Samardzija joins short list of Opening Domers

When Jeff Samardzija delivers the first pitch of the Cubs' season on April 1 in Pittsburgh, he'll be the fourth pitcher to come out of Notre Dame and make an Opening Day start in the Major Leagues.

And he'll be the first to do so in 99 years.

The last Domer to toe the rubber as a starter on Opening Day was Ed Reulbach, when he raised the curtain for Brooklyn at Ebbets Field on April 14, 1914, manager Wilbert Robinson's first game at the helm. Fellow Notre Dame grad George Cutshaw started behind Reulbach at second base and a future manager manned right field: Casey Stengel.

Brooklyn -- nicknamed the Robins in the days when nicknames were a bit more fluid (they had been and would again be the Dodgers) -- won, 8-2, over the Boston Braves with two runs in the second, one each in the third and fourth and four more in the fifth. Reulbach went seven innings, allowing two runs, six hits, one walk and striking out five. He had a hit and a walk at the plate, the free pass coming in the two-run second, which may have produced more runs had Reulbach not been caught trying to swipe home on a double-steal.

With Reulbach on third and Dalton on first the double steal was tried, but Whaling fooled Reulbach by feigning a throw to second and caught him between the bases. -- The New York Times, April 15, 1914

The start was Reulbach's second on Opening Day. He'd previously done so for the Cubs in 1911, a game that ended in a 3-3 tie after 11 innings. And the only other Domer to get a start in his team's opener was Willie McGill, who got the start for the Chicago Colts (later the Cubs) in 1893. Chicago lost that game to Cincinnati, 10-1.

So teams are 1-1-1 on Opening Day when a former Notre Dame player throws the first pitch. Whether or not Samardzija gets the decision, that record will change on April 1.

Coming soon: The Ballad of Rupert Mills

This is Rupert Mills, New Jersey born and Notre Dame educated. A four-sport letterman -- hence the basketball uniform -- and the last man to play in the short-lived Federal League (1914-15), he was the only Garden Stater on the Newark Peps. Mills made news in 1916 when, after the league had folded, he refused to be reassigned and, putting his Notre Dame law degree to work, insisted on being paid his $3,000 salary. It made for an interesting scenario in which he was the last -- and only -- player in the Federal League in 1916.

I post this because on this day 83 years ago, Mills passed away at 36, a hero for saving a friend's life, but losing his in the process. I had intended to prepare a full story about him to post today, but I've hit a snag in my research (involving unreturned phone calls), so it's not ready yet. I didn't want this anniversary to pass, so consider this a placeholder and a preview.

From ND to MLB: Aaron Heilman

Aaron Heilman during the 2000 Big East Tournament in Bridgewater, N.J.

This post is about 11 months too late. I won't bore you with the details of why -- basically a combination of a vacation that followed the interview and the lack of a deadline (this is why I don't freelance; I can be a terrible self-starter) -- but suffice it to say that I would've preferred that I posted this last August.


This is how quickly it can turn. One July day, you're in the bullpen with the Arizona Diamondbacks, the team that relied on you for 70 games the previous season; two weeks later, after your release, you're preparing to pitch on "Halloween in July," marked with a skeleton-themed pullover jersey.

It's on this night I find Aaron Heilman in the Lehigh Valley IronPigs clubhouse at Coca-Cola Park. When a teammate takes a break from their game of dominoes to get some dinner, I, as a manner of introduction, point out our shared alma mater. We shake hands and I take a seat, but I don't reveal my allegiance to the Mets just yet. In hindsight, that may be part of my hesitation at writing this post. Because of our college connection -- Heilman's 1998 freshman season at Notre Dame overlapped with my senior spring -- I tend to view him in a more favorable light than most (OK, all) Mets fans I know. But then again, I don't #BlameBeltran for anything, either. While I understand how one mistake can taint you in the eyes of the fanbase for the rest of your career, I can't bring myself to dwell on the losses. I prefer to just move on to the next game, or the next season, and look forward to the next win.

So here we are, the pitcher from Logansport, Ind., and the reporter from the Jersey Shore chatting about South Bend across a table set in the middle of a surprisingly narrow clubhouse for a ballpark built in the last 10 years. IronPigs shuffle by, music blares from a stereo, and out of the corner of my eye, I catch a glimpse from the kitchen of Hall of Famer named Ryne Sandberg, Lehigh Valley's manager.

Some might think that Heilman's Hoosier roots (his father, Joe, ran track at Indiana University) made Notre Dame an obvious choice for the top in-state baseball prospect in 1997, but it wasn't his first thought.

"I wanted to go South, wanted to go play someplace warm," he said while reshuffling the dominoes. "But after talking with Coach [Paul] Maineri and Brian O'Connor, I fell in love with the place. I took my visit there and called up the rest of my visits on Sunday and cancelled them. I was sold. It seemed like home, seemed like the right place for me to be."

Drafted by the Yankees in the 55th round, Heilman chose college instead, and from the start, he was right for Notre Dame. During his freshman season in 1998, he led the nation with a 1.61 ERA, going 7-3 with nine saves in 31 games (one start). He struck out 78 and walked 19 in 67 innings, holding opponents to a .198 batting average. Those numbers earned him third-team all-America and consensus first-team freshman all-America honors from Collegiate Baseball and second-team all-Big East accolades. He shared Collegiate Baseball's freshman of the year award with California's Xavier Nady and a left-hander from Auburn named Hayden Gliemmo, who was never drafted but played 42 games at Class A Cedar Rapids in 2003, his only professional season.

In 1999, his sophomore year, Heilman started 14 of his 20 games, completing six of them, with an 11-2 record and 3.14 ERA. He struck out 118 in 109 innings, breaking Frank Carpin's 41-year-old single-season Irish strikeout record (which he matched the next season). Heilman's sophomore campaign included a one-hitter over Miami (he pitched the final five innings, allowing the lone hit in the ninth of a 1-0 win, the first shutout of the Hurricanes in four years) and a 154-pitch win over Creighton in an NCAA regional (he allowed one run on five hits, with six walks and seven strikeouts). The honors came again: third-team all-America from Collegiate Baseball and the American Baseball Coaches Association, and first team all-Big East.

2000 Big East Tournament program

Heilman broke out during his junior year in 2000, earning all-America, Big East pitcher of the year and unanimous first-team all-Big East honors following a 10-2, 3.21 season with another 118 strikeouts in 103 2/3 innings. He completed eight of his 14 starts and got into another three games in relief. In a 10-inning win at West Virginia, he tied a Big East record with 18 strikeouts, 10 of which came in the final 12 batters (including seven in a row). The Twins selected him that June with the first selection in the supplemental round, No. 31 overall, but Heilman chose to return to South Bend for his senior season.

"Once you go to Notre Dame, it becomes part of your family," he said, explaining how he still stays in touch with his college years, though it might also explain his decision to return. "It doesn't matter what years you were there, what dorm you stayed in. It always seems like there's some connection there, always something to draw you back."

