherman, so I learned a lot of the trade of fishing and salmon. I lived on a big peninsula in the town of Soldotna, and the team I played for was called the Kenai Oilers.

JackHammers ink former LSU infielder
JOLIET — The Joliet JackHammers signed former Louisiana State University Tiger Blake Gill this week as they continue to build their 2006 roster.

Gill played college baseball at Louisiana State University in Baton Rouge, La. He was an infielder who started at least one game at third base, second base, first base and designated hitter in 2005.

Gill played in 237 games in his four-year career with 217 starts. On May 22, 2005, he tied a career high with four hits in a division-clinching win at Mississippi State. He was instrumental in the Tigers 6-5 series opening win over Kentucky, where he lined a two-run double in the seventh inning which proved to be the game winner.

In his four year career at LSU, Gill batted .316 (279-for-883) with 46 doubles, 10 triples, 18 home runs, 170 RBIs, 158 runs scored and 19 stolen bases.

Gill was a baseball and football letterman and an all-state and all-area selection at Manatee High School in Bradenton, Fla. In 1999, he batted .496 with 12 home runs and 65 RBIs. He helped his team win the 1997 District 6A championship.

Gill was born October 26, 1981 in Bradenton, FL. He stands 5-10, weighs 190 pounds and bats left-handed and throws right-handed. He was selected by the Cleveland Indians in the 37th round of the 2004 Major League Baseball Draft.

“Blake was one of the top players in the very prestigious Southeastern Conference the last four years at LSU,” said JackHammers Director of Player Development Nick Belmonte. “Blake is known as a hard-nose player that can play many positions. He’s exactly the type of player that we look for.”

FIRST BASEMAN LOOKS LIKE LEADER
Royals quickly win over veteran

By BOB DUTTON
The Kansas City Star

SURPRISE, Ariz. — First baseman Doug Mientkiewicz knew all about the Royals from his years with the Twins. So, no, they weren’t high on his list last winter when he pondered his options as a free agent.

“You don’t understand,” he explained. “I’ve played against this team for five or six years. Our philosophy against (the Royals) was always just stay close — they’ll screw it up.

“Every starter they would send out against us, we knew they were going to walk eight guys. We knew if we kept putting pressure on them, they’d crack because they’re scared of contact.

“When the other team is scared of contact, we’re going to win games. We’re going to go first to third for three hours in a row. That’s exactly what we did against the Royals.”

So how did Mientkiewicz get here? Where on a March day, midway through spring camp, he could look around the clubhouse — the Royals’ clubhouse — and pronounce himself content?

More than that, actually.

“I feel like I did back in Minnesota,” he declared. “The guys in the room are great. We work together well. We work hard. The manager has fun, but you also understand that you have to play hard for him.

“To sum it up, I have freedom to fail.”

Mientkiewicz knows that sounds strange, especially to a fan or any nonplayer, so he downshifted into a more complete explanation.

“When you have the freedom to fail as a player,” he said, “you play better. You’re not under scrutiny all of the time. You don’t feel like you have to prove yourself every day.

“When you feel like you can screw up and still have a chance to play, it’s a great feeling as a player. I’m extremely grateful for the fact that they thought highly enough of me to bring me in here.

“They weren’t my first choice.”

OK, back to that. How did he wind up here?

“Allard,” he said simply.

The Royals’ offseason shopping list included a defensive first baseman, preferably one who could contribute offensively. They quickly zeroed in on Mientkiewicz, a former Gold Glove winner who became available when the Mets declined to pick up a $3.75 million contract for 2006.

Mientkiewicz, 31, figured to fall into the Royals’ price range after two straight disappointing years. He batted just .240 last season in 87 games for the Mets while spending two tours on the disabled list — for a strained hamstring and an ailing lower back.

“He fell right in with the direction of where we’re going,” general manager Allard Baird said. “I still felt there was some offensive value there if he got back to being patient at the plate. And, of course, the defense.”

So Baird arranged a December meeting in the Florida Keys and made his pitch.

Mientkiewicz arrived willing to listen — no more. He wasn’t desperate. He had other offers. But he was open to the idea of playing for manager Buddy Bell. He also recognized that the Royals were trying to inject a veteran presence into the clubhouse.

