June 24

Twelve hours post-trip, it was back to baseball for me.

During his Royals game, this number 77 of ours had two hits in a single inning. He also got plunked in the (left... ugh) shoulder and lined out in his other two at-bats. But the two hits were good ones, and he definitely needed them.

He works so, so hard to play better, and 2023 hasn't been an easy year for him. His summer birthday has always meant that he skirts the line between one group of guys and another (for example, he's 14u while the great majority of his fellow freshman teammates are 15u), and I think that sometimes that makes it hard for him to feel like he fits in. 

But I'm so proud of him for continuing to try. And I'm grateful that the prayer I silently uttered as he stepped up to the plate for his first at-bat was answered as it was.