ALTOONA -- He claims that he doesn't mind playing far from home. Yet, after spending his college baseball career in Georgia and his first two years in professional ball in Georgia and California, Shikellamy High School graduate Bobby Felmy was happy to finally make his first professional visit to his home state.

The starting left fielder for the Class AA Connecticut Defenders, the San Francisco Giants' Eastern League affiliate, will complete a three-game set in Altoona tonight against the Altoona Curve.

"I'm excited. I think I've been playing too long to get nervous," the 25-year-old left-hander said Friday before the start of the series opener at Blair County Ballpark, where he tripled in four at-bats in the series opener in front of 4,521 fans.

"It's exciting. My mom (Tammy) and family haven't gotten to see me play for a while," he added.

"They don't have to drive so far (Norwich, where he plays home games, is five hours from Sunbury). It's a good experience for them."

Friday night, when the Defenders played in Trenton, N.J., he was visited at the park by ex-Sunburians Jeff Gotaskie and Tom Andrewlevich.

"It seems the closer we get, some people come to see me. My dad (Bob) and my cousin and one of their buddies came to see me once in Trenton and a group came to Binghamton," he said.

Many of his friends and family members made the two-and-a-half-hour trip to Altoona and a bus trip from Sunbury was organized by former school board member Slade Schreck.

"I caught wind of it," Felmy said. "That's awesome. There are people I haven't seen for a while and I have been getting phone calls, text messages, some of them I don't even know who they are. It's going to be fun this series, seeing a lot of people I've lost contact with. I am going to have fun."

Next month, the Defenders will visit the Reading Phillies and in August they will travel to Harrisburg to take on the Senators.

But, Felmy doesn't let himself get too wrapped up in where he is playing.

"It really doesn't matter. I still have to perform, no matter if I am away or not. You have to have the same mindset. I don't really get caught up in those things. I'm used to being away from home; if I get to come close to home, it's a bonus."

It must be that way when you are fighting daily to keep your job.

"Every day you're competing with guys below you, guys above you. You just have to perform and if you don't get it done or (if you) do stuff they don't like, they can get rid of you anytime they want," he said.

He admitted that the possibility of being cut, demoted or even moved up is always in the back of one's mind, but "you just try to forget about it and go out and play hard all the time and leave it on the field.

"That's the kind of player I am. We're just trying to win. People say it's about getting your numbers (and) yeah and in a sense it is, but you still want to win, you still want to do good for the ballclub," Felmy said.

Felmy's team is doing well, leading the EL with a 38-29 record after Friday's 9-5 win over the Curve. But the 5-foot-10, 194-pounder, while playing well defensively, has been struggling at the plate. After Friday, despite his leadoff triple off the right-center field wall in the third, he was 3 for his last 27 with two RBIs. He is hitting .230 with three home runs and 30 runs batted in.

"It's not mechanical, yet it is. It is pitch recognition," he said, nothing that he needs to swing at what he sees rather than guessing and swinging.

"You go through stints like that, things aren't falling, and it's not like I'm that far away from getting hits, and getting the job done," he said. "I'm lining out, doing the little things (such as) getting bunts down, moving guys, hitting and running, all that, it is just a matter of things happening for me and getting lady luck on my side."

In fact, Altoona first baseman Jason Delaney robbed him of a hit in his first at-bat Friday night.

Felmy said that battling a slump does not put pressure on him to play outstanding defense. He wants to do that anyway.

"Any ball that's hit near me I want to catch it, and that's the mindset I have whether it's laying out or running into a wall. They're always going to get that out of me, no matter if I'm struggling at the plate or not."

He said he is trying to remain humble during the hitting slump and not worry about it. "I really want to help the team, but at the same time it's just something I'm going through right now and I've just gotta keep swinging."

Felmy, whose favorite team as a youngster was the Oakland A's, later became a fan of all-star center fielder Jim Edmonds and has tried to emulate his hustling style of play for the fans in Norwich.

Felmy said the home crowds are not great, but it is nice seeing many of the same people over and over and getting to know them. He and a few teammates participated in a promotion earlier this season where they pumped gas for people at 99-cents a gallon.

"We mingled with some of the people and that was fun, to get out and let them know we were going to be around and show our support and hoping they do the same (by attending the games)," he said.

Felmy said that it seems to rain almost every day in Norwich, which keeps some fans away, plus "People up here only go to see the Red Sox and Yankees, anyway."

Felmy realizes that what he is doing is a job and it can become a grind if you let it.

"It doesn't feel like a job. I play a three-hour game at night and my job is over. You work maybe three hours (before the game) hitting and that stuff and so maybe (there are) six hours a day that I am working," he said.

"I'm playing a sport and doing something I love and not many people can say that. I don't take that for granted one bit, because it could be over (quickly). So I am just going to enjoy it and hopefully it never becomes (like a job)."

Felmy said he never thinks about the possibility of his baseball career ending. "I really try to take it day by day. I know something could happen, I could have a great series or I could have a great day today, and tomorrow I could get sent down, I could get called up.

"When you try and figure out what they're thinking, when you think you've got them pinned, you have no idea. They make the decisions and it's on my performance. If it's my time to get out of the game, then it's time, I'm not going to sit there and dwell on getting released or getting traded," he said.

The reason for Felmy's philosophy: He is playing with house money.

"I wasn't supposed to make it this far. I'm just proving people wrong," he said.

And he enjoys every minute that he can do that.

While others may have dreamed of becoming an astronaut or a fireman, a young Bobby Felmy thought of nothing but becoming a professional baseball player.

"I just want to keep proving people wrong, people who doubted me, people who said I would never do it," he said. "There were a lot of them, especially from a small town you remember them.

"Every day I prove I can do it and I'm still doing it. If something happens, who can say they've done what I've done? Not many people can. I've got the stories, I've got the memories, nobody can ever take that away from me," he said.

Felmy has no timetable for making it the bigs or getting out of the game.

"I am just going to play until I can't play anymore. That's always been my outlook on it. When it's time for me to get out, I'll get out. Nobody else will be able to decide it for me, unless I get released. When it's time, I think I will know. It's like anything else, you know when it's time to retire, you know when your girlfriend's the right one."

Felmy figured that one out more than a year ago. He has been married for a year and a half to the former Bria Dalpiaz of Sunbury. The couple live in the area in the off-season and Bria, who earned a bachelor's degree from Susquehanna University, is going to return to school to get her teaching certificate.

Part of Felmy's off-season was spent working with some major league players at the University of Tennessee, but he gives a lot of credit to Shikellamy athletic trainer Mike Elder.

The latter worked with him and made the weight room at his alma mater available to him. "He does a great job, he got me where I needed to be for the season. Hat's off to him because he's got a lot of stuff to do and he took a lot of time out to make sure the weight room was open for me, and he came in and worked me," Felmy said.

Felmy also returned the favor, working with the Braves' baseball team and he also occasionally visited the Amateur Softball Association Hall of Fame in Sunbury, tossing balls with kids and signing autographs.

"There may be some kids out there who want to do this, too, and I want to go around and let them know that Hey, you can; if you are from a small town, don't let them tell you (that) you can't.'"Š"

Felmy is proof of that.