The Cubs returned to mediocrity in 1999. Not so Mike's team, his 2nd year in Minor's Baseball. That year his team was supposed to be pretty good. The most important factor was that his team had a pretty good stable of pitching which is what wins at that level {it also wins at the major league level}.
Mike's team cruised through the early part of the season. At one point they administered a whipping to a team coached by one of my very good friends, Tom Verticchio. Now Tom is a guy with lot's of competitive years of baseball under his belt, including both high school and college. So Tom has a pretty good eye for the "horse flesh" at Mike's level. As they went through the handshake lines after that game Tom uttered some of the most prophetic words I've every heard, "Congrats Mike but you team's peaked too soon".
That game proved to be the high water mark of the year. Between injuries and mediocre pitching performances, the team struggled to finish out the regular season. They took a dive in the playoffs and were promptly finished off.
No words uttered have ever proven more accurate.
No comments:
Post a Comment