DEVELOPMENT CAN BE FUN TO WATCH

The nuances of minor league baseball are part of its charm, if you can get past judging it by comparison with the majors.

From the major league perspective, administrators obviously prefer that their affiliates win. With championships come organizational pride. Impressionable young players who are part of championship teams gain confidence and momentum for future achievement.

But what fans must never forget is that the minor leagues exist at the behest of Major League Baseball. Development is the name of the game, so the fact that the Minnesota Twins’ roster is dotted with the likes of former Rock Cats like Joe Mauer, Justin Morneau, Torii Hunter, Jason Bartlett, et al is of much greater value to Twins general manager Terry Ryan than a collection of rings for his minor league affiliates.

The most difficult facet that fans have to wrestle with in terms of development is that great players won’t be around for long. Mauer, for instance, spent little more than half a season (2003) with the Rock Cats and never stopped at Triple-A Rochester at all.

With every Mauer that moves up, another exceptional athlete takes his place. That’s not to say the next Class A catcher is going to be of the same quality, which of course would be ridiculous, but the youngster making his way to New Britain from Fort Myers is still among the finest baseball players in the land.

Monitoring development can be fun if you know what to look for and watch carefully. Take the first game of Friday night’s doubleheader, for example.

The Rock Cats scored six runs in the first inning. Starting pitcher Ryan Mullins, 23, eluded difficulty in the top of the first when versatile hustle machine Luke Hughes threw a strike to catcher Kyle Geiger from right field to keep the Connecticut Defenders scoreless.

Given a six-run pad, the youngster convinced himself to stay aggressive and wasn’t mixing his pitches well. The Defenders were creeping back. With the score 6-3 in the fifth inning, the first two Defenders lashed doubles. Slugger Randy Ruiz was coming up carrying the tying run, a devastating thought to a team still vying for a playoff slot.

Rock Cats pitching coach Gary Lucas made his second visit to the mound.

“He had trouble with his curveball early and on my second trip I said, ‘Let’s try to get that back in the mix,’” Lucas said. “He had a couple good results with it.”

Indeed. With a man on second, no outs and the tying run at the plate, Mullins blew up Ruiz's rhythm and struck him out swinging. He got Tyler Von Schell thinking and punched him out looking at an offspeed delivery. Simon Klink grounded to short to end the threat.

Mullins left the game and reliever Armando Gabino, as he has done consistently since joining the Rock Cats Aug. 8, shut down the oppostion and paved the way for victory.

Whatever Lucas said struck a chord with Mullins, and the result may be a huge part in the development of a young left-hander with promise.

“I tried to give him some pointers on focus and concentration,” said Lucas, accentuating the importance of the mental toughness complimenting physical ability. “He was struggling with fastball command. We were trying to attack with fastballs but I thought there was a point where we attacked with too many fastballs and we missed too many locations that we had to go back to something else.”

That’s development, folks, and it’s something to remember if Mullins can absorb his lessons and fine-tune them for his shot at fame and fortune. It's something to have fun with as you return to New Britain Stadium and monitor the Eastern League.

DOOLEY'S A TREAT WHEN CATS ARE AWAY

As most of you know, I don't get to see the Rock Cats much when they're on the road. I make most of the games over in Norwich, and did get to Manchester, N.H., for a rather snowy opening day, but road games are spent listening to Jeff Dooley on the radio.

The radio waves have never been too kind where I live. Like I tell Dooley, I would have bought a house north and east of Bloomfield (home of Rock Cats flagship station WDRC) instead of south and west if I had only known.

WDRC comes in loud and clear all day, including that dynamic 3-to-6 drive time when Dooley's home-game partner Dan Lovallo reigns supreme on his fabulous talk show. But when the sun sets in the west, WDRC sets in the east. By 8:30 or so, I'm listening to gospel music from someplace in New Jersey where DRC used to be.

Sometimes, Dooley comes in loud and clear on DRC's Buckley Radio Network affiliate out of Torrington, WSNG-610. But when the sky is clear and the AM waves don't bounce, it's a choice of either a muffled Dooley or Dooley and his choir chanting,"The Lord is my Shepherd."

But technology is marvelous. Dooley is always loud and clear on the internet through http://www.milb.com/. So here I am, with my laptop on my knee and the Twins on TV with the volume turned down. (Tonight I'm shifting back and forth between the Twins and Turner Classic Movies. It's Gary Cooper night and The Westerner is one of my faves.)

I always tell my wife that as soon as I turn Dooley on, I can tell if the Cats are winning or losing by his tone. Most of the Rhode Island accent he brought with him to central Connecticut 10 years ago is gone. It comes through now and then when he gets excited, especially when somebody hits a grand slam.

When the Cats are up, Dooley's voice lilts. When they're losing, you wish you could send him a cold beer via email to make him feel better. I heard that lilt tonight and sure enough, the Cats are winning 2-0 and Anthony Swarzak is mowing down the Fisher Cats.

On TV, the Twins are losing by the same score. Dooley says Twins GM Terry Ryan is in attendance in Manchester. Gotta feel for TR. The door to the playoffs in the AL Central is open but the Twins don't seem to have the sparkle they had last year when they burst through on the season's final day. What they need is another power guy. Why can't TR finagle Mike Piazza from Oakland? Oh, well. Perhaps he'll tell me why when he comes to New Britain Thursday.

Back to the Cats, Dooley says they can make the playoffs. But Dooley sees a full glass of beer in front of him when all that's left is foam. I keep saying and writing that it's too late. When they got back to .500 at 47-47 then lost five straight, that was a killer. If they're in fourth place, 4 games out with 5 to play, Dooley will figure it's a piece of cake. Gotta love him.