Tigers Minor League Baseball Blog

The Lakeland Flying Tigers have had an interesting season of weather related happenings before and during games. Some could say that our season could be chronicled by a Steven King novel, and my journey especially. For a while I held the title of the rainman, and not because I have savant type intelligence, a la Dustin Hoffman, or because I act like Pac-Man Jones in a nightclub. No, the reason I was given this moniker was due to the fact that every time I was up to start, it began to rain. Even in the All-Star game as I was warming up in the bullpen, it started raining. My roommates started telling me not to even come to the field on my day to throw so there was a chance for dry conditions. At the start of this run it was frustrating but after awhile I began to embrace my role as the guy who dealt with mother nature. I guess that’s really the only way to deal with it. Except now the title doesn’t just apply to myself, I have managed to spread the wealth to my fellow starters. Someone usually goes a few consecutive starts in a row having to deal with the weather. I don’t just have words and thoughts about our plight in central Florida, I have stats too. If you look at innings pitched, our starters are quite a ways behind everyone else. And just to mention, I hate beating a dead horse and always talking about rain, but when it happens as much as it does here in Florida, it’s hard to not. Plus these delays give us ample time to hone our skills in card games, debates about stupid topics, and discussning why we make so little money and the big leaguers make so much (usually requires four days to finish, and several people using google and calculators). My take on the whole thing is that we have a leg up in the gamesmanship department because when the other teams are flustered and frustrated with the rain, we are in the clubhouse as chipper and content as ever.