10/17/04 Lompoc's sixth major league baseball player became one while slumped in the baggage room of the Tucson airport, disgusted.

Ryan Church and the Edmonton Trappers had played a night game Friday Aug. 21 in Salt Lake City, grabbed a few hours sleep, then boarded the big silver bird to Arizona.

"We were in Tucson," Church said Tuesday by phone from Cleveland where he'll spend the winter.

"But none of our personal bags made it. I was PO'ed. I was going to complain. It was taking forever!

"I was sitting there with my back on the glass and my manager said 'come here.'

" 'You didn't get your bags either?' "

Before Church could think to say "why do you think I'm sitting here?" manager Dave Huppert fired a verbal fastball.

Advertisement

"You're going up."

Not upstairs to the lobby, but up the baseball ladder to the major leagues. A dream Church harbored since third grade had suddenly come true.

There were no classical violins in the background. It was still the Tucson luggage room.

After calling home, Church could only do what he'd been doing all summer - wait.

"They got my bats and my baseball stuff which was already on the truck to the ballpark.

"But I sat down there an hour before I got everything. I just sat there staring at the ground going 'somebody pinch me.' "

Arrival

Church, batting .343 for the Trappers, arrived in Tucson flying coach. His ticket out, to Denver, was first class.

He was to meet the Montreal Expos for the last two games of their final western swing.

"I was in awe," said Church of his arrival at Coors Field, home of the Colorado Rockies.

"I had seen it on TV. 'Now I'm here.'

"I rolled in before the game. They had people waiting for me."

Church's locker and uniform were awaiting as well, though it was not his customary No. 20. Expo manager Frank Robinson wears that number.

"I've been 20 my whole career but Frank had it. I couldn't tell a Hall of Famer to change. I was glad to take No. 38."

By the second inning Church was dressed and in the dugout.

By the ninth inning of a day begun at dawn in Salt Lake, Church was in the batters box pinch-hitting against Rockie closer Shawn Chacon.

Awestruck in front of 33,000 people, the biggest crowd he had ever performed for, Church drove a high fly ball to left field.

"It was nerve-wracking," he admitted to the press. "At least I didn't strike out."

Three for four

On Sunday Robinson inserted Church into the starting lineup in left field.

In the first inning the left-handed hitter lined a two-out single into right field to drive in the game's first run.

The Colorado pitcher was John Jennings, a right-hander. "It was a slider down the middle, a little low. I hit it hard. At least it wasn't a blooper or a broken bat."

When he arrived at first base, Church heard Colorado first baseman Todd Helton say "That's the way to swing it."

In the bottom of the inning, as if to reply "Hey, Helton, remember me," Church made a diving catch to rob the All-Star of extra bases.

In the third inning Church singled. Next time up, with first base open, he was intentionally walked. In the eighth his swinging bunt went for a single. Then on defense he threw out Rockie baserunner Royce Clayton at the plate.

Three-for-four, on base four of five plate appearances, two RBI, an assist and a diving catch, all in his first major league start, Church made himself noticed.

"Church didn't score a run and wasn't called on to pitch," wrote Owen Perkins of MLB.com. "But he left few questions unanswered about how many different ways he could help" the last place Expos.

"It was a good day, a good day at the office," Church agreed as he thought back eight weeks.

The show

The major leagues are a giant step up from the minor leagues, Church learned.

"The biggest difference is the defense.

"They make unbelievable plays. The balls that squeak through in Triple-A, they don't here!"

And the pitching....

"The No. 1 and No. 2 starters are lights out. You've got to battle your butt off. You've got to get hits against the No. 3 and 4 pitchers and take your chances against 1 and 2. Everybody has a fastball that moves. There's nothing that's straight. You'll see 96-mile-an-hour sinkers."

Church batted against big names - Greg Maddux, John Smoltz, Tom Glavine, Russ Ortiz among them.

Maddux was Church's idol as a youngster.

