Quad-City Times from Davenport, Iowa • 73

QUAD-CITY TIMES 95 Sunday, Oct 1,1995 SUNDAY SPECIAL liimjieyeisrs 4 A yair B'lB uneven forget' He finally catches on in the majors By Steve Batterson QUAD-CITY TIMES Mick Billmeyer finally made it to the big leagues. He didn't travel the expected route, but the 31-year-old journeyman is relishing every bit of his first season as the bullpen catcher for the California Angels. "Even though it has been every bit as frustrating to watch the team collapse as it i 7 i lrfr would have been it 1 i i a IA4 1 were piaying, mis nas I I 1ft M' Cs been a year 1 11 never forget," said Billmeyer, the starting catcher on the Quad-City Angels' 1990 Midwest League championship team. "It's allowed me to live out what I dreamed about for years. I'm in the big leagues.

It's a players back and eventually watched California build and then lose its lead in the American League West. "I've seen a little bit of everything," he said. And, that's the way it has always been for Billmeyer. Originally a farmhand in the Orioles organization, he signed as a free agent with California in 1990 and was assigned to the Quad-Cities. He eventually played his way up to Class AAA, but eventually tired of bouncing up and dow between Class AA and Class AAA and asked for his release.

That led Billmeyer to the Northern League, where he played a season at Rochester (Minn.) before he signed with the Rockies organization. He spent most of the 1994 season in Class AAA ith the Rockies, but was released. "I was back home painting houses when Bill Bavasi called. It was too good to pass up," Billmeyer said. "I'm still relatively young and I feel like I can play or help." Bavasi has asked Billmeyer to consider a job as a minor-league manager for the Angels farm system next year.

But, he wants to return to the major-league bullpen for at least one more year. "I don't want to go back to the minors, at least right now," Billmeyer said. "A friend of mine did the same job for the Dodgers and Tommy Lasorda eventually decided to keep him around on the major-league staff. I wouldn't mind that a bit. I'm enjoying this." II i--irl i ft Billmeyer great job.

Until last November, Billmeyer figured he would spend the summer of 1995 painting houses back home in Maryland. Instead, California general manager Bill Bavasi the Angels' farm director during Billmeyer's playing days in the organization made him an offer too good to refuse. This year, he's thrown batting practice, hit fungos and spent every day catching relief pitchers in the bullpen. He sat in on organizational meetings during the strike, welcomed the major-league QUAD-CITY TIMES Anything but Easley Former Quad-City Angel Damion Easley (2) said it's been California Angels. Easley, an Inflelder, was a Midwest like playing for two different teams this year for the League All-Star in 1990.

Angels fail to regain winning ways mmmmJS tinrtiriniiiiti Mtmiiiiaii riiiiiaMiMiBWiiiiiiiiUii tfiiiinfn i nrniiiniii ri'inn miriiimiiiiiir iimfciiiiiiti itirmiTiihii liming ill Mi iiWmiii i lnu i miiiir ii irilMiMiifiiFiBiMiiiii ViiTf imi Moline 797-1034 Rock Island 764-0426 Davenport 391-7490 Service hours: I Ft eg. Monday thru Saturday 8 a.m.-6 p.m. Open Sundays 11:00 a.m. p.m. Advertised prices effective October 1 thru October 7, 1995 Tire rotations available Mounting included Firestone FR480 P17570R13 PassengerT ruck Nationwide warranty Installation included ll iji iiViilrHil Sale .59.97 .56.97 ..51.97 .56.97 .59.97 Reg.

.69.97 .66.97 .61.97 .66.97 69.97 Size P20570R15 P22570R15 P23575R15XL Reg. Sale 45.97. .39.97 49.97 ...41.97 57.97. .49.97 60.97. .52.97 63.97 ..55.97 Size P17570R13 P17570R14 P20570R14 Plenty of current players on the California Angels roster have Quad-Cities connections.

They are: Garret Anderson, outfielder. Batted .260 and played 105 games in the outfield in 1991. Damion Easley, second baseman. Finished second on the 1990 Midwest League championship team to Chad Curtis with 100 hits and 25 stolen bases. Was named a Midwest League all-star.

Jim Edmonds, outfielder. Hit .261 but played in only 31 games in 1989 before suffering a season-ending shoulder injury that forced him onto the disabled list on June 19. Chuck Flntey, starting pitcher. Struck out 16, walked three and allowed four hits in 10 innings before being pro-' moted directly to California. Mark Holzemer, relief pitcher.

Posted a 12-7 record with a 3.36 earned-run average for the 1989 club, tying for the team lead with 25 starts. Orlando Palmeiro, outfielder. Earned Midwest League all-star honors in 1992. Batted .317 and led the team with 31 stolen bases. The Angels connections to the Quad-Cities extend beyond the playing field, though.

Trainer Ned Bergert is a St. Ambrose graduate who joined the Angels' minor-league club in Davenport in 1975. Current major-league bullpen coach Bill Lachemann, the older brother of major-league manager Marcel Lachemann, spent two seasons as the manager. He posted a 128-152 record during the 1985 and 1986 i fs All Batteries Sold With Exchange 4 Reg. 46.97 P18580R13 Whitewall PassenqorTruck With Exchanga Sale Sale 47.B7 S1.97 SS.97 SS.97 59.97 69.97 S3.97 S7.97 BO.97 61.97 62.97 Type WSW WSW WSW WSW WSW WSW RWL RWL RWL RWL RWL Reg.