2007 Upper Deck

And what a season that 2001 campaign was: He went 15-0 in 15 starts, completing 12 of them, with a 1.74 ERA and .173 batting average against. The Irish won a program-record 49 games and achieved their first national No. 1 ranking during the season. In 114 innings, Heilman struck out 111 and walked 31, allowing 70 hits and just three homers. He repeated as Big East pitcher of the year (the first since Connecticut's Charles Nagy in 1987-88), was a consensus first-team all-American and ranked second in the nation in wins and sixth in ERA. He still ranks among the top 10 in 14 of 15 career pitching categories listed in the 2012 Notre Dame Baseball Media Guide, including first in innings (393 2/3), wins (43, against just seven losses) and strikeouts (425, which is 110 more than runner up David Sinnes). His single-season strikeouts totals of 118, 118 and 111 rank as the top three in Notre Dame history. And -- if I may borrow from my 2002 self, as you'll see below -- the editors of the student newspaper, The Observer, named him male athlete of the year, ahead of quarterback Matt Lo Vecchio (who led the football team to the Fiesta Bowl) and basketball forward Troy Murphy (who helped the Irish to their first NCAA tournament appearance in 11 years).

When draft day came, Heilman's name was the 18th called -- as the first player taken by the New York Mets. At the time, I thought it could only be a good thing -- a player from my alma mater chosen by my favorite team. I didn't think about failure, because I didn't expect there to be any, not on a grand scale, anyway.

Heilman progressed quickly through the Mets' system, beginning at high-Class A St. Lucie after signing in 2001, splitting 2002 between Double-A Binghamton and Triple-A Norfolk. In April 2002, I drove out to Trenton when Binghamton was in town and sat down with Heilman in the visitors' dugout (click the image to the right for a larger, somewhat readable version of the article).

In 2003, Heilman started at Norfolk before making his debut on June 26 against the Marlins. I made sure I was there at Shea Stadium, and a classmate took a train up from Washington, D.C., to join me. The game didn't turn out like we'd hoped. Though Heilman was only charged with one earned run -- singled in by opposing pitcher Dontrelle Willis -- some sloppy play by the Mets and Heilman himself led to four unearned runs, three of them scoring on a Miguel Cabrera double in the fourth inning.

Four starts later, on July 21 in Philadelphia, Heilman notched his first career victory -- against the club that had signed him a few days before our interview. He allowed four runs in five innings, but benefitted from eight Mets runs in an 8-6 final. Jason Phillips (3-for-5, three runs, two RBIs, his seventh homer) and Cliff Floyd (2-for-5, two runs, three RBIs, his 16th homer) were the offensive stars, but I must not have been watching, because I remember none of those details.

But when I asked Heilman about what moments stand out -- so far -- in his career, it wasn't the individual accomplishments that he brought up. Well, not his, at least.

"Going to the playoffs with the Mets was a lot of fun," he said, though there was something left unsaid (and this is why I wish I'd been more diligent in reviewing my notes last summer, because there's an obvious follow-up here that I never got to ask). "I got the chance to play with a lot of great players that" -- and here he chuckled, which I didn't catch at the time, but if I get the chance to talk with him again, I'll ask him what he thought about pitching in the early 2000s -- "I'm gonna assume that most of them are going to be in the Hall of Fame. I played with guys like Billy Wagner, and Roberto Hernandez was a big help to me early in my career when I went to the bullpen."

But here's the individual accomplishment that's not his own:

"I think the moment that stands out the most to me was being able to be a part of Tom Glavine's 300th win," he said. "It was at Wrigley Field, just to be a small part of something like that. Such a great accomplishment for Tom, all the years of hard work. To be able to help secure a victory for him that day was pretty special."

My lasting Mets memory of Heilman's tenure was a game I didn't even see. On April 15, 2005, I was sitting in a Midtown bar waiting to meet up with my wife (well, fiancee at the time) and her parents. There was no TV, but a friend of mine texted me what happened at Shea against the Marlins, where Heilman pitched one of the now three dozen one-hitters in Mets history.

"And that one hit was by a future teammate of mine, [Luis] Castillo," Heilman said, shaking his head. "A swinging bunt ..."

He let the thought trail off ...

I sometimes wonder how things would've turned out if Castillo had made more solid contact with that pitch in the fourth inning, getting it to Mets second baseman Miguel Cairo just a little faster, with enough time to get the out at first. To that point, Heilman had started 20 of 21 career games. After that, he started five of 51 the rest of that season -- and hasn't started since, in the Majors or minors. Would the Mets have moved the pitcher who threw the first no-hitter in franchise history into the bullpen? Would he have been in the game in the ninth of Game 7 of the 2006 NLCS? ...

I didn't ask directly about that game, that pitch. I should have, yes, but I blanked. I led into it, but wasn't explicit ...

"I don't have any regrets," Heilman said, repeating my question. "You go out there and you play hard everyday. Certainly, things didn't always pan out the way I wanted them to. But you come to the park the next day with a good attitude of being able to get the job done, you turn the page and move on."

And moving on is all Heilman can do -- and has done -- these days, these past two seasons. When I caught up with him, he was back in Triple-A for the first time in seven years. He pitched in nine games with Lehigh Valley, giving up nine runs in 9 2/3 innings. Twenty days after I met with him, the Phillies released him. The day after that, the Pirates signed him and he went 2-0 in seven scoreless appearances with Triple-A Indianapolis, but Pittsburgh didn't re-sign him.

"Certainly, you like to stay in the big leagues," he said last July. "The idea is to play in the big leagues as long as you can. But sometimes you hit a bump in the road, you need to kind of take a step back and refocus and regroup, get things in order so that you can get back to performing at the level that you should be."

He spent spring training 2012 with the Mariners, but got released. He's now a sometimes-closer at Triple-A Round Rock in the Rangers' organization, having finished 10 of 26 games, saving six of them. He's 1-0 with a 3.58 ERA in 37 2/3 innings. He's struck out 33, walked 13 and held opponents to a .252 batting average. The numbers are actually pretty solid, comparable to his best with the Mets in 2006-07. But yet, with all the injuries to the Rangers' rotation, he's remained at Round Rock while Nolan Ryan, Jon Daniels and the staff in Arlington give their pitching prospects a chance, and rightly so.

I thought the end of Heilman's days in affiliated ball had come back in March and that, when I Googled him today, I'd find him on an independent roster somewhere. So I was happy to see him with Round Rock, but I know that it's likely only delaying the inevitable. Still, there's a part of me that hopes Heilman gets one more shot to go out on a high note -- something better than the 6.88 ERA he posted last year at Arizona. Realistically, though, I know that D-backs red may be the last Major League uniform he wears, and I'll just have to think about some of those moments in his first one.

