Roanoke Times
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: SUNDAY, June 13, 1993 TAG: 9306140060
SECTION: SPORTS PAGE: E-6 EDITION: METRO
SOURCE: RAY COX
DATELINE: LENGTH: Long
It didn't start that way.
Initially, there were sleepless nights. Then, he began talking to himself, and the conversations became more and more ill-humored.
And, heaven forbid, he may have even cussed a few times.
Had the losing streak gone beyond the eight games it ultimately reached, the Salem Buccaneers right-hander might have considered discussing his problems with lamp posts and pigeons in the park.
But, as is characteristic of any good pitcher, Konuszewski maintained his composure.
"It actually got easier," he said. "Finally, as it went on, I realized that if you pitch well and still lose, there's nothing you can do."
At painful length, the streak came to a close. It would be difficult to fathom if Konuszewski - or anybody else - could have pitched much better than he did in beating Frederick 3-1 in a seven-inning game June 5. He threw six shutout innings, facing only two more than the minimum and surrendering but two hits before requiring relief help from Jeff McCurry.
As the skid continued, there were some agonizingly close calls. For one, there was the occasion when the Bucs led Winston-Salem 8-3 when Konuszewski left the game after five innings. The Spirits rallied for a 9-8 victory.
Konuszewski blamed himself.
"I threw a lot of pitches - I had 30 in the first inning - so I reached my pitch limit quickly and had to come out," he said. "If I had pitched better, I could have stayed in the game longer."
Another time, Salem led Durham by three runs and Konuszewski had a perfect game through four innings. Then, with a man on first in the fifth, a scorcher through the box banged off his pitching hand.
"I don't even remember seeing it," he said. "The next thing I knew, my hand was going numb."
Out of the game he came with a badly bruised hand. Durham came back to win that game. Konuszewski didn't miss any starts, but another chance for a victory eluded him.
One of the ways Konuszewski found to navigate these treacherous emotional waters was to talk to Bucs manager Scott Little and pitching coach Dave Rajsich. Both had been with him a year ago at Augusta, where he went 3-3 with a 2.31 earned run average in the South Atlantic League.
"They knew what I could do," he said. "They were always there for me."
At 1-8 with a 5.17 ERA, Konuszewski hasn't turned the corner safely just yet. But the signs are positive. Several of his recent starts have been good ones, and he has even come to view the netherworld streak in a positive light.
"Learning to deal with it will help me in the long run," he said.
\ OPEN THAT CHECKBOOK, SON: Billy Wagner, the Ferrum College left-hander who was drafted in the first round by the Houston Astros, continues to slog through contract negotiations with the National League club. If there is any comfort for Wagner, it is that he isn't alone.
None of the players drafted ahead of him has signed.
"Everybody's waiting on Rodriguez and Dreifort," Wagner said, referring to infielder Alex Rodriguez and pitcher Darren Dreifort, the first two players chosen. "People want to see what they get. They're going to break the bank, buddy."
Wagner, meanwhile, is showing some signs of impatience with the Astros.
"They told me to stay by the phone today," he said Thursday. "But I had better things to do."
So he decided to drive up the road from his house in Tannersville to Bluefield to take in a Group AA state quarterfinal game between Richlands and Jefferson Forest. Wagner hooked up with his college coach, Abe Naff, and his high school coach, Lou Peery, bought a hot dog and a soft drink and kicked back to enjoy the game just like any other high school fan.
\ HE'LL SEE MILES AND MILES OF TEXAS: Among those young amateurs to keep an eye on is Whitey Blankenship.
Blankenship, an outfielder who just completed his junior year at Narrows High School, was selected from a field of more than 500 players to compete in the four-team U.S. Olympic Sports Festival tournament July 21-31 in San Antonio, Texas. Blankenship, a member of the 16-man East team, is one of 64 players from around the country who will play in the tournament.
Players are chosen by a panel of high school coaches and representatives of the Major League Scouting Combine. Selected players were offered applications to Team USA after impressive showings at professional tryout camps last summer.
After the San Antonio tournament, 22 players will be invited to a camp in Tyler, Texas, the first week in August. Their number will be whittled to 18, at which point they will become the U.S. representatives at the World Youth Championships in Windsor, Ontario.
To get an idea of what kind of competition we're talking about here, Team USA alumni include Atlanta Braves pitcher John Smoltz, San Francisco Giants first baseman Will Clark and former Baltimore Orioles first-round pick Jeffrey Hammonds, who is considered a big-league superstar in waiting.
\ HEY, I NEVER ASKED FOR A WAKEUP CALL: Depending on who's talking, Cincinnati Reds general manager Jim Bowden is an oaf, a bounder, a snake in the grass and not very sweet.
Bowden, it will be recalled, is the cad who called Tony Perez bright and early one recent day to inform him that he should seek employment elsewhere. Perez, the beloved former Reds star, reacted poorly to the news, of course, and probably nobody had any more sympathy for him than Frederick Keys manager Pete Mackanin.
Mackanin, a nice man in addition to being a shrewd baseball guy, was two-plus years into a contract as manager of the Class AAA Nashville Sounds when the phone rang one morning last year.
The caller was Bowden, his boss. He had bad news.
"I've only got two things to say," Mackanin told The (Nashville) Tennessean. "At least he waited until 8:30 to call Tony instead of calling and waking him at 6:30, the way he did me. And Tony will get paid through the duration of his contract, which I was not."
Lovely guy, that Bowden. He must be on just about everybody's cocktail party list.
by CNB