Hey, Juan, hold up — your dingers are dangerous It’s raining baseballs!

Hey there, time traveller!
This article was published 28/05/2009 (6070 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current.

The good news? Goldeyes slugger Juan Diaz has his groove back.

The bad news? The team wishes he hadn’t found it in the middle of rush hour.

The Goldeyes’ designated hitter, assisted by a strong wind blowing out to left field, rained more than a dozen balls out onto Waterfront Drive during the team’s batting practice late Wednesday afternoon.

When the broken glass settled, at least three motorists reported sustaining damage from Diaz’s outburst. One reported a broken windshield, another a broken rear window and the third had a baseball crash through a side window.

The three motorists all complained to Goldeyes general manager Andrew Collier immediately after the incidents occurred, sometime between 4:30 and 4:45 p.m., while Diaz was in the batting cage. It was unclear Wednesday if other motorists came forward later to complain or if any pedestrians had been struck by balls.

Collier said the Goldeyes will pay for the repairs for the three motorists who complained.

He said the three damage reports on Wednesday equal, and maybe even exceed, the number of complaints the team received during the entire 2008 season from motorists along Waterfront Drive who reported their vehicles had been hit by baseballs.

"It wasn’t an act of God," Collier said. "It was an act of Juan."

Collier said there were "two, maybe three" similar incidents during all of last season.

A reporter counted 12 balls hit by Diaz, a pull hitter, during batting practice that cleared the left-field wall and mesh beyond it. But Collier said he also watched Diaz hit and estimated the number was maybe as high as twice that.

The mesh behind the left-field fence was erected about three years ago, precisely to keep home-run balls struck over the fence from falling on cars and pedestrians on Waterfront.

Collier said the mesh was placed in such a way that it catches the line-drive-type home runs that just clear the fence and which pose the highest risk. He said balls travelling high enough to clear the mesh generally also clear the street and bounce into the river.

But with the wind assist Wednesday, Diaz was hitting towering moon shots that were arcing directly down on traffic, which at that time of day was, as usual, bumper-to-bumper.

Goldeyes manager Rick Forney was throwing batting practice to Diaz at the time and he said he sensed the Cuban was hitting particularly well.

"It wasn’t just the way he was swinging the bat," Forney said. "You can hear it as well, the sound it’s making coming off the bat. BP (batting practice) was pretty loud today."

Diaz had no idea of the trouble he was causing.

"I wasn’t trying to hit them that hard," he said. "I was just trying to make contact.

"I wasn’t hitting them at cars on purpose."

Diaz pointed out he wasn’t the only one hitting homers to left field during batting practice.

That’s true, but only his were observed to hit the street when the Goldeyes were hitting.

It bears noting that Canwest Park actually preceded the section of Waterfront Drive in question, which runs behind the outfield scoreboard and fence and which was added by the city only after the ballpark was built.

The problem of balls raining down on streets that surround the cramped downtown lot upon which the park sits is as old as the facility itself. On the very first opening day — June 4, 1999 — a Goldeyes employee was struck by a foul ball hit during batting practice as she walked along Pioneer Avenue, which lines right field, before the game even started.

It was the first of many balls that fell on Pioneer that year and it led to the Goldeyes erecting a huge fence to relieve the problem. The problem was virtually eliminated later when the Goldeyes expanded the ballpark down the right-field line in 2003.

Ironically, Diaz’s outburst of power on Wednesday is actually overdue. The massive slugger was brought in to hit home runs this season, but has hit just two through 10 games.

"It can be dangerous for folks back there (beyond left field) at times," Forney said. "I know there’s a lot of cars and pedestrians back there and I don’t want anyone getting hit.

"But I got to say I do like when my guys are swinging the bat well in BP."

paul.wiecek@freepress.mb.ca

 

Goldeyes 7 RailCats 5

The Winnipeg Goldeyes, led by rightfielder Kevin West, put on an air show at Canwest Park Wednesday night, hitting three home runs with the aid of a stiff breeze blowing out to left field en route to a 7-5 win over the Gary Southshore RailCats.

West had two homers -- a three-run shot in the third inning and a two-run blast in the fifth inning -- and finished the night with six RBI. With four home runs on the season, West now leads the Northern League.

The win improves Winnipeg's season record to 8-3 and keeps them alone in first place.

The Fish now head out on the road for a seven-game road trip that will take them to Joliet for three games beginning Friday and then Kansas City for four games, starting Monday.