Oregon daily emerald. (Eugene, Or.) 1920-2012, July 01, 1997, Page 5, Image 5

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    ON THE TUBE
Major League Baseball
Atlanta vs. NY Yankees,
TBS (3), 4:30p.m.
‘itfimiifiirninniiimirnnniiiniminnnnnnf
Emerald
1997 EMS BASEBALL
Poohs leading the way
In his third
season with
the Eugene
Emeralds,
Pooh Hines
leads in the
dugout as well
as the plate
OVER THE YEARS
■ 1995: Drafted
in the 47th-round
draft by the
Atlanta Braves and
batted .242 for
Eugene in 44
games
■ 1996: Led
Northwest League
with a .352 batting
average and 10
extra-base hits
through the first
21 games
■ 1997: After 13
games, Hines
leads the Emeralds
with three home
runs and a .444
on-base
percentage
By Joel Hood
Freelance Sports Reporter
Zachary “Pooh” Hines can’t remember ex
actly where his quirky nickname came from.
“It seems like I’ve been called that since
birth,” Hines said. “All my life, through high
school and grade school, I’ve just always
been Pooh to people.”
But Hines can remember the last time he
felt this good and this relaxed at the plate. It
was last season when he was the Northwest
League’s hottest hitter through June.
Through the first 21 games last season, the
Eugene Emeralds’ second baseman lead his
team and the league with a .351 batting aver
age and 10 extra base hits. But as the Ems'
season unfolded, a severe thumb injury
forced Hines to the bench for the remainder
of 1996.
“That was hard to deal with last year,”
Hines said. “I had gotten off to a real good
start, and then I tore my thumb up sliding
into second base. It’s hard coming back from
an injury like that.”
In July, the Georgia native elected to have
season-ending surgery to repair the ligament
damage in his thumb. He also decided to re
turn home to be with family and friends and
begin a long road of rehabilitation.
Hines’ off-season regimen included an in
tense weight training schedule, a strict run
ning program and hours in front of the tele
vision watching the big-leaguers battle it
out.
“I trained a lot more this past off-season
than I had before,” Hines said. “ I lifted a lot
more weights and ran a lot more. It’s hard
work getting back after an injury. ”
As hard as it was to sit through the Ems’
division championship season, Hines’ in
jury may have been the best thing for him.
Turn to HINES, Page 8
CHAD PATTESON/Emerald
ccIt’s hard to get
close to guys on
the team. I’ve
learned to just
take care of
myself; that’s the
only way you’re
going to make
it”
Pooh Hines
Ems' Outfielder
Pooh Hines,
Eugene's third
year outfielder,
stands on the
steps of the Ems’
dugout at Civic
Stadium during the
their 5-2 loss to
the Salem-Keizer
Volcanoes. Hines
sat out the game
with an injury, but
went 1-for-7 in
Eugene’s three
game homestand
against Salem
Keizer last
weekend.
Ems continue slump, push losing streak to eight games
■ EMERALDS: Salem-Keizer outscored
Eugene 17-4 during its three-game sweep
of the Emeralds last weekend
By Ryan Frank
Associate Editor
Emeralds’ outfielder Pooh Hines called Eugene’s
current state the lowest in his three years with the
team, and manager Jim Saul said he has done all he
knows to do to correct his team’s recent downward
spiral, but things just do not seem to be going the
Ems’ way.
Plagued by poor pitching and even worse hitting,
the Ems (2-11) are on an eight-game losing streak af
ter being swept by the Salem-Keizer Volcanoes (8-5)
over the weekend.
“We just lost three games and eight in a row. I’ve
done everything I know to do,” a visibly frustrated
Saul said.
While he was clearly not satisfied with his players’
performance, Saul would not lay the blame on his
team’s pitching, hitting or defense.
“I am putting people in scoring position; put the
blame on me,” Saul said.
Against the Volcanoes, Eugene scored just four
runs in three games and on Saturday was shutout for
the fourth time in their 13 games.
“The hitters are putting too much pressure on
themselves,” said Hines, who was l-for-7 over the
weekend.
In the first game of the three-game homestand on
Friday, Eugene’s Ben Wyatt gave up four earned runs
on eights in five innings, as Salem-Keizer defeated
the Ems 5-2 and pushed its winning streak to six
games.
Greg Strickland was the only Emerald with multi
Turn to EMERALDS, Page 8
EMS BASEBALL
■ WHAT’S NEXT:
The Ems(2-11)
began a three
game series in
Portland Monday
and return to
Eugene for a five
game homestand
against Yakima on
Thursday
a
p
r
MONDAY S RESULTS
MLB
Kansas City.7
Chi. Cubs.8
Florida.8
Boston.5
NYMets.0
Detroit.14
Atlanta.0
NY Yankees.1
Philadelphia.1
Baltimore.8
Montreal.2
Toronto.1
San Diego.15
Oakland.6
Chi. White Sox.1
Pittsburgh.3
Milwaukee.3
Cincinnati.4
Minnesota.1
St. Louis.2
Cleveland.6
Houston.4
Anaheim.7
Colorado.11
Texas.3
Los Angeles.2
San Francisco.8
Seattle.6
Interleague play riding high on novelty factor
Interleague play is like Milli Vanilli,
Right now it is the popular thing, but
wait a year and rather than blaming it
on the rain, maybe we’ll be blaming it
on the powers that be in Major League Base
ball.
Yes, interleague play has brought more
fans out to the games and created a renewed
interest in the game, but we are only in the
first stages of the idea.
Wait for the novelty of the concept to
wear off, and see if fans are still coming to
the ballpark in greater numbers.
Remember, disco was popular for a
while, too.
However, I will not say there are no bene
fits coming out of interleague play.
For one, baseball is in trouble.
For the sport that used to be classified as
OPINION
I I
Ryan
iran
. America’s pastime, it is
in dire straits.
When stacked up
| against the NFL and the
NBA, there is no com
parison. Both sports
draw more fan interest
and attention in today’s
world of short attention
spans and interest in
fast-paced sports.
Baseball needed to do something to draw
fans, something different that would make
them want to come to the ballpark. And to
an extent, interleague play, along with re
alignment, has filled that role.
The New York Yankees and Atlanta
Braves series tonight will surely be one for
the ages. And the first-ever meeting be
tween the Mets and Yankees earlier this
season was certainly something special.
But you have to remember that every
game is not a Y ankees-Braves type of game.
For everyone of those, you’ve got a
Kansas City- Chicago Cubs matchup.
The first go-round of interleague games
was exciting and fresh, especially the inter
city matchups, but after the third and fourth
versions of the “Subway Series,” will fans
still be as interested?
The idea of marginal returns says no, and
I tend to agree.
Also, there was a certain beauty to base
ball’s old way of doing things that made it
different.
Three years ago, baseball was the only
sport without interleague play and the only
Turn to FRANK, Page 8