Spring Training, 2008

From ND to MLB: Brad Lidge

Brad Lidge is one of two baseball players whose time at Notre Dame coincided with mine. He pitched from 1996-98, putting together a 13-5 record and 4.86 ERA, with 143 strikeouts in 129 2/3 innings. Though he's worn No. 54 throughout his Major League career, in South Bend Lidge donned No. 20, the same digits worn for the Irish by former Expos hurler Dan McGinn and current Phillies farmhand Jeremy Barnes.


From the 2011 Notre Dame Media GuideIn '98, Lidge and third baseman Brant Ust were the fourth Irish teammates to earn the Big East's player and pitcher of the year awards in the same season, when Lidge was 8-2 with a 4.15 ERA and 93 strikeouts in 80 1/3 innings. He started 15 of the 16 games in which he appeared and his 93 strikeouts are 10th all-time in Irish history heading into this season, tied with two others (Alex Shilliday in '98 and Brian Dupra last year). On April 18, 1998, Lidge struck out 12 in seven innings in a game vs. Pittsburgh at Three Rivers Stadium, the seventh-highest total by one pitcher in a game for the Irish.

After his junior season in '98, Lidge was the Astros' first-round pick, taken 17th overall -- the highest selection ever used on a Domer and the same slot used by the White Sox to take catcher Ken Plesha in the first draft in 1965 and by the Diamondbacks on outfielder A.J. Pollock in '09. It took Lidge four years to reach the Majors, however, mostly because of shoulder and elbow injuries. He pitched in just four games in the minors in '98, six in '99, eight in 2000 and five in 2001 -- that's 23 games (and 100 innings) total in his first four professional seasons. They were all starts, however, as the Astros continued to groom the hard-throwing right-hander as a starting pitcher.

In '02 that changed. Lidge pitched 24 games at Triple-A New Orleans and another five at Double-A Round Rock, combining for 10 relief appearances between the two levels and racking up a career-high 122 2/3 innings. He also made his Major League debut that season, on April 26 at Atlanta. One week later, he appeared in a game at home against the Mets before being sent down until September.

The next year, Lidge made the Astros bullpen out of spring training and quickly teamed up in the late innings with Octavio Dotel and Billy Wagner, whom he credited for taking him under their wings. The mentoring paid off as Lidge posted a 0.69 ERA in his first nine appearances, all coming in the Astros' first 17 games. Almost immediately, Lidge was a key part of the bullpen.

The formidable late-inning trio was perhaps no better than the night of June 11 at Yankee Stadium. Roy Oswalt started that game but aggravated a groin injury in the second inning and was pulled having faced three batters without allowing a hit. Five relievers followed, none of them yielding a hit, either, completing the first no-hitter consisting of six pitchers in Major League history. It was the first no-no against the Yankees since 1958 and the first against them at Yankee Stadium since '52. Lidge pitched the sixth and seventh perfectly, striking out two, and was awarded the win. Dotel pitched the eighth and Wagner the ninth.

At the end of the season, Lidge's ledger showed a 6-3 record, 3.60 ERA, one save and 97 strikeouts in 85 innings. Houston (87-75) finished second, a game behind the NL Central champion Cubs and four games behind the wild-card winning (and eventual World Series champion) Marlins. Lidge finished in a tie for fifth with the Marlins' Miguel Cabrera in the NL Rookie of the Year voting (won by Florida left-hander Dontrelle Willis) and his emergence allowed the Astros to trade Wagner to the Phillies for three prospects, making Dotel the closer and Lidge the eighth-inning guy.

The Astros started the 2004 season strong, never falling more than 2 1/2 games out of first place through the first two months. But a mediocre first three weeks of June, during which they went 10-10, saw Houston fall as far as fifth place and seven games off the pace. After a 7-2 loss to the Pirates on June 23, the Astros were 37-34 and five games behind the first-place Cardinals. The next day, Houston general manager Gerry Hunsicker acquired Carlos Beltran in a three-team trade that saw Dotel shipped to Oakland by way of Kansas City. Lidge, who had saved two games so far that season, was promoted to closer.

The move didn't pay immediate dividends as the Astros slipped to 44-44 heading into the All-Star Game at Minute Maid Park. The day after the Midsummer Classic, manager Jimy Williams was fired and Phil Garner took over, guiding Houston to a 48-26 second-half record and the NL Wild Card berth. Lidge finished the season with a 6-5 record and 1.90 ERA -- still a career best over a full season -- and 29 saves. He also struck out 157 batters in 94 2/3 innings, the fourth-most in MLB history for a pitcher with no starts, and his 14.93 strikeouts-per-nine innings ratio is also fourth among relievers with at least 70 innings, behind Wagner's 14.95 in 1999, Eric Gagne's 14.98 in '03 and Carlos Marmol's 15.99 in 2010. When the Astros dispatched the Braves in a five-game NL Division Series that October, it marked the first postseason series win in franchise history. The run ended there, though, because the Cardinals won the NLCS in seven games.

In 2004 as Houston's full-time closer, Lidge came back to earth a little bit, going 4-4 with a 2.29 ERA and 103 strikeouts in 70 2/3 innings. He did save 42 games, though, good for third in Astros history, just two behind the record 44 posted in 2003 by Wagner and matched in 2008 by Jose Valverde. And Houston won the NL Wild Card again, turned away Atlanta in the NLDS again, and faced St. Louis once again in the NLCS. Lidge saved three games against the Cardinals, but he also lost a memorable Game 5 that you may remember.

Lidge came on in the ninth with a 4-2 lead and Houston needing three more outs to reach its first World Series. He struck out John Rodriguez and John Mabry, both swinging, for two quick outs. David Eckstein and Jim Edmonds were the next two batters up before Albert Pujols, and Eckstein grounded a single to left field and Edmonds walked. Then Pujols, on an 0-1 count, crushed a towering home run that would have left Minute Maid Park had the roof been open. The win forced Game 6 back in St. Louis.

The Astros recovered, though, winning Game 6, 5-1, to advance to their first World Series, where they'd face the White Sox. Chicago took Game 1, and Lidge made his first appearance in Game 2 with the score tied 6-6 in the ninth. After retiring Juan Uribe on a fly ball to center, Lidge yielded a walk-off home run to Scott Podsednik to put the Astros in an 0-2 hole heading home for Game 3. The White Sox completed the sweep at Minute Maid Park.

Lidge pitched two more seasons in Houston, saving 32 and 19 games, before a November 2007 trade to the Phillies with Eric Bruntlett for three prospects. The 2008 season, of course, stands as Lidge's finest in a Major League uniform. He went 41-for-41 in save opportunities in the regular season, winning two other games without a loss and striking out 92 in 69 1/3 innings. The BBWAA voted him fourth in the NL Cy Young Award balloting, the only reliever among the six highest vote-getters. He added seven more saves without a hiccup in the postseason, allowing just one run in 9 1/3 innings across three series, culminating in the final out of the World Series win over the Tampa Bay Rays.

