WILL FAME AND LOVE RETURN

The Long Road Back

Chesapeake Harbor Stadium

Thursday August 16, 2007

After the horrendous return to the lineup the previous Friday, Clippers team manager Edmond Hawthorne decided to play Rick either as a mid to late inning replacement in place of the starting 2nd baseman Kasi Seikan or a pinch hitter. The situation had not been going well. Having gone 0 for 10 with 5 strikeouts, but even Rick’s fielding had also been horrendous, accumulating 3 errors and mishandling the baseball 6 times. Rick Randolph had become a liability at bat and on the field for the Clippers.

Clippers manager Edmond Hawthorne decided that it was time once again to play Rick Randolph the whole game no matter what,because for one particular reason, the team ownership told the field manager that he had to play Rick so that he could get in a groove, the type that he had been in for so long in his career up till now.

The game started off with the visiting 1st Place New York Royals of the North Division of the National Conference League. Charles Hartley was the starting pitcher for the Clippers, while Virgil Petit was the starting pitcher for the Royals.

In the top of the 1st inning after 2 outs were recorded, Antwon Lopez hit a sharp liner near Rick Randolph who was able to just knock it down, but the speedy Lopez was too fast for Rick to be able to throw 

in time to 1st baseman Joe Locke to record the out. But the Clippers escaped any other damage and the inning ended.

In the bottom of the 1sr inning,Rick Randolph struck out, to basically set the tone for the Clippers hitters the whole game. So after the 1st inning the score was 0 to 0.

In the top of the 2nd inning, the results were smoother for Charles Hartley, 3 up and 3 down, the score was still 0 to 0.

In the bottom of the 2nd inning Phil Terrent was able to get a single, but with 2 Virgil Petit  strikeouts and and the runner Terrent being forced out at 2nd base, once again the inning came to an end and the score remained 0 to 0.

In the top of the 3rd inning the situation seriously broke down as disaster struck in the infield as Rick Randolph started off the inning committing yet another error on light hitting shortstop Raul Chempe’s bouncing chopper that he couldn’t handle. Charles Hartley was pitching efficiently, but with the Royal’s dropping in hits because the infield crew was too slow the Clippers found themselves behind 2 to 0.

In the bottom of the 3rd inning Rick Randolph once again snuffed out a potential rally by grounding into an inning ending double play. It was becoming obvious that he was not the star player that he use to be before the concussion.

In the top of the 4th inning the Royal’s went down quietly. In the bottom of the 4th inning the Clippers hitters finally started collecting 

hits and managed to eek out a run against Virgil Petit, and now the score was Royals 2 and the Clippers 1.

In the top of the 5th inning Rick Randolph mishandled a hit off his glove by Raul Chempe and he ended up with a double and then advanced on a sacrifice fly, then scoring on a single by Antwon Lopez.

The Clippers were fading and the Royals were now leading 3 to 1.

In the bottom of the 5th inning Rick Randolph ended the inning by being the 3rd consecutive strikeout for Virgil Petit, and Rick was on the verge of compiling more strikeouts in his short season than he would normally have in a whole season.

In the top half of the 6th inning, the ever dependable Eric Ayers committed an error on Vince Protesto’s grounder to him, leading to another sacrifice fly followed by another run scoring single by Raul Chempe and the score was now 4 to 1 with the Royals extending their lead over the Clippers.

In the bottom of the 6th inning the Clippers were going down quietly and had registered 7 consecutive outs, including 4 strikeouts. The Clippers were still behind 4 to 1.

In the top of the 7th inning the Royals were getting on base and scored 2 more runs extending their lead to 6 to 1, also with Vince Protesto reaching 1st base on a Joe Locke error, the 3rd error of the game for the once perfect fielding Clippers infield. 

In the bottom of the 7th inning what could have been a potential rally by the bottom of the batting order, but with 3 more strikeouts to end the inning with the Royals leading 6 to 1.

In the top of the 8th inning with Charles Hartley was lifted for relief pitcher Lee Barton who just gave up one hit, but the score remained 6 to 1.

In the bottom of the 8th inning, Rick Randolph hit a leadoff single ending an 0 for 13 slump. With 2 outs Pete West hit a single up the middle, and with runners on 1st and 2nd, it looked like a rally was beginning, but, alas, disaster struck once again as Rick Randolph was picked off 2nd base, thus ending another potential run scoring rally.

In the top of the 9th inning, Lee Barton shut down the Royals, but unfortunately the Clippers were behind 6 to 1.

In the bottom of the 9th inning, Phil Terrent was walked, but Rollin Daniels grounded into a game ending double play and the Clippers at this point could not produce any positive results, finding another way to lose, this time 6 to 1.

The Clippers were headed in the wrong direction and with a record of 56 winsand 63 losses it was obvious. Bill Falstaf had 

Come in and turned around the franchise in 2001, turning the perennial losing Clippers into a powerhouse franchise, especially after winning 100 or more games for 4 straight seasons, finally winning the Carrington Cup on the 4th try, and the previously mentioned Bill Falstaf’s departure and absence obviously was very telling and frankly Edmond Hawthorne could not rally his players.

But for now it was becoming an urgency to get Rick Randolph back on track, but he was sinking further and further into the abyss of no return.