Saturday, March 27 1999

Good morning and welcome to Day 8 of the 6th Annual Spring Training Trek 1999!

Good morning and welcome to Day 8 of my 1999 Spring Training Trek. It is a sunny day, not a cloud in the sky, temperatures in the mid '70s.

Today's contest will be the Braves against the Kansas City Royals. But before we get to the game, I had a return engagement at Disney's MGM Studios. When you go to a Disney theme park, the park is often not your ultimate destination. For example, here I am at MGM Studios, boarding a shuttle for the moon of Endor. Star Tours is a short but action-packed trip in a shuttle piloted by a robot fresh from programming. From a galaxy far, far away to Cairo 1939, my next stop was the Indiana Jones Stunt Spectacular, a live demonstration of various stunts from the Raiders of the Lost Arc movie. A quick cross country tour placed me in the middle of downtown New York. The New York backlot is a combination of scaled facade and painted backdrop complete with piped in buses screeching to a stop. Lunch was served at the '50s Prime Time Cafe, where Mom seats you and you are chided for putting your elbows on the table, not eating your vegetables, and rewarded for cleaning your plate with a View Master of the desert menu.

Finally, I made my way one final time to Disney's Wide World of Sports for the game. Out front was the Braves/TBS Superstation NASCAR race car, which will also be at Turner Field for Opening Day. Due to technical difficulties, I was unable to record game information prior to the bottom of the 3rd when Klesko singled, Andrew Jones flies out to left, and on a hit and run play, Klesko moved to 2nd and Brian Hunter was out at 1st. Eddie Perez singled again into right, and Klesko rounded 3rd but was held up by 3rd base coach Ned Yost. There were runners on the corners with 2 outs. Perez stole 2nd, the catcher faking a throw to 2nd that caught Eddie like a dear in headlights. But the throw never came, and Eddie reached 2nd base safely. Mark DeRosa was intentionally walked, but then Greg Maddux grounded out to end the inning.

In the top of the 4th, Maddux gets a strikeout, a ground out, and a come-backer to make quick work of the inning. In the bottom of the 4th, Jeff Montgomery came in to pitch, possibly as a showcase to the Braves who might be looking to make a last minute deal to bolster the bullpen.

Gerald Williams grounded to third, Brett Boone drew a walk, and Chipper Jones singled into left. With one out, Ryan Klesko singled to right scoring Boone. Andruw Jones sent one deep to the wall for a noisy 2nd out. Brian Hunter flied out to left to end the inning.

In the top of the 5th, Marty Malloy took over 3rd, Graffanino at 2nd, and Randall Simon at 1st as Maddux gave up a hit before taking a ground ball for the first out. The runner moved to 3rd on the play. A pop up to 3rd base foul territory made the 2nd out. DeRosa tried to backhand a ground ball and ended losing in left field allowing the Royals to score. Next Eddie Perez took another one to the groin, although he shook it off with some difficulty after working with Dave Pursley and

Bobby Cox. Ground ball to 1st ended the inning. In the bottom of the

inning, Eddie Perez led off with a single to center. Keith Lockhart took over for DeRosa (2nd, Graffanino moved to short stop), and popped to left for out #1. Maddux hit into a double play and the inning was over.

In the 6th inning, Maddux gave up a single to center, then missed a come-backer that went for a hit. A double-play left a runner at 3rd with two outs. A fly out to center-right ended the inning. In the bottom of the 6th, Williams and Graffanino grounded to short, and Malloy struck out to end the inning. But the Braves had a 6-1 lead through the 6th inning. Kevin McGlinchey pitched the 7th, and Mike Cather came in to pitch the 8th. It was his first Spring appearance after coming off the DL from off-season surgery. A base hit got past Graffanino, a ground out moved the runner to 2nd, a fly-out to center moved the runner to 3rd. Jermaine Dye flied out to center for out

#3. Eddie Perez led off the bottom of the inning by grounding out,

followed by a Lockhart ground out, and a pop up by Tony Rummfield.

John Rocker came in to pitch the top of the 9th and gave up a walk after getting a ground-out. After giving up a second walk, Rocker was able to get a pop up that turned into a double play when the runner was not able to return to 2nd. And that was the game. For the Braves, it was 6 runs, 9 hits, no errors. For the Royals, it was 1 run, 8 hits, and no errors. And so I said good bye to Disney's Wide World of Sports, where my Spring Training Trek record at home was 4-2, 5-2 for the week with one more road trip to Vero Beach to go. And what better way to celebrate your last night at Walt Disney World, than with a little magic. The Magic Kingdom, that is.

If you have ever been to Disneyland in California, the entire Disneyland is about the same as what is packed into the Magic Kingdom in Walt Disney World. That is why California is a land, but Florida is a world. To get to the Magic Kingdom, you must take a monorail from the transportation center. The Monorail also connects to Epcot and stops at at some of the resorts around the Seven Seas Lagoon. Last year the Enchanted Tikki Room was closed for remodeling; this year it was open under new management. The new show was not as good as the previous.

Maybe I am just getting older, but I hate to admit it. After failing my qualification test to become a pirate of the Caribbean, I decided to take a cruise through the jungle where the repartee of the captain was more amusing than the ride itself.

A trip through Brer Rabbit's briar patch resulted in a vertical drop down Splash Mountain. I was trying to make my way to Tomorrowland having left Adventureland by taking the train. But I boarded the Thunder Mountain Railroad by mistake and ended up barreling through an underground mine. I was lucky to escape... with my Braves cap. So I made my way through Liberty Square where I saw a house I thought I could ask for directions. It was a big house, kind of like a mansion. A little spooky, kind of like a... Haunted... Mansion. Fortunately the ghosts were kind enough to point me in the right direction to Fantasyland where my suspicions were confirmed - It's a Small World After All. Finally I found my way to the Skyway to Tomorrowland.

Trying to find my way home, I tried to catch a ride home through Space Mountain. But somehow after twisting and turning I ended up where I started.

Finally, I went to the Time Keeper for help, a robot who sounds suspiciously like Robin Williams. After bouncing back and forth in time, I ended up back in 1999 just in time for park closing. From tomorrow I returned to today, so here I am. Today ended my stay at Walt Disney World. Tomorrow I will take a final road trip to Vero Beach for a game against the Dodgers. Until then,

Fuskie