That made Lidge the sixth Domer to win the World Series -- the first since Craig Counsell and the Diamondbacks beat the Yankees in 2001. And like Counsell in '97 with the Marlins, Lidge had a hand in the final play; Counsell scored the winning run in a walk-off Game 7 win. The other Series winners who once suited up for the Irish are Ed Reulbach (1907-08 Chicago Cubs), Jean Dubuc (1916 Boston Red Sox), John McHale (1945 Detroit Tigers) and Ron Reed (1980 Philadelphia Phillies).

The past three years haven't been as fruitful. Lidge went 0-8 with a 7.21 ERA in '09 (saving 31 games), then managed 27 saves and a 2.96 ERA in 2010, missing chunks of time in April and May. His 2011 season didn't begin until late July, after rehab stints with Lakewood and Reading, and consisted of only 19 1/3 innings over 25 games. He saved one game, matching his 2003 total. He hadn't had fewer than 19 since then.

This year, Lidge begins a new chapter in his career after signing a free-agent deal with the Washington Nationals. I spoke with him last September in Philadelphia.

Were you following Notre Dame before looking for colleges?
I enjoyed watching them on TV. I watched a little bit of college football, so I was very aware of their mystique and legacy and everything else. But, to be honest, I never thought I'd be going there. When I was in high school, I never really thought I'd ever have a chance to play at a Division I school until I was a senior. It happened kind of late. When I knew it was a possibility, my parents were like, "You're so lucky. It's unbelievable."

What was it that made you ultimately choose Notre Dame?
Recruiting trip. I already kind of felt like it's going to be tough to beat a school like this. The coaches in the baseball program at the time -- Paul Manieri, Brian O'Connor -- they were awesome, even just as a recruit there, and I knew that's where I wanted to be.

In the fall of '97, Craig Counsell came back after the Marlins won the World Series. I covered it for the South Bend Tribune. Do you remember that? Were you in the room for that?
I was. I do remember that. I don't remember exactly what he said. I do remember it was a really cool thing to know that somebody from our school had just done that. And hey, if you can get to the point where you keep playing well, you have a chance to do that too.

One of the things he said to the group was, "One of you guys could be in this position one day."
Right. Which is, obviously, ironic.

I think you're one of five ND alums who's won a World Series. One pitched for the Cubs in 1908.
Oh really? That's going way back. That's awesome.

You were drafted in '98 by Houston. What do you remember about that experience? Do you remember getting that call?
Oh yeah. You never know what to expect, but you hear a lot of stuff. On the actual day of the draft, I had some family and some friends over at my house.

[Jimmy Rollins cuts in after hearing about a draft: "Are you talking about fantasy football?"]

You know, if I was playing fantasy football as far back as '98, I would be a pioneer.

I had my friend's dad hook up the internet for us, because that was a big deal in '98. I mean, it wasn't too big of a deal, but it was still -- we didn't have it at our house. I remember following it live as it was happening. People were saying first round [for me], but you don't know. Sixteen picks go by, and I'm like, "Man, I hope I'm not a fourth-round guy." But then, 17 came up and I got drafted and we had a little bit of a party with family and friends.

I'm glad to see the draft getting more attention in baseball. Obviously, the guys don't go right into the big leagues, but it's still very important to the sport.

The draft was an awesome experience for me. I think for a lot of guys, if it becomes more important, it will be a lot more exciting [to follow] for everybody.

Coming up, you overcame a lot of injuries, didn't you?
I did. Right away, I had four surgeries in three years, my first three years in the minor leagues. To be honest, that's maybe the toughest point in my career. I'd say definitely the toughest point in my career, actually, because it's at that point, you don't know if you're ever going to play in the Major Leagues, if you're body's ever going to allow you to do it. I was fortunate in that when I was on the field, I pitched well, so I was able to move up each year, but it was a slow move. Obviously, with the injuries, even though I was throwing the ball well, it still took me four years to get to the big leagues because of the injuries.

What do you remember from your big league debut?
I remember we were in Atlanta. It was a blowout game and it was like the third inning, and our manager was like, "Alright, let's give this rook a try." I went out there and my legs, they felt like jello. That's the most nervous I've ever been, a hundred percent, no doubt, for sure. Miraculously, the first inning, I think I had a 1-2-3 inning, and they sent me back out for a second inning and the wheels fall off. I think I gave up a walk, a double, a single, another walk ...

I looked it up to be sure. I believe you did give up a single to B.J. Surhoff, to lead off, but then you did retire the rest in order. The next two you got strikeouts. And then yeah, the next inning is when the runs came.
Yeah, exactly. It's one of those bittersweet things where you wish it would've gone perfect, but you're just so happy you just got in there, too. But of course, then, two innings, two runs, you're sitting with a 9.00 ERA, too. I think I got in one more outing, against the Mets, and then I got sent back down for a while in 2002. It was really cool, but not exactly what I wanted.

Of your whole career, what's your best memory so far?
Yeah, we'll go with the 2008 World Series. That being said, there are some other memories that stick out that were amazing. In 2003, my first full season, we threw that no-hitter in New York. That was pretty cool. That was a pretty unique experience, if nothing else. I think for me, the clinching games where I got to pitch in Houston. Where we went to the playoffs and won a series for the first time in the history of the franchise, that was a really cool experience for me as well. But I think nothing will be able to compare to 2008.

You said your debut was the most nervous you've ever been, but '08, coming in for the last inning, not so much?
Not as much nervous, but I could feel a more palpable energy at that point than I've ever felt in my career.

What was it like to go back to campus after winning the World Series and be introduced on the field [with the Notre Dame baseball team] prior to a football game?
That was one of the proudest moments of my life. It's cool to go back to your high school and be recognized, but to go back to your college -- and a big-time college like Notre Dame -- is something else. I got to go back with my dad, stand on the field where I watched so many big games and wave to the student body. It was awesome.

From ND to MLB: Jeff Samardzija

I've fallen way behind on my Notre Dame to MLB project, so it's time to pick it up again. In an effort to move things along, I'm going to do something I don't generally like to do -- post a Q&A or two. It's just a personal thing. I don't do that much writing anymore, unless it's on this blog, so I like to weave the comments I get into stories rather than simply posting a transcript. But those long-form explorations of a player's history can take time, especially when I delve deeply into the past -- his early years, his time at Notre Dame, his signing with a team and the climb through the minors. And I'd like to get back to some of that with the older, more obscure players, those who have been forgotten -- or were never really known in the first place.

These next three, all of whom are still active, have come up in the digital age, so their histories are a bit more known. There's not much to uncover there. But I'll still look back a little before getting into the questions and answers. First up: Jeff Samardzija.

