How does it feel to be in Savannah after managing Brooklyn last year?

It feels good. Brooklyn was a good experience for me last year, but being at a higher level now, it’s not the same stage as Brooklyn was, but it’s nice.

What’s the difference managing a short-season team (Brooklyn) compared to a full-season (Savannah)?

You only got a 76-game season [in Brooklyn]. Like I used to tell the guys, since Day 1, it’s a playoff game, so we needed to do whatever it was in our hands to win a ball game. Here, it’s 140 games. It’s a challenge, because you’ve got 140-, 142-game season.

What parts of it are challenging?

You’ve got to try to keep the guys focused throughout the year. Not only that, you have to keep them healthy. I like it. It’s a good challenge, and we’ve got a good group of guys and hopefully we can make it work.

Has it been nice to have a bunch of guys from Brooklyn last year on the team?

It helps out a lot, especially having them on the pitching staff. For a manager, it’s a lot easier to read your position players, but the pitching staff is the hardest thing to read. I was fortunate enough to have most of the guys on our staff in Brooklyn with me last year. I’ve got a good feel for that, and it’s helped us out a lot.

Is the story of your season one pitcher after another stepping up?

Our record is what it is right now because of our pitching [21-12 and in first place in the Northern Division of the South Atlantic League]. I know the hitters have done a great job, and we’ve also played some good defense, but it’s deja vu all over again from last year. We were in the situation we were in last year in Brooklyn because of our pitching — [Mark] Cohoon, [James] Fuller, [Collin] McHugh, [Erik] Turgeon.