From: AZarzour72@earthlink.net
Sent: Thursday, July 22, 1999 8:45 AM
To: BManWeaver@yahoo.com
Subject: Crazy All-Star Game
Hey Brandon, Drew here. Are you excited about college yet? Less than a month away, eh?
Dude, did you watch the All-Star Game last week. That was absolutely nuts. 15 innings! Six hours and nine minutes to finish the game! The commissioner was going nuts. I thought for awhile he was just going to call it over and declare it a tie. Wouldn't that have been something? Then the NL All-Stars score eight runs in the top of the 15th to win 15-7. What a classic. I couldn't help it. I stayed up to watch the whole darn thing.
I feel most sorry for the pitchers, especially Dodgers reliever Mark Guthrie. They had to leave him out there for more than five innings. At least he got a win for his efforts. I've met Mark a few times, and he's a nice guy and helpful. Unlike some of the guys who like the "haze the rooks" he's one who'll pass along advice that'll make you better.
Anyways, I guess you've seen my latest pitching line. I'm 4-1 since moving up to San Antonio. My ERA is 2.36 right now, better than it was at Great Falls! Get this, I'm averaging more than
14 strikeouts a game. That's turned a lot of heads, and they've actually talked about moving me up to Triple A sometime this season. That club is located in Albuquerque, New Mexico. Can you believe that? I keep getting further West.
I've even talked some with manager Davey Johnson on the phone. Wow, everything is happening so fast...
Thanks for the advice on how to handle the Josh Hamilton situation. I was really rattled after reading his comments in the paper that day, but I did what you said and just told all the reporters that he was right and that he should be getting more attention, etc. I just kept praising him and playing him up as a great teammate. That seemed to diffuse stuff. Josh and I don't talk a lot still, and he's been hanging out with some different folks of late. Even though the clubs will deny it officially, off the record they turn a blind eye to a lot of alcohol and drugs and stuff that players have access to, even us underaged folks. I see Josh hanging out in the team hotel room where the alcohol is usually stashed quite a bit. I just hope this doesn't wreck his career. He's off to such a good start.
Don't worry about me. I remember the time we stole beer and those cigars back when we were 14 and how sick we got that night trying to be cool by drinking and smoking (and how much trouble we got into with our folks). I believe it when my mom says she prayed every day that the taste of alcohol and cigarettes would so disgust me that I'd get sick just being around it. She's right. I really can't drink the stuff. My temptation these days is just spending this newfound money that I have -- and eating poorly and treating my body poorly, etc.
Anyways, enough about me. I want to hear how life is in Bunn this summer? How are you and Shannon doing? Think you'll stay together since she's going to App State and you'll be at Carolina? Long-distance relationships are tough, eh?
Take care, my friend. Don't forget about me.
"Z Man"