If the world was on the schedule we were planning in March, the Bisons' 2020 home finale would have been played Sunday at Sahlen Field against the Rochester Red Wings.
Ken Huckaby had a pained laugh when I told him that on the phone Friday. The former Blue Jays catcher, remember, was hired in January to be the Bisons' new manager. Other than his introductory press conference, he never made it to Buffalo.
And where's he spending his summer? At Rochester's Frontier Field, serving as the director of the Blue Jays' Alternate Training Site.
Huckaby said he hasn't had any garbage plates – the mish-mosh Rochester delicacy – but has enjoyed his time in the Flower City.
"This has been a really, really good learning experience from a personal standpoint. It's been challenging but it's been great," Huckaby said. "I feel like, in all honesty, I'm more prepared for the job in Buffalo now than if we had just gone straight into the year as normal. And now it's been really good to learn about our younger players and build relationships with guys who might impact Buffalo and the major leagues someday."
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The ATS is where major league teams are stashing up to 30 players in the absence of the minor leagues. There are daily workouts and simulated games. Players have to maintain focus and stay sharp. Just as if they were in Triple-A or even Double-A, you never know when the phone is going to ring.
The Blue Jays have kept things lively. Games are being played at night. With scoreboards. There are simulated crowd noises, player walkup music and the Red Wings have even sold cardboard cutouts so fans are in the stands.
"We thought motivation was going to be a huge challenge,' Huckaby said. "But the veteran players in this camp have just been a huge help in keeping engagement and energy going every day. They bring the younger players up with them."
Past Bisons including Andy Burns, Jonathan Davis, Patrick Kivlehan and T.J. Zeuch have been in the camp. Mets-era Bison Ruben Tejeda, a veteran infielder, is there, too.
Huckaby has already sent several players up to the big leagues for various stints. But with no games, how are you judging anybody?
"You go about it by discussing how they're going about their work," he said. "What's their mentality like? How are they preparing for the simulated games? Are they going up there with intent or giving things away? Fortunately, we're not having anybody giving it away so we're very pleased. No one has mailed in a day."
Before he got to Rochester, Huckaby unwittingly became one of the stars of the long days of Blue Jays' Summer Camp at Rogers Centre. The team needed a home plate umpire for its camp intersquad games, and Huckaby ended up going viral for his demonstrative calls.
"I think I got pub because of my size being back there," Huckaby said. "I wasn't some great ump. It was my size and the stuff I was doing. It was cool. I was helping the team and I got a kick out of everyone laughing at it and keeping loose.
"It was a way where I really felt I was contributing to Summer Camp where I didn't necessarily have a lot of responsibilities. It made it a fun experience."
Our guy in charge of the balls and strikes at #BlueJays camp! #Bisons manager Ken Huckaby! pic.twitter.com/3CxyTU5tFh
— Buffalo Bisons (@BuffaloBisons) July 11, 2020
Huckaby didn't go all Leslie Nielsen on hitters, with none of the breakdancing moves the veteran actor pulled off as an umpire in "The Naked Gun."
"Hey, I like the movie. I can't move like that or I would have done a little bit more like it," he said. "My body doesn't move like that."
Huck > Enrico Pallazzo https://t.co/T0xvj1AEvB
— Buffalo Bisons (@BuffaloBisons) July 11, 2020
Most minor-league managers only sign one-year contracts. But Huckaby revealed he got a two-year deal from the Blue Jays, so he's planning on being in Buffalo in 2021.
"Hopefully if things go well in the world I'll be in that third-base coach's box next season," he said. "That's what I want to do. Be in Buffalo.
"But it's not like I can relax. Personally, the two-year contract makes me want to work that much harder because it shows that they put that amount of trust in me. It's a big responsibility that they gave me in Buffalo and I take that very seriously.
And what has Huckaby thought of the new-look Sahlen Field?
"The lights seem to have made a huge difference and the infield getting done is really a big thing for the Bisons going forward," he said. "It looks really good. I'm hoping they're keeping some of that stuff around."