SS.97 59.97 63.97 6S.97 68.97 78.97 et.97 66.97 69.97 70.B7 71.97 Size P18575R14 P19575R14 P20575R14 P20575R15 P21575R15 P23575R15 XL P20575R14 P20575R15 P21575R15 P22575R15 P23575R15 They canceled meetings. They had heart-to-heart talks. They yelled at each other a bit. And, they still could not locate a victory. "It's been one of the most frustrating things I have ever been around in this game," said Anderson, whose rookie of the year candidacy may well be counted among the casualties of the Angels' late-season woes.

"We tried everything and nothing worked," Anderson said. "There comes a point where you just wish the season was over so you could start again. But, you know you have to go out every day and try to turn things around. That's my job. That's all of our jobs." While the Angels cannot point to any one thing that led to the extended problems, all point to one injury that forced the 180-degree turn in the California season.

The loss of all-star shortstop Gary DiSarcina because of a torn ligament in his thumb impacted the Angels more than anybody would have ever realized. "When he went out, it was like somebody died around the clubhouse for a couple of days," said Mick Billmeyer, the Angels' first-year bullpen catcher and the starting catcher for the 1990 Quad-City Angels. "Losing him did something to this team that I don't think anybody would have envisioned. There have been pitching problems and hitting problems but losing DiSarcina may have taken away the club's heart. It wasn't the same after he left." A chorus line of players were shuffled into and out of DiSarcina's position and then into and out of Easley's spot at second after a knee injury temporarily sent him to the bench.

Surgery sidelined DiSarcina for seven weeks and although he returned to the lineup a week ago, the return may have come too late to salvage even a wild-card berth. "That would be a shame," Easley said. "This team deserves to be in the playoffs. We have nobody to blame but ourselves, though. We just weren't able to snap out of it.

"I don't necessarily want to be remembered for being a member of the Angels' team that blew its big lead. Hopefully, we can do something either this year or next that will leave us ith a better feeling than that. We deserve better than that." Continued from Page IS when they took the field in Baltimore early last month, as Cal Ripken Jr. set the major-league record for consecutive games, that they were in the midst of writing a little bit of baseball history themselves. Joining teams like the 1969 Chicago Cubs, the 1951 Brooklyn Dodgers and the 1978 Boston Red Sox, California was busy crafting one of baseball's greatest collapses.

Over the final weeks of the current season, California: Trailed at some point during 41 of 44 games. Endured a pair of nine-game losing streaks. Lost 27-of-35 games during one stretch to allow the Mariners and Rangers to climb back into the race. "It's almost been like I've played for two teams this year," said inflelder Damion Easley, a Midwest League all-star for Quad-Cities in 1990. "We played like a championship team for the first four months or so.

We fought. We battled. We scrapped. "Since then, we've looked like a team that was beat hen i stepped on the field. Everybody's pressing and the pieces just don't fit together." Simply put, Anderson said, "It's been a mess." As often happens to teams at any level when things go wrong, it is difficult to pinpoint the root of the Angels' problems.

And when one loss turned into two and then multiplied into four, the problems grew. "Everybody is pressing," Edmonds said. "Everybody is trying to do more than they are capable of and even though everybody knows that's the way to approach a losing streak, it's a natural thing to do." Easley agrees. He said he and his teammates have tried to dig the team out of its slump as they would try to break themselves out of a hitting slump. "When a guy is struggling, the first thing that comes naturally is to try to overcompensate for the problem," Easley said.

"Eventually, it messes everything up and that is usually the point where you step back, start over and get it together again." Easley said he didn't expect it to take too long for California to get back on the winning track when its problems started. "We had been winning and that tends to make you forget about the Centura Gold 700 Up to 700 cranking amps of superior starting power, 90-min. reserve. For many cars, It. trucks.

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Prices apply to most 1980 and newer cars details in store Compact car from Mld-miro car, Ittfht trucks from Futl-alza carm from By Steve Batterson QUAD-CITY TIMES Call 1-B00-B66-0086 for an aatlmata or appolntmant runs and 68 runs batted in. His numbers have steadily risen throughout the season. "No matter what happens as a team, it's been a good Everything we do is built around you. 61 996 Kmart Corporation As the months passed, Anderson found his name being mentioned among the possibilities for rookie of the year honors. He considers the consideration an honor, although he expects that California's late-season slide as a team will hurt his chances to win the award selected by the beat writers who cover the sport.

"That's the way it goes, but it's nice to be considered or mentioned," Anderson said. "When you consider all of the players who could win it, it's just nice to hear your name mentioned as a possibility." VISA Anderson Garret Anderson will remember the 1995 Major League Baseball season as a year of close calls. Not only did the strike-shortened campaign turn out to be a close call for the Angels as team, it will also i likely turn out to be a near-miss for Anderson in terms of rookie of the year balloting. As the regular season enters its final day, Anderson's numbers tell the story of the type of season the Los'Angeles native has had. He is batting .325 with 16 home year for me individually," Anderson said.

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