A lump of coal at Eastwood

By JOE SCALZO

Vindicator sports staff

NILES — There was a lot to like in Ryan Blair’s performance on Wednesday night. There was even more to like in his postgame interview.

Blair, a rookie outfielder for the Mahoning Valley Scrappers, went 2-for-3 with a run, a RBI and a bunch of compliments for his new home in a 5-3 loss to Vermont in a New York-Penn League game at Eastwood Field.

A month into the season, the Visalia, Calif., native said he’s grown more comfortable with his new team — and his new teammates — in recent weeks. And as an added bonus, he stayed longer than any of his teammates to sign autographs afterward.

“I’m enjoying it,” he said. “It’s a lot greener here. The people are a lot nicer. It’s not as polluted, so my allergies aren’t as bad.

“I love it out here.”

Blair, 22, was drafted in the 21st round out of Sacramento State in June. He has relatives in Illinois, but until joining the team, he hadn’t been this far east.

The distance didn’t faze him.

“I didn’t know exactly where I was going at first,” he said. “When I found out I was coming here I was really excited because I have a few buddies playing in this league.”

Still, he knew it was short season Class A, so he was expecting the facilities to be like the minor league stadiums in California.

“I wasn’t expecting a facility like this,” he said. “Back home, a lot of the high A teams and even the Double A teams don’t have stadiums this nice. I was shocked. I was real excited to play here.”

Blair is batting .253 through 20 games — he lifted his average 16 points on Wednesday night — and said he’s growing comfortable with the wooden bats, the daily grind and the new surroundings.

“I’m starting to get into a routine,” said Blair, who grew up a Red Sox fan, so should feel at home during next week’s road trip to Lowell, Mass. “I’m starting to get to that stage where you show up to the ballpark at the same time and do the same things. Once I get into a routine, I feel more comfortable.”

He tries to go outside his comfort zone in the locker room. He took four years of Spanish in high school, so he can read and write in the language pretty well. As for speaking it, well, it’s a work in progress.

“I never had to speak it,” he said. “We’ve got guys from Venezuela and Puerto Rico and I really make an effort to talk to them, to show them I’ll make an effort to speak in Spanish. I’m trying to be the guy who gets along with everybody.

“They’re teaching me slowly. It’s tough with all the slang and stuff.”

The Scrappers recently started lifting again — there’s a mandatory 30-day break period for the players when they join the team — and guys like Blair have reached the point where they’re finally able to focus on baseball full-time, rather than the outside distractions.

“We didn’t swing the bats well on the road trip, so I’ve tried to step back a bit and not do too much,” he said. “It’s a grind and you’ve just got to get used to it.”

Mahoning Valley (9-13) faced the NYPL’s best pitcher on Wednesday in Vermont’s P.J. Dean.

Dean, who has a 0.41 ERA, wasn’t as sharp, but he managed to make it through four innings without giving up an earned run — a two-out, two-run double gave Mahoning Valley a brief 2-1 lead — before the Lake Monsters’ bullpen took over.

And on a night when the Scrappers celebrated Christmas in July, Derek Norris provided the “Bah” with a solo homer in the first inning and Tyler Morris added the “Humbug” with a two-run shot in the sixth that gave the Lake Monsters (13-9) the lead for good.

scalzo@vindy.com

VERMONT SCRAPPERS

ab r h bi ab r h bi

Stoufler 2b 5 1 1 0 Valdes cf 5 0 0 0

Norris c 5 2 3 2 Velasquez 2b 5 0 1 0 Souza 3b 3 0 0 0 Chisenhall ss 4 0 1 0

Valdez rf 2 0 0 1 Simpson 1b 4 1 1 0

Guerriero lf 4 1 1 0 Tice 3b 3 1 1 0

Moore 1b 4 1 1 2 Blair rf 3 1 2 1

Englund cf 4 0 1 0 Pickens c 3 0 0 0

Solis dh 4 0 1 0 Webb lf 4 0 0 0

Arias ss 2 0 1 0 Hernandez dh 4 0 0 0

Arata ss 1 0 0 0

Totals 34 5 9 5 Totals 35 3 6 1

Vermont 100 002 200 — 5

Scrappers 000 201 000 — 3

E—Arias (5), Souza (11); LOB—Vermont 7, Scrappers 8; 2B—Guerrero (8), Tice (3); 3B—Stouffer (1); HR—Norris (2), Moore (3); S—Arias; SF—Valdez; SB—Norris (3), Blair (2).

IP H R ER BB SO

Vermont

Dean 4 2 2 0 2 2

Light (W, 2-0) 2 3 1 1 0 0

Figuereo 2 1 0 0 0 3

Slovak (S, 3) 1 0 0 0 0 1

Scrappers

Berger 5 4 1 1 1 6

Turek (L, 0-2) 1 1-3 4 4 4 2 1

Roberts 2 2-3 1 0 0 0 0

HBP—by Figuereo (Blair); WP—Dean, Turek 2; Umpires—Home, Shaylor Smith; First, Tim Eastman; T—2:42; A—2,617.