Gord MacKenzie
Chronicle-Herald Sports

Offseason acquisition Scott Puffer must be shaking his head after watching his last three starts go up in smoke.  The $12 million man enters May still looking for his first win of the season.  His 0-1 record belies otherwise sterling statistics, including a 2.25 ERA and 28 strikeouts in 32 innings pitched.

Over his last three starts, Puffer has held opponents to a .212 batting average, with only one extra-base hit allowed in 19 innings.  The staff ace has a 1.42 ERA – and three no-decisions to show for it.

Meanwhile, the bullpen has been experiencing a choke of Biblical proportions.  In the 6 2/3 innings they’ve thrown in Puffer’s last three games, they’re 0-3 with a 17.41 ERA.  Even worse, the ‘pen has completely self-immolated in the ninth inning, allowing at least (that's right, at least) three runs in each appearance.  The ugliness looks like this (and remember, these are 9^th inning stats only):

              IP       H     R   ER  BB   K    ERA     AVG   OBP    SLG    OPS

            1.2+     11   12   12      4    1   90.00     .687   .739   1.688   2.427

Puffer shrugs it off, saying “hey, we all have runs of bad luck some days.”  But it’s clear that if the Atlantics want to keep pace with the likes of Boston and New York, they’re going to need a bullpen that’s more like firemen and less like arsonists.

Kidnapped?

Atlantics players come forward with harrowing, fantastic tale

Gordon McKenzie

Chronicle-Herald Sports

HALIFAX (CP) – Randy Cranford, the Atlantics popular 28-year-old centre fielder is very quiet, pausing to compose himself as he sits in his Dartmouth condominium.  Typically known for his high-energy play on the field and gregarious personality off it, he is clearly a changed man with an unbelievable story to tell.

“I’m not really sure what happened,” he says as his wife takes his hand.  “There was a storm somewhere over Quebec on our flight back from St. Boni – lightning flashing all over the place, some of the guys were getting sick from the turbulence.  Suddenly there was a bright blue light…I swear it must have lasted five seconds, and this low humming sound.  The last thing I remember was the captain saying something over the p.a. and then it all went dark.

“I’m not clear with what happened next.   I woke up in a dark room, and all I could hear was the humming.  It was cold, and the room was some kind of metal.  The door opened, and there was some kind of thing standing there, holding some sort of device.  It passed it over my body, then shut the door.  Every few hours, it happened again. 

“Every few times, they would let me out.  I know Joey (Laverty) and Q (Bill Quam) were somewhere nearby because I’d see them and we’d talk a little.  It was the scariest thing that’s ever happened to me.”

Inquiries made with both Environment Canada and the U.S. National Weather Service show “no unusual activity” in the area on the night of October 1, leading some to speculate that perhaps the team had been kidnapped by extraterrestrials.  Both the Canadian and American departments of defence also report “no unusual activity” in the area.

The Canadian minister of national defence, Claude Morin, immediately ordered an investigation.  “We are very concerned with this potential breach of our national sovereignty, and will do everything in our power to determine the cause and nature of this unprecedented event” said a statement from the DND.

The story was repeated by all of the Atlantics players who were on the flight that night.  Pitcher Larry Archer says the most confusing part of it all came later.  “We were out there for months, I’m sure of it.  I thought someone must have noticed we were gone, that we’d be all over the news, and maybe that someone would come looking for us.  I woke up and the captain said we’d be landing soon. 

“I stepped off the plane and gave Terry (Archer’s wife) a big hug.  I asked her if she missed me.  She looked at me funny – ‘it’s only been a day, Larry.’  She’d come with me to St. Boni but had to miss the last game to get back.  All of it happened during the flight.  I just don’t understand.

“I swear, weeks had passed.  Maybe even months.”

The team begins spring training in just a few weeks, hoping to improve on some disappointing performances over the past three seasons.  No one is sure what effect this experience will have on the players, or the team.  Several players have reportedly been very reluctant to board the team plane again to get to the team’s Florida spring base.  But with the nearest team 12 hours away by bus, there is little choice.

Cranford agrees with Archer.  “No way were we gone just a normal amount of time.  It had to have been months.  One thing’s for sure, I’ll never be the same again.”