It's root, root, root for the home team

It seems with a blink of an eye the summer is gone. Or in this case, the summer is going. Like the sunny summer days and warm breezy nights, the Alaska Baseball League season is also, too soon, going to be gone. There are only a few more chances to see the Mat-Su Valley's hometown baseball team, the Mat-Su Miners, in action.

The defending ABL champions are among the favorites to win the league crown in 2005. With just 13 games remaining, the Miners stand just three games out of first place. Two home games against the Anchorage Bucs on July 21 and 22, and home games against Peninsula on July 23 and Athletes in Action on July 25 could determine whether the Miners will hoist the ABL title for the second consecutive season.

While the Miners need support as they venture toward another possible league crown, the Mat-Su organization has just four more opportunities this summer to offer its championship brand of family entertainment to the people of the Valley. Each night, as the Miners host an opponent at Hermon Brothers Field, the Mat-Su organization -- led by Pete and Denise Christopher (the Valley's first family of baseball) and a stock of dedicated Miner volunteers -- welcome the Valley's baseball faithful. Mat-Su fans have the opportunity to take a seat in undoubtedly the most beautiful ballpark in Alaska, sample the goods of the Miner concession stand and beverages brought to the park by Great Bear Brewing, and see in action some of the best ballplayers the college ranks have to offer.

The Miners represent the best the sport has to offer. It is not about inflated salaries, egos and ticket prices -- things that have polluted the game at the professional level. It is about quality and the love of the game.

The club gives local fans a chance to bask in the Valley sun, with a hot dog in one had and a Mat-Su Minor Ale in the other, and watch quality baseball. It gives families a chance to spend quality time. It gives the youngest Miner fans with big league dreams the opportunity to see and interact with baseball's best.

It unites the Valley with a common goal -- rooting for the Miners and an ABL title for Mat-Su.