i expect you all think i'm going to start this game recap with another review of the weather at cba on wednesday night.

well, you're wrong, buckos.

instead, i'm going to start talking about the pickle juice i was in and how it may serve as an object lesson for the young pitchers out there.

then again, it may not.

i walked the first blue jay i faced and then, thinking that's too slow a way to put guys on base, i hit the next two.

three on, nobody out, and - ok, now here's the weather, it's 88 degrees, the sun's shinining right on me (by the way, did you know that vulcanologists have proved that the top of the pitcher's mound is up to three degrees warmer than any other part of the mound? it's true, and more so if you've started the game with bases loaded and nobody out) and so i'm perspiring like a toad in mating season plus almost every muscle in my body was shaking and to top it off i was thirsty.

now, this isn't all pure anxiety, the existential angst so to speak of my predicament . my teammates, several kind blue jays and i had spent much of the previous 45 minutes trying to soften up up cba's infield in that same 88 degree heat. so my "warmup" consisted of swinging a pickax and carting four loads of dirt to second and home - which were rock-hard because cba's maintenance crew hadn't dragged or watered the field in a week. then i had to line the fields. (i called the maintenance chief today and learned that it was an oversight - that all but one guy were on vacation and he said it won't happen again.)

so this is an object lesson for you budding pitchers out there: don't ever do that.

anyway, back on the mound, i'm looking at the jays cleanup hitter, and i'm thinking, what will i do? advice? advice? whose words can i lean on? i could hear voices in my head, voices such as mickey mantle's: "i agree with casey." no that won't do. or casey himself: "i've known some times in my life, and had a few myself." i love the perfesser, i thought, but that won't do, either. then it struck me: why, ray miller, the former orioles pitcher and pitching coach, a man i thought was always right on the money about pitching, used to say, "pitch to contact." now, that made sense. so i threw a pitch to the jays clean-up hitter, mr. goettsche, who promptly contacted it for a double - and suddenly it was 3-0, and i was thinking, i shouda followed mickey's advice.

after that a really good game broke out.

the blue jays took advantage of some errors (you know, it's reported that leo durocher went bald over errors, and i'm not far behind, a fact that's not been reported yet, that i know of) and did some smart base running to go up 6-2 in the second, and 7-4 in the fiifth. todd baldwin, (first names?) hughes and goettsche smacked some loud doubles - which audiologists have proved, and starting pitchers have concurred - actually sound louder on the mound than anywhere else on the diamond.

but the peppers kept coming back, bless their determined souls. bob lawyer was 2-for2, mick mccallen got on base three times, darryl hunt and herb carter, playing on a sore quad, were 1-for-2 with two runs scored. the team rallied with two walks and three singles in the top of the sixth to go ahead, 8-6.

not that the jays, a determined bunch, too, would quit nor the drama end. by the top of the seventh i was done in, a thoroughly drenched, red dish rag on the mound. i walked the first batter on four straight pitches (if you're going to do it, do it quick, that's what i always say.) he stole second. my mates said don't worry about him, the batter is what counts. i said, sure that's easy for you to say. and next pitch, boom! paul celetano hits a high fly to left center. at almost the crack of the bat, darryl hunt screams from center field, i got it, and he runs the quarter mile in like 50 seconds, stretches his arm out and the ball hits off the heel of his glove. the runner at second, who'd stopped halfway, turns and steams for third.

comes now the peppers' play of season - at least, so far, who knows what surprises lurk? -: darryl fishes the ball out of the too high grass and fires a line drive - a 150-foot strike, pure white heat - to matt leinung at third. matt, straddling third, snaps it out of the air and slams it down in one motion. dust flying everywhere - and when it settles, the ump yanks his fist. out.

now, the strategy of the season, if i may boast:. with a blue jay on first, and one out, peppers up 8-6, and our third victory only two outs away - i hit the the next batter.

uh-oh. i knew well what that meant. league rules say if pitcher hits three batters, he's out, gotta leave the mound. (it's a rule, ironically, i invoked against the fordians some games back, in a game we won. now it comes back to haunt me, or so i thought.) question was, who should i put in? my brain was so fried, i couldn't think. then, our catcher, bob lawyer reminded me that we had a reliable reliever in left, joe sarrubbi, who'd missed a number of games with work but now he was back. i waved to joe. as we passed at shortstop - i on my way to left, he to the mess on the mound - he whispered to me, "i haven't thrown a ball in a week." to which i said, "then you'll be fresh."

he was. at one point, the jays loaded the bases and scored a run. but joe then got two batters on infield outs and the peppers won their first game in about four weeks. much rejoicing from that side of the diamond.

i write all this because it was a great game - and because it offers one more object lesson for young pitchers -or for anybody, for that matter: be sure you floss and brush before you go to bed.

teams - 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 - r h e
peppers - 2 0 2 0 0 3 1 - 8 8 3
blue jays- 4 2 0 0 1 0 1 - 7 4 1