Samardzija, as pretty much everyone knows, made his name on the Irish football team, specifically in 2005 and '06 under Charlie Weis. During those two seasons, he established new school records for single-season receptions and yards and in three seasons on the gridiron set all three primary career marks: receptions, yards and touchdowns. His 15 TDs in 2005 remain the single-season record, tied in 2009 by Golden Tate (also an Irish baseball player, drafted by the Giants that year in the 50th round, but now a receiver with the Seattle Seahawks). Michael Floyd has since surpassed all of Samardzija's career marks.

As a receiver, Samardzija made some amazing and memorable plays, two of which stand out above all others for me. The first was a spectacular one-handed diving catch on a long pass at Purdue in 2005. I recall watching that from the 21st Amendment brewpub in San Francisco while on my honeymoon (thanks to my wife picking the place for pregame drinks the previous night, when we went to a Diamondbacks-Giants game).



The second was his thrilling catch-and-run to beat UCLA in 2006. I was at this game, sitting with a Bruin grad (the friend and business partner of a Notre Dame friend) in the corner of the north end zone above the student section. We watched as Samardzija took Brady Quinn's pass and dodged and weaved his way into the south end zone for the winning score. Don Criqui's radio call is outstanding:




On the diamond, Samardzija didn't have any heart-pounding plays like that, but he made an impact beginning in his freshman year, going 5-3 with a 2.95 ERA in 20 games (six starts). He held opposing hitters to a .209 average, easily his best mark for the Irish. In his sophomore season, he started 10 of the 15 games in which he appeared, and by his junior year he was a full-time starter.

Year	ERA	W	L	G	GS	CG	SHO	SV	IP	H	R	ER	BB	SO	2B	3B	HR	BF	Avg.	WP	HBP	SFA	SHA
2004	2.95	5	3	20	6	0	0	1	64	50	25	21	17	42	2	1	5	0	0.209	3	3	0	3
2005	3.89	8	1	15	10	1	0	0	78.2	85	39	34	30	56	10	3	3	360	0.272	3	10	1	6
2006	4.33	8	2	15	15	0	0	0	97.2	101	51	47	37	61	24	2	3	426	0.272	5	5	3	10
Total	3.82	21	6	50	31	1	0	1	240.1	236	115	102	84	159	36	6	11	786	0.256	11	18	4	19

After that 2006 season, the Cubs selected Samardzija in the fifth round of the draft. He signed and reported to their short-season Boise affiliate. Before the summer was out, he earned a promotion to Peoria, then returned to campus in August for football camp. After his senior football season and a 2007 Sugar Bowl appearance, speculation began as to whether Samardzija would try to play both baseball and football professionally. He was considered a mid-to-late first-round pick in the NFL, but he didn't stick around long enough to find out. In late January 2007, he signed a five-year deal with the Cubs.

Samardzija spent just one full season in the minors in 2007, going 6-11 with a 4.57 ERA between high Class A Daytona and Double-A Tennessee. He spent 2008 split three ways: 16 games at Double-A, six games at Triple-A Iowa and 26 in the bullpen for the Chicago Cubs, debuting on July 25, 2008, pitching two innings in relief of Ryan Dempster at Wrigley Field. Another split season in 2009 saw Samardzija wearing an Iowa cap for 18 games (17 starts) and a Cubs lid for 20, though two of those were his first starts in the Major Leagues. In 2010, however, he saw action in only seven Major League games -- starting three and compiling a 2-2 record, though with an 8.38 ERA. He appeared in 35 games for Iowa in 2010, starting 15, and going 11-3 with a 4.37 ERA.

The 2011 season was Samardzija's first spent entirely on the big-league roster and it resulted in career bests nearly across the board: 75 games, 88 innings, 8-4 record, 2.97 ERA, 1.30 WHIP, 87 strikeouts, etc. In fact, the only stat in which he did not set a new career mark was home runs allowed -- yielding just five, compared to seven in 20 games in '09.

As the Cubs head into the 2012 season -- pitchers and catchers report to Mesa, Ariz., on Saturday -- Samardzija will be stretched out to compete for a rotation spot, though at the moment it looks like he'd be eighth (at best) in the pecking order. Barring an injury or a dominating spring, I'd expect Shark to return to the bullpen as the top setup man -- and sometimes closer -- for Carlos Marmol. And should Marmol be traded, Samardzija could become Chicago's stopper.




So here's our conversation from last September, when the Cubs were in New York to play the Mets. We spent a few minutes after this discussing the current state of Notre Dame football, but since that's now both dated and not related to Samardzija's ascension from Eck Stadium to Wrigley Field, I didn't bother to post it.

Did you follow the Irish before you got there?
Yeah, we always kept our eye on them. Became a little more in touch with what was going on over there when they started making their runs in the [NCAA] playoffs, and then my senior year in high school they went to the [College] World Series. I went to some camps over there when I was a kid. I went back and forth. [Valparaiso University] was right there in my back yard. We kind of went back and forth with ND and there, watching baseball and football and so on.

What was it about ND that drew you in?
My decision to go to ND was based more professionally, based on being a student and where I was going to go after my college career. My dad always told me growing up, "You never know what's going to happen on the field." Playing sports is a crazy business -- college, pro, high school -- you just never know what's going to happen. My dad instilled in me early to make a decision based on what I was going to do for a job, pretty plain and simple. And then everything I ever heard about Notre Dame was, you go there, when you leave, you're gonna be in a good situation to have a good life and take care of your family. But fortunately, things worked out the other way and I didn't have to use my degree [in business marketing] too much yet. But hopefully down the road.

What's it like playing baseball there, opposed to football.
It's totally different. Football, you get the silver spoon. Baseball at ND, I don't want to say the bronze spoon -- they get a nice spoon, but it's not as good as the football one. [Laughs.] It's totally different, you're under the radar a little bit more in baseball. You're just kind of playing your sport, you get some fans -- 2,000, 2,500 people -- so it's more intimate. It's a good situation. Football's just so blown up there. Every move is watched, every player is watched. It was almost nice for me to go from football into the spring, summer, and play baseball and kind of unwind. Baseball's always been a good release for me, helps me get away from things.

What do you remember about draft day?
It was awesome. It was pretty much all I could ask for. I was a White Sox/Cubs guy growing up. I was a Cubs fan, but we could [better] afford tickets to White Sox games, they were like nine bucks. I've always loved Chicago. Been a big Bears, Blackhawks fan my whole life. To be able to stick around the city and have that weigh into my decision was huge. Sometimes things fall into place, man. It was kind of funny.

In baseball, nearly all players have an apprenticeship in the minors, whereas in football, you'd go straight to the NFL after being drafted. Did that play into your thoughts at all?
I don't think I ever let myself believe I was going to be in the minor leagues for too long. [Laughs.] I'm not saying that that's the truth or that was going to happen, but I guess I just had my eyes on the big prize and where I wanted to end up. Looking back on it, maybe I should've spent some more time in the minor leagues. But that's alright, I guess you just cut your teeth whenever you get a chance to in the Major Leagues.