To the beach
Baltimore manager Brandon Hyde echoed previous visitors in praising the arrangements in the right field parking lot of Sahlen Field and put some added emphasis on the workout facilities.
"It's a makeshift weight room, an outdoor Venice Beach-style weight room right outside the clubhouse here," a smiling Hyde said before Friday's series opener. "I think they've done a great job here."
Spooky Sox visit
How spooky was Boston's 9-7 win in the series opener here Tuesday?Â
It was the first Red Sox visit to Buffalo since July 6, 1917, when they beat the Bisons in an exhibition game by the identical score and in nearly an identical way. Tuesday night, the Sox overcame deficits of 4-0 and 6-3 and won the game with a six-run sixth inning. In 1917, the Sox were in a 7-2 hole before roaring back with six runs in the eighth inning.
A key difference: Tuesday's game took 3 hours, 42 minutes to play. In 1917? Just 1:50.
The Red Sox won tonight by the same score they won by the last time they played in #Buffalo 103 years ago, 9-7. https://t.co/QCBpdCUD0i
— HERD Chronicles (@HERDchronicles) August 26, 2020
Pitching problems
Boston entered the weekend with a 6.18 team ERA, the game's worst. The Sox used 11 starting pitchers in their first 22 games, tying the record last set by the 1958 Indians.
"It's been quite different for me, no question, trying to figure out things," manager Ron Roenicke said when the Sox were in town. "It seems like we've made a lot of changes along the way. I think we're kind of used to the changes. It doesn't seem unusual anymore when we're inserting a starter in there, pushing somebody back. That's just kind of this year and what we've had to go through."
"It's tough. You need to know that all the years aren't like 2018," said catcher Christian Vazquez, referring to Boston's last World Series title. "You have downs. You have good years. We need to learn about this year, get stronger and stronger. It will be tough to beat '18. The more downs you have, the stronger you get."
Deadline matters
As we press around the halfway mark of the 60-game schedule, it's weird to see how the American League has split apart while the National League remains tight. The AL entered Saturday with five teams playing better than .600 ball (Athletics, Rays and the 20-12 dead heat in the Central between the Twins, Indians and White Sox), as well as five teams under .400 (Red Sox, Angels, Royals, Mariners, Rangers). But in the NL, only the Dodgers are above .600 and only the Pirates are below .400.
So it will be interesting to watch what NL teams do at Monday's trade deadline, with Pittsburgh being the only team that hit the weekend more than two games out of the final playoff slot.
"It feels very much like a typical deadline. The calls are nonstop, the offers are consistent,"Â Blue Jays GM Ross Atkins said while discussing Thursday's acquisition of pitcher Tiajuan Walker from Seattle. "I would expect us to be extremely active. What the results end up being, we'll see. We would like to continue to add to our pitching and we would like to continue to compliment our offense. ... Pitching and run prevention will be our focus moving forward."
Around the horn
• According to MLB.com, the walkoff home run hit by Amed Rosario of the Mets Friday night in Yankee Stadium was the first by a visiting player since Ed McKean of St. Louis hit on at Cleveland to beat the Spiders on May 12, 1899. A weird scene indeed. Like the night in 2012 when Scranton/Wilkes-Barre veteran Jack Cust walked off the Bisons in a game played here because Scranton's new ballpark was under construction.
The walkoffs by Rosario and Blue Jays outfielder Randal Grichuk were two of four hit Friday night. That's the most on any night in MLB since there were five on May 28, 2004.
• The Red Sox entered Saturday with a 10-22 record – 1-12 against the Yankees and Rays and 9-10 against everybody else. They host the Blue Jays for five games beginning Thursday night in Fenway Park.
• After the disasters of Miami and St. Louis, things are looking much better with MLB's Covid-19 numbers. For the period ending Thursday, officials said only two of 12,076 tests came back positive and both of those were staff members from a single unnamed team. The other 29 teams had zero positives.
• Boston's Vazquez, on the work at Sahlen Field: "The last time I was here was 2014 (with Pawtucket) and it's a big change. ... You can tell they spent a lot of money here."
