Poblanotes 50.9- Sweet Mediocrity

[chicoruiz]

84-78. It may not sound like much to you, but to those of us in the Chilis organization, it sounds like a choir of angels. I mean, in Vegas an 84-win season would cause some heads to roll; in El Paso they’re prepping the ticker tape. Strangers are buying me drinks, and I don’t even have to worry about them being poisoned.

The first winning record in franchise history. Only 4 games out of the wild card race. Franchise records in a number of individual areas (it’s pretty sad that Stan Cyr’s 16 wins is a club record, but there you are). Even manager Ulf Janz, who I had long been planning to kick to the curb when his contract was up, is getting an extension. At least he gets along with Hector Cano, which is no small feat…

Is it sustainable? Well… that’s a definite maybe. We have a legit young superstar in Cano, two other stars in Sanchez and Chenowith, a strong pen, and starters who generally at least keep us in games. On the other hand, we got big years from a couple of guys- Brace and Goodchild- who I was willing to give away earlier for free to anyone who wanted them. Thank God I got no takers. Can they repeat their 2050, or are they fool’s gold? And there are a few other areas that need some TLC; the Jose Alba experiment was fun, and made me look smart for the time being, but he’s not really the answer behind the plate.

But all that will be addressed down the road. For right now, I’m gonna take a few days and just revel in my unaccustomed success (or at least decent mediocrity). When you’ve been living in the homeless shelter as long as I have in the Brewster, even moving up to a studio apartment seems luxurious.

[Jwalk100]

Great job in El Paso!

[Dington]

Great turnaround in El Paso. Keep it up and take out Vegas at the knees.

[bschr682]

Brace finally came through. Good to see.

[recte44]

You had an awesome season. Wasn’t easy to push that rock up the hill

[ae37jr]

El Paso is definitely on the rise. Cano, Santos and Aniruddha Meenakshisundaram are some good young core pieces.

[tylertoo]

Congrats on a breakthrough year!

El Paso's official band staged a concert in celebration.