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Miley returns with a heavy heart Paul sokoloski opinion

Thursday August 21, 2008 | 07:05 AM

Paul Sokoloski psokoloski@timesleader.com

Down in the home manager’s office at PNC Field, Dave Miley was back in his old seat.

It may be awhile before he gets back to his old self.

Miley stepped away from the Scranton/Wilkes-Barre Yankees for the past seven games, because he had something a lot more important than baseball games to deal with. He had to manage the most devastating part of life.

His son, Cody Miley, who spent last year as a bat boy for the SWB Yankees, was killed in an automobile accident on the morning of Aug. 11 in Tampa, Fla. – eight days short of his 18th birthday.

It’s going to take a lot longer than a week for Dave Miley get over the grief.

But his life goes on, so Miley was back in his No. 11 SWB Yankees uniform Wednesday, making out the lineup card even as he tried to figure out how losing his son makes any kind of sense.

He asked for a little more time to find the words that will explain how he’s continuing to deal with it.

All Miley knew was that he needed to be back at PNC Field, on the bench, somehow putting aside his grief for a couple of hours to manage the Scranton/Wilkes-Barre Yankees again.

His presence provided a calming influence on his team.

“He’s one of the best managers I’ve ever had,” SWB Yankees slugger Shelley Duncan said. “It’s not so much his managerial skills, it’s his people skills. He’s a great manager for a player to play for. There’s a reason everyone in here is so relaxed and so happy coming to the field every day.

“That starts with Dave Miley.”

It is a big part of why this sudden tragedy has been so tough for the Yankees to take. They wanted to welcome their manager back, but some of the Yankees became hesitant about approaching Miley’s office because they weren’t quite sure what to say. Some members of Scranton/Wilkes-Barre’s staff had the same problem.

All their kind words seemed to help start a healing process for Miley. He peeked out from the home dugout and blew a kiss up to the stands just before the opening pitch of Wednesday’s game.

“It was a terrible thing that happened, a very terrible time,” Yankees third baseman Eric Duncan said. “I don’t know what to expect, I don’t know if anybody does. We’re just happy to have him back.”

But smiles are few and far between for Miley right now. He left the Yankees for a handful of games to deal with family matters earlier this season.

But this absence left a much bigger void.

Miley pawed at the dirt, his eyes to the ground Wednesday, during the first few lines of the Star Spangled Banner. He watched his SWB Yankees take a quick 2-0 lead over Rochester, but there was a sadness in Miley’s face that may never disappear. He was in the dugout at PNC Field in Moosic, but Miley’s blank look suggested his heart was still in Tampa.

“He’s had a lot of hard times this season,” Shelley Duncan said.

But Miley is a tough ex-minor league catcher who developed a steely resolve built through 25 seasons as a player and manager in professional baseball. He has been knocked down plenty of times before. Now Miley tries to pick himself back up, after taking one of life’s hardest hits.

“It’s a good feeling having him around,” Shelley Duncan said. “Dave’s back. And we’re going to go about doing our job, the same way we always do it.”