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Music hoping to sing Peanuts' song during season's second half

• Music manager Phil Plantier says he's less concerned with chasing the Peanuts, and more so with watching their success in getting players back to affiliated baseball.

Paul Dehner Jr.

ALBANY — The first half of the season left the Macon Music staring up at the South Georgia Peanuts in the standings.

While the Music would liked to have switched their second-place finish with the Peanuts’ first-half championship, it wasn’t the 3 H-game differential that left Music manager Phil Plantier shaking his head, rather the three-player differential in sending players back to affiliated baseball.

Three former Peanuts have since signed with MLB organizations, and despite holding the South Coast League’s second-best record and a talented core of players, Plantier has yet to have a player plucked.

“It is beyond frustrating at times to where it is like if we don’t start getting people moved this is going to be a wasted summer for me,” the former major leaguer said. “My whole goal was not to win the South Coast League, it was to try to create opportunities for these players and get them back to organizations. If that doesn’t happen, I have failed at my job.”

The Music have been the Peanuts’ stiffest competition thus far, as the only team to forge a winning record against South Georgia at 4-2, including a three-game sweep at Luther Williams Stadium.

But Plantier sees wins as a product of developing players, not the other way around, and holds a deeper concern with the evolution of his individuals then hoisting trophies.

“Everybody is here for a reason,” Plantier said. “Something got them released. Something got them here. We’ve tried to recognize what got them here and tried to improve on it. It has been extremely frustrating because when you see guys make adjustments and get better and you know they can play for an organization and (are) better than the players they have, it is frustrating. I can go out and win the league but if I don’t get players moved it means I failed.”

Plantier believes a number of his guys should move on, most notably pitcher Ross Stout, who has made a quality start every time out this season.

All of those players desire to make it to a place that reliever Bryce Florie has already been.

Florie played eight years in the bigs with San Diego, Milwaukee, Detroit and Boston. While with the Red Sox, a line drive that hit him square in the face derailed his career.

Now as a player-coach he has a 2.21 ERA in 20 innings.

He nearly was traded to the Newark Bears of the Atlantic League last week, but decided to void the trade four days later in hopes to of latching on with an affiliated club.

He also holds aspirations to return to the big leagues and thinks his experience can help the Music not only in the middle innings but in battling through a long season many of his young teammates have never experienced.

“The reality is once you start it is fun, then you get into the middle of the season and you have to be out there,” Florie said. “We played 46 games, this is third of the major-league- or minor-league season. Take that to the big-league level, you throw a 30-game spring training and full season it is hard to do. We have played half a season and these guys are tired and complaining. Hey, you got to grind it out.”

If the Music can, they may find themselves in the SCL championship series in September against the Peanuts. And for Plantier, that would be great, but it also is something he would gladly give up to join the Peanuts among those teams that have sent players back to affiliated baseball.

“You want to win,” Plantier said, “but I would like to lose games at the end of the year because we have lost some of our best players.”

KO’D

Ending up on the ugly end of a brutal home-plate collision with South Georgia’s Doc Brooks on Tuesday, Aiken Foxhounds catcher Jeff Timmons was placed on the disabled list Tuesday after complications from the incident.

Brooks ran Timmons over to score the game-winning run in the eighth inning of an 8-6 Peanuts win. After the hit, Timmons lay on the ground for about two minutes.

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