Hanging around the clubhouse on a Saturday morning is a great way to start the day.

Watching Pedro Martinez plunk Jason Giambi twice before the third inning was over, brought many comments from the Milwaukee Brewer players watching the game on TV over their waffles and cereal.

Getting to the park early to meet new Brewers pitching coach Dave Stewart, to interview him for Right Off The Bat has its advantages.

The clubhouse was named “clubhouse” in the 1800’s because this was the spot where the players hung out, ate, socialized, ragged on each other, and otherwise bonded before pregame practice got underway.

In the modern era, it’s the time when the players get to watch the early games on baseball’s exclusive TV network.

So, when Pedro drilled Giambi, the players shouted, “The game is on,” with much glee, anticipating that David Wells would come right back and protect his Yankee teammate by dropping Nomar Garciaparra or another Red Sox hero.

Wells merely brushed Trot Nixon back, eliciting a warning to both managers and disappointing the players huddled around the TV.

Meanwhile, Milwaukee manager Davey Lopes was shaking his head and wondering when Barry Bonds would slow down, in his assault this year on the record books. Lopes confided that he has never seen a player locked in for such a long period of time as Bonds has been for over thirteen months.

I asked Lopes, an East Coast baseball fan as a kid, if Mickey Mantle would have had the same impact on the game if he played in cozy Pac Bell Park. Without hesitiation, while putting his uniform top on, he said that no one in the history of the game ever was locked in as long as Bonds has been and that Mantle could never sustain this pace, even in his best days.

To prove Lopes’ point, Bonds homered for the 7th time in 2002 during his first at bat of the day.

Davey was watching the TV like the rest of us as Pedro gave up a hit. I asked his opinion of the Sox ace. “Is he all right?”, I wondered.

Davey who grew up in Red Sox country, shot back immediately that Pedro is fine, just getting too much of the plate with his pitches. Thus, comforting all Sox fans with his expert opinion.

Lopes is pacing in the locker room these days as his team is off to a 2-9 start in the NL Central race. Lopes goes out of his way to let everyone know that he is doing the best job he can under the circumstances. He even called a thirty minute meeting on Friday night around 4:30 PM to remind the troops that they had 155 games to go.

Like they didn’t know that.

Stewart is pitching guru to this group of young hurlers. When I asked him about Bonds’ three run jack off of Ben Sheets the night before, Stew never one to give a hitter much credit, quickly interjected that Sheets threw Bonds a “cookie” and that was the problem.

Coach Dave Collins came by and told me that we could do an interview for Memories of the game in a few minutes. Collins’ favorite baseball memory involved a teammate who most impressed him during his big league time, Pete Rose.

Collins particularly wanted to talk about Pete’s 44 game hitting streak and the four hits Rose got the next night after Gene Garber stopped the streak in Pete’s last at bat in game 45.

This would be a good show.

Collins went off to shower promising to return in 20 minutes as I turned to look for Stew.

Stew had hastily made an exit and went out to the bull pen to watch his other pupil Nick Neugebauer throw on the young man’s off day.

I followed throught the tunnel to the field.

Neugebauer pitched beautifully in the pen, consistently popping the catchers glove, loudly enough to be heard in the dugout 50 yards away, where I sat waitng for Stew to return for our chat.

Stew is so popular in the Bay Area and so accomodating to the fans, that Neugebauer reached the dugout first and completed a radio interview on the Brewer network before his coach navigated the moderate distance from the pen to the visitors bench.

Meanwhile, I learned a lot from listening to the rookie’s interview with radio voice Jim Powell, Bob Uecker’s sidekick on the Brewer network.

The rook, with unbridled enthusiasm and eyes wide open, told Powell that Stew is trying to impress upon him that he should be setting up his fastball which touches in the mid 90’s on an average day, with a change up early in the count.

Basic pitching philosophy, but over the course of baseball history, a concept that is only learned through painful experience by young speedballers like Neugebauer.

Neugebauer was extremely positive about his new approach and promised he would start throwing this way in his next start.

If the first year player can get it done, I’ll call him a pitcher instead of a thrower, the next time I write about his work.

Stew finally hit the dugout. His hat pulled way down on his head, the bill almost touching his nose, the way he looked when he would intimidate the best hitters in the American league.

I asked him if he used charts and graphs to illustrate points to his pitching staff. He glowered under the cap as I finsihed the question.

You don’t need charts, graphs, or any other written or video material to get major league hitters out. You have to knock the hitter off the plate, make him feel uncomfortable, show him you are in charge.

Pitchers have to show the hitters that they own on the mound.

“But in today’s game, the umpires take away the inside game, warning managers and pitchers, if you knock a hitter down,” I countered.

Batters charge the mound if you graze them with an 85 MPH slider.

Stew proudly said a few charged him on the hill, but no one ever got the best of him in a baseball brawl.

No batter would ever make him change his approach.

He wants these kids to pitch like he did. Stew had a good arsenal when he threw, he had game and made big pitches when it counted and always trusted his stuff.

It dawned on me that Nick got the point just as I was now understanding it, that it isn’t the mechanical side that Dave Stewart teaches, but the mental approach to being a successful big league pitcher.

If you want charts, graphs, and videotape find another coach.

The sun was shining brightly, about ninety minutes had passed since I first entered the clubhouse at 10 AM.

I had no idea what was in store for me when I walked in yesterday morning.

Hey, I thought I would just sit down with Stew in the coaches room and do a nice six minute interview about why he ended up in Milwaukee.

Boy, was I wrong.