"He throws that front door two-seamer (fastball). He starts it inside on you and it tails back. It moves a lot. I said to myself all day 'don't give up on it. It comes back.' But what happened? He froze me and punched me out on that pitch."

John Smoltz "can throw the heck out of the ball and he throws that splitty (split-fingered sinker). He tried to punch me out with fastballs away but he missed, then he came back with the splitty. I grounded out."

Tom Glavine "is not going to overpower you. He stays away and makes you get yourself out. Fastballs away and changeups. I got to a three-and-one count, then he threw me back-to-back changeups. I remember watching the barrel of my bat go right over it."

Russ Ortiz "will sit on the outer third and won't give in," which is typical of Atlanta Braves pitchers, Church discovered. "They'll get you out, or you get a hit or they'll walk you, they don't care. They'll show you a cutter inside but 99% of the time they'll stay away."

The Cubs on the other hand "have guys throwing 95 and up so they can get away with throwing in."

Church hit his only home run off Carl Pavano of the Marlins. "They start you with two-seamers away. He got me the first time on a changeup away." The homer came off Pavano's two-seam fastball, which sinks. "He was throwing it all day. It was low and away. I beat it before it got down there."

Church drove the ball to center field, over the head of quicksilver Juan Pierre. "I knew I hit it well but Juan was out there. As soon as he let up I thought 'all right!' "

The venues

Cozy Wrigley Field in Chicago was a unique experience.

"There are sellouts every game. The fans live and die Cubs. They've got fans hanging over the ivy walls and saying stuff to you."

The picturesque ivy looks better than it feels.

"It's ivy and bricks. I got some of the green on Aramis Ramirez' home run. It didn't feel too good."

The turf is no better.

"It's "thick, bumpy and hilly. You've got to get to the ball" quickly in Chicago.

The grass at Joe Robbie Stadium in Miami was torn up by football but at Turner Field in Atlanta, Shea Stadium in New York, and Citizens Bank Park, the new Philadelphia yard, it was golf course quality. "You're playing on fairway grass, a putting surface."

Church's stats

Church, Montreal's Minor League Player of the Year, was not able to post big league numbers like those he posted at Edmonton.

In 30 games with the Expos he batted only .175 with six RBI and the one home run.

"I was terrible up there," said the intense Church with a hint of impatience with himself, an intangible which has helped propel his career.

"I got up there and I thought I had to change.

"For some reason young guys think they have to change something.

"I was attacking too much. I have to get my hands down to where they were."

"I was OK in Colorado but I got sick in Montreal."

After developing a respiratory infection Church was out of action for an entire week, then saw his average begin to spiral down.

The rookie found himself in the starting lineup once or twice a week, with pinch hitting assignments in between. His timing never really returned.

"I'd sit for four days, then you're expected to hit off Josh Beckett," Church mused.

"I've never sat on the bench four days and hit, but I wasn't going to complain."

Will Church do anything differently come spring?

"Just act like I've been there before," he said curtly.

Lompoc

In the stands for both of Church's two games in Denver was Church's Lompoc High teammate Rusty Signorelli with assorted Signorelli relatives. The gang included Signorelli's mom, Shirley, who specializes in a distinctive ultra high-frequency Lompoc Brave cheer ("chee-chee-chee-chee") which is a verbal version of fingernails on the chalkboard.

Even among 30,000 fans, Church heard Shirley.

"I thought 'You know what, that sounds familiar,' " he chuckled.

"I was proud to finally get up there playing for the little city of Lompoc."

Note: Church's offseason will be strictly R&R. Planning with fiance Tina Nastoff for their wedding next October may be his most arduous task, though he did not rule out a brief January visit to winter ball.... The 26-year-old Church's 30 games in the big time have already surpassed the big league tenure of Lompocans Gary Hargis and Jeff Bettendorf. He ranks fourth behind Casey Candaele, Roy Howell and Roy Thomas.

John McReynolds can be reached at 736-2313, Ext. 106, or jmcreynolds@pulitzer.net