Still, these were the Royals, the sad-sack franchise that he viewed so often from across the diamond while playing for the Twins. But the more Baird spoke, the more Mientkiewicz heard Twins general manager Terry Ryan.

“I respect Terry Ryan more than any man in the world behind my old man,” Mientkiewicz said. “He never lied to me. He always spoke the truth.

“That was Allard. He was up-front and honest with me from the start. He told me how it was and how it was going to be. Whether I chose him or not, he was willing to take time out of his busy schedule to come talk to my wife and me.

“Once I spoke to him, there was no doubt in my mind as to where we were going.”

Mientkiewicz agreed Dec. 16 to a one-year contract for $1.85 million that contains bonus clauses, based on games and plate appearances, that could add $700,000 more. He could have made more elsewhere.

Still, he chose the Royals.

“Honesty is very unusual (in this business),” he said. “It should be the norm, and it’s the exception.”

A scout charting the Royals for another team this spring suggests Mientkiewicz could have the greatest impact this season among all of Baird’s veteran additions.

The reasoning goes like this: Mientkiewicz should get regular duty if he rediscovers the line-drive swing that enabled him to bat .300 or better in two of his final three full seasons in Minnesota.

If so, his defensive abilities, in addition to fielding his own position, will aid shortstop Angel Berroa and third baseman Mark Teahen — and therefore the entire pitching staff. It would also allow the Royals to employ injury-prone Mike Sweeney, almost exclusively, as a designated hitter.

“He’s going to help a lot,” Bell said. “That’s the reason we brought him in. He’s played first base more than anyone we have on our team right now. Mike’s been hurt. Matty (Stairs) hasn’t played an awful lot of first base.

“Doug is a guy who can really help solidify our infield — and not only help us at first base. He’s an active guy. He talks a lot.”

Especially to the club’s young pitchers.

“What we tell these young guys all of the time,” Mientkiewicz said, “is just throw the ball over the plate. We’re going to catch the ball. We can’t defend against you guys going 0-2 on everybody, then back to 3-2 and a walk.

“What happens then is you turn good, defensive teams into crap. Because you’re out there not knowing when they’re going to put the ball in play.”

Example: Earlier this spring, Mientkiewicz asked a young pitcher how he did that day. The answer — two scoreless innings — triggered a sharp response.

“That’s not what I asked,” he barked. “Did you get accomplished what you wanted to get accomplished? It’s not results-oriented. Not now. Did you have a plan when you went into your outing? Did you work on your slider? Did you work on first-pitch strikes? That’s what I’m asking.

“Have a plan when you go out there.”

Mientkiewicz has his own plan, too. That’s a necessity after two disappointing years.

“I used to approach spring training,” he said, “as something to get through without getting hurt. I just wanted to be fine when the bell rings.

“But after last year, I had to get my confidence back up to where I knew I could hit at this level again. This year, I feel I’m doing things right that I did in the past — in Minnesota, where I was comfortable. Everything is fluid. It’s not piecey like it was last year.”

Mientkiewicz is batting .478 this spring with 11 hits and five walks in 28 at-bats. But when he whiffed, uncharacteristically, earlier this week on a hard grounder, he sought extra time in defensive drills to “work on closing up the five hole.”

That, too, is reflective of a growing comfort level.

“It comes from freedom,” he said. “I don’t feel that if I have a bad BP that I’m not going to play. I don’t have to look over my shoulder. It helps me, too, that Buddy’s seen me play when he was in Cleveland. These guys have seen me play. I’ve played against most of these guys in the room.

“They respect me as person, and that goes a long way. Walking in here was like a breath of fresh air. To come into this clubhouse every morning, I can’t wait to get up and get here.

“I didn’t have that feeling last year. I was so bad that I didn’t enjoy the game at all. But here, every time I get here, there are a bunch of good guys to get around, and you have a good time. You work, but then you’re done and you go home but you can’t wait for tomorrow. You’re excited to come to the park.”

All of that came out in one breath. Effortlessly. With Mientkiewicz, words wash past like a steady breeze. And keep coming.

“This team is going in the right direction,” he insisted. “They’re doing things small-market teams need to do. You can’t just throw money out and get players. You have to do background checks.

“For guys like me, that’s huge. Because nothing I do, on paper, stares out at you. You have to watch me for a couple of years to figure out what I do best.

