On the road you can get a sense how difficult it is to fill out a day. Not much to do but stare at the walls in a cheap hotel. As the saying goes however, if you don't like the food, travel, or the accomodations in the minors - play better.
My son was not in the lineup last night so it was a slow night for our family. As we were watching BP, a genetlemen approached me and he said he knew my son from summer ball in Columbia SC. He said his son had been drafted in the 42 rd last summer and had just been called up from extended spring training by the Reds. After bs'ing with him for about an hour, I told him I would be rooting for his son to get in the game and in fact he did and pitched well for the Dragons. We took our son out for dinner after the game and we ran into the young man who pitched and his family at the same restaurant. Small world sometimes...
The Dragons have three ex-big leaguers as their coaches, Todd Benzinger, Ken Griffey, and Tony Fossas.
After next weekend, my son returns to his hometown to play ball. This is the low A affiliate of the Cleveland Indians known as the Lake County Captains. The Captains currently have the best record in the minor leagues if I am not mistaken. One of their hot hitters is Bo Greenwell - son of Mike Greenwell. I am pretty sure there will be a nice contingent to see my son play.
Ironically, the last time he played in Lake County was at Captains Stadium in 2005 for the rights to go to the State Chamionship. They won their games there and made their way to states which was ironically held at Dayton Dragons Stadium known as 5/3 Ballpark where we are this weekend. Thus, the last two times he played in Ohio, he will have played at the same two ballparks on his return to Ohio. That seems ironic to me anyways