Maybe the reason I never liked fairy tales
was that I wondered what followed
"And they lived happily ever after..."
Yeah, I read that somewhere, and it reminded me of my first thoughts when I took over this team! It was like a fairy tale, that a young, then 33 year old, would be able to run a professional baseball team. But it's been fun, challenging, heartbreaking, and a wonderful learning experience so far!
8/7-8/10 - Not much has changed in Coatesville, since our road trip, and not much has changed with the way we start an opening series, with yet another loss, 5-1 to the Allentown Ambassadors. I thought we would feast on Dan Milligan, a recent call up with only eight starts, but he pitched superbly, and recorded his first ever complete game!
Game 2 - Another loss to Allentown, 8-5, as starter Tim Butler was roughed up for five runs and ten hits. We're also getting sloppy on the bases, and I believe guys are starting to press now, and are trying to do too much.
Our Manager, Ed Bane, had a "closed door" meeting after this game, that saw our team slip to 58-60. I was there, and he said a lot to these "youngsters", some I remember, but one line he had really stuck with me:
Reach out! Put a dream or goal just past where you can touch it at that moment. Then, once you do touch it, you’ve gotta reach a little higher. And a little bit higher. And a little bit higher. That’s how you get better, no matter what you do in life.
Game 3 - Well, if anything Ed's speech did get the players to play better, fundamental baseball in this game, but the result was the same, another loss,
4-1. Poor Denny White pitched a solid game, seven hittings, four runs, but once again, got no run support. But a concern was, three of those runs were home runs. He has been keeping the ball in the park for the most part this entire season, but not today!
The prick GM from Allentown, sent me this photo afterward, of where one of the "monstrous" home runs that were hit, ended up!
Game 4 - Finally scraped out a 6-3 win with Jose Aguilar getting his eighth win, and Broderick MacDonald getting his 22nd save. Dale Roberson got his 18th home run, and afterward, I got a call from his agent just asking if I noticed how well he's been playing. Let's see where that takes us!
The Aces are now 59-61, and I pretty much know the Division title is gone, as we stand eight games out, and the Wild Card spot is starting to look like a longshot, as we're five out, with five teams in front of us!
Well, as my parents told me when I called them tonight, "Son, just keep the faith".
Well, out of town for the weekend, so will pick this up on Sunday night or Monday!