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By: Paul Bennett-September 4, 2006   Today is Monday and I am back home in Charlotte, NC after the greatest summer of my life. This final journal entry will fill everyone in on the last week of my life and offer some reflection on my first summer of professional baseball.   We (the Danville Braves) clinched the Eastern Division during the second to last week of August. That assured us a spot in the championship series against the Elizabethton Twins-the Western division winners. So the last week of the season was very laid back, I think we took BP maybe twice and never took infield. All of us starters took turns getting the day off to make sure we were rested for the championship series. Our final regular season series was in Burlington and I had gotten several days off during the series before so it worked out perfectly! I was able to play two full games in front of the hometown Elon crowd where I had about 30 people on the pass list each night. It was a lot of fun to see my coaches, teammates and friends who came out to support me. The last game of the series (and the regular season) was rained out but no one minded. The Burlington players were eager to go back home and we needed a day off before Game 1 of the championship anyway.   What we didn’t know, though, was that the rain wasn’t supposed to stop-and it didn’t! It rained all day Wednesday (8/30) and didn’t stop for about 50 more hours. Game 1 of the championship was postponed from Thursday night and then postponed again on Friday night. After the second postponement, the GM’s made the decision that the series would start Saturday afternoon and that Game 1 would be played in Danville and Games 2 and 3 would be played on Sunday in Elizabethton as part of a doubleheader. Everyone, including the team, expected us to win and we did-the first game. We played well and won 5-2. I started at second base and went 1-for-4 with an RBI-double. We showered up, got a catered meal and then hit the road for Elizabethton; we wanted to get in early that night to get some good sleep for the games on Sunday.   Unfortunately, after stopping at a rest stop, the Latin guys failed to realize that one of them didn’t make it back on the bus. No one knew until he found a pay phone and called one of his friends about 35 minutes later. We had to turn around and go all the way back to get him. Needless to say, the Skipper was not happy!!   We got in late and were up early for BP at Elizabethton’s field-a nice park but a shorter porch than the one in Danville. We jumped out to an early lead in the first game, scoring four in the second inning. I had a single through the right side in that inning to keep it going, but couldn’t get much else going at the plate that day. Four runs were all we’d get in that seven-inning game and it was not enough. They scored five off our bullpen and evened the series. Game 3 started badly, nothing seemed to go our way; they scored two in the second inning and it seemed like we would never answer. But in the top of the fifth, a seemingly harmless walk to our shortstop turned into a 2-run homer by our first basemen, a 6-6/235 pound Venezuelan monster. We were back in the game with only two innings left. In their half of the fifth a solo homerun put us back in the hole; however, there were plenty more clutch hits left in our bats. Our three-hole hitter returned the solo-shot favor in the top of the sixth and we were tied again. With two outs and no one on in the bottom of the sixth, we went to our closer, no chances were being taken. He struck out the final batter of that inning and we were ready to try to take the lead. With one out in the top of the last inning, Danny Brezeale (from Charleston, SC) launched a first-pitch breaking ball over the wall in left-center and we had our lead! We had the Yankees mentality-take the lead and it’s over.   You have to understand our closer surrendered one earned run in 22 innings of work and had 10 saves this season. He’s a right-handed Billy Wagner (small body, big arm) with three pitches for a painted strike anytime he wants them-including a knee-buckling curveball.   He struck out the side and that was it-the celebration was on. Dogpile, Gatorade showers for the coaches, trophy touch and a faux-Champagne spraying (because not everyone’s of age, it was mostly sparkling cider) we had it all! Once we got back to Danville (after a rowdy bus ride) we got fitted for rings, cleaned out our lockers and said goodbyes.   Just like that, the best summer of my life was over. But with the success we had this year, I’m hoping we’ll all be back together in Rome or Myrtle Beach next year. Now I have two weeks off-look out Isle of Palms, SC here I come!! I hope you’ve enjoyed reading about my summer as much as I’ve enjoyed writing about it. It has been the best experience of my life and I wish all of you the best of luck in chasing your dreams as I am certainly chasing mine.   PB’s Pro Log: Part I   PB’s Pro Log: Part II   PB’s Pro Log: Part III . To view Bennett’s statistics, click here. .

