The Nuthouse

The Wingnuts are back, and really — thank goodness. As one of the few people up in the press box (and of course the first to arrive) I won’t have to fight to get a good seat, I can open the window and I won’t have any representative from the Seattle Studs telling me to move because I’m in her “lucky seat.”

How did that lucky seat work out for you, anyway? Yeah, you lost. As a fan of a team which loses a lot, I can tell you that “lucky” anythings don’t work. Not lucky seats or lucky shirts or lucky days to skip class and watch the playoffs and not lucky salsa and Chipotle routines and not lucky gardening rituals. And definitely not lucky underwear. But we won’t have to worry about that today, since I’m in my usual seat and everybody will be OK with it.

I wanted to write on something I read about on an American Association message board. Apparently a few nights ago, Sioux City third baseman Juan Camacho was asked by manager Les Lancaster to lay down a bunt in a tight situation. He reluctantly complied, and after two poor attempts he hit a two-strike pitch for a home run.

Camacho is a power hitter, so it’s understandable why he was initially peeved over having to bunt. But he took his displeasure too far by having words for Lancaster as Camacho rounded third base. He supposedly said “I need respect” or something to that effect. After that, Camacho took his bat and glove and left the field.

Lancaster responded in a postgame interview by saying that Camacho was no longer a part of the team. That would have been a big blow to the Explorers, who are fighting for a playoff spot thanks in part to Camacho’s contributions. I don’t really know how or why, but apparently Camacho and Lancaster smoothed things over, cooler heads prevailed and Camacho remains with the team.

I bring this up because it appears Camacho turns into a less-than-attractive version of himself when he’s on the field. I’ve dealt with him twice and I was of the opinion that he’s a great guy. The first day of the season, I went down to Sioux City’s batting practice to talk to former Wichita State player Nick McCoola and Camacho came up and introduced himself. On one of Sioux City’s next visits, he offered to translate while I interviewed Latin pitcher Alexander Francisco. So by all indications, a nice guy.

Except then the story went that during an extra-inning game with the Wingnuts that Sioux City was leading by two runs, he told Wichita manager Kash Beauchamp, “If you’re going to score, score three so we can get out of here.” And with this latest incident, it just doesn’t look like Camacho is much of a team player. That disappoints me a bit since in my dealings with him I’ve come away impressed.

Also, last night Fort Worth designated hitter John Allen set an American Association record by hitting four home runs against El Paso in a 14-0 rout. Allen’s history-making night included a grand slam and he finished 5 for 5 with eight RBIs. He’s now batting .338 with 20 bombs and pretty much ruined my postseason All-Star ballot, since I voted for Jorge Alvarez at DH. But as we know from my midseason ballot, I screw those things up quite a bit.