The lowest of lows to the highest of highs.

Yes, it’s usually in reverse, but things don’t always happen how they usually are supposed to.

So sometimes you’re down, playing with the Winnipeg Goldeyes in AA and loving the city but hating getting lit up like the proverbial Christmas tree, grown just moments from Winnipeg Stadium.

It was a beautiful country and they saw me at my worst. I couldn’t get my fastball past a wet paper bag, yet alone the best from the Northern League.

Ok, so they all weren’t the best and a lot of them just plain weren’t good, but for the longest 6 weeks of my life, they all seemed bound for Cooperstown.

Or I was just going to help them get there, giving up more than any Skip should have to suffer.

But he did. And he wasn’t kind, but he encouraged in a way that made me feel like I was OK until I got out of it.

It was a relaxing feeling. He treated me as an adult when I was still a kid who thought he was an adult.

I grew up out there.

You can cue the sappy music, but it’s true. And it’s what eventually turned me around.

And eventually lead to me making a start in the Big Leagues, where the grass is green and if you get real close, I’d swear it smells like freshly cut peonies.