The News Herald (Willoughby, OH)
Captains enjoying fresh start
Lake County is 4-1 in early going of second half
Captains manager Larry Day had a message for his players and coaching staff before the team opened the second half of the Midwest League season June 22 in Dayton.
Day did not suggest forgetting all about the first half, when the Captains went 27-42 and finished seventh in the MWL Eastern Division. They finished 19 games behind first-place West Michigan and 131/2 games behind secondplace Dayton.
What he urged was processing the hard lessons learned in the first half and taking full advantage of the fresh start afforded by the league splitting the season into halves.
“Losing always hurts. You never want to lose,” Day said June 26 before the Captains hosted the Great Lakes (Mich.) Loons at Classic Park.
“The guys know that. I know that. That’s why we didn’t rub their faces in it when times were tough in the first half.
“In a way, the first half was the best thing that could have happened to us as players and coaches,” Day added. “You lean from adverse circumstances.”
The Captains took Day’s advice and ran with it in Dayton, taking three of four games from the Dragons.
They stayed hot against the Loons in the opener a four-game series and eightgame homestand.
Behind a quality start
by Micah Miniard and timely hitting, the Captains notched a 5-2 victory and improved to 4-1 in the second half.
Captains outfielder Todd Isaacs is convinced his team has what it takes to play well in the second half and snare one of the two playoff spots up for grabs.
“I really believe we can do that,” Isaacs said. “We are together, playing as one unit, having fun. It’s early, but if we take it day by day, we can get there.
“Speaking only for myself, the first half was painful because we lost so many close games, so many onerun games. Little mistakes killed us,” Isaacs added. “We felt the pain of all that losing so much that it
fired us up and brought us together. LD (Day) stayed on us about paying attention to details and doing the little things. Now, it’s starting to show. The second half for us will be completely different from the first half.”
Captains hitting coach Justin Toole said he saw the turnaround begin with nine victories in 15 games over the final two weeks of the first half.
“When we won three straight series before the All-Star break, the players started to develop confidence, as they should,” Toole said. “Now, we’ve started strong in the second half. We’re playing with a lot of confidence. The guys have put in the time, now they are reaping
the benefits. As coaches, it’s been good to see those improvements.”
Toole spent seven seasons as a player in the Indians’ farm system, rising as high as Triple-A Columbus. He retired after the 2015 season and began his coaching career last season with short-season Mahoning Valley. He’s experienced the fresh starts of second halves as a player and coach.
“In terms of your wonloss record, it‘s a reboot, absolutely,” Toole said. “In terms of development, let’s build on what we did well and learn from what we didn’t do well. That started at the end of the first half for this team and has carried over to the second half.”