Baseball Tri-Weekly: A deadly dealer

Reporter Kyle Gaffer is helped by paramedics after being hit with a baseball in the face. More is known about the incident, but no one may ever know if it was intentional. Sadly, one of our greatest reporter is no more.








A deadly dealer
By Listen Deplayohs, Baseball Tri-Weekly

FORT MYERS, Fla. - An enigma in the EHCC, Daisuke Matsuzaka has taken on a few more titles this spring training: Murderer and career ruiner.

Late last night, Baseball Tri-Weekly’sKyle Gaffer was struck by a pitch during a work out in Arlington’s spring training home by Matsuzaka. He was taken to Boris Memorial Hospital, but died early this morning.

"Gaffer was wandering behind the catcher," said an Arlington spokesperson. "A few scouts and coaches were behind there also, watching Matsuzaka pitch. I don’t know if the pitch got away from the catcher, and I don’t want to speculate, but Mr. Gaffer was hit."

EMTs were called immediately, and Gaffer was conscious for a short time. According to Boris Memorial, he died from blunt force trauma to the kidney, pancreas, left arm and brain.

"It was no accident," said Warriors catcher Jason Varitek. "I had no idea where it was going, but Matsusaka did. I could see it in his eyes. If it was a fastball, I would have dove for it, but I couldn’t tell what it was."

Gaffer, who joined Baseball Tri-Weekly late last year, was assigned to cover the most coveted player in the upcoming draft. He had followed Matsusaka to workouts with Golden and Las Vegas, but the one with Arlington was clearly important.

"He had been grilling Matsusaka with questions all week long," said Mark Tuckerman, a reporter with the Washington Times. "He had learned Japanese in the offseason in preparation for the coverage. He may have been the best reporter I have ever known."

Tuckerman said that conversations between the pitcher and scribe got heated at times, with Matsusaka walking out of a press conference.

"I don’t know what they were talking about," said Tuckerman. "The interpreter stopped translating."

Gaffer wasn’t the only person Matsusaka destroyed. During a training session with Quebec City, Matsusaka was asked to face a few batters, one being Jeremy Hermida.

"I don't know if the gyro was what I was seeing, but I was seeing something that's kind of like a split-finger changeup," said Hermida, who has a year-plus in the EHCC. "It's tough to describe. I just know I didn't pick up the spin."

Hermida was so distraught about the at bats, he sought the counsel of Manager Brian Fantana. Two days later, Hermida was traded to Peoria without explanation.

"The gyroball really messed him up," said Piglet Josh Barfield, Hermida’s spring training roommate. "He was muttering in his sleep, swearing in English and Japanese. I wanted to talk to him about it next morning, but he seemed too spaced out to talk. I told coach about it, and the next day he was gone."

Matsusaka has remained tight-lipped regarding both incidents, though he did issue an apology to Gaffer’s family. If it was half-hearted, the English speaking ones among us will never know.