Roskos drilled in the nose as Stars wilt in heat vs. Tacoma

Steve Guiremand

Monday, July 24, 2000 | 9:28 a.m.

Call it Bloody Sunday for the Las Vegas Stars.

Not only did the Stars lose for the fourth time in seven games -- 7-3 to the Tacoma Rainiers -- during what figures to be a key homestand for their Pacific Coast League Southern Division title hopes, they also saw all-star outfielder John Roskos go down with a nasty gash on his face after getting hit by a pitch from Rainier starter Ryan Franklin.

This was just a few innings after starting catcher George Williams left the game so that he could return home to be with his wife Chris and their two children, who were in a minor traffic accident.

And you thought playing baseball in 109 humid degrees was bad.

In fact, the ill-timed 4:05 p.m. start -- Why would any professional team schedule a game at the hottest time of the day in mid-July in Las Vegas anyway? -- may have played a direct role in Roskos' injury.

It was shortly after 6 p.m. -- twilight -- and clouds had just moved in and blotted out part of the sun when Franklin's 2-2 fastball sailed high-and-inside to Roskos.

Roskos, the fifth-leading hitter in the PCL with a .343 average who had earlier hit his 13th home run of the season off Franklin, never appeared to make a move to get out of the way -- until it was too late. Even then it first appeared that the ball had missed him, until a few seconds later Roskos sank to his knees in the batter's box and blood began flowing profusely from his nose.

Tacoma catcher Dusty Wathan quickly motioned for Stars trainer Lance Cacanindin to come to Roskos' aid while a shaken Franklin came down off the mound to look on. Roskos' wife, Lisa, sitting in the third row behind home plate, covered her face with her hands.

A few minutes later, Roskos got up and walked off under his own power with Cacanindin holding a towel to his face. A small pool of blood remained in the batter's box.

Cacanindin said Roskos, who was taken to the emergency room at Sunrise Hospital, suffered "a couple of nasal fractures." He is expected to see a specialist today to make sure there is no further serious damage to his nose. Roskos will likely be sidelined for about a week.

"I had been throwing (Roskos) inside all day," said Franklin, who struck out Roskos twice and surrendered a third-inning solo homer to him. "I get 2-2 on him and he fouled off some good pitches. I tried to come in again, but I'm never going to try and hit anybody in the head. He didn't even move. I guess he was looking for an off-speed pitch or something because he didn't move a lick and stayed right in there. I'm sorry he got hit, but I didn't mean to. I never mean to hit anybody in the head."

Franklin said the ball "hit the brim of (Roskos') helmet and then went down and hit him in the nose and the mouth. It was bad news, man."

"There was a lot of blood there," Stars manager Tony Franklin said. "And when there's a lot of blood, it tends to frighten people. You think of the worse. It's scary when you get hit in the head like that."

Tony Franklin said he wasn't sure whether Ryan Franklin's pitch was intentional or not.

"I don't know," he said. "The kid pitched pretty well. He pitched a good ballgame. I don't know whether he threw at him or not. All I know is that (Roskos) took a pretty good blow to the face and that's not good."

Tacoma manager Dave Myers strongly denied that his pitcher was throwing at Roskos.

Almost predictably, Stars reliever Matt Whisenant was ejected in the ninth after trying to hit Tacoma shortstop Chris Snopek, who reached base all six times he batted on Sunday. Whisenant's pitched sailed behind Snopek and came immediately after an unexpected trip to the mound by pitching coach Darrel Akersfeld.

Home plate umpire Chris Taylor wasted little time in ejecting Whisenant, Akersfeld and another Stars pitcher, Buddy Carlyle, who was standing on the top step of the dugout yelling at Taylor.

"I think a blind man could see that was intentional," Myers said of Whisenant's errant pitch. "If that's what they got to do, that's what they feel they have to do. Obviously, I don't think anybody on either side could remotely think that we were trying to hit somebody in the head. Whatever is on their mind is on their mind."

If the plan is approved as expected, it could be the beginning of the end for Las Vegas' chance of developing a third spring training location involving the Dodgers.

"It is just a process document and doesn't get us any closer to getting the deal done," Derrick Hall, vice president of communications, said.

Still, Craig Callen, managing director of Dodgertown, said the meeting is a big one.

"It's clearly a sign that we want to stay in Vero Beach," Callen said. "We are committed to Vero Beach. That's why we submitted the (memorandum)."

The Dodgers said they hope to make a final decision on their spring training future by September.