Making new friends

Who says you need nine innings of baseball to be entertained? Sometimes, all it takes is a friendly, curious lizard. Emerging from a rolled-up field tarp, this little critter kept Colin occupied for quite a few innings last week as the Brevard County Manatees played the Dunedin Blue Jays.

That's not to say, though, that Colin didn't score his sixth Florida State League team ball of the 2010 Summer of Baseball. Nope, he knocked that out of the park before the game, getting 20 signatures to reach the halfway point of his 12-team goal.

Bob Miscik (manager) in the sweet spot; and

Sergio Miranda, Sean Halton (who also gave Colin a bat), Scott Krieger, Mike Ramlow and Matt Cline; and

Jeremy Jeffress, Josh Prince, Corey Frerichs, Cody Scarpetta and Andre LaMontagne; and

Michael Fiers, Michael Roberts, Angel Salome and Juan Sanchez; and

Fred Dabney (pitching coach), Steve Braun, Evan Anundsen, Peter Fatse and unidentified.

Back-to-back bats

Even Colin recognized a developing trend. After coming up batless during the first five Florida State League games of our 2010 Summer of Baseball, Brevard County's Sean Halton, a first base prospect within the Milwaukee Brewers organization, gave Colin the second broken bat of his campaign in as many games.

While the first broken bat, from Daytona's David Macias, looks like a generic model, it's pretty neat to see a personalized bat for an FSL player.

Got one

For the most part, I've spent the 2010 Summer of Baseball in an advisory capacity, helping Colin fill up team balls for Florida State League clubs. Now that the FSL has released its Top Prospects 2010 set, I have something to do.

Brevard County's Cody Scarpetta, a pitching prospect within the Milwaukee Brewers system, was the first to sign. I hope to add a few more later this week., with trips to Bradenton, for the Marauders, and Dunedin, for the Lakeland Flying Tigers.

We got the set for $10 at the Dunedin Blue Jays team store at Dunedin Stadium.

Completing the Advanced-A set will be difficult. Already, some players like Daytona's Brett Jackson have been promoted and Kentrail Davis, another Brewers prospect got sent down from Brevard County to the Midwest League (Class A).

Let's try this again

Earlier this season, I had the bright idea of using a foul ball, one of many that Colin has collected over our Summer of Baseball, to create a team ball of players named to the Florida State League All Star Game.

Though it got off to a decent start, my lack of attention led to a few non-All Stars signing the ball. Then, thanks to Brett, one of Baseball Mondays correspondents, I got my grubby mitts on a souvenir ball from the FSL All Star Game. The idea was that I'd use it for Daytona's Starlin Castro, the game's MVP. Well, Castro got promoted before I could have him sign the ball.

Rather than have it sit on some box, destined to be forgotten well beyond its usefulness, we brought it along last Wednesday to the Brevard County Manatees-Dunedin Blue Jays game. Though it's unlikely that we'll get the ball filled, we did add these players to it:

Brevard County's Eric Ferris, top and Dunedin's Raul Barron; and

Brevard County's Caleb Gindl.

On Saturday, we'll look to add Dunedin's Moises Sierra to the ball. And, if we can somehow fit in a trip over to Tampa before season's end, we might add signatures from Austin Romine and Jonathan Ortiz.

One at a time

If there's one thing about Florida State League games, it's how easy it is to snag the occasional game-used ball from a player, coach or umpire. Over our Summer of Baseball, Colin's been able to collect more than two dozen balls.

We used some for the 11 team balls that Colin has accomplished over the course of the campaign. Others have been used to build a single-signed baseballs, or SSBs collection. Brevard County's Eric Ferris added this one before Wedsnesday's rained-out game against Dunedin.

This isn't brain surgery

Even if it sounds like we're bragging, it's hard to argue against the simple methodology Colin and I use to fill up a team ball. Need proof? How about this team ball signed by 17 members of the Brevard County Manatees, the Florida State League affiliate of the Milwaukee Brewers?

Really, it was pretty simple. We show up near the visiting team's dugout just before the team begins its pregame warmups. Armed with a roster, I feed Colin the names of players heading out to the field. He then addresses them by name, asking politely if they'll sign his team ball. Very few, to date, have refused this requests.

We must confide, too, that we gambled a bit with this ball, believing at the time it was our final foul ball of the season. No need to worry, though. By game's end, in which the Manatees lost to the Clearwater Threshers, Colin had added collected another three foul balls.

Here's who signed the Brevard County team ball, the ninth of our Summer of Baseball:

Eric Ferris on the sweet spot;

Martin Maldonado, Brent Brewer and Logan Schafer;

Lee Haydel, Mark Willinsky, Brandon Rapoza and Roque Mercedes;

Alex Periard, Caleb Grindl, Derrick Alfonso, Chris Errecart and Zelous Wheeler; and

Pitching coach Fred Dabney, Rafael Lluberes, Omar Aguilar and Steffan Wilson.

A couple more cards

Little by little, we keep knocking out cards in the 2009 Florida State Lague Top Prospects set. In this case, it was Brevard County's Eric Farris, left, and Caleb Gindl who added to our efforts before a game last week against the Clearwater Threshers.