Greene earns piece of C's homer mark
Thursday 26 June 1997,Lyndon Little Vancouver Sun
There's nothing like a little heart-to-heart with the
general manager to clear the mind.
Todd Greene, Vancouver Canadians' slugging catcher,
had a long, one-on-one session with Anaheim Angels'
GM Bill Bavasi Tuesday. Wednesday, he went out and
tied the club record for home runs in a season with a
monster blast over the left field fence.
With the C's trailing Edmonton Trappers by a run in the
eighth inning, Greene crushed a fastball by Trappers'
reliever Tim Kubinski for a two-run shot that gave his
team a 4-3 lead. Edmonton tied the contest in the ninth,
but the C's won in their half of the inning when Frank
Bolick, pinch hitting for Jerrey Thurston, lined a single to
centre field, scoring second baseman Fausto Cruz.
The 5-4 victory, before an announced crowd of 5,072 at
Nat Bailey Stadium, enabled the C's to earn a split of
their four-game series with their Alberta rivals.
Greene's blast gave him 24 for the season, tying the
franchise mark set by Joey Meyer in 1986. What's
amazing is that the C's 5'10", right-handed power hitter has accomplished the feat in just 57
games.
"Tying the record is nice, but I've told you guys many times I'm not in this game to set
records in the minors," said the 26-year-old Greene, who is leading the PCL with a .367
average.
After starting the season with the major league Angels, Greene found himself getting little
playing time and was optioned back to Vancouver April 17. As his slugging totals mounted
and still no recall came, his frustration grew. That's why Tuesday's face-to-face with Bavasi
helped, at least to some degree, set his mind straight. The message he received: You're
definitely our catcher of the future, but right now you're better off playing here every day.
"Yeah, I felt better after the talk. I was able to get some things off my chest," commented
Greene. "It's a situation where the club [Anaheim] is playing well and doesn't want to make a
change. What I like about Bill is that he's very up front. He doesn't beat around the bush."
Unless the Halos go into a prolonged slump, Greene will likely continue to add to his home
run total here. Ironically, Angels' first-string catcher, Jim Leyritz, had to take himself out of
Wednesday's game against Texas with a leg muscle pull. But Greene is too much of a team
player to take that news as encouraging.
"I'm sure not going to sit here and hope somebody gets hurt," he said.
Had the C's not rallied it would have marked the third time this season they had lost a
four-game series to the Trappers three games to one. Considering there's a good chance the
teams will be meeting for the Northern Division playoff title come September, Wednesday's
win was important psychologically.
"Yeah, I really wanted this one," admitted manager Bruce Hines. "I don't think they have our
number or anything. It's more a case of we haven't been executing against them."
Ex-C's lefty Andrew Lorraine did his best to continue the Trappers' domination of his former
teammates. He handcuffed the C's, limiting them to just four hits and a couple of runs before
running out of gas after seven innings. The former Stanford star, the Canadians' pitcher of the
year in 1994, finished with eight strikeouts.
"Lorraine pitched us tough," said Hines. "In fact, he gave us more trouble here than he did
when we faced him in Edmonton."
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