SYDNEY (AP) - "Dorothy, we’re not in Kansas anymore”.

No, actually we’re in Sydney and man is it fun. This week Australians were going to get their first look at the reclusive owner of their new baseball franchise, the Sydney Rebels. The Weekend Australian and Daily Telegraph were both working on stories about the new team and its American born, raised and educated owner. Most Australians were thrilled to hear that they were getting a baseball team back in their country but on the whole most of them were hoping for a “native son” to be the new owner. Both newspapers and most Australians found out together that the new owner was not quite what they were expecting. According to John Macpherson, the Editor of the Daily Telegraph, he had his paper’s article done and sent it to the Offices of the Franchise. A few hours later he got a personal call from the team owner and the two men spoke.

“When I mentioned to him that most Australians were somewhat disappointed that their team was not owned by one of their own Mr. Costa just smiled, laughed a little to himself and then responded. It was something to the extent of, 'Listen, I can’t help where I was born and raised, but I love baseball and knew that Australians wanted another franchise. To me something just seemed wrong about playing Baseball in Moscow… It’s colder than a shaved Polar Bear in that country... and that was inside our old stadium! I don’t mean to be rude, but instead of complaining that the owner of their team isn’t a fellow Australian, shouldn’t they just be happy that they have a team again? I know the players and I are happy to be here.' "

According to Mr. Macpherson; “We were going to run a long, dramatic article on the trials and tribulations of the team. We knew that the Weekend Australian was doing something similar and we wanted to beat them to the presses with Mr. Costa’s first interview. When we ran the article by him he read it, sat back in his high backed leather desk chair and put his hand up in front of his mouth. His thoughts weren’t long in being put to words. He finally dropped his hand, looked me straight in the eyes and uttered a very simple reply”.

Mr. Macpherson paused for a moment and took a short drink before a short smile crossed his face, then he looked up and uttered the phrase that let all Australian Baseball fans know what kind of man their team was ran by. His answer was simply... “Bullshit! We just stink”.

While perhaps an oversimplification of matters with his ball club, in that simple phrase you understand what kind of man that the people, press and players of the Sydney Rebels have to deal with now. Mr. Costa (who prefers to be referred to as “Ad” or “Adam” by everyone he knows) did rapidly follow up that statement by explaining himself a little more clearly.

“In all due fairness to our players there have been a truck load of injuries to the team this season and some of them were pretty big. We had a major injury to Gator (Ace Starter Ron Guidry) and Hank (1B Hank Goldberg) has been battling injuries all season long and it’s affected him at the plate. This team has never really had any chance to hit a stride and on top of that they’ve been adjusting to a new stadium that plays entirely different from the old icebox that we used to play in when we were in Moscow. That is a lot for any team to deal with and I understand this. The other side of the coin is that there have been games were we played like we had lost the game before we ever exited the locker room. I expect that things will go better next season and I plan on taking steps to aid in that improvement.”

Some people have pointed out that the new owner himself is part of the reason that the team hasn’t been winning. The new owner has yet to make a single trade, although many avenues have been explored in that direction already. Many claim that the team would be better had he pulled a couple of trades and been a bit more aggressive as a GM. This is another assertion that he scoffs at.

“Listen, I came in here and brought a team that went 64-98 last season and finished in forth, ten games behind the third place team. That team had a 4.89 team ERA last season and although the hitting was far better that team also played inside an over sized plastic bag. That stadium was an eyesore. This one is not only brand new, but it’s also up to date and beautiful. Improvement will come, both from within the team and from outside of it. If people expect me to make trades just to make trades then they should find a new team to root for. This is a Baseball team and a business, not some kind of children’s video game. Unlike videogames the decisions I make actually have consequences.”

As the new owner has stated before not all is bad with his team. While last season’s team carried a team ERA of nearly 5.00 this year’s squad is 4.02 and has been down below 4.00 at multiple times during the season. He took two former members of the starting rotation out by moving Paul Olien and Troy Peters to the bullpen and promoted former Relievers Bunny Triandos and Rob Walker to the Starting Rotation. Overall the moves have been positive. Triandos has had possibly his best year as a Major League Pitcher and Walker, while erratic at times has showed that he can handle being a Starter. Troy Peters has had a very solid year as a Long Reliever, pitching sixty-four and a third innings and posting an ERA of 3.08. Olien on the other hand has pitched only twenty innings this season due to injury but has been very ineffective when he has pitched and it shows in his 6.75 ERA this season. Rumors have been abounding that team ownership is trying to trade him. Most people expect the team to keep Triandos (4-14, 3.64 this season) in the rotation next season with Bob Barton (3-4, 3.12), Hal Ditmar (2-9, 4.77), Fred Bordick (4-13, 5.31) and staff Ace Rob Guidry who has posted solid numbers (7-4, 3.11) despite an injury plagued season. The team figures that between the starters and the bullpen of current starter Rob Walker (7-13, 4.14 as a Starter), Billy Howard (3-0, 3.01), Troy Peters (4-3, 3.08), Buttercup Holzemer (0-2, 3.40) and rookie Reliever Otto Kraly (1-1, 3.58, 2 SV, 6 Hld) the team figures to have a strong bullpen next season to support their Starting pitchers with.

“I like what I see when I look at next year’s rotation. We like the look of our future starting five and are sure that Hal will have a better season next year than he has this year. If you put him together with Gator, who has been very good in spite of a very rough start and numerous injuries you have the number one and four spots taken care of. I like that we can plug in Bunny and Bob at the second and third spots, who in spite of a severe lack of run support this season have both pitched very well for us. Our fifth spot would be taken by Freddie Bordick who despite his high ERA has shown us that he can be a solid starter. We would like to pick up a bat in the Free Agent Draft to help us out next season. With a little help on the offense this team can contend.”

Whether or not that will happen remains to be seen and this team will likely finish worse than it was last season. Most fans and Baseball experts don’t even expect the team to go .500 over their last fifty games. If it did the team would end up with a record of 66- 96, a two game improvement over last season but most expect the team to finish closer to 55- 107.

According to their new owner, “We’ll finish where we finish. Considering how this season has gone I’ll be happy to finish the season with a full roster and the high draft pick. Next year is a new season after all.”