Clearwater 'slams' Manatees Again

Published on July 24, 2006 under Florida State League (FSL1)
Brevard County Manatees News Release


The Manatees dropped tonight's game, 11-5, to the Threshers in Clearwater. For the 2nd straight game the 'Tees allowed a Grand Slam home run.

Sounds like we need a road trip to the left coast (west coast of Florida for those of you outside the state) to rally the boys this weekend when the team plays Dunedin. Maybe a 'Guaranteed Win Night' once we get back home...we're 2-0 on guaranteed win nights this season and I think you die-hard fans are just the remedy for this slumping situation.

I checked with Ramon (Aviles) and he said it's OK to begin selling playoff tickets very soon. If we don't make the playopffs each ticket pre-purchased by fans would be redeemed for a free bucket-cap and logo baseball at the souvenir stand if the team was eliminated and didn't make post-season play, but, being the eternal optimist that Ramon is, I think that anything can and prob'ly will happen as we head down the stretch in August. You're never going to meet another human being that is as positive about life as Ramon. If you haven't introduced yourself to him this season, get to the ballpark early and do so.

I've seen some freaky things in years past and with our coaching staff, expect a shootout right up until the end. There's no quitting in these trenches.

Playoff tickets, anybody? We're calling our shot. My good friend Brad Taylor, the GM of the Trenton Thunder, began selling playoff tickets when the Thunder started the 2006 season 0-10. They came right out of the funk and rebounded, so I think maybe we'll use some of Brad's magic and see what happens. Brad, by the way, was the GM of the 1998 Cape Fear Crocs. I was the Media Director. In a preseason interview he said, "Buck, I think this is going to be our year." Understatement of the year. We started the season 15-0 for the best start in Affiliated Minor or Major League Baseball history. Ever. Hey, he owed me an apology at home plate that season on opening night...I predicted we'd return from an eight-game road trip undefeated and start the season 13-0 and we did. And he did! The magic was there because everybody rallied around the team...the players, coaches, staff, fans, grounds crew...everybody was riding that wave and it was pure magic! Everybody believed! Many of those players went on to MLB careers: Brian Schneider is now the starting catcher for the Washington Nationals, Henry Mateo (Nationals) was at 2nd, Milton Bradley (A's) was our centerfielder, we had Jorge Julio, Matt Blank and Scott Strickland on the mound. There was magic there, but there were also a lot of guys that carried us night after night. Every night there was a new hero. Every game somebody came through with the clutch hit or the diving catch to preserve victory. Think about this...for 15 straight games every ball, every strike, every call, every hop, every swing, every bounce, every fly ball, every hit, every bunt, everything went our way. Twice during that stretch we were down by four or more runs late in a game and still managed to bounce back and win. Now you can say what you want but that wasn't luck! That team found a way to support each other and gel. In an early season interview I told Scott Brown of the Florida Today that this season's team resembled that 1998 Cape Fear Crocs team in Fayetteville, NC. I stand by that statement because I think Ramon Aviles commands more respect than any other Manager I've ever seen, and that includes Luis Dorante, now the bench coach of the Florida Marlins who was our Manager in 1998. And if you have one positive guy (or girl) at the helm driving that ship, you can't sink it.

As fast as this team started out of the gates this year (10-1) I think you have to go back to Team Chaplain Donnie Legg's words of wisdom: "It's not how you start, Buck, but how you finish." I think that if anybody can rally the troops it's Ramon Aviles and Company and if it's going to be a gray hair August as we watch it unfold, then so be it. Like last season when wecamethisclose to the playoffs, it ultimately doesn't matter if we win, Minor League Baseball is about developing players and getting them advanced, but flirting with the playoffs is a cherry on the sundae and I'm going to savor every victory and suffer with every loss just like you fans do.

Get ready to chew some fingernails with us, Manatees fans, because nobody is going to write off the post-season just yet. There's baseball to play and unlike soccer, football, hockey or lacrosse, baseball players decide when their season ends, not the clock, not the umps, not the weather this time.

And finally, if you're checking your email at his hour (at least on the east coast), you're not really tired, so here's some poetry to soothe your troubled mind:

No hunger pangs, ye be eatin' good

Food abounds, ringed with wood.

Nestled on the far west you'll find a shack

If you walk that far, ye gotta turn back.

Now, just try to get some sleep. You four hunters...I wish you luck.

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Florida State League Stories from July 24, 2006


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