Update Time

Ok, so I know I haven't been as good as I promised on this blog site and I am no longer going to apologize because that doesn't seem to fix it anyways...LOL!!  But since I am sitting in the waiting area at the local Honda Dealership while my car gets tuned up I figure I could give everyone a quick update on what is going on so far this season...

We are 8 games into the season and sit at 5 and 3 so far.  We have a pretty solid team with what seems to be a solid group of guys.  They seem to care about what they are doing and can't wait to get on the field each day to play.  It is funny how each year I have a group of guys and as I go through the year I speak to myself and say, "wouldn't it be nice if..." and magically the next year it appears!  This year I wanted to have a group of guys who pay attention, are low maintenance, and who want to be ballplayers...so far so good!

There are some quality arms on the staff and there are some quality guys who show some pitchability.  Overall this year we have more guys in this group that will be able to help out and pitch the innings they are asked to more then last year.  There are some fine tunings to be done with the bullpen thus far but as a whole I think we have a pretty quality staff.  But ask me again in a month...LOL!

I have been here in Johnson City, TN for the past 2 weeks and will continue here until the beginning of September.  The town of Johnson City has about 60,000 people in it and is a very nice town.  There are plenty of places to go eat and they have set us up with a beautiful facility to workout at.  The field is ok, nothing to write home about but it has some character.  There is a hill in the outfield that spans from the right field line all the way to center field.  Somewhat like the Astros ballpark but much steeper...lol!  I have seen some amazing plays made on that hill the last year, let's just hope that continues and more for us then for the visitor.

The league itself is very competitive, most teams are evenly matched and like always in baseball you can get beat anytime if you don't show up to the field to play hard.  This year the league expanded the playoff roster to four teams instead of two, so we should have a good shot at getting in this year.  Usually the toughest teams in the league are Danville Braves and Elizabethton Twins.  We play both of those teams a whole lot coming in July so if we are ok after the month of July we should stay in the race all the way through.  Of course, a lot of that depends on staying healthy and whether or not the organization higher-ups keep the kids together.  A lot of the times there are fill-ins needed and promotions granted at the higher levels and so that comes directly from our rookie league teams.  In the past few years I have been with the organization we have moved a lot of guys quickly so we will see what happens this year.

Hope everyone is doing well and we will talk to you soon!!!!