“I think it’s the same thing with a guy like (Mark) Grudzielanek. Grud doesn’t do anything that makes you say, ‘Wow,’ but he can play.

“Allard brought in guys who, if you come watch us play two nights a year, you’re not going to understand what we do. But if you could see us 81 times a year … we’ll grow on you.

“We may not be the best players — guys who hit for the highest average or hit the most homers — but one thing about us is we’re going to give our best effort every single night. What happens might be good or bad, but we’re survivors. And you can win with guys like that.”

With two days left in the 2002 ABL season, the Goldpanners needed a victory to clinch a berth in the NBC World Series in Wichita, Kansas.

The Panners and Bucs were tied heading into the 14th inning. Scott Robinson, currently in the Astros organization, comes to bat with Grant Rogers on second base.

View Video Clip Here

Scott Robinson 2001-02 Goldpanners

July 25, 2002 vs. Anchorage Bucs

Credits:

Broadcaster - Gero von Dehn
Camera, Production - Todd Dennis

Video courtesy PannerVision, Alaska Goldpanners inc.  http://www.goldpanners.com

RITUALS; Baseball Under the Midnight Sun

By TIMOTHY EGAN

Published: June 25, 2004
New York Times

IN the first inning, a routine fly ball drifted above the left fielder, who, positioning himself just right in the grass, held up his mitt — and then lost the ball in the sun. It was 10:40 p.m. Attribute the error to the solstice light, still going strong at the start of the 99th annual Midnight Sun Baseball Game.

On the longest day of the year, a bull moose adds nearly a pound of growth to its antlers, patrons of the Howling Dog Saloon play volleyball at closing time, and several thousand people jam into a ballpark at the edge of Fairbanks to watch men play baseball through the middle of the night.

The lights never come on. Of course, they don’t have to. The sun sets at 12:47 a.m., then reappears barely two hours later. In the golden twilight, it is baseball at 64 degrees north latitude.

Some people come for the game. The athletes are mostly college age, playing without pay to sharpen their skills in the summer-long Alaska Baseball League. A number of major leaguers — Tom Seaver, Jason Giambi and Brett Boone among them — have played in this midnight classic.

But most people are here just because they can be here, sitting in beach clothes on a still summer night, about 160 miles from the Arctic Circle.

‘’There’s nothing like it,'’ said Bill Stroecker, 84, a Fairbanks lifer whose father played in the first game in 1906. For Mr. Stroecker, there is an added amenity. He gets to blow his trumpet with a trio of old friends — the Frigid Aires, they call themselves — playing swing music in the embrace of summer light on the infield before the game starts.

When the first pitch was thrown on Monday, the temperature was in the mid-80’s; hot enough to sweat, still. The mosquitoes were busy, but their presence was mitigated by $2 beers and the organ chord strike-up of Bob Dylan’s ‘’Like a Rolling Stone,'’ warbling through ancient speakers.

Alaskans like to put up a hardy front about how much cold, darkness and misery they can take, particularly in Fairbanks, which has — they say — the biggest temperature range of any city on the planet. The coldest day ever recorded here was 66 below zero. The hottest was 99 degrees. The swing of 165 degrees makes it hard to plan a garden, to say the least. But it also makes for some monumental mood changes.

They profess to love winter here, but in truth, they crave the daylight, never more so than in June, when all of Alaska seems to be solar charged, hopped up on ultraviolet energy.

While the hometown Alaska Goldpanners and the visiting Kenai Oilers were playing through their first innings, revelers downtown were eating, drinking, dancing, swimming in the Chena River and strutting in the big star’s grip at the Midnight Sun Festival. People walked past stores like Guns & More Guns Etc. and Arctic Wonder Gifts as they enjoyed the party of light. It could have been noon.

‘’People are happier this time of year, no doubt about it,'’ said Tesha Mulkey, a Fairbanks resident who was with her Irish setter, Bruce. ‘’And with the light, you don’t seem to need that much sleep.'’

The sleep issue is the subject of some debate. In the winter, of course, people hibernate, some sleeping 10 hours or more in the icy darkness. In summer, powered by the sun, many Alaskans say that they need only a few hours of sack time, while others complain that they never get a good rest because of the persistent light.