By: Paul Bennett-September 4, 2006   Today is Monday and I am back home in Charlotte, NC after the greatest summer of my life. This final journal entry will fill everyone in on the last week of my life and offer some reflection on my first summer of professional baseball.   We (the Danville Braves) clinched the Eastern Division during the second to last week of August. That assured us a spot in the championship series against the Elizabethton Twins-the Western division winners. So the last week of the season was very laid back, I think we took BP maybe twice and never took infield. All of us starters took turns getting the day off to make sure we were rested for the championship series. Our final regular season series was in Burlington and I had gotten several days off during the series before so it worked out perfectly! I was able to play two full games in front of the hometown Elon crowd where I had about 30 people on the pass list each night. It was a lot of fun to see my coaches, teammates and friends who came out to support me. The last game of the series (and the regular season) was rained out but no one minded. The Burlington players were eager to go back home and we needed a day off before Game 1 of the championship anyway.   What we didn’t know, though, was that the rain wasn’t supposed to stop-and it didn’t! It rained all day Wednesday (8/30) and didn’t stop for about 50 more hours. Game 1 of the championship was postponed from Thursday night and then postponed again on Friday night. After the second postponement, the GM’s made the decision that the series would start Saturday afternoon and that Game 1 would be played in Danville and Games 2 and 3 would be played on Sunday in Elizabethton as part of a doubleheader. Everyone, including the team, expected us to win and we did-the first game. We played well and won 5-2. I started at second base and went 1-for-4 with an RBI-double. We showered up, got a catered meal and then hit the road for Elizabethton; we wanted to get in early that night to get some good sleep for the games on Sunday.   Unfortunately, after stopping at a rest stop, the Latin guys failed to realize that one of them didn’t make it back on the bus. No one knew until he found a pay phone and called one of his friends about 35 minutes later. We had to turn around and go all the way back to get him. Needless to say, the Skipper was not happy!!   We got in late and were up early for BP at Elizabethton’s field-a nice park but a shorter porch than the one in Danville. We jumped out to an early lead in the first game, scoring four in the second inning. I had a single through the right side in that inning to keep it going, but couldn’t get much else going at the plate that day. Four runs were all we’d get in that seven-inning game and it was not enough. They scored five off our bullpen and evened the series. Game 3 started badly, nothing seemed to go our way; they scored two in the second inning and it seemed like we would never answer. But in the top of the fifth, a seemingly harmless walk to our shortstop turned into a 2-run homer by our first basemen, a 6-6/235 pound Venezuelan monster. We were back in the game with only two innings left. In their half of the fifth a solo homerun put us back in the hole; however, there were plenty more clutch hits left in our bats. Our three-hole hitter returned the solo-shot favor in the top of the sixth and we were tied again. With two outs and no one on in the bottom of the sixth, we went to our closer, no chances were being taken. He struck out the final batter of that inning and we were ready to try to take the lead. With one out in the top of the last inning, Danny Brezeale (from Charleston, SC) launched a first-pitch breaking ball over the wall in left-center and we had our lead! We had the Yankees mentality-take the lead and it’s over.   You have to understand our closer surrendered one earned run in 22 innings of work and had 10 saves this season. He’s a right-handed Billy Wagner (small body, big arm) with three pitches for a painted strike anytime he wants them-including a knee-buckling curveball.   He struck out the side and that was it-the celebration was on. Dogpile, Gatorade showers for the coaches, trophy touch and a faux-Champagne spraying (because not everyone’s of age, it was mostly sparkling cider) we had it all! Once we got back to Danville (after a rowdy bus ride) we got fitted for rings, cleaned out our lockers and said goodbyes.   Just like that, the best summer of my life was over. But with the success we had this year, I’m hoping we’ll all be back together in Rome or Myrtle Beach next year. Now I have two weeks off-look out Isle of Palms, SC here I come!! I hope you’ve enjoyed reading about my summer as much as I’ve enjoyed writing about it. It has been the best experience of my life and I wish all of you the best of luck in chasing your dreams as I am certainly chasing mine.   PB’s Pro Log: Part I   PB’s Pro Log: Part II   PB’s Pro Log: Part III . To view Bennett’s statistics, click here. .

