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The stadium is dark. It's been hours since the last fans made their way out of the lot. The field has been tarped. The stands all swept clean. The clock rolls past 2:00 A.M. as Clint Green, the 67 year old janitor with the tattered Kentucky Colonels' cap shuts down the lights in the corridors that make up the underbelly of Colonial Park. The halls echo as he throws each breaker to make the large fluorescents dim. He stops short of flipping the final swith and calls down the hallway in the graveled tones one only achieves after 51 years of Pal-Mal non-filters.
"You'll get the last light, Son?"
In the distance a voice echoes back.
"Thanks, Greenie. I got it. You have a good night. Say hello to Nell for me."
"Goodnight, JP. You get yourself home before the sun, Boy."
"I promise. 15 minutes and I'm gone."
Green shakes his head and smiles the grin of a man who knows he's being fed a line.
The lone light that still burns at this hour shines brightly over the Colonials' indoor batting cage that management had installed just outside the Clubhouse a season ago. Inside the green fence in shorts and a well-worn Sacramento Kings t-shirt is Virginia 2B Joshua Poling. He takes a hearty drink from a can of Budweiser that sits in the corner of the cage before grabbing a milk crate and gathering the balls that are scattered about. The pitching machine still spins loudly while the former All-Star rounds up more ammunition for another round of BP. He'll repeat this process at least a dozen more times before he breaks his promise and makes his way to his BMW Z1 hours after sunrise.
That wasn't the first or the last night this month that Poling would make the early morning drive out of the Player's Lot. It's become a bit of a ritual.
"The guys all know where to find me. They don't even try my pager first. They just call the cage phone. D.O. (Dale O'Hegarty) calls it my office."
Poling is almost tongue in cheek when he talks about his late nights hacking at fastballs. Though some would say his wry smile is covering up a real concern in a player that just a few seasons ago was considered one of the up-and-coming Superstars in the BLB. Once thought to be a perennial 25 HR - 100 RBI - Glove Wizard level talent, the last few seasons have seen a rash of injuries strip Poling of a little bat speed and a lot of security.
"I know we're not supposed to read the papers, but I hear things. I knew my name was out there. I know I was being shopped around. Sure that stings a little bit, but I also know this is a business. And a young man's business at that. I knew Chavy (Rookie Hector Chavez) was coming up sooner or later and that he'd get a shot."
While Poling was quick to acknowledge the talk that his name was on the block, he wasn't as quick to talk about the rumors about why he wasn't moved. Some insiders believe that his slow start and rash of injuries made the market for Poling next to non-existent.
"I think Management just realized that I was more valuable as a member of the team than as a piece of a trade. I think that's why I got the extension. You don't extend a guy that you want off the team. Getting me off the team is easy, just don't give me a contract."
Poling has quietly responded. His offensive numbers over the last two months have improved significantly. He's getting big hits at big times and, even with a lot of innings on his odometer, he may be playing the best defense of his career. But that may soon be changing for Josh again.
"I know the score. We're a game out of the Wildcard. Vinny and D.O. are coming off the D.L. this week. Maeda and Chavy are part of our future. 'Bell and Gremades are Hall of Famers. I don't Catch or play Centerfield. We don't play that DH BS that they do over in the Domestic. There are only 8 spots, but we've got 10 guys who have earned at bats. I'm a dumb jock, but that's easy math."
So for now, Joshua Poling is doing what he can to control his future. Hours and hours and hundreds of late night swings that he hopes will guarentee his spot in the Colonial lineup. Another after-hours session in the cage in a nearly empty facility.
Greenie puts away his mop, pulls on his windbreaker and yells into the dark hall.
"JP! You ready to turn the lights out yet, Son?"
Not yet he's not. Not yet.
The stadium is dark. It's been hours since the last fans made their way out of the lot. The field has been tarped. The stands all swept clean. The clock rolls past 2:00 A.M. as Clint Green, the 67 year old janitor with the tattered Kentucky Colonels' cap shuts down the lights in the corridors that make up the underbelly of Colonial Park. The halls echo as he throws each breaker to make the large fluorescents dim. He stops short of flipping the final swith and calls down the hallway in the graveled tones one only achieves after 51 years of Pal-Mal non-filters.
"You'll get the last light, Son?"
In the distance a voice echoes back.
"Thanks, Greenie. I got it. You have a good night. Say hello to Nell for me."
"Goodnight, JP. You get yourself home before the sun, Boy."
"I promise. 15 minutes and I'm gone."
Green shakes his head and smiles the grin of a man who knows he's being fed a line.
The lone light that still burns at this hour shines brightly over the Colonials' indoor batting cage that management had installed just outside the Clubhouse a season ago. Inside the green fence in shorts and a well-worn Sacramento Kings t-shirt is Virginia 2B Joshua Poling. He takes a hearty drink from a can of Budweiser that sits in the corner of the cage before grabbing a milk crate and gathering the balls that are scattered about. The pitching machine still spins loudly while the former All-Star rounds up more ammunition for another round of BP. He'll repeat this process at least a dozen more times before he breaks his promise and makes his way to his BMW Z1 hours after sunrise.
That wasn't the first or the last night this month that Poling would make the early morning drive out of the Player's Lot. It's become a bit of a ritual.
"The guys all know where to find me. They don't even try my pager first. They just call the cage phone. D.O. (Dale O'Hegarty) calls it my office."
Poling is almost tongue in cheek when he talks about his late nights hacking at fastballs. Though some would say his wry smile is covering up a real concern in a player that just a few seasons ago was considered one of the up-and-coming Superstars in the BLB. Once thought to be a perennial 25 HR - 100 RBI - Glove Wizard level talent, the last few seasons have seen a rash of injuries strip Poling of a little bat speed and a lot of security.
"I know we're not supposed to read the papers, but I hear things. I knew my name was out there. I know I was being shopped around. Sure that stings a little bit, but I also know this is a business. And a young man's business at that. I knew Chavy (Rookie Hector Chavez) was coming up sooner or later and that he'd get a shot."
While Poling was quick to acknowledge the talk that his name was on the block, he wasn't as quick to talk about the rumors about why he wasn't moved. Some insiders believe that his slow start and rash of injuries made the market for Poling next to non-existent.
"I think Management just realized that I was more valuable as a member of the team than as a piece of a trade. I think that's why I got the extension. You don't extend a guy that you want off the team. Getting me off the team is easy, just don't give me a contract."
Poling has quietly responded. His offensive numbers over the last two months have improved significantly. He's getting big hits at big times and, even with a lot of innings on his odometer, he may be playing the best defense of his career. But that may soon be changing for Josh again.
"I know the score. We're a game out of the Wildcard. Vinny and D.O. are coming off the D.L. this week. Maeda and Chavy are part of our future. 'Bell and Gremades are Hall of Famers. I don't Catch or play Centerfield. We don't play that DH BS that they do over in the Domestic. There are only 8 spots, but we've got 10 guys who have earned at bats. I'm a dumb jock, but that's easy math."
So for now, Joshua Poling is doing what he can to control his future. Hours and hours and hundreds of late night swings that he hopes will guarentee his spot in the Colonial lineup. Another after-hours session in the cage in a nearly empty facility.
Greenie puts away his mop, pulls on his windbreaker and yells into the dark hall.
"JP! You ready to turn the lights out yet, Son?"
Not yet he's not. Not yet.
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