‘’It’s almost too much daylight,'’ said James Oden, a Texan, who is finishing his first year in Alaska while stationed at Eielson Air Force Base in Fairbanks. ‘’I'm only getting about five hours of sleep a night. But it’s better than the winter. Then, my wife and I were like, ‘Whoa, what did we get ourselves into?’ ‘’

Oh, the winters, when Fairbanks gets only 3 hours 42 minutes of daylight at the depth, when the average January temperature is 10 below, when the ice fog can sit on town and induce a frigid claustrophobia, when everyone wears a uniform of unisex, multilayered mufti — enough insulation to pass the strictest building code in Minnesota.

Through winter, people count the added hours of daylight like pennies in a household’s last coin jar; the progression is broadcast on television news and featured prominently in the paper: today, we added five more minutes of light! It comes in dribs and drabs, a few minutes here and there at the edges, and then it surges in, 10 minutes a day, a leap every 24 hours.

People don’t kill themselves at a higher rate in winter or summer, said Bill Rockwell, a paramedic with the Fairbanks Fire Department. It’s in the early spring when winter is over in most of the United States, but the ice on the Chena River has still not broken up, that suicides spike, he said.

‘’It’s the end of a lot of people’s rope,'’ Mr. Rockwell said. ‘’They can’t wait anymore for warmth and light. Me, I’m just busy around the house. And come the solstice I’m working house projects till midnight.'’

F INALLY, it’s June, when it never really gets dark.

‘’This is payback, our reward,'’ said Ralph Miller, who came to Fairbanks in 1962 and never left. He is retired from the airlines. At the Midnight Sun Festival he was swapping stories with another old airline employee, recalling when Alaskan commercial pilots used to play the harmonica for passengers.

Back at the game, a Goldpanners slugger, Mark Lissman, sent a fastball over the left field fence and into the parking lot of the Fairbanks Curling Club, giving the home team a 2-0 lead. An hour later, just before midnight, the sun touched the horizon to the north, but the light remained strong, and there were no complaints from players about visibility.

At midnight came a sacred ritual. The game was halted as a woman with long blond hair and wearing flip-flops walked to the infield, a microphone in hand. Everyone stood and fell silent. She sang the ‘’Alaska Flag Song'’:
Eight stars of gold on a field of blue,

Alaska’s flag, may it mean to you,

the blue of the sea, the evening sky.

The mountain lakes and the flowers nearby.
THE stands were still packed.

To the north, people were gathering at Eagle Summit and cheering. From that high point, they could look into the Arctic Circle, where the sun was dipping but would never fall below the horizon.

In town, people were playing golf or tending their gardens (yes, they can grow tomatoes in the intense months of summer), or strolling around, somewhat bleary-eyed in the Day-Glo hours after midnight.

At Growden Memorial Park, the Goldpanners took advantage of sloppy play by the Oilers’ infield to put up some crooked numbers, stretching their lead.

Past 1 a.m., children were still eating cotton candy, teenagers were still flirting and fluttering at cellphone calls, adults were still drinking beer and arguing a call by an umpire. Few people were yawning. Take that back: visitors from Outside, as Alaskans call everyone who doesn’t live here, were yawning.

The sunset was frozen to the north, a still-life of mauve. A few light clouds started to brighten, taking on the colors of a sunrise less than two hours away.

‘’In all of sports, there is nothing that can match this game,'’ said Ed Cheff, the manager of the Goldpanners. ‘’Its history is special. The weather is great. The atmosphere is fantastic. Of course, I don’t get much sleep. I get by on four or five hours a night this time of year.'’

The game ended just before 1:30 a.m., with the Goldpanners winning 9-1. The temperature at game’s end was 73 degrees. The crowd, which started out at about 3,500, and hadn’t thinned by much, applauded, stood and cheered — for themselves, for the game, for the shortest night of the year, for Alaska.

Some did not want to leave the stands, going home to a day when there would be a few seconds less daylight.

‘’You enjoy every minute of this,'’ said Mr. Stroecker, who has lived his entire life in Fairbanks, ‘’because from here on out, it goes downhill a little bit every day.'’

