DON'T PANIC, IT'S ONLY BASEBALL.Byline: KAREN CROUSE Barry Zito Barry William Zito (born May 13 1978 in Las Vegas, Nevada) is a starting pitcher for the San Francisco Giants of Major League Baseball. He previously played seven seasons with the Oakland Athletics. is fearless and unflappable, as befits the Top Gun of USC's baseball team. A few rocky innings are no cause for him to panic. The lanky lank·y adj. lank·i·er, lank·i·est Tall, thin, and ungainly. See Synonyms at lean2. lank  i·ly adv. left-handed pitcher has been schooled since childhood to view setbacks
as nothing more than turbulence, a natural part of the ascent into the
clear blue yonder yon·der adv. In or at that indicated place: the house over yonder. adj. Being at an indicated distance, usually within sight: "Yonder hills," he said, pointing. . That's why Zito's composure never cracked over the weekend. Not when he loaded the bases in the fourth inning of an NCAA NCAA abbr. National Collegiate Athletic Association regional game against Pepperdine on Saturday and had to beat back the heart of the Waves' order. And not afterward when, having earned the 5-3 win against Pepperdine with a gutsy 8-1/3 inning performance, he headed straight to the hospital to check on his mother, Roberta, who is seriously ill A patient is seriously ill when his or her illness is of such severity that there is cause for immediate concern but there is no imminent danger to life. See also very seriously ill. and awaiting a liver transplant liver transplant Hepatic transplant Transplant surgery A procedure that replaces a cancer conquered, metabolically defeated, or substance subjugated liver with one no longer required by its owner, many of whom donate same after an MVA Diseases requiring transplant . USC An abbreviation for U.S. Code. coach Mike Gillespie There are 3 sports coaches with the name Mike Gillespie:
To maintain a fixed emotional attitude under the circumstances is no small feat. Striking out 16 batters in back-to-back, seven-inning appearances, as Zito did earlier this season? That's nothing, next to holding steady emotions that should be rising and dipping precipitously as a plane in a holiday air show. Zito has pitched defending national champion USC to the cusp of a second consecutive College World Series appearance and he is on the verge On the Verge (or The Geography of Yearning) is a play written by Eric Overmyer. It makes extensive use of esoteric language and pop culture references from the late nineteenth century to 1955. of fulfilling his dream of becoming a first-round pick in Wednesday's amateur draft. The skies would be blue for as far as the 21-year-old could see, if only his mother's prognosis weren't so clouded. ``It's been tough,'' Zito said. ``It seems like I'm in some state of denial. I keep telling myself she's OK. Then when I see her, the seriousness of her illness kind of hits home.'' Roberta Zito, 55, is an ordained or·dain tr.v. or·dained, or·dain·ing, or·dains 1. a. To invest with ministerial or priestly authority; confer holy orders on. b. To authorize as a rabbi. 2. minister and mother of three. She is possessed with a personality so sunny it warms every life she touches. Until her liver betrayed her, she didn't have an ounce of venom in her body. And then one day last week, 32 ounces of toxin-laced fluids had to be drained from her. From the day he arrived on campus back in January, Zito has kept mostly mum about his mom's illness. The first inkling his USC teammates had that there was anything amiss came about a month ago when Zito abruptly skipped out on a game to return to his family's home in San Diego San Diego (săn dēā`gō), city (1990 pop. 1,110,549), seat of San Diego co., S Calif., on San Diego Bay; inc. 1850. San Diego includes the unincorporated communities of La Jolla and Spring Valley. Coronado is across the bay. . That same weekend, his mother was placed on the organ-transplant list. Roberta is one of 55,000 people in the U.S. awaiting a lifesaving organ transplant organ transplant: see transplantation, medical. . A new name is added to the list every 18 minutes. In baseball parlance, Zito's mother is down to her final three outs. The past few weeks, her condition has deteriorated to the point where doctors have assured Joe Vito, Barry's father and Roberta's husband of 34 years, that she's eligible for the first compatible liver that comes into the hospital. On Saturday, while Barry was struggling with his control, his mother was laboring to breathe. The fluids that weren't being processed by her liver were building up and pressing against her lungs, resulting in her respiratory difficulties. Her skin is jaundiced jaun·diced adj. 1. Affected with jaundice. 2. Yellow or yellowish. 3. Affected by or exhibiting envy, prejudice, or hostility. jaundiced Adjective 1. and her body bloated. Zito hardly recognizes his mother until she sees him and smiles. Then she is just as he always has known her: ``My biggest fan,'' Zito said. When he visits his mother at Cedars-Sinai, the first thing she'll do is ask about his day, as though she were reclining on the family-room sofa instead of a hospital bed with tubes going in and out of her nose. ``My mom's a really unselfish person,'' Zito said. ``She tries to not talk about herself. When we talk, it's always about baseball. I have to try to force things out of her about herself.'' Joe Zito, a man not given to doing anything halfway, has been the architect of his son's baseball career, there's no question of that. Just as there's no getting around the fact that all Zito needed to succeed, he got from both his parents. The unconditional support and encouragement came from his mother. The fundamentals and the single-minded focus were his dad's domain. ``I was always the one nit-picking,'' Joe Zito conceded Monday. ``And Roberta would be the one saying, `It's not that serious, Barry.' '' There's no denying the gravity of his mother's condition. Zito doesn't even try. Thanks to the focus drilled into him by his dad, he's coping. ``It's funny,'' Zito said. ``I'll be at home and I'll have all these thoughts in my head. When I'm on the mound, all of those thoughts are cast aside. It's remarkable, actually, that the body can do that. Thank God there's enough distractions on the field. It is kind of an escape.'' Roberta Zito has developed coping mechanisms of her own. On Saturday, Zito's sister Sally phoned their mother's hospital room with regular baseball updates. Roberta Zito had made her daughter promise that she would. ``Our mother's strong,'' said another sister, Bonnie bon·ny also bon·nie adj. bon·ni·er, bon·ni·est Scots 1. Physically attractive or appealing; pretty. 2. Excellent. . ``Just like Barry.'' CAPTION(S): Photo PHOTO BARRY ZITO The USC pitcher, whose mother has a life-threatening illness, has won 11 straight. |
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