A far cry from his days as a Montreal Expo, Colorado Rockie and a San Diego Padre. I wasn t playing, Vander Wal said. But I still went out and took the grounders, took the fly balls and hit and hit and hit. That is the reason I am still in the game. I never played, but I was always prepared.
Bench players have to be more prepared than a guy who goes out and plays every day.
You are not out in the field and hitting consistently. The game is never easy, but is much more simple if you re playing every day. It is hard to come off the bench and maybe play once every 10 days. That is the toughest part of the game. He paused for a second and glanced over toward veteran John Wehner s locker.