Through Tuesday, Dave Bush had allowed one run and struck out seven in nine spring innings. (Morry Gash/AP)

SCOTTSDALE, Ariz. — Dave Bush graduated from Wake Forest University with a double major in psychology and sociology. From all indications, the competition for a spot in the Brewers’ rotation isn’t about to psych him out.

After all the talk about Bush being locked in a battle with Dana Eveland and Rick Helling for the No. 5 spot in the Milwaukee rotation, Bush has shown no signs of wilting under competitive pressure. In Bush’s three glowing appearances this spring, it took 8 2/3 innings for an opponent to score against him, and his 1.00 ERA left Bush tied for second in the Cactus League in that department at the start of the week.

Prized prospect Zach Jackson has received a lot of attention as a key part of the Lyle Overbay deal with Toronto, but Bush is providing evidence that the Brewers got two quality arms — as well as outfielder Gabe Gross — in that transaction.

“He has been consistently good every time he has taken the mound,” Brewers manager Ned Yost said of Bush. “The consistency from one outing to the next sticks out.”

Bush, who had an up-and-down tenure with the Blue Jays before coming to Milwaukee, worked three perfect innings in his last start before the Padres finally put up a run in the fourth on a leadoff triple and a two-out single. Bush fanned four on Monday and demonstrated that he has already gotten a feel for his offspeed pitches as he builds arm strength to deliver a live fastball.

“Finding the grip and the slot on those offspeed pitches generally takes longer,” Bush said. “But this year, those things have come around for me a little quicker. The earlier you can take that onto the field, the better off you are.”

With right-hander Ben Sheets’ timetable slowed because of a back muscle strain, the Brewers are finding that there’s some safety in numbers. Having Bush in Brewers camp this year gives Yost another viable option for the starting rotation.

“With everything we do, we try to create depth — depth in the infield, depth in the outfield, depth in your starting pitching,” Yost said.

Bush isn’t allowing himself to get caught up in the conversation about which guys will break camp as the five Milwaukee starters. As long as he keeps getting people out, the role assignment will take care of itself.

“I don’t let it affect me one way or the other,” Bush said. “The bottom line is that I have to pitch well, regardless. If you get caught up in thinking you have to do such and such to make the rotation, it takes away the focus. I’m just thinking about mixing pitches and throwing strikes — those are the things within my control. The competitive part is based on getting people out, and then, wherever I end up is where I end up.”

Bush, 26, burst onto the Major League scene with a flourish in 2004. The Blue Jays brought him up on July 2 from Triple-A Syracuse and, three weeks later, he took a no-hitter into the eighth at Oakland before current Brewers teammate Damian Miller singled.

Bush finished that year 5-4 with a 3.69 ERA in 16 starts, and he projected as a prominent member of Toronto’s rotation for 2005. But when he went winless in his first 10 starts, Bush was sent back to Triple-A to work out some flaws. He returned to Toronto and finished 5-11 with a 4.49 ERA.

The Brewers hope that they’ll see the Bush that posted eight quality starts for Toronto in 2004 before encountering some rocky times last year.

Three Cactus League starts don’t tell everything, but they do suggest that a fresh beginning in a different league might be just what Bush needed.

Robert Falkoff is a reporter for MLB.com. This story was not subject to the approval of Major League Baseball or its clubs.

Four people escape serious injuries / Passenger Relives Crash

Ed Cheff, field manager of the Goldpanners, shook his head as he watched paramedics treat the brothers near the left field batting cage at Mulcahy. “I thought he was gonna land in the (baseball) field,'’ Cheff said. “Four people lived through that? I don’t believe it.'’

ANCHORAGE, Alaska — A small airplane with four people aboard crash-landed between two fields where a baseball game and soccer match were in progress. There were no serious injuries.

The pilot and two passengers aboard the single-engine Cessna 207 Skywagon, operated by Spernak Airways, were taken to hospitals with minor injuries. The fourth person in the plane, Seth Siver, walked away.

No one on the ground was injured in the Thursday night crash.

The wreck happened during the third inning of a minor-league game between the Anchorage Bucs and the Fairbanks Goldpanners with about 500 people in attendance.

Siver said the engine died and the plane was steered onto the running track between the baseball game in one stadium and a coed soccer game in another.

The plane then hit a fence at the north end of the track, flipping once and coming to rest on its belly.

