Living on a Prayer

A song came to mind as I was contemplating my blog this morning.  Bon Jovi’s lyrics seem appropriate:

“Whooah, we're half way there
Livin' on a prayer
Take my hand and we'll make it - I swear
Livin' on a prayer

…

We've got to hold on ready or not
You live for the fight when it's all that you've got”

We are rapidly approaching the end of the first half of our season and the Daytona Cubs have been eliminated from contention for a 1^st half championship.  Dunedin is seemingly repeating there incredibly strong run as they did last year.

But, there is the 2^nd half still to play.  If history repeats itself, Daytona can shake of the less than stellar play to date and rip into the second half without slowing down.  Last year saw the team finish the first half in 3^rd place, but they hit the ground running to finish the 2^nd half with a record of 40 wins and 20 losses.  They went on to slide through the playoffs without ever looking over their shoulders.

I have big hopes this team will do the same.

At this point, I would like to catch up with my recent activities.  Last weekend, Ed and I were able to attend 3 games of the Tennessee Smokies vs the Jacksonville Suns series, in the town of my birth, Jacksonville, FL .  I always love making that trip, particularly when the Smokies are in town.  We stayed at the team hotel, the Hyatt Regency, Jacksonville Riverfront.  A beautifully located facility located downtown on the St. Johns River.  A mile away is Bragen Field at the Baseball Grounds of Jacksonville.

 

 

As I have stated in earlier posts, one of the best things about MiLB , is the people we get to know.  There were several we ran into this trip.  First off, was Michael West, former radio broadcaster for the Daytona Cubs.  Michael is broadcast for the Suns this year and was gratuitous enough to obtain tickets for us for Friday nights game.  We took in a visit to the broadcast booth and stopped in to say hi to Mick Gillespie, the Smokies broadcaster.  I love the views from the booth, even when the teams aren’t playing.  I think I will come back as an announcer/broadcaster in my next life!

We also got to see one of our favorite ushers of all time, Patrick!  He takes care of the Dugout boxes and is an absolute joy to be around!  Tommy is another house favorite.  He sells the team programs and always has a smile (and a starting line-up) for me!

They boys played very well, shutting out the Suns on Friday night. A highlight was the first home run of his career for starting pitcher Eduardo Figueroa!  Jacksonville had a rehabbing Rafael Furcal on the roster, but that didn’t intimidate our guys.  After the game, we waited for the team as they headed to the bus and got lots of hugs and handshakes from our former Daytona Cubbies.  The bus driver for the team is Bobby and he takes good care of our boys.  We also ran into Dustin Geiger and John Andreolli’s parents and a few other fans and friends from Daytona.

I spent some time Saturday morning, walking around downtown Jacksonville looking at some of the beautiful old buildings they have there.

 

I should tell you at this point that the send-off game for the USA World Cup soccer team was going on right next door to the baseball stadium at Everlast Field (home of the Jacksonville Jags).  The town was virtually taken over by crazed soccer fans!  They were evident at every turn! Saturday afternoon we moved down to our “regular” seats in section D4.  The best view in baseball if you ask me!

 

The team again shut out the Suns.  A great game, again with lots of action that concluded with the good guys on top!  Sundays game was a close game, but our boys were not able to pull off a comeback and ended up taking the loss.  With the conclusion of that game, we headed home.

The Daytona boys were on the road all week and we have been taking care of business at the house.  This weekend we head to Bradenton for the FSL All-Star game.  I’ll be sure and let you know how that goes! 

 Thanks for reading!