By: Austin Alexander-September 1, 2006 As we flip the calendar from August to September, seventeen out of Major League Baseball’s thirty professional teams ready themselves for the stretch run. Pennant races are alive and well as over half of pro baseball’s fan base has a home team to root for. Nowhere is interest greater than the National League. All but three teams are eyeballing the post-season, strange thing is, seven of them have records below .500. Which raises the question, is the Wild Card good or bad for baseball? Let’s have a quick history lesson first. The Wild Card’s inaugural year was 1995. Commissioner Bud Selig and his office caught a great deal of grief from baseball purists who did not want to see a change in the structure of the post-season. Baseball had four division winners and two rounds of playoffs since 1969. Pre-Woodstock, there were no divisions, only a National and American League. Each team would send their best team to do battle in the World Series, this notion had been in place since 1903. Back to the Wild Card era. Since the institution of each league’s “best of the rest,” seven Wild Card teams have advanced to the Fall Classic, four have actually won the World Series. In fact, since 1995, Wild Card teams have won baseball’s top trophy more times than the best record in the League has. In 2002, both Series participants entered the playoffs as Wild Card’s. And then there is this year. Cities across the country are clamoring about the possibility of baseball in October. Fifty-six percent of MLB is within 6.5 games of the ‘promised land’ and the final month of the season should be a blast. Stadiums remain filled and the game appears as healthy as ever. Or does it? Considering the success Wild Card teams have experienced in the fall, it is conceivable that a sub-.500 team could play for a world championship. Worse yet, they could win! They play 162 games and a team that couldn’t win half of them might be rewarded for having a hot streak? Sitting on the fence? Consider that if there was no Wild Card, how history would have been altered. No one would know the name Jeffrey Maier, pictured left, (Yankees, 1996). There would have been no “Subway Series” which also means Roger Clemens would have never thrown a bat at Mike Piazza (Mets, 2000). The Florida Marlins may have never had a “fire sale” (1997, 2003). Don Mattingly might have won a World Series (Mariners, 1995). How about this? The Red Sox would still be in the middle of an 87-year drought (2004) and the Chicago Cubs may have ended their drought three years ago (Marlins, 2003). With no Wild Card, Steve Bartman would be a nerdy little guy with a normal life! If you pull for a club that competes for the last playoff spot and does not make it, think a second about how that can set your organization into a tailspin that could last for years. Instead of dealing a player in the final year of his contract for prospects, you hung onto him so he could hit .212 or go 1-3 with a 5.80 ERA in a losing effort…and then lost him in the off-season to free agency. While you ‘went for all’, your team played the aged-veteran, brought back an injured pitcher too early and sought wins over development. Those minor leaguers that could have been brought up in September ended up watching your team fail miserably on television just like you did. Bottom-line, the possibility of becoming the next Wild Card can create a false-sense of optimism before reality comes crashing down on you. But who can fault us for believing? Regardless of which side of the topic you are on, you must at least appreciate what the Wild Card’s addition has brought to the game. With salaries continuing to escalate, baseball had to find a way to keep the fan’s interest for an entire season, hence, creating a way to pay the bills. If you still oppose the Wild Card and a Divisional Series, then 2006 becomes ‘Exhibit A’ as to why things should have been left alone eleven years ago. You will always argue that no team hovering at the .500 mark should ever advance. But then there is the history that baseball will not allow you to escape this debate. Think of how stale the last month of this season could be with each division all but wrapped up? Either way, the game remains pure and perfect, despite what naysayers will lament. Even though the team I root for is among baseball’s lower 44% (actually they are in the bottom 10%), and are one of the clubs out of the race, more people may follow baseball in September this year than ever before! Here’s to the turnstiles spinning out of control all the way into October! You never know who is lurking around that corner as our next title team. What we do know is that the final 60 days of the baseball season will close with excitement, just the way it should. .

