I've Been (Nearly) Everywhere

Often when I am on a sports assignment for the Orange County Register the Johnny Cash song "I've Been Everywhere" runs through my head.

Sure, I had been out to Los Angeles to see my Dad on seven or eight trips since 1978, but the first chance to quantify some of the travel I have made around the Southland comes from the datelines of the football, basketball, baseball and softball games I have covered in the past 12 months.

Most of the games have been in Orange County, of course. I now know several ways to get around the nightly closings of the 405 near the 22 on the widening project that will probably be done sometime around 2022.

I'm pretty sure this list is comprehensive as of right now:

ANAHEIM
HUNTINGTON BEACH
WESTMINSTER
GARDEN GROVE
PLACENTIA
COSTA MESA
NEWPORT BEACH
IRVINE
LAKE FOREST
SANTA ANA
LONG BEACH
LOS ANGELES
TORRANCE
COMPTON
CARSON
ROLLING HILLS ESTATES
GLENDALE
PASADENA
CULVER CITY
EL SEGUNDO
MANHATTAN BEACH

Whew. Quite a list. I won't lie. I was a little concerned about going to Compton, but folks over there were great. And my Los Angeles entry came from a new high school in the south-central area, but, same thing. A great experience.

The non-league season has allowed me to stay closer to home, and save money on gasoline, but eventually I'll be on the road to Orange County again. We'll see how much that adds to the list real soon.

Quakes win in 10 with DH on the 10

When the Rancho Cucamonga Quakes clinched their spot in the postseason Sunday night, the man who started the night as their designated hitter was probably somewhere around Pomona, heading back to Los Angeles.

Matt Kemp is caught in a first-inning rundown

Dodgers center fielder Matt Kemp continued his rehabilitation work with the California League farm team, but was 0 for 3 with two strikeouts and a first-inning walk that later turned into an out when he was caught in a rundown between first and second.

Meanwhile, the Quakes were trying to earn a wild-card spot in the playoffs that start on Wednesday. They went into Sunday night’s contest needing a win or a High Desert loss to take the third and final spot.  

Lancaster took a 1-0 lead over the Quakes on a Brandon Meredith homer in the fourth, but Rancho answered with Corey Seager’s sacrifice fly to forge a 1-1 tie in the fifth.  As the innings went by, and Kemp struck out twice, High Desert won a seven-inning nightcap over Lake Elsinore after having dropped the opener to the Storm. To avoid some Labor Day drama, the Quakes needed a win Sunday night.

Kemp, who is now hitless in four games with the Quakes, left the game after his second strikeout ended the eighth. As the game moved to the 10^th, he signed about 50 or 60 autographs and climbed into an SUV that had been wheeled up to gates outside the café section down the third-base line.

About the time Kemp was leaving LoanMart Field, Quakes right fielder Noel Cuevas and catcher Chris O’Brien (who was not in the starting lineup) combined to nail Chris Epps trying the score the go-ahead run for the Jethawks, ending the inning.

Noel Cuevas touches home as the Quakes pour out of the dugout

Then, as these things often work out, Cuevas led off the bottom of the 10^th with a double, and after moving to third on a groundout, he scored the winning run on an O’Brien single to left, putting the Quakes in the playoffs.

The first thing I thought about was the fact that Kemp was not in the ballpark when the Rancho players celebrated their win. While the weekend rehabilitation assignment has been a disappointment for Kemp, the Quakes had bigger business to attend to. While the purpose of the farm teams is to groom new talent for the parent club, and decisions are often made that are at odds with winning games or championships, it would have been a disappointment to take this moment away from players who have been working so hard to get there.

One spectator noted that this was not Kemp’s team that won the playoff spot, so his early departure probably avoided some awkwardness. The more I think about that, the more I agree. Yes, it would have been nice for him to be at the end of the game he started, but Dodgers relief pitcher Brian Wilson left in the fourth or fifth after pitching an inning for the Quakes a few weeks ago, so this is something that is typical.

Clay Condrey pitches in Reading

And a lot of times these assignments don’t work out as well. When the Phillies needed a place to get Clay Condrey an inning of work before he was to come off the disabled list in September 2009, they dispatched him to Reading, where the R-Phils were in a best-of-five series against Akron. Akron had already won two games at home, so Reading was hanging on for dear life. After Condrey gave up two runs in the first, things went from bad to worse. By the fourth, the Aeros were up 7-0 and they cruised to a 9-3 win.

So while Kemp struck out with a runner on second in the eighth, he did not cost the Quakes the game. And folks who have been around the ballpark the past few days said the Dodgers outfielder has been signing autographs and buying the clubhouse spread for the Quakes – one guy told me their interest in finding the credit card receipt Kemp signed for a pizza order on Saturday.

Warming up Sunday afternoon, Kemp appeared to still have concerns about the ankle he injured sliding into home plate in Washington in late July. That game was his first after an earlier stint on the disabled list, and he homered and doubled in the second inning as the Dodgers won 9-2. 

While Kemp was back on the DL, the Dodgers have continued their improbable surge from last place in the division, and are looking for their first NL West crown since 2009. And there are still lots of questions about how he might fit into the formidable order manager Don Mattingly has put together. Striking out against young hurlers who are still working on their third or fourth pitch doesn’t help answer those questions.

Kemp’s a good guy, so Sunday’s victory for Rancho was tinged with a bit of concern for the organization. But the win has to give the Quakes a healthy dose of optimism heading into the postseason.