What memories do you have from the minors?
I remember being in Daytona, and I was not having a very good season at all, by any means. But I still remember being down there and wanting to be there, you know? And that was a year out of playing football. To realize I was there and having fun, really enjoying what I was doing, baseball-wise, and getting better. Again, I was looking at the big picture and where I wanted to be, in Chicago. To me, that meant a lot to me to not sit there and just loathe over not playing football. That's how I knew -- little situations like that help you realize that you made the right decision, that you did the right thing.

Other than that, the minor leagues are fun, dude. With the bus trips, it's like you're kind of still in college, in a way. In the minor leagues, you learn to grow up, how to balance everything and have an everyday life with baseball.

What do you remember about your MLB debut?
I remember it was against the Marlins. Struck out the first guy I saw. [Alfredo] Amezega, I believe. Threw two innings, I think. It was cool. It was cool for me to come up and get called up by Lou [Piniella], have my first experience under Lou, first half-season under Lou. It was something I think that will be with me for a long time. He's a very interesting guy, to say the least. It'll be a good story down the road.

Do you still follow the Irish?
I'm a little different, man. I watch [football], but it's hard for me to watch. I played there, so I kind of know what's going on, but it's hard for me to communicate with other people about it because they base their opinions on what they see. But ND has a lot of things going on that people don't know about. There's a lot of alumni and a lot of outside influence. I watch, but I take it with a grain of salt. I try to do it just more for entertainment than trying to break it down and scout our own team. I had my fun while I was there, and now I'm happy to take a deep breath and be able to enjoy watching as a fan.

{NOTE: At this point, Jeff and I started chatting like fellow Notre Dame alumni, not as reporter and athlete, about the football team. It was six days after the Irish opened the season with a loss at home to South Florida and a day before they went to Michigan and lost on the final play of the game. After this question about John Axford, Jeff then asks me where I lived while on campus and tells me how much he hated my second dorm, O'Neill Hall, because of the memories it brought back about August football training camp. That pretty much wrapped up our conversation.}

I talked to Axford, he said he stops by campus after the season on his drive from Milwaukee to Ontario.
Everybody usually does. I played with Axford two years, had a good time. Ax is a great dude. I never played with [Brad] Lidgey. He was there a little before me.

Where'd you live?

I lived in Grace Hall, then the first year O'Neill was open.
Oh nice, man. New one. O'Neill, summer camp. I walk in that front door, I'll take a breath in, I'm like ... I start twitching. They put up these big tents, dude. Huge tents. These wood floors down, they put up all these chairs there as our lockers, man. It's hot. You could smell, going from O'Neill into that tent, you could smell that wood. You were just like, "Man, I'm in camp, I know it." You could be blindfolded and you'd know it. I was in Alumni. I just roasted, dude. And I can't sleep when I'm hot. I need it cold. Being from the north, I like it when it's 20 degrees outside and I can put about 10 blankets on. Those windows would be open and I'd have fans just on my face. It's tough man, it's tough.

From ND to MLB: John Axford

Have you ever watched pitchers in the outfield during batting practice? Probably not, right? Why would you? Maybe there's one you're keeping tabs on hoping to get a ball tossed your way, or one of the guys is a target for an autograph on a card you've got in your binder. But generally, they stand around chatting with one another until a ball comes their way, when one of them breaks from the pack into a jog to catch it or toss his glove into the air in an attempt to knock it down.

And then there's John Axford. Before the first game of a three-game set at Yankee Stadium during the last week of June, he took his spot out in right field for batting practice. Like a lot of pitchers, he spent some time with his arms crossed, turning his head and watching as moon shots from the likes of Prince Fielder and Mat Gamel soared into the second deck and beyond. But as the Brewers worked through their groups, as the hitters changed, so did Axford's focus.

With fewer balls hit far over the short right-field fence came more opportunities to make a play, and that's what Axford did. He sprinted to his right into the gap and loped back and to his left onto the warning track to make catches. And for those balls that traveled only 319 or 320 feet? Axford positioned his 6-foot-5 frame at the base of the wall and jumped, reaching his glove over the top of the eight-foot fence and pulling back a batting practice home run off the bat of fellow Notre Dame alumnus Craig Counsell.

"I just jumped and put up my glove and somehow it went in it," Axford said the next day in the clubhouse. "And I just remember my arm going back and I was like, 'YES!' You gotta wait until Craig Counsell hits them, because he's putting them kind of close right over [the top of the wall], so that I can get close to robbing them. If it's Prince and Gamel, pffft, they're putting them everywhere I can't reach.

"It was Counsell's ball that I robbed. I told him about it after. 'Hey, did you catch me? I robbed your home run.' He still hit like eight home runs, though, so he was pretty excited about that."



John Axford is a visual guy. He's a self-described "mustache afficionado" who has carefully groomed his facial hair into a Rollie Fingers handlebar, a full soup-strainer with a soul patch and a devilish Fu Manchu (and used it all for a good cause). In college, he majored in film, television and theatre (that's how the major is spelled in South Bend), so it seems appropriate that one of the first things that drew him to Notre Dame was the mail.

"That bright gold 'ND' on the top of the envelope that I got with the recruiting letter. In all honesty, that thing just stood out more than anything," Axford said when asked about his college choice. "All the others came in letter size and I'm getting this big envelope with this huge 'ND' on there. I was like, 'Wow, this is amazing. This is one of the few schools I've ever heard of.' Being Canadian, you don't hear of many stateside schools, especially if you're not focused on going to school, which I wasn't at the time. I was thinking more pro."

But Notre Dame's interest changed that line of thought. Axford then attended a fall baseball camp on campus to get a look at the school and have the coaches get another look at him.

"I figured throwing in front of the staff would be the best way to do it," he said. "They saw me at the Chicago Area Code Games, which is where I think they initially saw me. But seeing me on their field up close and personal, I figured, would be the best way. Apparently they loved me immediately and offered me a scholarship on that day that I was throwing. I kept holding out, because it was expensive. My family, it wasn't something we were really able to afford, and luckily held out to get a little bit more of a scholarship."

The visual stimulation also played a part among the trees and tan (gold?) brick buildings beside St. Joseph's and St. Mary's lakes.

"But I knew right away, once I went there [for a visit], I wanted to go there," he said. "That was the school for me. The campus was absolutely beautiful, the ballpark was fantastic, beautiful ballpark. And the coaching staff was fantastic. I'm glad I did. Four straight years of Big East championships and the College World Series. Last a lifetime, that's for sure."

From the ND Baseball media guide

Axford arrived on campus in the fall of 2001 and, after considering majors in sociology ("I wanted to be a teacher ... but you had to take a lot of the teaching classes over at Saint Mary's, which I just wasn't going to be able to do with practice.") and psychology ("Took one class -- I was out pretty quick."), he looked into a course of study that drew on his past experiences.

