August 11, 2006

Dog Days of Summer Getting on Players' Nerves

The dog days, July 3-Aug. 11, reflect the 40-day period when Sirius, the "Dog Star," rises and sets with the sun, according to J. Kelly Beatty, editor of Night Sky magazine. The ancient Egyptians believed Sirius, the brightest star in the northern hemisphere, magnified the heat radiated from the sun.

"The dog days have been around a lot longer than baseball," Beatty says.

Ballplayers can attest that this summer's dog days — August temperatures nearly 3 degrees warmer than the 78.7 average a year ago — seem to be lingering longer than usual. Side effects, at a minimum, include mental and physical fatigue from the oppressive heat and interminable schedule.

"I can't imagine a sport more physically taxing than this," Texas Rangers shortstop Michael Young says. "In a lot of stadiums, if it's not hot then it's humid. Some stadiums are both. ... You're past the midpoint of the year but nowhere near the end, so it's like you're stuck in the middle."

The ancient Egyptians awaited the annual flooding of the Nile River delta that came shortly after the dog days. Baseball players yearn for September, when temperatures usually cool and playoff races heat up. But this season's journey could feel as long as a trip to Sirius itself.

The average game-time temperature this August is 81.5 degrees; the July average was 80.8, the first July average that exceeded 80 degrees since 1999. Both were the hottest in at least the last five years, according to the Elias Sports Bureau.

No break from heat
Hours before a game last month against the Oakland Athletics at Baltimore's Camden Yards, Orioles first baseman Kevin Millar trotted over to the home dugout to take a break from batting practice and the sticky triple-digit temperatures.

Reaching over the fence, Millar snatched a cup of water from infielder Chris Gomez, who was pouring from a bucket cooler. "That's not enough," Millar snapped. "Give me another."

Millar grabbed a cup and poured it over his teammate's head, letting out a self-congratulatory cackle.

"I've seen some big-time sweltering days in Miami," said Millar, who spent four seasons with the Marlins. "The last couple of days here, I don't think it gets hotter."

Like the dog days, heat-related horror stories seem endless.

"They're your worst nightmare," says San Francisco Giants first baseman Shea Hillenbrand, who felt the bite of the dog days last season during a July game in Kansas City.

Between innings, Hillenbrand, then a member of the Toronto Blue Jays, had to lie down in front of a large fan in a hallway behind the visitors' dugout to combat the overwhelming heat and humidity.

Orioles first baseman Jeff Conine, like Millar, spent time in South Florida, playing seven seasons with the Marlins. His worst experience with the heat, though, came during a doubleheader in St. Louis.

"They stuck a meat thermometer in the turf, and it was like 152," Conine says. "We had pans of ice in the tunnel so we could stick our feet in them because the bottom of your feet get so hot."

Heat is a state of mind
While there's natural turf at the Rangers' Ameriquest Field, the elements can still be suffocating.

"It's flat-out hot," Young says. "There's no way to get around it. It feels like the sun is resting on your shoulder. We have to try to take advantage of it with teams coming in. But it's tough."

Players say humidity can make northern cities just as taxing.

Giants pitcher Jason Schmidt says AT&T Park in San Francisco might not be the hottest stadium, but it can get humid because it's on the bay.

"The dog days are definitely different here," says Giants second baseman Ray Durham, who played with the Chicago White Sox for eight seasons. "In Chicago it was smoking. But it was easier in that you knew you had to drink water there.

"Here you can kind of get away with it because it's so cool, but still your body takes the same amount of pounding."

New York-based sports psychologist Richard Lustberg says athletes from warm-weather climates might have an edge dealing with the warm weather.

Orioles shortstop Miguel Tejada, who was born in the Dominican Republic, says opponents must deal with the same conditions, too.

"I prefer it to be hot right now than to be cold," Tejada says. "I like to be sweating, anyway."

Most players have ways to avoid dog-day dangers.

Durham doesn't go out as much. Hillenbrand gets a lot of rest. Millar stays outdoors as much as possible to acclimate.

Boston Red Sox slugger David Ortiz says he takes extra care of himself in the second half, including taking more vitamins.

Combating the mental fatigue can be even more menacing.

Kenneth Ravizza, a professor of sport psychology at Cal State-Fullerton and a consultant for the Los Angeles Angels for nearly two decades, says successful athletes learn how to be comfortable in uncomfortable situations.

"It's about compensating and adjusting and realizing you're not going to be in the zone all the time. That's what August is all about," Ravizza says. "If you've got 60%, give 100% of that 60%."

Washington Nationals rookie third baseman Ryan Zimmerman has that attitude as he endures his first major league dog days: "It's still fun to just come out and play."

How hot was it?
Hottest game-time temperatures this year (through Tuesday)
Date	Stadium	Temperature
Aug. 2	Camden Yards, Baltimore	102
Aug. 2	Busch Stadium, St. Louis	101
July 18	Camden Yards	100
Aug. 1	Camden Yards	100
July 17	Camden Yards	99