Hope everyone's enjoying their Thursday. I don't have too much, other than I did want to point out a nice article in yesterday's Star about Travis Snider and Adam Lind's friendship. It has been great seeing both of these young men play so well thusfar this season, and it's nice to hear that they have a great off-the-field relationship as well:
"I think they pull for each other," manager Cito Gaston said. "You see them in the dugout, when one does something good, the other one is there. It's not too often you get to play with somebody you came through the minor leagues with. I think it's all a plus."
Pace Cito, I don't think Lind and Snider were ever at the same level in the minors at the same time, meaning that perhaps the affection draws more from their shared experience of growing up loving hip-hop and Ken Griffey Jr (given Moonraker's roots, it's especially easy to understand his Griffey-love, but I had not realized East Central Indiana was a hip-hop hotbed). Or maybe Snider's explanation for why the two are friends:
"It's made it a lot easier because he's been at this level for a longer period of time than I have," Snider said yesterday. "There's a little extra knowledge that I can take from him, little things in the clubhouse, as well as somebody you can just talk to, relate to, who's not 30-plus, married with kids."
As someone who is married with kid (just the one) but not yet 30, I don't take offense. That's not to say that Snider doesn't appreciate the club's veteran players:
"Coming out here and watching a guy like Scott Rolen, he's been doing this for 10-12-15 years and you watch the way he respects the game in every given situation," Snider said. "It's impossible not to be the right player with the right kind of mindset out there. He's someone you can look up to as a young player."
I couldn't agree more. Rolen, for his part, is very complimentary of Snider as well. I know it's been said before but Snider really does demonstrate a maturity and humility that you love to see in a young player. It is going to be fun watching Lind and Snider play together, hopefully for a long, long time and hopefully seeing the two of them accumulate both dough and glory.