9-News: 37.068 – McNeill Un-Freezing?

[RonCo]

Don’t look now, but British pop-star Mikki Manning is back home after finishing her latest world-wide tour, and there’s a chance that the hibernating bear that has been Lucas McNeill’s bat has come out of his deep sleep—or, as some have called it: his “lumber slumber.”

It’s only 61 AB, but the defending Sawyer Silk winner has welcomed Mrs. McNeill back home to the tune of 3 August homers and a .311/.358/.574 slash. Considerably more McNeill=-like than, say, the rest of the season, which has seen the Nine somehow maintain its status as one of the top run producers despite a sucking black hole of nothing in the McNeill slot. He’s been so bad that he’s actually been demoted in the order in favor of hot hitting Rob Thomas. “Imagine where they would be if he was hitting?” said broadcast bother Melissa Lester.

Relationship With Brewington Strained?

While the team’s new hitting coach, Sam Brewington, is receiving glowing marks for rallying the band of young kids into the run-scoring group they are, there’s an undercurrent building that says the Nine YS9 HoF coach and McNeill haven’t seen eye-to-eye on how to look at swing mechanics. Brewington is becoming known as a practitioner of contact, while McNeill prefers to drive the ball and get it into the gaps. Brewington is also one to take some joy at the collection of kids the team has assembled, calling them “his kids,” in several interviews.

“We’re fine,” McNeill (who will soon turn 31) said when asked about it. “Sam’s a good coach, but I’ll admit it took some time to adjust from Bill (previous coach William Campbell). I don’t think Sam ever took an at bat for me, though, so whatever’s happened is on me.”

Fans Ready to Cheer

Regardless of the origin of the problem, the team’s core fans are hoping to see the real Lucas McNeill over the last third of the season. “I’m wearing #31 to work every day,” said a smiling Shelly Johnson, a waitress at a local diner. “He’s my fave squeeze. I was kinda hoping Mikki would stay out of the way a little longer, but if it means he’s back to hitting, I guess I can handle that.”

[usnspecialist]

Not sure how much coaching matters, but worth noting (because I'm a bit of a shit stirrer) that I hired William Campbell after he was unceremoniously kicked to the curb by yellow springs and now I have one of the most potent offenses in league history...

[RonCo]

That's true.