The duty officer at the Federal Aviation Administration’s operation center said the plane was bound for Merrill Field in Anchorage. He did not know where the flight originated.

Passenger relives crash at stadium

NTSB REPORT: Right-wing fuel tank nearly empty; left was almost full.

By PETER PORCO
Anchorage Daily News

(Published: August 7, 2003)

Seconds before the crash at Mulcahy Park, Marc Fisher looked out the window from his seat on the left side of the plane, taking in the stadium where a baseball game was in progress.

“I was watching this outfielder and he was looking at me, and I was looking at him. And we were gliding along, and it was just surreal,” Fisher said Wednesday.

“It was weird. I almost wanted to wave at him. It was just a goofy thing.”

The silent, powerless plane with three others aboard hit the running track of the Anchorage Football Stadium, clipped its left wing on a chain-link fence and pinwheeled into a concrete embankment.

“It was incredibly violent,” said Fisher, a 42-year-old firefighter from Colorado Springs, Colo., who spoke from his brother’s home in Eagle River. “My ankle snapped the second we hit. My seat may have been busted. I had seat belts on, but I ended up in the luggage.”

The crash at Mulcahy on the evening of July 31 gave Fisher a dislocated ankle, several broken ribs, a shiner and multiple bruises and cuts. His brother, Ronald Fisher, head of a physical therapy clinic, came away with two fractures to his upper right arm.

Pilot Brian Mason and a third passenger, Seth Siver of Wasilla, were uninjured.

The National Transportation Safety Board has issued a preliminary report on the crash that says the plane’s right-wing fuel tank, which the pilot used throughout the trip as he flew from Merrill across Cook Inlet to Beluga to pick up the Fisher brothers and Siver and back, contained less than a gallon of fuel at the time of the crash.

The left-wing fuel tank, used routinely as a backup by the pilot, had 30 gallons left out of a maximum 36.5 gallons, according to the report.

The NTSB report does not say whether the pilot tried to switch from the right tank to the left tank when the plane lost power over the Anchorage shoreline.

The report says the pilot told investigators he had been flying a different Spernak Airways plane for most of the day and that the Cessna that crashed had been flown by another pilot.

When Mason, who is not named in the report but who was identified by the Federal Aviation Administration last week as the pilot, took over the Cessna for the flight to Beluga, he “did not visually check the fuel quantity in the right wing fuel tank, and that the entire round-trip flight was flown with the fuel selector valve selected to the right fuel tank,” according to what he told the NTSB investigator.

Mason could not be reached Wednesday.

Michael Spernak, owner of Spernak Airways, said he had not seen the NTSB report and would defer to the agency for comments. He said Mason has been flying for his company for about a half-dozen years.

The Fisher brothers had spent two days fishing at Chuit River Lodge before the flight. Siver, a 29-year-old auto mechanic, had been working at the lodge.

The Cessna took off about 7:45 p.m. from Beluga Airport, according to the NTSB report. Less than 30 minutes later, at about 800 feet elevation, the engine began losing power. Mason gave it a momentary boost with an auxiliary fuel pump, but then it died.

“We were just cruising along and we just cleared the ocean and were just over downtown Anchorage when it died,” Marc Fisher said. “Ron and I are both sitting in back. The pilot tried to start it again, and it caught and then it died completely.”

The plane’s forward momentum slowed sharply.

“We started dropping right away,” Fisher said. “It looked like a city full of buildings. I don’t know how he found the spot he found. There was people everywhere. Every road was busy. It just looked like there’s no way to go, nowhere to land. It was scary, buddy.

“Ten, 15 seconds from landing, my brother and I both looked at each other and said, ‘We’re screwed,’ ” Fisher said.

Mason managed to guide the plane down to a spot between a baseball game on his left, a soccer match on his right, and four other baseball games behind him.

Days later, when the adrenaline finally subsided, the brothers compared notes. “Screwed” — a paraphrase, the brothers admitted — meant to Ronald, “It’s a tough place to land.” To Marc, it translated as “We’re dead.”

“I’ve been going through my plane-crash dreams every night,” Fisher said. “I relive that last few minutes and my whole body will convulse from that impact, and I’m in a cold sweat.

“The good news,” he said, “is I get to relive it.”

Daily News reporter Peter Porco can be reached at pporco@adn.com or 257-4582.