Godwin experiencing high, lows of baseball

By Ricky Adams/Ledger Correspondent
Published: July 26, 2008

Adam Godwin was drained physically, mentally and emotionally shortly after midnight EDT Thursday.

He had every reason to be.

“I was at the ballpark for about 17 hours today,” Godwin said. “We’re having a camp for kids in the mornings this week and we played a doubleheader this afternoon and evening, so I just got home.”

Godwin’s team, the Jacksonville Suns, split a doubleheader with the cellar-dwelling Mobile BayBears and moved a game ahead of them in Southern League, Southern Division standings.

The teams wrap up their series Saturday, and the Suns take off for North Carolina and a five-game date with the Mudcats.

Part of Godwin’s exhaustion is a carry-over from his all-star appearance about two weeks ago.

“We’d just gotten home from the toughest road trip I’ve ever been on,” the fleet outfielder said. “After the all-star break we went to West Tennessee and instead
of starting the Sunday afternoon game, the last game of the series, at 2 p.m. we started at 5 o’clock.

“We didn’t get out of town until around 9:30 p.m., and we got back to Jacksonville at 10:30 a.m. on Monday, which was an off-day. Then we opened the series with Mobile Tuesday.”

Godwin, hitting .274 with an on-base percentage of .358, and his teammates left for Carolina after Saturday’s game which began at 7:05 p.m. and rode all night
and will play at Carolina at 2 p.m. Sunday.

“This is part of what professional baseball at this level is all about,” Godwin said. “We get tired but we’re playing baseball for a living and this is part of it.”

So, too, is something that happened off the field Thursday, something that caught all the Suns by surprise.

“After the game when we got into the clubhouse our manager (John Shoemaker) called Mark Bellhorn into his office and gave him his release,” Godwin noted. “It was a shock to the team. Mark’s a great guy and everyone liked him.”

Bellhorn, a journeyman utility player who’s played seven different positions in his lengthy career that’s seen him play for seven major league teams, was a
member of the 2004 Boston Red Sox team that won the World Series. Bellhorn once made $2.75 million in a season.

“Sometimes things just don’t make sense,” Godwin lamented.

“Mark got along with everyone and I know it was tough on our manager, who is 51 years old, to give a 33-year-old his release. I’ll bet any manager will tell you releasing a player is the toughest part of his job, but, again, this is baseball, and it happens all the time.

“It’s a wake-up call to the rest of us that, hey, we’re in a business and this isn’t a game. None of us saw it coming. Mark and I got to be friends when he came
here a couple of months ago. He played at Auburn and I guess there was a strong Alabama tie between us.

“Mark told and showed me a whole lot of things. When he talked, everybody listened because he’d been a big-time player, a World Series hero. I guess he really picked me out to be his friend and I know I’ll miss him.

“It’s unbelievable that one minute it’s a normal day and two minutes later you’re packing to go home. Mark said this ain’t his first rodeo and that he’ll be all right. Getting released is something every player faces if he stays in the game long enough.

“What the rest of us have to do now is get a little rest and get up in a few hours and go again. That’s baseball.”