KANNAPOLIS— You look into Joe Valentine’s eyes and you think closer.
You look at his overpowering fastball blowing people away and you think closer.
And then, you listen to him talk after preserving another Kannapolis Intimidators win and you know he considers himself nothing but a closer — and he’s proud of it.
Take Thursday night’s pulsating 2-1 victory over the Lexington Legends in a battle of the top two teams in the South Atlantic League. Manager Razor Shines handed Valentine, a 6-foot-2, 195-pound righty from Long Island, the ball with the game on the line.
“One of the biggest things about being a closer is showing no fear,” Valentine said.
How’s this for fear? There are two outs, a man on third and you’re facing Michael Rosamond, a strapping 6-5 hulk who just happens to be the SAL’s most powerful basher at the plate. Rosamond is first in the league in extra base knocks (16), hits (36) and RBIs (24). He is second in slugging percentage (.578), third in doubles (10) and fifth in average (.330).
Didn’t Valentine know all of this?
“Yeah, I knew that,” Valentine shrugged, “but as a closer, you can’t think about that stuff.”
And one more thing for Valentine to put in the back of his mind was protecting a victory for Jim Sweeney, the Intimidator starter who had shut down the hottest-hitting club in the SAL (.295) for 713 innings.
That’s a lot of weight on a pitcher’s shoulders, even if they are as broad as Valentine’s.
He never flinched when looking at catcher Humberto Quintero’s signs as Rosamond menacingly dug in.
“The first pitch, I threw him a slider to see how he looked,” Valentine explained. “He took it so it didn’t give me that much information.”
Valentine decided to simply give Rosamond his best fastball.
Swing and a miss for strike two.
“He didn’t look too good on it,” said Valentine. “So I reared back and threw another one.”
A futile swing by the big man ended the classic confrontation and had the Thirsty Thursday crowd roaring its approval.
“He couldn’t catch up to it,” said Valentine of the high, hard heat.
The win was a big one for the young Intimidators, who had lost an 8-3 decision a night earlier. It helped put them back into a tie with the Legends for first in the Northern Division at 20-8.
“It means a lot,” said outfielder Derek Wigginton. “We’re a young team and it builds confidence this early in the season to come back like that.”
Wigginton is one of the reasons Kannapolis rallied from an early 1-0 deficit.
Sweeney, a lefty strikeout artist (32 Ks in 3013 innings), allowed a first-inning homer to Felix Escalona but allowed only three other hits.
Meanwhile, his teammates were scratching back.
In the third, the team loaded the bases off Robert Stiehl, Houston’s first-round draft pick in 2000. John Lackaff’s double play grounder scored Wally Rosa.
In the fourth, Wigginton lit into a Stiehl fastball and sent it screaming over the fence for a 2-1 lead.
“I had looked bad the previous at bat,” admitted Wigginton. “I was looking for a fastball, he grooved one in there and I happened to get around on it.”
Sweeney was relieved by Arnaldo Munoz in the eighth but he hit John Toploski in the ninth and the Legend was balked to second.
Valentine was promptly summoned. Escalona moved Toploski to third on an out and then Valentine blew away Michael Hill with a 3-2 fastball.
That brought up Rosamond against the SAL’s Rolaids Relief Man of the Month for April.
“It’s the greatest feeling,” said Valentine of crunch time. “It’s second to none.”
It was also satisfying for Valentine, who bounced back from a week earlier when he blew a 6-2 ninth-inning lead and the Intimidators eventually lost in 14.
“Hopefully, it says a lot about me and people will realize that you can’t dwell on it.”
Shines certainly didn’t.
“That night was tough,” Valentine said, “but the manager reassured me I was still the man. And that’s a great thing to have a coach believe in you that much.”
Valentime paid back his manager in the ninth when an ordinary closer might have melted under the pressure of the moment.
Not this guy. His attitude? Bring on Rosamond.
“I knew who he was,” grinned Valentine. “But I’m pretty sure he knows who I am now.”
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