Two hot to handle for 51s and Sounds

Nick Christensen

Wednesday, Aug. 11, 2004 | 10:17 a.m.

When the Pacific Coast League made its 2004 schedule, every team was scheduled to play a doubleheader on Aug. 10, a necessity to give the teams an extra off-day with less than a month left in the season.

Regardless of whether the whole league was playing, it's doubtful anybody had it worse than the Las Vegas 51s and Nashville Sounds. Monday night, the teams played 10 innings, and Tuesday, they started early and played 14 innings -- all on the hottest day of the year.

At about 5 p.m., with temperatures over 110 degrees, 51s catcher Eric Langill sauntered into the dugout after catching in the sun-drenched Las Vegas bullpen for half an hour.

"It doesn't bother me as much," he said. "It's kind of easy because I don't get a chance to play as much."

Inside the cool 51s clubhouse, outfielder Cody Ross was getting ready to be one of four 51s who would start both of Tuesday's games. He went 0-for-2 in Las Vegas' 2-1 win in the first game, but had his sixth home run in six days in the second game, which Nashville won, 9-5.

"It just comes to a point where it gets to 106, 107, 108, and it doesn't make a difference," he said. "I'm getting myself mentally prepared -- the other team has to play, too."

At about 7:10 p.m., the temperature was still hovering at 110 degrees midway through Tuesday's first game. Kyle Hanson sat alone on the hot aluminum stands that just minutes earlier were soaking in the sun.

Did Hanson mind the hot bench or warm air?

"No way," he said. "I can chase more foul balls over here. I already got five."

About 20 minutes later, longtime Las Vegas beer vendor Mark Gill, soaked in sweat, stood on the concourse, taking a break and drinking a Mountain Dew.

Gill said that although the crowd for a doubleheader on a long day may be smaller -- the announced attendance was 1,904 -- its thirst for beer can be pumped up quite a bit. He said the crowd on doubleheaders usually keeps the same schedule as a regular day.

"Most people show up in the third or fourth inning of the first game," he said. "They'll leave in the fifth or so of the second game."

Just more than two hours after he threw the first pitch of the first game, Las Vegas pitcher Joel Hanrahan sat with an ice pack on his shoulder in the 51s clubhouse. The outside temperature at the end of the first game was about 105 degrees.

"It's been hot all summer," he said. "You can't think about it too much."

But he did, especially in the fourth inning, when he said he started to feel leg cramps. He was drinking a bottle of water every inning, and based on the cramping, said he probably could have had some more.

By 9 p.m., Game 2 was barely a third of the way done, with the 51s leading 3-2 after a long first inning. The game inched along after that, though, and at 11 p.m., Nashville was just getting up to bat in the top of the seventh inning. The Sounds scored six runs in that half-inning to go ahead and break their seven-game losing streak.

Las Vegas play-by-play man Russ Langer had just finished broadcasting his 13th inning of baseball. The temperature was finally below 100 degrees.

Langer said it's before the game that he notices the temperature.

"I feel hot when I set up," he said. "Right now I feel some. But once the game starts, I don't feel it much."

Las Vegas pitcher Mike Venafro, traded Monday from Kansas City for pitcher Elvin Nina, gave up four of Nashville's six seventh-inning runs.

He said he left his hotel in Edmonton, Alberta "around breakfast time" Tuesday morning, with the temperature at a cool 55 degrees. He then flew to Las Vegas by way of Minnesota, arriving at Cashman Field midway through the first game.

"I enjoy the dry heat," he said. "It does allow you to get loose. These guys had to watch the first game in the heat."