Tucson cools Crosby to earn split it series

Nick Christensen

Wednesday, May 14, 2003 | 9:51 a.m.

Bubba Crosby was 0-for-4 Tuesday night as the 51s lost to the Tucson Sidewinders, 4-1, in front of an announced crowd of 2,166 at Cashman Field.

The silencing of Crosby's bat brought his batting average this season, after 116 at-bats, to a "measly" .422.

"I'm just comfortable," Crosby said after the game. "I feel real confident when I'm up there. I feel I can hit just about every pitcher up there. It doesn't mean I'm going to. We all know this game is extremely difficult -- one of the hardest things in sports is to hit a baseball -- I'm going to have my 0-for-4 days. That's going to happen to everybody."

In a rare exception to his self-imposed restriction on talking to the media, 51s hitting coach George Hendrick said the best thing he does to work with Crosby is stay out of his way.

"This guy has something that a lot of players don't have -- baseball instincts," said Hendrick. "This guy's got great instincts. He understands the importance of work ethic. I've never had one problem out of this guy doing his work. It's not surprising that he's doing as well as he is now, because it's a direct result of his work ethic."

Crosby said he worked just as hard before Sunday's game, where he faced the Arizona Diamondbacks' Byung-Hyun Kim, as he would in any other game. Crosby was 2-for-2 against Kim, who only allowed five hits in six innings.

"It's always exciting to face a major-league pitcher," said Crosby, 26. "I hit off a tee, I took my normal rounds of batting practice. It's exciting, but it's more exciting when you're sitting on first base or second base, and you know you got the hit off of him."

"He's a very intelligent young man," Hendrick said with a gleam in his eyes. "When you have this kind of intelligence with this kind of ability and this kind of a work ethic, it translates into this kind of success."

Crosby, meanwhile, says his biggest concern isn't getting to the major leagues as much as it is giving his teammates confidence in their abilities.

"The best thing I can do is help people, make sure the people down below me have the same confidence that this pitcher is capable of getting hit," Crosby said. "The biggest thing is that we're winning, and everybody loves being on a winning team. We just need to start picking up every hitter at the lineup, from the bottom up to the top."

"This guy belongs in the major leagues right now. If not in L.A., then somewhere," said Hendrick. "He's earned a shot at being at the major leagues. Obviously, he's got nothing else to learn at Triple-A. He could help somebody out in the major leagues right now. There are plenty of outfielders out there playing in the major leagues who can't do the things that this guy does."