I awake at 5 a.m. as the alarm in the next room goes off but manage to fall back asleep half an hour later. My own alarms wakes me at 9 a.m., enough time to snooze and make it down for breakfast by 9:30.

I manage to help a little more on today�s crossword, filling in �epee� for a fencing weapon, �Lena Horne� for the singer of �Stormy Weather,� and �lira� for Italian currency.

Today�s trip to the gym is optional, and only eight players make the trip. After the workout, Neil and I walk over to a Blimpie sub shop for lunch and talk about tonight�s doubleheader and the two coming up on the homestand back in Lakewood. Nine games in six days. The BlueClaws are four games out of first place and a game and a half behind Greensboro for third, making Tuesday�s loss tougher to stomach at the moment.

�There�s always at least one game in each half that you look back on and say, �What if?�� Neil says. �I think that game�s going to be the one. I hope I�m wrong.�

On the way to the ballpark I notice a billboard I hadn�t seen on Wednesday: �Jesus Christ, the savior of the world ... Ask Him to be yours today.� Another sign we�re in the South. That and the Waffle House in the parking lot adjascent to the hotel.

When we get to Memorial Stadium, the Greensboro radio and media people tell us that they�ve had three players � two pitchers and an outfielder � sent down to short-season Staten Island. It�s been done before, last year, in an effort to stock Staten Island with advanced players to help the team win the New York-Penn League. Why? Well, entering play last night, the SI Yankees stood 3 1/2 games behind the Brooklyn Cyclones � the Mets� affiliate. �Steinbrenner raped us again,� one of them says. That�s George for you.�

Before the game I walk out to the left-field corner where the pitchers are running sprints to centerfield and back. While Greensboro finishes batting practice and the BlueClaws loosen their arms down the leftfield line, I sit in the dugout with the coaches. �So how�s life on the road, Dan?� one asks me. I say it hasn�t been all that bad.

�This fucking guy,� the other says, shaking his head and smiling, knowing that one trip cannot give me a true feel for the rigors of their season. It�s my first road trip, an excursion for which I haven�t had to drive myself nor pay for much of anything. I don�t mind hotels in short spurts, and getting to know new regions is exciting to the point I can�t come up with a better word than �exciting.� It�s just my third day on the road, so I have little about which to complain. That may change � I�ll get a better idea of what they go through � when we board the bus after tomorrow�s game for another overnight, nine-hour ride.

Eating meals in restaurants, spending afternoons at the ballpark and listening to radio stations at the gym gives plenty opportunities for what has become an ongoing game on the road for the coaches and staff. Whenever a song comes on, the first to name the artist gets a point. �Neil Sedaka, one-nothing,� the pitching says in the dugout when the radio station being pumped into the ballpark cuts to a new song. �Chuck Berry, two-nothing.�

The game does not carry over, and in three days, I�ve not heard it advance past three-nothing, and that was at lunch during an extended sitting.

Batting practice comes and goes and Robinson Tejada runs through the � Greensboro lineup with a no-hitter through six innings, allowing a leadoff double in the seventh to Yhency Brazoban before finishing with a one-hit, 4-0 shutout.

The BlueClaws start game two with another first-inning run, a 1-0 lead that is evened in the second. Mario Delgado puts Lakewood up 2-1 in the third with a home run and the BlueClaws add two more runs in the fifth. Jarrod Lawson pitches well and Chad Sadowski pitches a strong inning before giving way to Todd Meldahl to start the sixth. Lakewood eventually loses, 6-4, on five unearned runs in the ninth.

Steve, a college buddy and fellow baseball nut, came over from Durham for the game and I spent time moving back and forth between the press box and the stands, including an inning on the radio with Neil. I can positively say I didn�t suck. I didn�t step over pitches � talking too long and preventing Neil from calling the game � and I provided both somewhat entertaining banter and a little quality color commentary.

During the second game, Keith showered and dressed and came up to the seats with Steve and me, and the three of us walked out to the Grand Stand � billed as the World�s Largest Outdoor Sports Bar � in left field. We sat on folding chairs on the wooden patio near left field and called out to leftfielder Gregg Foster, who noticed us and smirked, acknowledging us with little side waves. For two innings, Keith and I were a slightly overly obnoxious.

After the game, I got the quotes I needed and ran back to the press box to add them to my story and file it. When we left, Steve followed us back to the hotel, and he and I watched �Baseball Tonight� and the end of the Braves-Cardinals game (there had been a rain delay) and ordered pizza.

He left about 1:30 and I went online for half an hour before going to sleep.