"I did a lot of A.V. in high school," he said. "I did a lot of editing, actually, a lot of film editing, because all our announcements that we had were on TVs in class, so I would actually run promos, film promos, and edit those and run those and do some of the graphics for TV for the announcements in the morning. And I loved that, so I wanted to see what their film program was about, so I checked it out and I loved it. Just kept going with it. And then they built the beautiful Regis Philbin theater center there -- it was perfect for my senior year to hang out in and enjoy."

On the field, Axford endured an up-and-down career at Notre Dame. The Irish reached the College World Series in 2002, his freshman year, when he went 5-2 with a 3.95 ERA, striking out 64 in 70 2/3 innings. He pitched once in Omaha, 1 1/3 innings (no hits, two walks, one strikeout) in Notre Dame's season finale, a 5-3 loss to Stanford.

His sophomore year, in 2003, saw some improvements -- a 9-3 record, 69 strikeouts in 71 innings and a drop in walks from 59 to 50 -- but also an increase in wild pitches (from seven to 14) and a rise in ERA, to 4.13, the result of three more earned runs (34) despite allowing eight fewer overall (37). But 2004 was a lost year, literally, as he recovered from Tommy John surgery on his right elbow. He pitched just three innings in '05.

Thirteen players who appeared in Notre Dame's three games at Rosenblatt Stadium in '02 were eventually drafted, including Steve Stanley (second round) and Brian Stavisky (sixth round) by the A's that month. But Axford is the only one to reach the Majors -- yet, he didn't get there with any of the teams that drafted him, nor the one that signed him to his first professional contract. The Mariners selected Axford in the seventh round in 2001, when he was coming out of high school. He chose to go to college instead. In 2005, following his senior season at Notre Dame, the Reds drafted Axford in the 42nd round, but concerns about his control problems turned them off.

"The first one was the more difficult one, obviously, coming out of high school," he said. "Being in the seventh round, I was offered a little bit better than seventh-round money. But I knew education was important and that's what I wanted to do."

But the decision did not come easily.

"It wasn't my dream to play college baseball," Axford said. "It was my dream to play pro ball and play in the Major Leagues. And I remember that's what I was thinking: If I don't get this opportunity, am I going to regret it? But the more I thought about it, the more I thought it's not a guarantee I'm going to be playing in the Major Leagues. But this is a guanratee that I can go to a school with a pretty much 100 percent graduation rate. I can go here for four years, even three years, and maybe get drafted again. Eventually, I kind of came to my senses, with my parents' help, and realized that education is the important thing right now. It was something I was focused on, something I was passionate about too. I wouldn't be able to beat that education."

With a year of college eligibility remaining in 2006, Axford enrolled at Canisius College in Buffalo, not far from his home in Ontario, and continued to work his way back from the surgery. That August -- following a stint in the Western Major Baseball League in Canada -- Axford signed with the Yankees following a tryout on Staten Island and a "callback" in Tampa. He made his professional debut the next spring, pitching a combined 26 games at three levels of Class A ball (Staten Island, Charleston and Tampa) and getting a cameo at Triple-A Scranton/Wilkes-Barre. His combined statistics showed a 1-4 record, 3.29 ERA, 67 strikeouts, 45 walks and 14 wild pitches in 63 innings. He started five of the 27 games in which he appeared.

"When I was with the Yankees, they just had me bouncing around quite a bit," Axford said. "I played at four different levels. They had me spot-start a few games. I was doing the old piggy-back thing, backing up one of their younger high draft picks down in Staten Island. So I was throwing five innings at a time, so basically like a starter."

That younger high draft pick -- at least at times -- was Zach McAllister, who was the player to be named when the Yankees acquired Austin Kearns last August.

But that December, the Yankees cut Axford loose. Another tryout followed, leading to a contract with the Brewers in March 2008. This arrangement stuck, but it took some adjustments. Axford spent that entire summer pitching for Milwaukee's advanced Class A affiliate in Brevard County, Florida. He started 14 of his 26 games, walking 73 in 95 innings and throwing 12 wild pitches. He compiled a 5-10 record and 4.55 ERA, with 89 strikeouts. Those strikeouts -- and the high-90s radar-gun readings -- still tempted the Brewers, despite the wildness.

The first solution was to consider another role for Axford.

"My first year with the Brewers in '08, they were grooming me as a starter, but I started piggy-backing one of our prospects early," he said. "He was coming back from surgery, so he'd throw two or three [innings], then I'd pick up the rest of the game if I could. Then after he was moved up, I was starting myself. I think I ended up getting 14 starts that year, some good, some definitely not good. Walks were just the thing that were catching up with me. I remember some games where I would just cut it loose for the first three innings, and I had nothing left after that, so I would only last maybe another two or like one and a third or something, so I wouldn't get five innings in. And I think maybe they slowly realized that maybe we'll just try him in relief."

That transition happened in 2009, beginning in spring training. But there was still the issue of control. A high walk rate from a reliever is not something Major League teams will tolerate.

"In spring training [2009], I was playing with the Double-A squad," Axford said. "I don't know if they were making me a reliever or starter. I was just throwing some innings, and thing were not going well. I didn't even know if I was going to make a team. They sent me back down to A-ball. I was supposed to throw four innings on the A-ball side. I pitched one, and then I went out for the next, didn't get an out. ... I gave up like nine runs and walked like a ton of people and kept giving up home runs and doubles off the wall. I don't think I was throwing that hard because I was just trying to throw strikes. I was just laying the ball in there all the time. I was just so frustrated.

"So I didn't even know if I was going to make a team. Luckily, they held on with me long enough. They sent me back down to Brevard, to A-ball, try to get things together."



One day early in the 2009 season in Dunedin, where the Blue Jays train and their Florida State League team plays -- and where a certain Cy Young stud was once teetering on the edge of flameout as a struggling prospect -- Axford was pulled aside for a bullpen session by Brewers minor league pitching coordinator Lee Tunnell and Brevard pitching coach Fred Dabney.

"They said, 'We're going to try to do a couple things, hope you're open to it,'" Axford recalled. "'I'm open to anything,' is what I said. 'Whatever's happening right now isn't the way I want to pitch, because this isn't working.' I was doing OK down there, maybe a 3.00 ERA or two-something. But I knew there was still more in there, so that's what they tried to work with.

"The first thing they said to me was, 'Do you know Roy Halladay?' Yeah, yeah, of course. 'Just try to pitch like him right now,' that's all they said. I'm like, 'Alright, what do you mean?' They said, 'Just do, whatever you think he looks like, try and do that right now.' And I think that their intention -- obviously, because I don't look like him by any means -- their intention was to try to get me to load a little bit better, get my hip back, get my [arm] angle down. And I started doing that, started leaning back, getting a little more angle forward, my arm slot lowered just a little bit -- I'm still very high, but my arm slot lowered enough -- that I started keeping the ball down better and I started actually picking up velocity because I was becoming more athletic through my delivery.

