Wednesday, March 8  2000

Good morning and welcome to Day 5 of the 7th Annual Spring Training Trek 2000!

It is hard to believe I have reached the rubber day of this 9 game series. Planning a trip like this requires survival skills and instinct. Animal instinct. And where better to explore animal instincts than Disney's Animal Kingdom. I had planned to get up early to make the park's 8am opening, but I'm not an 8am kind of guy. So it is now 10am as I enter African village of Hambari.

After doing a little business at the village trading post, I took a 2 week Kilimanjaro safari through the wilds where I saw lines, elephants, giraffes, cheetahs, hippos, rhinos, and more (oh my). The return was delayed somewhat when an African White Rhino decided he had right of way on the road. Rhinos have poor eye sight and depend on their senses of smell and hearing. But this particular rhino seemed to neither hear nor smell our jeep behind it, or was simply totally unconcerned.

From Africa, I traveled to China on my way through Dinoland USA to leave Animal Kingdom and make my way to Disney's Wide World of Sports for this afternoon's rematch with the Toronto Blue Jays. The Canadian and US national anthems are played (are there any real Canadians playing on Canadian teams?), and we are ready to play ball. Kevin Millwood is on the mound for the Braves. Leading off is Quilvio Veras (2B), Reggie Sanders (LF), Chipper Jones (3B), Brian Jordon (RF), Andres Galarraga (1B), Javy Lopez (C), Andruw Jones (CF), and Ozzie Guillen (SS).

Toronto singles past Veras for a hit. A fly out to Jones in Center, and Millwood gets his first out. Lopez fails to stop a stolen base, throwing wide to the left. Millwood gets a strikeout, and a ground out to first to end the inning. In the bottom of the 1st, Veras singles past the first baseman for a lead-off hit but is caught stealing for the first out. Sanders strikes out, and Chipper flies out to deep center to end the inning.

Top of the second, the Jays single over Guillen's head and a wild pitch moves the runner over to 2nd. A ground ball out up the middle moves the runner to 3rd. A single to left scores the run, and the Blue Jays draw first blood. A blooper to short, Guillen fields, throws to Galarraga for the second out; the runner moves to 2nd. Ground ball to the Big Cat who steps on the base to end the inning. In the bottom of the 2nd, Jordan flies out and Galarraga gets his biggest swing of the week, but the deep fly to left is still an out. Lopez strikes out and the inning is over.

Because this is the 2nd time through the rotation, Millwood stretches his start to 3 innings by giving up a lead-off single. A dribble up the middle and Millwood is unable to get the out; runners on the corners.

Millwood gets a strike out but gives up a triple, scoring 2. Millwood gets a second strikeout, but a pass ball allows another run to score. A ground ball to Chipper, throw to Cat and the inning is over. But the Blue Jays get 3 more. In the bottom of the 3rd, Andruw Jones singles to left. Guillen grounds up the middle. Jones is out on a fielder's choice. Millwood grounds out and Veras strikes out to end the inning.

Pitching the top of the 4th is #50 Derrin Ebert. Chopper to Chipper, throw to Cat, one out. Chopper to Chipper, throw to Cat, two outs.

Blooper into right field is followed by a ground rule double. A ground out to the pitcher ends the inning. Leading off the bottom is Reggie Sanders with a double over 3rd base. Chipper singles to right, scoring Sanders from 2nd and the braves are on the board. Toronto puts in a new pitcher, who gets a double play from Brian Jordan. Galarraga looks at strike three to end the inning, but the Braves pick up one.

Pitching the top of the 5th is #70 Ishmael Villegas. Brian Hunter takes over at 1st and Steve Sisco takes over at 3rd. A ground out to short, a single to right, a fly to center, and a strikeout completes the top half of the inning. Lopez leads off the bottom of the 5th with a ground ball, but the throw goes wild. Rafael Furcal takes over as a pinch runner and steals 2nd. Jones singles to score Furcal, and Guillen hits into a reverse double play, where the first baseman fields the ball, throws to 2nd for the first out, and then back to first for the 2nd but Ozzie beats the 2nd throw. Villegas gets a rare spring training at-bat, bunting Guillen to 2nd. Veras grounds to 2nd to end the inning.

Today's food report: Some describe Disney as paradise, so I had a Cheeseburger in Paradise along with an order of fries and a large coke.

Price: $9.00. A water added later cost $2.50

In the 6th, Trenidad Hubbard comes in to play center, Furcal takes over at short, Marcus Giles at 2nd, and Pascual Matos behind the plate.

