The night took me into deep downtown Tampa territory. The day will come when the Rays will be down here. I had these people in my car who were leaving Bar Taco and seemed slightly buzzed, probably costed them more than my net worth (not very much).
"God I love these margaritas!" one of them announced.
WOOF.
They were going to Harbor Island, which was once actually a landfill that now gave way to the elite and wealthy here in Tampa ergo the wealthy live on shit. Are the wealthy so intelligent after all? We rolled up on a series of townhouses that seemed relatively moderate and humble.
I will never own anything this expensive in my life.
"Goodbye!" one of them said.
I got a ping from someone just down the road and headed toward the house and it read Kevin. A dude in a hat came out and this other guy came hustling out behind him.
"What's up man?" one them said.
Their conversation drifted and my mind wandered.
"So this beer is so good bro," one of them announced.
"Oh yeah?" the other voice said.
"My boy from Durham was telling me about it," the other voice said.
The destination was set to Soho.
For some odd reason, the word Durham resonated in my mind and I looked into the mirror, which was odd considering I never did that. Burning right back at me were a pair of eyes I was all to familiar with on TV.
"Hey, are you Kevin Kiermaier?"
Silence.
"Er...yes," Kevin said softly.
I got slightly excited.
"I tell ya buddy, there's no way you can tell me you like playing at that dump for a stadium,"
He chuckled at the remark.
"Yeah, they could definitely have a change of scenery," he said.
Amen.
"So what do you think about the Tim Beckham trade?"
Random.
"You know man? Tim was one of my best friends, I do not really get why they did that," he replied in disappointment.
"What about Marc Topkin?"
This I was obliged to know.
"Dude, FUCK Marc Topkin. Bro, he is so fat. He always tells the same story every year about my van that I don't own anymore," he laughed.
Cool. I loathe him too. Just like Pinellas County.
Coming out of Spring Training the outfield situation looked really prospective with Mallex, KK and Rasmus and Souza. When that actually did fall into the fold, it was the time I really loved the chemistry of that Rays team.
"I am bar tending tonight. The off season gets boring," he explained.
In reality, I didn't give a fuck about what these players did off the field, it's what they did on the field that mattered.
"That second half killed you guys,"
He gasped out of disappointment.
"Seems to happen a lot to us these past years," he snapped.
"What about Kevin Cash? Do you like him?"
I couldn't help but fire a bunch of questions.
"I like the guy but there are guys who definitely don't like him," he explained.
There was no elaboration but I felt like there was some implication without words.
"You guys play hard, hopefully you get the fuck out of St. Pete sooner than later,"
He laughed and said, "goodbye!"
I drove around Soho momentarily and replayed a couple of images in my mind. If KK didn't get hurt that one game he slid feet first and miss a large chunk of time, how different would the season have been? There was this clown at Tropicana one day harassing KK when he was signing balls for charity and name calling and slandering his character/playing abilities. Most people get jealous of others' success. No wonder I look in the mirror in total resentment of who I am. Mallex seemed like a good fit but he definitely needs more time to season at the Major League level. Dickerson, Souza, Mallex and KK could be a really nice outfield. Peter Bourjos was OK and I really thought it was weird they dumped Shane Peterson and that Brad Miller really is not the answer. They dumped Patrick Leonard who was the minor league's MVP. Logical right? There is word they may enter rebuild mode but what does this actually mean? We play essentially with AAA players as it is, so does this imply we trade off every prospective player? Honeywell? Bauers? Ciuffo? Fox? Genesis? It seems difficult to fathom this team rebuilding because it seems that there are only a handful of Major Leaugers on our club to begin with. They should resign Lomo. He plays good here and seems to like being a Ray. Why don't we trade all of Durham roster for Giancarlo?
My mind wandered as I drove around aimlessly.
So I called Strawberry.
"Baby, I just had Kevin Kiemaier in the car," I explained.
"That's good and all about KK but you better get home and smoke me out. I wanna get high and bang," she demanded.
So that's exactly what I did.
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