Stay Humble

Game 1 Tuesday in the Stadium

Before our afternoon game today -- following our 16-6 win in the morning that took Team D's record to 3 and 0 -- Coach Cliburn urged us to stay humble, not be over confident and keep hustling.  Instead we went out and were held hitless until the fifth inning and didn't score until the last inning, losing by a score of 7 to 1 to Team B, coached by Victor Rodriquez.  We laid a big egg after averaging 11 runs a game in the first three games -- and I played my part by going 0 for 2 at bat with two strikeouts.  (I have struck out three times in four games this week, after striking out only 7 times in 51 games all of last year.  Although Elizabeth -- ever trying to keep my spirits up -- said, "well just remember how many times Babe Ruth struck out!")

In the morning game we had much better success -- getting the lead early and finishing strong to win 16 to 6.  Like my teammates, I had a much better time at the plate in the morning than in the afternoon -- going 3 for 3 and a walk with 2 runs batted in.  I started pitching and did well early -- going one, two, three with two strikeouts in the first, but collapsing in the second and third innings -- hitting two batters, walking three and giving up several hits and six runs total in my three innings of work.  While my arm felt good pitching on a second day in a row -- I was tired out by running the bases and ended up not keeping control of my pitches and losing my energy on the mound.

Tomorrow is hump day -- half way through the week and time to take assessment of the physical toll of playing two games a day.  With the cold front moving across the country (I understand it was 8 degrees in DC today!) we expect temperatures to plummet to 69 degrees here in Fort Myers tomorrow (it was 80 today.)  In addition, Ponce is experimenting on Wednesday with a "wood bat" day.   Normally we use metal bats, which are common in amateur baseball from youth leagues to college.  Tomorrow we will go back to pure baseball for the day -- wood bats for both games (and pitchers, including me, are looking forward to hits on the handle of the bats to break the wood rather than becoming base hits as they often are off metal bats.) 

Observations from the day:  In our second game today, Dave Wheeler, in his 75th year, was the pitcher for Team B and our Bob Bousman, in his 75th year, was the batter for Team D -- a 150 year battle, won by the pitcher in this case.  There is no truth to the rumor that they both knew Abner Doubleday personally. 

Steve Liddle mentioned that last winter Victor Rodriguez' team won the Ponce championship for the first time in all of Victor's 10 plus years at the camp. Steve attributes the Red Sox winning the championship last year to Victor just staying on a winning roll throughout the year.  I played on Victor's team for three years and our collective record for those years was 4 wins and 23 losses.  In truth, the record for the managers here -- all of whom do a terrific job -- is more reliant on the luck of the draw for who gets on their team than any other factor.  After today's afternoon game, it looks like Vic's team could be in the running for the championship again this year (and that bodes well for the Red Sox for 2014!)  Victor told me today that although Steven Drew has not signed with any team yet -- he thought Drew was a terrific shortstop "who made all the plays" and was a very good hitter who overcame a lot of injury and other challenges last year in very professional manner.  He admired Drew very much as a player and as a person.

Arnie Beyeler also had high praise for Mike Napoli and Jonny Gomes.  Arnie got into the habit of doing a head butt with Napoli whenever Napoli got to first base.  I told Arnie I thought that was a little dangerous for him since Napoli was such a big guy.  He replied that it wasn't so bad except on times when Napoli would be so excited when he would get a hit after being 0 for 3 so far in game, when he would give Arnie such an enthusiastic headbutt that could rattle his cage.  Arnie also said that Gomes was a very special person and player -- a total student of the game and a "baseball rat."  He couldn't speak highly enough for the positive influence both players had on the team.

Overheard from an adjoining field this morning -- Arnie Beyeler telling his team to get out on the field for their final inning "we have this inning and then lunch.  If we are going to lose, let's do it quickly!"

Yesterday I wrote about the fascinating pitching skills session focused on the pitching mound rubber.  Also this week my friend Jackie Howell, who writes my favorite baseball blog -- Baseball, Yoga, Life (and Me), had a great post about the importance and history of home plate.  Two inanimate objects that play such an important part of this very lively game.  Check Jackie's blog at: http://baseballzen9.wordpress.com/

Pitching skills with Stu Cliburn and Tom Brown

Today in the pitching clinic, Stu Cliburn and Tom Brown talked about how a pitcher should manage his pitches depending on the count on the batter -- when in trouble rely on your best, most consistent pitch.  For the young pitchers they work with (or very old ones) that is usually a fast ball.  "When you have a 2 and 0 count, or a 2 and 1 count, use your fastball.  Don't dig a bigger hole by using a pitch you don't control as well."  While I heard that advice at 9:30 in the morning, by the time I was pitching at 11am I neglected their lesson when I had my two shaky innings.  A case of teaching an old dog the right tricks, but the old dog not learning them.  Stu reminded me of the lesson after my morning pitching performance.  Let's hope I can act on it when I pitch later in the week.

Hump day (and wood bat day) on Wednesday!