"It was just night and day, it was unbelievable. In the matter of one bullpen session, I could tell that I was throwing harder."

And the results could be seen on the field. Now pitching exclusively in relief, Axford went 4-1 over 19 games with a 1.63 ERA and 1.08 WHIP, walking 16 and striking out 43 in 27 2/3 innings for the Manatees. Impressed with his progress, the Brewers promoted Axford to Double-A Huntsville. After four games -- essentially a quality start: three runs, seven hits, three walks and nine strikeouts in 7 2/3 innings -- and a save, he was on the move again, to Triple-A Nashville.

"That year, when they just kept me in relief, I think it was kind of like a light switch," Axford said. "'Alright, this is it!' I did have a couple three-inning outings here or there, but mostly it was one or two innings. They put me in some pressure situations pretty quick, setting up games, closing out games, coming in with the bases loaded, and I thrived in it. I really loved those situations and I loved being in those moments. I think that was it, that's what I needed. My mindset before, in the years when I was in college, was toward starting, and I think it was just a completely different atmosphere when it came to pro ball and my mentality kind of just changed, and I think this role is definitely suited and fitting for me right now."

In 22 games with the sounds, Axford was 5-0, finishing 11 contests and allowing 13 runs, 23 hits and 19 walks in 33 innings. He struck out 37 and posted a 1.27 WHIP. Then the next call came: to Milwaukee. In the course of one season, Axford went from a struggling reliever in spring training to advanced Class A to Double-A to Triple-A to the Majors.

"I only spent a couple of weeks in Double-A and then I was in Triple-A," he said. "Before I knew it, it was time for the All-Star break, and before I knew it after that, I was in the big leagues in September."

The Brewers brought Axford to the big leagues on Sept. 7, 2009, which was Labor Day and the start of a three-game series at Miller Park against the Cardinals (who would sweep the set). After an off-day, the Brewers flew to Arizona and swept the D-backs, but Axford watched from the bullpen each night. From Phoenix, it was back to the Midwest and Wrigley Field, where the Cubs won the series opener, 2-0, on Monday, Sept. 14. And still Axford, a uniform on his back, a Major League per diem in his wallet every day, had yet to pitch in a game.

His debut came the next night at Wrigley. In the bottom of the eighth, with the Cubs holding a 12-5 lead, manager Ken Macha called on Axford to pitch the last inning. The first batter, Bobby Scales, flied out to left on an 0-1 pitch. Then Jeff Baker singled to right (on a 1-2 count) and Ryan Theriot drew a walk.

Kosuke Fukudome came up next, and on a 1-0 count, Axford threw a wild pitch, allowing Baker and Theriot to move up to third and second, respectively. But Axford worked his way back to even the count at 2-2, then got Fukudome swinging for his first Major League strikeout. The wildness returned, with Derrek Lee and Micah Hoffpauir drawing walks -- Hoffpauir's scoring Baker -- before Geovany Soto flied out to left-center.

That account is easy to find in the game's play-by-play, but Axford remembers only select parts.

"I literally remember like three pitches -- no four," he said. "I remember my first pitch, because it was a strike. I remember my strikeout of Fukudome, it was a curveball in the dirt; I remember knocking Derrek Lee on his back on a fastball up and in, obviously unintentional, and I remember my very last out, because I thought it was a home run. Bases were loaded and the guy crushed the ball, it was kind of into the wind, maybe just got it off the end and it ended up being a flyout. Those were literally the only four pitches I remember out of probably almost 25 or 30 I threw on that day."

From a Notre Dame standpoint, there are two other key points to note from that game: Aaron Heilman earned the win in relief for Chicago, and Cubs manager Lou Piniella used Jeff Samardzija to mop up for the home team, meaning three Domers took the mound that night, with one throwing the final pitch for each side.

"It was awesome to have it at Wrigley Field," Axford said. "I had to wait around a little bit, wait about eight or nine days before I got my debut. ... It was a little tough waiting, but it was definitely worth it. It was nice to be able to sit there kind of take it all in, too, for just over a week and enjoy it."

Axford pitched in six more games that September, finishing five others and even saving one. After walking three, allowing a hit and striking out one in one inning in his debut, Axford walked two allowed four hits and two runs and struck out eight in his other 6 2/3 innings. In fact, if you remove a two-inning outing in Colorado on Oct. 1, when he allowed two runs on four hits and two walks, he allowed only one baserunner (on a walk) in five of his last six outings, covering 4 2/3 innings. And on Oct. 4, in the season finale in St. Louis, Macha brought Axford on to close out a 9-7 win in the 10th inning. He struck out two in a perfect frame, locking down the win for Trevor Hoffman, who had allowed a run in the ninth to blow the save.

That experience helped in 2010. Axford began the season back at Triple-A, then was recalled on May 15, appearing in that night's game against the Phillies and allowing a run. By the end of the month, he was closing games while Hoffman, who had struggled early in the season, worked out his issues in middle relief. Hoffman, stuck on 596 career saves, wouldn't record another one until August. He then became the first closer in history to net 600 saves when he held off the Cardinals on Sept. 7, 2010 -- one year to the day Axford first got the call to the Major Leagues. And Axford was right there in the middle of the celebration after Craig Counsell threw to Prince Fielder at first base for the final out.

"I couldn't have asked for a better teacher, and Trevor Hoffman, his work ethic is unbelievable," Axford said of his former mentor. "It's unparalled from what I saw day-in, day-out. And for him to be there, to help me at the same time, while he was going through some of his hardships that he went through a little bit last year at the beginning of the year, but still working as hard as he could to get to his goal and working to get back to what he was capable of. Along the way, he was still a friend and mentor. Really helped me a lot. I couldn't ask for anybody better, that's for sure."




Hoffman earned one more save last year, finishing with 601, and retired. Axford entered this year as the Brewers' closer, with no question marks or uncertainty in spring training. He's tied for second in the Majors -- alone in second in the NL -- in saves as of this posting, and his status at the head of Milwaukee's bullpen makes him one of the two most prominent Notre Dame alums active in the game today, along with the Phillies' Brad Lidge.

All of which makes it a sight to see -- and a somewhat surprising one -- when the 6-foot-5 closer is exerting himself in right field at Yankee Stadium, chasing after fly balls with vigor. But then, after this season's over, he'll pack up his truck in Milwaukee and head south down I-94, around Chicago, then turn east below Lake Michigan on his way home to Ontario. But like many Domers, he'll make a quick detour on the way.

"I go back [to campus] every year when I drive back home," he said. "It's just a short little stop off the highway. Milwaukee back home is only about an eight-hour drive, so I just drive it. I always stop off at campus, see what's being built, what's new. There's always something new there, every single year. The law school looks absolutely amazing. Haven't been back to a game, I think, since 2007, but I just like going back to campus and walking around and checking it out."

Just like any other Irish alum, except this one throws 97 mph.