Angels prospect loses a game but wins a fan
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Angels owner Arte Moreno generally addresses his team early each spring, telling them he expects them to do two things: win and remember the fans.
Those are expectations Moreno puts on himself as well, which is why he stood by his first-row seat adjacent to the Angels dugout Wednesday, signing autographs and posing for pictures long after the stadium had emptied. One couple even offered Moreno -- who was sporting a beard -- their baby.
Just for the picture, though. Then Moreno handed the kid back.
And speaking of kids, one Angels minor leaguer apparently took Moreno’s words to heart, moving a fan to write the team and thank them.
Frank Soltys was at last Saturday’s game in Tucson, where the Rockies scored five times in the ninth inning to beat the Angels, 11-10. Which was fine with Soltys, whose daughter used to work for the Rockies. The winning runs scored when Nick Pugliese, who shouldn’t even have been in the game, gave up a bases-loaded triple to Eric Young Jr.
But 45 minutes later, Soltys said Pugliese, carrying a plate of clubhouse food, his arm wrapped in ice, patiently stopped and signed autographs for anyone who asked. This despite the fact he was facing a two-hour bus ride back to Tempe that Manager Mike Scioscia said wasn’t much fun for anyone.
‘It was really amazing. It was almost a ‘Mean’ Joe Greene moment,’ Soltys said by phone, referring to the famous commercial in which the Pittsburgh Steelers star trades his jersey for a fan’s Coke after a tough loss.
In his letter to the Angels, Soltys wrote, ‘I realize that players must first and foremost produce but, in my book, Nick Pugliese is a winner and I will be rooting for and keeping my eye on him.’
Pugliese, a 24-year-old right-hander from Deltona, Fla., will likely start the season in double A.
‘It was really quite a tribute,’ Soltys said by phone. ‘That’s why I wrote to the team. I wanted the organization to know about it.’
-- Kevin Baxter in Tempe, Ariz.