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All-star break means quality time for Sky Sox

Jason Hirsh’s goal as a pitcher is usually to paint corners. For three days this week, he’ll be painting rooms.

“I’ve got a honey-do list to kind of go after,” said Hirsh, whose wife is well into the second trimester with the couple’s first child. “It’ll start with painting and getting some rooms ready.”

Hirsh and his Sky Sox teammates, who will scatter for the All-Star break after today’s game in Salt Lake City, are forced to condense summer into a three-day window.

“I’m going home to Idaho to spend some time with my wife and my son and hopefully go river rafting,“ said third baseman Christian Colonel, who has seen his 19-month-old son for 10 days in the past five months. “I think that would be fun.”

Sal Fasano said his three sons will dictate his schedule.

“Whatever they want to do, that’s what I’ll be doing,” Fasano said.

It would be tough to drum up sympathy for a group of guys privileged enough to play a game for a living, but there is no denying that a Triple-A schedule is grueling.

The Sky Sox’s last day off came June 10 and their first after the break  will be Aug. 13. Many didn’t know where they would be playing this year until the end of spring training and are just as unsure about where they’ll be in coming weeks and months, so most don’t bother trying to move families. Consequently, they spend a lot of time away.

“We work during the summers, we get the winters off — that’s just part of it,” said Dan Ortmeier, whose plans don’t extend beyond spending time in Colorado Springs relaxing with his family.

Manager Stu Cole won’t even get to do that.

Cole makes his home in Charlotte, N.C., and he doesn’t find it feasible to fly all that way for what would amount to a day and a half, since the Sky Sox will be in Salt Lake City when the break begins.

Cole’s family was set for a June trip to Tulsa to see him, but when he was promoted from Double A to Triple A those plans fell through.

As it is, he hasn’t seen his wife, 11-year-old son or 10-year-old daughter since spring.

“You kind of get used to it, but it’s still tough to deal with at times,” he said.

Cole said his plans for the break mostly centered on catching his breath.

“I’ll probably just hang around Colorado Springs and do a bunch of nothing,” he said. “Rest up a little bit, maybe go to a movie or two.”

Of course, being an All-Star break, not everybody will get time off.

Matt Miller, Matt Murton and Eric Young Jr. were named to the Pacific Coast League All-Star team and will play in the Triple-A All-Star Game in Portland, Ore., on Wednesday.

Young’s break will start a little earlier. He was invited to play in today’s Major League Futures Game in St. Louis.

“I’m pumped,” said Young, a second baseman who leads the PCL in runs and stolen bases. “Dexter (Fowler) told me all about it last year when he went to (the Futures Game in) New York, so I’m looking forward to it.”

The All-Star teams weren’t announced until July 1, so some plans were tentative until then.

Other options included golf, concerts and travel.

The one constant was the excitement for a break in the routine.

“Yes,” pitcher Alan Johnson said. “It’ll be nice.”

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