A Grind.

Hey guys. Yeah...yeah...it's been awhile. Just been travelin' and playin' constantly my friends. SO I have some time to sit down and write my thoughts and share what is going on with you guys. I am sitting at home, drinking some Molson beers, and feel the urge to write. I love you all. Miss you too :D. Chris, thanks for the emails my man...I am so glad that you are keeping up with me. One day my brother, we will be sharing a glass again. Mom and Dad, I know you are probably pissed off at your youngest for the lack of info., but know that I think about you guys all the time. Alex and Ian, in the words of that old Budweiser commercial, "I love you man". Steph, miss and love you. To everyone else, (If there is anyone else), I love the support you show and I love the fact that you care about what is going on in my life.

So I left off with the shindig that happened before our last roadtrip. What a roadtrip...lemme tell ya. I stayed in the same hotel for 7 nights. We split time going to the New Jersey Jackal's field and the Sussex Skyhawks field. Like I have said many times before...I really don't like explaining play-by-play about what goes on during the games. Just know that I got out of my slump and that I am still swinging as hard as I fucking can.

But I will share what happened in the hotel during the second stretch of the trip.

I room with Eddy Lantigua during the trips. He is our first baseman and just mashes the ball. He has been playing pro ball for 15 years and is just the nicest guy. We have a connection not only because we are teammates but also because we have latin blood. He had his kids with him during the first part of our trip (vs New Jersey) and we all shared the room. His kids are incredibly nice. So lemme get to the story...

When we started the second half of our road trip, all the players had to move hotel rooms for some weird reason. I was planning on rooming with Eddy again with his kids but I soon learned that Eddy was going to get his old room. So I was going to get another roommate because I was thinking that Eddy and his kids were going to get one room. So our clubby, Christian, told me,

"Tony...439. That is your room with Sean Gregory."
"K...sounds good. I will leave the key for him at the desk."
(Because he wasn't present at the time)
"Sounds good. Goodnight 'La bougie d'allumage' (Spark plug)"

So I went to my room and unpacked my stuff. Now it had been a good hour and there was not sign of Sean. I then went to went to Chili's for dinner with a couple of guys not thinking too much of my tardy roommate.
I was eating with several of the guys on the team and this conversation was struck.

"So where is everyone rooming?" Asked Sebastien Boucher (OF)
"Oh we have the same roommates." Replied everyone.
"Well, I have the new guy with me (Sean Gregory)" Answered Sebastien.

Now a lightbulb lit in my head.

Well if Sean is with Seb, I have my own room!
Now to play it cool.

"Who are you rooming with Tony?" Asked Seb.
"Oh...one of the other rooks I think...but no one is in there now. Cause' Eddy has his kids with him now...."
"Hmm....ok. Well give me your room number when you can" Answered Seb.

Ok...I'll get right on that.............NOT.

If I can have my own room, I will fucking take full advantage of that.

So long story short. People found out that I was rooming by myself, and for a rook to have his own room is unheard of. So I just relaxed with four pillows in my room giggling to myself. I then heard my hotel phone just ringing off the hook...
There was no way I was going to answer it hahahahaha.
I then heard in the hallways.
"WHERE THE FUCK IS TONY???!!!" Differnt voices called out.

I was loving it.

No one knew that 439 was ol Tlew's room. So I relaxed the last half of our trip in my own room.

I won't forget that.

Now zipping to our ride our from our roadtrip. We were to have an off day on the 30th of July. The next day (our day off) was a scheduled 'Paint Ball Day' for the whole team at Eric Gagne's island on a little lake just outside of Montreal.

Yes...he owns an island devoted to paintball.

We rolled into Montreal at about 12:00am and was greeted by a spread that I normally don't see. Eric took us to his island on his boat and there was a huge bonfire going. The spread consisted of pizza, chips, cookies, beer, and top shelf alcohol. This was going to be a crazy night. So the whole team ate, drank, and laughed by the fire all night. It was such a good night. Their was a guitar out and everyone was singing to whoever was playing. A good time.

The next morning, we waddled out of our 'sleeper bus' and played paintball all day. The whole hungover Capitale team had a great day of paintball and laughter.

A day that, I'm sure, nobody will forget.

So I am back in Quebec to start our 17 game straight stretch of ball. We won tonight with Gagne on the mound in front of 5 thou plus.

I miss you guys and love ya so much. You are in my thoughts all the time.