Signs perhaps were ominous as we got ready to play our first Ponce games on Monday. Bill noted at breakfast that he saw "three of your campers getting into a van that was parked in a handicapped spot." Overheard snatches of conversation in the clubhouse included, "my cardiologist said . . . " and "after the surgery on my ankle I got an embolism in my lung." Everyone's definition of "being ready for some baseball" is different. Nonetheless 82 players on six teams took the field on a 75 degree, breezy day to play the first two sets of games for the week. Stan Cliburn, former Twins AAA manager (and my coach two years ago) is the manager for Team 3-C, now to be known at Team 3-C-Cliburn (so people can figure out who we are.) There were some disgruntled campers who were not happy that they and friends they came to camp with were assigned to different teams. So pre-game was marked by Ponce officials moving a number of players from one team to another to calm folks down -- we had a couple of adjustments to my team but still have13 players. The other coaches this year are Rick Knapp, former Twins minor league pitching coordinator, former Tigers pitching coach, and current Kansas City minor league pitching coordinator; Stu Cliburn, Stan's twin brother and pitching coach in the Twins (fittingly enough) system; Darin Garner, Mariners minor league infield and base running instructor; Arnie Beyeler, manager of the Red Sox AAA team in Pawtucket; and Floyd Rayford, former Baltimore Oriole and Victor Rodriquez, Red Sox minor league hitting coordinator -- who are teaming up to coach the sixth team. Victor will be here on Wednesday -- he is reportedly in Boston with all the minor league instructors to meet with new Sox manager Bobby Valentine ("so he can tell the instructors everything he knows about baseball.") Other instructors include former Oriole Don Buford, and Cincinnati Red organization pitching coach Tom Brown. Camp Director is Steve Liddle, Twins 3rd base coach. Steve and most of the coaches have been at the camp for each of the 13 years it has existed.
After skills instruction (I took outfield drills without one ball hitting me on the head!) Team 3-C-Cliburn won our first game by a score of 3 to 2. Unusually low scoring for a Ponce game -- our pitchers gave up only one walk and we received only two from the other team. Two of our runs scored on sacrifice flies with close plays at home plate. There was good, sharp fielding by both teams (also relatively unusual for Ponce.) In the afternoon game in the main stadium, we were shut out 6 to 0 -- our fielding took a noticeable dip, we made several base-running errors and did not hit (in either game) as well as we should -- or I believe will. If Bill were not here I would neglect to mention my stats for the day, but his truth-ometer forces out that I was 0 for 4 at bat for the day and gave up 3 runs in two innings in the afternoon game. I had bad at-bats all day, but was basically pleased with how I threw the ball from the mound (and my arm and legs felt good.)
I think our team will be competitive for the week. We are the oldest team (by far) of the six, but we have at least 5 pitchers who threw today and four catchers -- depth which should serve us well as the week go on. In my first three years at Ponce camp my teams' collective record was 1win and 26 losses; the last two years that turned around and we went 17 wins with only one loss. This week should be somewhere in the middle. And despite the ominous signs early in the day, it seemed that virtually all the players got through the day relatively unharmed. More tomorrow.
No comments:
Post a Comment