Poblanotes 52.3- Diary of Eugenio Asseldonk

[chicoruiz]

One of my Hispanic former teammates, whose English wasn’t the greatest, once said something that has stuck with me. “Baseball”, he commented, “is a tough town”.

I don’t know if that came out the way he meant it to, but it’s kind of stuck I my mind, especially after recent events in my career. Two years ago, I was a 20-game winner on a championship-level team in glamorous Las Vegas, making plenty of money and the idol of thousands of Nevada citizens (including a number of showgirls, but I’m not getting into that here). Now, just a little over a year later, I’m living in an Air B and B in El Paso, Texas, hoping to get some innings in a park that seems designed to drive me out of baseball completely.

Not that the Chilis are a horrible organization. They haven’t had much success in their ten-year history, but there are signs of life. Cano, their center fielder, is a legit superstar; I enjoy coming to the park every day just to see what he’ll do. There are other bats, and there seems to be at least some awareness that the pitching staff deserves the benefit of the doubt given what they have to face in our home games. Our general manger, Chico Ruiz, seems to be an amiable dunderhead, which is at least better than some of the toxic characters I’ve worked for in the past.

Now I just have to get healthy- I’m recovering for an ouchy oblique- and start the long hard climb back to where I was in 2050. I can’t wait to face Las Vegas this year; we’re in the same division so surely I’ll get my chance to get a little revenge on the team that tossed me onto the scrap heap prematurely.

Or maybe, I think to myself sometimes in the middle of the night, Vegas was right about me. Baseball, man… as a very wise man once said, it’s a tough town.

[mragland]

Looking forward to more of this.

The Chilis are, um, hot.

[recte44]

Love it. I overpaid him and shouldn’t have.

[lordtoffee]

Very creative use of a TN article.

[chicoruiz]

Asseldonk has moved into the starting rotation. I just hope things work out so that he gets his revenge start against Vegas.