Ground to Furcal is the first out. Ground to Sisco at 3rd is followed by a double to the left center wall. A fly to deep right ends the inning. Reggie Sanders leads off the bottom of the inning with a strikeout. Sisco flies out to right center. Jordan draws a 2 out walk, and Brian Hunter sends one over the left field wall for a 2 run home run and the Braves have tied the game 4-4. That's right, Brian Hunter. Who knew. With the bases empty, Furcal draws a walk battling back from an

0-2 count. Furcal steals 2nd, and no one covers the base allowing Furcal to reach 3rd on the error. Hubbard draws a walk for Pasqual Mators who scores Furcal with a hit to center. With runners on the corners, Villegas grounds to third to end the inning.

In the 7th, Freddy Garcia takes over left, Hubbard moves to RF, and Junior Brignac comes in to play Center. A fly out to left for Villegas is followed by a single to left. A line drive to center puts runners on the corners. A fly to center, and the runners tag. The throw goes to 2nd but the runner is safe. Grounder to short and a grounder to 3rd, but Sisco is unable to come up with the ball leaving runners on the corners with 2 outs. A come backer to the mound, Villegas throws to Hunter to end the inning. Marcus Giles pops up to shallow center, Garcia grounds out to 3rd, and Sisco grounds out to 3rd to end the inning.

In the 8th, #58 James Osting takes the mound with Wes Helms coming in to play 3rd. A line drive is snagged by Furcal, but the throw goes right past Hunter for a ground rule double. Osting gets a strikeout, a walk, and a fly ball to center-right, and the runner tags and moves to 3rd.

With runners on the corner with 2 outs, the Blue Jays single down the 3rd base line to score 2. Giles bobbles the ball, giving the Jays runners again at first and third and this inning is falling apart. Another hit to left scores a run and the score is 8-5. There is no one throwing in the bullpen as another hit to left scores 2 more runs. Finally Osting gets a strikeout to end the inning, but the damage is done.

Today's Rocker Report: I do not see John Rocker in the dugout, and I do not see him in the bullpen. This has been the Rocker Report.

Junior Brignac leads off the bottom of the 8th with a single to right.

Do the Braves have another comeback in their Magic Kingdom? Not in the 8th. In the top of the 9th, #56 Everett Stull takes over as pitcher. A fly out to left is answered by a home run to left giving the Blue Jays an 11-5 lead. A line drive caught by Giles is the second out. A fly out to deep center ends the inning.

The Braves are down to their last 3 outs and are down by 6. Hunter singles to right where 4 Blue Jays gather and no one catches the ball.

Giles draws a walk and the Braves have runners on 1st and 2nd one out.

Freddie Garcia gets a pass ball to advance the runners before popping out to right. Tim Unroe pinch hits and slips one past short to score a run. Junior Brignac singles to center to score another run, leaving runners again at 1st and 2nd with 2 outs. The Blue Jays talk it over on the mound as the Braves' hopes rest in the bat of Brian Hunter. Hunter slams the ball deep to left, but foul and the crowd has to sit back down. Broken bat grounder and Hunter is tagged out to end the game.

Totals for Toronto: 11 runs, 15 hits, 1 error; Braves: 7 runs, 12 hits,

5 errors. It wasn't pretty but it is over. Maybe someone can explain to me why Villegas was left in for 3 innings, or why Osting was not pulled. I realize very often Spring Training games are played for reasons other than to win, but what was Bobby thinking? And where the heck is Eddie Perez? He has not appeared in any games, and I was not aware that he was on the DL. Something it is important to realize is that I get no sports news down here; these accounts are based on my personal recollections only. So any news on things I am missing out on would be appreciated.

After the game, I returned to Epcot, the center of Disney's Millennium celebration. First I stopped by the Living Legacy exhibit to view the proof of my soon-to-be-etched image. I took a photo which will eventually be posted to my web site. Next I visited AT&T's Spaceship Earth, my personal millennium favorite. After that it was Innovations East where Motorola the technologies dreams are made of, and Disney Interactive's on-line pavilion where I sent out the first ever Spring Training Trek V-Mail. I hope everyone enjoyed it.

>From the future to the present, I entered the Millennium Village, an

addition to the World Showcase. Here I viewed exhibits by Scotland, Brazil, Saudi Arabia, Sweden, Venezuela, and a full-motion-simulation of a tour of Jerusalem, Israel. Dinner was a Chicken Empanada from the Gifts of Cuisine, with a caramel flan and regional fruit soft drink.

Cost was only $8.50 and it was actually quite good. After a little more shopping, I returned to the World Showcase lagoon to watch again Illuminations 2000 before returning to my resort home for an early evening.

Stay tuned; there are 4 more days left!

Fuskie