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Skeels: First-half title run showed character of young team
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Andy Skeels photo by Rob Fisher
The San Jose Giants begin the second half of the California League schedule Thursday night with the first of three home games against the Stockton Ports. The Giants won the North division first half title and automatic post-season playoff spot by winning 15 of their last 20 games. I sat down with San Jose Manager Andy Skeels to reflect on the first three months and where the team goes from here.
Examiner.com: I’m sure you are pleased with winning the first-half title but what did you think of the way the team went about doing it?
Andy Skeels: Anytime you win anything I don’t care how you get it done, it’s about getting it done. The last three weeks of the season when it mattered most we played our best and that’s a sign of character, a sign of guys who compete, it’s a sign of good players and a good team. I was really encouraged by the way our guys stepped up at the end of the first half. We had to close a lot of ground and we had to play close to flawless baseball the last three weeks. I’m very pleased with the way the first half ended up and we also know that it’s just the fist step. It sets the benchmark for what we expect the second half.
Examiner.com: What happened in May when you went 14-15?
Skeels: I think people dismiss how hard it is to travel in this league. It seems as if somebody set up the schedule to knock us out of this thing. We had almost 2 ½ weeks on the road. Among those are a lot of commuter games to Modesto and they’ve got a good club. So three out of four weekends we’re on the road in hostile territory. So my feeling at the time was if we can just weather the storm, not only adjusting to losing (pitchers Tim) Alderson, (Madison) Bumgarner and (shortstop Brandon) Crawford, at the same time try to find out who we were as a team without falling too far behind I thought we might have a chance coming down the stretch. Fortunately, that’s what happened.
Examiner.com: What adjustments did you have to make managing in a new league?
Skeels: The talent level is pretty even throughout the league this year. Every year, leagues are different where you have 3 or 4 that dominate the standings and then everyone else plays among the rest. But by and large Bakersfield took care of Visalia going down the stretch by playing good baseball. It might not reflect it in the standings but their manager did a nice job. I think you have a lot of good baseball people in the league and the level of preparation certainly the higher you go the more it requires.
Tomorrow, part two of my interview with Andy Skeels as he looks at the progress of some key players in the Giants’ lineup.
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