Mazzone / Boyer

Highlights from Saturday morning's father/son field day, featuring Leo Mazzone and Blaine Boyer, at Johnson Ferry Baptist Church...

Leo was pretty much in a 'speak when spoken to' mode, but when spoken to, he opened up pretty good. He wore his '99 Braves/World Series cap, grey Braves tee, navy shorts, Mizuno running shoes. They had a rocking chair for him to sit in while he answered questions. Didn't say anything earth shattering...Maddux: 'best control'; Glavine: 'toughest competitor'; Smoltz: 'best stuff'.

Mazzone said Boyer had a good shot at eventually being the Braves closer...but that may have been said because this was a pro-Boyer East Cobb crowd (he didn't say anything about the Braves #1 pick Devine, also a closer). Leo said Boyer was struggling because many people were offering pitching advice, that Blaine just needed to let his natural ability take over.

Boyer wore his Braves navy BP jersey, khaki shorts, Reef sandals, white UGA cap. After the Q&A he was given the floor to give his testimony, which included alcohol in 6th grade, drugs in the 7th, and his parent's divorce. He had attended Sope Creek Elementary and Dickerson Middle before moving on to Walton, and had participated in some Johnson Ferry youth activities. When asked if it was true that he used the new Johnson Ferry fields to train in the off-season, he smiled, 'yeah, I had my dog out here.'

Neither had much hope for Jay Powell, who had broken his arm the night before while pitching. Boyer rode in the ambulance to the hospital with Powell.

Boyer told how it was his job to take the bag of gum/sunflower seeds/candy/etc to the bullpen every day. In Philly the gum bag had been replaced with a pink Care Bear 'love' bag. His comrades had delayed packing the bag until just before game time, and made Boyer walk alone across the field, from the dugout to the bullpen. No one else was on the field, and Blaine looked up to see the video board showing a live shot of him carrying the pink bag. The Philly crowd was on him good, talking about his mother, asking about his trailer back in Georgia.

Later he told how he wasn't really a pitcher until Walton's main pitcher got hurt, and Boyer struck out 14 Lassiter batters in a playoff game, throwing over 90 MPH. My friend Jim found out that his stepson Jordan graduated from Walton the same year, and Boyer remembered him. Jim later gave Boyer one of his son's band's CDs. Looking at Boyer, he didn't look much different than Jordan, a big kid just finishing college, cell phone in tow.

That night Boyer pitched for the first time in eight games. He struck out the side the first inning he pitched, but later had to leave the game after pulling a back muscle. As he walked off the field, head down, he pulled the bill of his cap down low, then lower. A big kid, bummed out.

The boys were divided into three groups by age. Leo watched as boys threw a few pitches and would make a comment every now and then (when a boy took his turn to pitch had his cap on backward, Leo made him turn it around. The boy complied). W was a finalist in a strike-throwing contest. Boyer kind of hung around and chatted with whoever. W figured out the most fun thing was to field balls the other kids were hitting off tees. There was a big inflatable fence to hit balls over, and W was diving all over the place. The Varsity served lunch, then W organized a pick-up game where little boys hit off the tee and ran bases, and the older boys were in the field.

There were supposedly 400 signed up for the event, and I was one of about 25 recruited for a home run derby (after lunch, the crowd had thinned considerably). I thought W would be able to compete, but it was dads only. I was about the 12th guy to bat, and only two guys had hit home runs so far. I hit one of my three swings over the fence, the first on my 'team' to homer (later the homers came more often). Luckily, the rain started coming down harder, and the day ended.

W had a great time. Typically, he was soaked from head to toe.

Joke: A South Carolina man wearing a baseball uniform was shot twice in the legs by a sheriff's deputy on Saturday morning after he wouldn't stop throwing baseballs at cars and people. In related news, the Yankees still need to find a starting pitcher for Tuesday night's game.