Saints opener: Texas entry takes first swings, first loss
A new franchise with a former major leaguer lost its opener to a more seasoned Saints team at Midway Stadium.
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Up next: 7:05 p.m. today • vs. Grand Prairie • (1330-AM)
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First pitch was still more than two hours away Thursday, and for the Grand Prairie AirHogs, this was the real first pitch -- the first ever for the new American Association baseball franchise.
Manager Pete Incaviglia, hired by team owners after a two-hour meeting at a Florida airport's snack shack in October, stood in the visiting dugout of Midway Stadium.
He couldn't have been calmer.
"Baseball is baseball," the 44-year-old former major leaguer said, both eyes keen on the St. Paul Saints batting practice. "Opening Day is Opening Day."
Then a pause, and just a hint of giddiness.
"Everybody's excited; thinking they're gonna win a championship," he said. "It's a good day."
Incaviglia is perhaps best known as a college slugger. As a junior at Oklahoma State in 1985, he clubbed an NCAA-record 48 home runs. A year later, he went from the Cowboys to the big leagues, where he eventually hit 206 home runs and amassed 655 RBI over 12 seasons.
He also could be undisciplined, striking out 1,277 times in that span.
"Hard-charging, compete every pitch, never disrespect the game," he said of the way he played.
The early results are in, however, and the AirHogs are getting it done via small ball, though the Saints won the game 10-3 in front of an announced crowd of 5,092.
The AirHogs' first base hit will go down as a double to left by David Espinosa in the first inning. But in the third, Grand Prairie went ahead 3-1 using six successive singles.
The AirHogs finished with 12 hits, 11 of them singles. Demetrius Heath, who played 15 games with the Saints last season, was 3-for-5.
Kevin Sullivan and Ben Thomas both knocked in two runs in the seventh for St. Paul, breaking a 3-3 tie. Pichi Balet finished 3-for-3.
Saints owner Mike Veeck said Grand Prairie bringing in a name like Incaviglia is good for the team and the league.
"It adds to it for sure," Veeck said. "Independent baseball has come a long way in 16 years."
Both St. Paul and Grand Prairie play in a market with a major league ballpark nearby; the Texas Rangers' Ballpark in Arlington is roughly 7 miles from the AirHogs' new $20 million QuikTrip Stadium, or basically the same distance from Midway Stadium to the Metrodome.
The Saints, though, are established.
"It's a lot of work when you have to build a roster from zero players," Incaviglia said. "But it's been fun. This gives guys who still have a dream a chance to still play."
Or, perhaps manage.
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