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Former Dirtbags Happy to be Close to Home
by Chris Jackson, Daily Breeze
August 20, 2006
The transition from college to minor league baseball can often be a
lonely one for players who are sent far from home on teams where they
don't know anyone.
That hasn't been the case for former Long Beach State pitching stars Cesar
Ramos and Neil Jamison, who were both drafted by the San Diego Padres
last year and are now playing close to home at single-A Lake Elsinore.
"Obviously, it's good to be close to home," said Jamison, who
has gone 2-6 with a 3.46 ERA and 27 saves as Lake Elsinore's closer.
"It's nice not to have to deal with all the phone calls, picking
people up from the airport, all that. It's nice to go home on off-days
and all that.
"As far as baseball-wise, it's been a good experience. For my first
full baseball season it's gone as good as I could have expected."
Ramos agreed.
"So far, so good," Ramos said. "Every game is a learning
experience. This is my first (full) year of pro ball. I'm just making
adjustments and getting familiar with this game. It's a little bit quicker
than the college game."
A left-handed starter, Ramos has gone 7-7 with a 3.71 ERA in 23 starts.
Having his old college teammate around has helped Ramos keep his spirits
up in the California League, which is notorious for being unfriendly to
pitchers.
"It's easy just to have a guy to mess around with, you're so used
to the way he is," Ramos said. "We're just kicking back and
enjoying the time we have out here."
Jamison said last season, when both pitchers were getting their feet wet
in pro ball, it was even more important to have someone like Ramos along.
"To be able to have someone to talk to and try to figure stuff out
was good," Jamison said.
"This year it's just kind of fun. We're both from the area, we both
have family and friends coming here all the time."
Both pitchers agreed that they have to take a different mentality into
games than they did at Long Beach State's Blair Field, one of the most
pitcher-friendly college ballparks in the country.
"Obviously the goal always is to keep the ball down," Jamison
said. "Even in college, even at Blair, you try to keep the ball down.
Obviously you have a lot more to work with there. Even if you do make
a mistake and it's up most of the time they're still going to be able
to hit it out."
Jamison noted that certain parks in particular can be brutal for a pitcher.
"We go to Lancaster or High Desert, you can put a ball in the dirt
and they can golf it out," he said. "But it's out of your control,
for the most part. You can make a great pitch, but sometimes they hit
it."
Record breaker: Closer Brian Anderson (Long Beach State)
broke the California League record for saves when he notched his 35th
on Friday as San Jose (Giants) defeated Modesto (Rockies), 3-2.
Anderson struck out two of the three batters he faced to pass the mark
of 34 set by Rafael Chaves with High Desert in 1992 and tied by Bill Everly
with San Bernardino in 1999.
What makes the record even more remarkable was the 23-year-old right-hander
wasn't even a closer in college. Anderson served as Jamison's setup man
in 2004 and 2005.
"Everybody always referred to him as a setup guy, but without him
I wouldn't have been throwing in the ninth," Jamison said. "He
did his job in the eighth. We would have been just as successful in college
if (Coach Mike Weathers) had flipped us around.
"He's got the confidence and the stuff to do great."
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