By: Austin Alexander-September 1, 2006 As we flip the calendar from August to September, seventeen out of Major League Baseball’s thirty professional teams ready themselves for the stretch run. Pennant races are alive and well as over half of pro baseball’s fan base has a home team to root for. Nowhere is interest greater than the National League. All but three teams are eyeballing the post-season, strange thing is, seven of them have records below .500. Which raises the question, is the Wild Card good or bad for baseball? Let’s have a quick history lesson first. The Wild Card’s inaugural year was 1995. Commissioner Bud Selig and his office caught a great deal of grief from baseball purists who did not want to see a change in the structure of the post-season. Baseball had four division winners and two rounds of playoffs since 1969. Pre-Woodstock, there were no divisions, only a National and American League. Each team would send their best team to do battle in the World Series, this notion had been in place since 1903. Back to the Wild Card era. Since the institution of each league’s “best of the rest,” seven Wild Card teams have advanced to the Fall Classic, four have actually won the World Series. In fact, since 1995, Wild Card teams have won baseball’s top trophy more times than the best record in the League has. In 2002, both Series participants entered the playoffs as Wild Card’s. And then there is this year. Cities across the country are clamoring about the possibility of baseball in October. Fifty-six percent of MLB is within 6.5 games of the ‘promised land’ and the final month of the season should be a blast. Stadiums remain filled and the game appears as healthy as ever. Or does it? Considering the success Wild Card teams have experienced in the fall, it is conceivable that a sub-.500 team could play for a world championship. Worse yet, they could win! They play 162 games and a team that couldn’t win half of them might be rewarded for having a hot streak? Sitting on the fence? Consider that if there was no Wild Card, how history would have been altered. No one would know the name Jeffrey Maier, pictured left, (Yankees, 1996). There would have been no “Subway Series” which also means Roger Clemens would have never thrown a bat at Mike Piazza (Mets, 2000). The Florida Marlins may have never had a “fire sale” (1997, 2003). Don Mattingly might have won a World Series (Mariners, 1995). How about this? The Red Sox would still be in the middle of an 87-year drought (2004) and the Chicago Cubs may have ended their drought three years ago (Marlins, 2003). With no Wild Card, Steve Bartman would be a nerdy little guy with a normal life! If you pull for a club that competes for the last playoff spot and does not make it, think a second about how that can set your organization into a tailspin that could last for years. Instead of dealing a player in the final year of his contract for prospects, you hung onto him so he could hit .212 or go 1-3 with a 5.80 ERA in a losing effort…and then lost him in the off-season to free agency. While you ‘went for all’, your team played the aged-veteran, brought back an injured pitcher too early and sought wins over development. Those minor leaguers that could have been brought up in September ended up watching your team fail miserably on television just like you did. Bottom-line, the possibility of becoming the next Wild Card can create a false-sense of optimism before reality comes crashing down on you. But who can fault us for believing? Regardless of which side of the topic you are on, you must at least appreciate what the Wild Card’s addition has brought to the game. With salaries continuing to escalate, baseball had to find a way to keep the fan’s interest for an entire season, hence, creating a way to pay the bills. If you still oppose the Wild Card and a Divisional Series, then 2006 becomes ‘Exhibit A’ as to why things should have been left alone eleven years ago. You will always argue that no team hovering at the .500 mark should ever advance. But then there is the history that baseball will not allow you to escape this debate. Think of how stale the last month of this season could be with each division all but wrapped up? Either way, the game remains pure and perfect, despite what naysayers will lament. Even though the team I root for is among baseball’s lower 44% (actually they are in the bottom 10%), and are one of the clubs out of the race, more people may follow baseball in September this year than ever before! Here’s to the turnstiles spinning out of control all the way into October! You never know who is lurking around that corner as our next title team. What we do know is that the final 60 days of the baseball season will close with excitement, just the way it should. .