Dinger's locker no more
A locker has been reborn

Friday, September 10, 2004 - BOSTON

It is the second three-foot-wide stall in from the Esplanade home team's dressing room door, resting in between the business-like spaces of longtime friends Tony "Skip" Vinciguerra and Craig "Trump Card" Trumm. Its previous claim to fame centered more around the electric fence-like red line keeping onrushing reporters at bay than any words emanating from its inhabitant.

These sort of homes away from homes are virtually never the impetus for such win streaks the likes of which the Sluggers busted out at the beginning of this season. But this one is different. This was Dinger's locker.

But Landesman is gone (or will be, after Wednesday’s championship game), and so is the image of his chiseled back staring back at the clubhouse frivolity. The inhabitant has changed, and so has an entire way of locker room life.

The trade deadline's pundits might have put their cross-hairs on center fielder Steve "Wheels" Baer as Landesman's replacement, but they were missing half the equation. In the world outside the foul lines, it is Adam "Cool Papa" Belmont who has replaced Dinger, and don't think for a minute it hasn't gone unnoticed.

"Adam is enjoying his time in Boston. He believes in our team and what we're out to do," said Sluggers pitcher Noah "n$" Cushing, whose dressing space resides two spots over from the locker in question. "I think that is very important to have people on the same wave-length and the same page."

More so now than before the team's trading deadline turnstile?

"I'm not going to answer that," said Cushing.

No need to.