web1_FullSizeRender.jpg

Mr. and Mrs. Raymond Karrott celebrate their 50th wedding anniversary

GAR ends season-long skid with victory over Hanover Area

<p class="x_gmail-MsoNoSpacing">PLAINS TWP. &#8211; Just hours before Game 7 of the American League Championship Series, New York Yankees fans dressed themselves in pinstripes just a few hours early to meet Donnie Baseball.</p><p class="x_gmail-MsoNoSpacing">The Downs at Mohegan Sun Pocono welcomed former Yankee great Don Mattingly. A six-time all-star over the course of his 14-year career with the Yankees, Mattingly was on hand at the racetrack for a meet-and-greet consisting of photographs and autographs with fans.</p><p class="x_gmail-MsoNoSpacing">It was Mattingly&#8217;s first-ever trip to the Scranton/Wilkes-Barre area. Approximately 300 people were on hand for the event.</p><p class="x_gmail-MsoNoSpacing">The queue consisted of many younger baseball fans, many of whom were tight-lipped and bashful around the Miami Marlins manager. As he is known to, Mattingly made it a point to ask about their education.</p><p class="x_gmail-MsoNoSpacing">&#8220;The kids don&#8217;t really ask much,&#8221; he said. &#8220;They come and you know that their parents were fans. That&#8217;s the big thing. So I&#8217;ll talk to them about different things. I&#8217;ll ask them if they play. I&#8217;ll check on their school work. Things like that.&#8221;</p><p class="x_gmail-MsoNoSpacing">Michelle Benson, of Wilkes-Barre, was one of several Yankee fans that made a trip to the racetrack to get Mattingly&#8217;s autograph and photo. Like many longtime Bronx Bombers backers in the crowd, Benson said that the former American League Most Valuable Player was one of the big leaguers that drew her to the game.</p><p class="x_gmail-MsoNoSpacing">&#8220;I have been a fan of his since I was a little girl,&#8221; Benson said. &#8220;He was the reason I&#8217;m a Yankees fan. I love him. He has always been and still is our captain.&#8221;</p><p class="x_gmail-MsoNoSpacing">Mattingly led the Marlins to a 77-85 finish this season, falling short in the National League Wild Card Race. The Marlins feature one of the game&#8217;s most potent lineups with some of the baseball&#8217;s most talented hitters in Giancarlo Stanton, Christian Yelich, JT Realmuto, Marcell Ozuna, Justin Bour and Dee Gordon. Like many teams, Miami was unable to find the pitching late in the season to catch up with Colorado and Arizona in the playoff chase.</p><p class="x_gmail-MsoNoSpacing">&#8220;It was an OK year,&#8221; Mattingly noted. &#8220;We had some guys with some good individual years. I was a little disappointed that we had a couple of chances to get ourselves into the wild card race &#8211; we got within four games late in the season. Then we lost 16 out of 18 or something. That was disappointing because it felt like we were getting good at the right time of the year.&#8221;</p><p class="x_gmail-MsoNoSpacing">A new ownership, consisting of fellow Yankee captain Derek Jeter, makes Mattingly optimistic about the team&#8217;s future. Like the rest of the league, Miami will be in a hunt for pitching when organization meetings are set.</p><p class="x_gmail-MsoNoSpacing">In his two seasons with Miami, Mattingly has had the fortune of managing two of the game&#8217;s most recognizable players who made runs at individual plateaus. Last season, Ichiro Suzuki eclipsed Pete Rose&#8217;s all-time record for hits in top tier professional baseball and passed the coveted 3,000 MLB hits milestone. Stanton was on track for passing Roger Maris&#8217; 61 home runs before finishing this season with 59 round-trippers.</p><p class="x_gmail-MsoNoSpacing">&#8220;Ichiro is an amazing guy,&#8221; Mattingly said. &#8220;He has the experience in all of itself. You don&#8217;t have to manage him. He is prepared at all points.</p><p class="x_gmail-MsoNoSpacing">&#8220;And Giancarlo is an amazing player &#8211; I should say Aaron Judge is a lot like him,&#8221; Mattingly continued. &#8220;Because Giancarlo hits the ball so far and so hard. So when he gets on a roll, I&#8217;ve never been around someone quite like that.</p><p class="x_gmail-MsoNoSpacing">Mattingly gave some insight into the playoffs. He managed the Los Angeles Dodgers for five seasons from 2011-15, leading the team to four consecutive playoff appearances for the first in program history. Mattingly said that, when the Marlins faced both the Astros and Dodgers this season that they were the two best teams they faced all season.</p><p class="x_gmail-MsoNoSpacing">&#8220;Both times, I thought these are the two best teams that we play in general,&#8221; Mattingly said. &#8220;In all different areas, they could beat you &#8211; good pitching and they play hard. They can mix and match with lineups and things like that. But in a short series, like with the Yankees if they are able to win because C.C. (Sabathia) has been playing great, that&#8217;s a great series.&#8221;</p><style>
.neFileBlock {
	margin-bottom: 20px;
}
.neFileBlock p {
	margin: 0px 0px 0px 0px;
}
.neFileBlock .neFile {
	border-bottom: 1px dotted #aaa;
	padding-bottom: 5px;
	padding-top: 10px;
}
.neFileBlock .neCaption {
	font-size: 85%;
}
</style>
<div class='neFileBlock'>
<div class="neFile"><img class="neImage" src="https://www.timesleader.com/wp-content/uploads/2017/10/web1_TTL102217Mattingly1.jpg">
<div class="neCaption">Don Mattingly talks with Greg Van Den Berg of Mountain Top at the Mohegan Sun at Pocono. Van Den Berg told Mattingly he named his son after the former Yankee All-Star. </div></div><div class="metaInfo"><photo0>https://www.timesleader.com/wp-content/uploads/2017/10/web1_TTL102217Mattingly1.jpg</photo0><caption0>Don Mattingly talks with Greg Van Den Berg of Mountain Top at the Mohegan Sun at Pocono. Van Den Berg told Mattingly he named his son after the former Yankee All-Star. </caption0><photoCredit0>Aimee Dilger | Times Leader </photoCredit0></div><div class="neFile"><img class="neImage" src="https://www.timesleader.com/wp-content/uploads/2017/10/web1_TTL102217Mattingly2.jpg">
<div class="neCaption">Steve Vislocky of Hazleton hugs Yankee great Don Mattingly during a meet and greet at the Mohegan Sun at Pocono on Saturday afternoon. Aimee Dilger | Times Leader</div></div><div class="metaInfo"><photo1>https://www.timesleader.com/wp-content/uploads/2017/10/web1_TTL102217Mattingly2.jpg</photo1><caption1>Steve Vislocky of Hazleton hugs Yankee great Don Mattingly during a meet and greet at the Mohegan Sun at Pocono on Saturday afternoon. Aimee Dilger | Times Leader</caption1><photoCredit1>Aimee Dilger | Times Leader </photoCredit1></div></div>
<div class="metaInfo"><bylineMeta><p>By Jay Monahan</p><p>For Times Leader</p></bylineMeta></div>

Mattingly not horsing around during a visit to Pocono Downs track