Another day another victory. The most remarkable thing about today’s game was the fact that it was a shut-out. A shut-out in little league around here is truly a rarity. Now really a lot of that was luck. In the second inning Alec could not get the ball across the plate to save his life. However, the other team ran on passed balls and we got two outs at the plate that way. Alec didn’t really deserve any outs based on his pitching. He threw 17 pitches with not one recorded strike, though two balls were hit into play. The inning could have been disastrous. After he walked to load the bases, for the third time in the inning, I pulled him. Jeremy Ma came in and struck out the worst player on their team to end the inning and preserve our shutout.
But then again to record a shutout you’ll need some luck. So besides the two plays at the plate to limit runs, we also had other good fortune. For instance, with Jared on the mound the first batter of the 4th inning, their cleanup hitter hits a hard hit ball to between second and first. Nick ranges far off the bag to get it, however Jared never made any effort to go to first. Nick won’t win a footrace to the bag, however he won’t have to as Matt S makes the play with ease. Sometimes, as Napoleon was rumored to have said, it’s better to be lucky than good.
Not that it was all luck. No pitcher, including Jeremy Ma who threw 1 1/3 threw more than 21 pitches. They only had 9 base runners, which includes 5 from Alec. In other words Jeremy Me, in his second consecutive start, Jeremy Ma and Jared all threw incredibly well. This sort of lights out pitching bodes very well for our play-off chances, especially if we can find a 6th friggin pitcher.
In reality they could have easily broken through the shut-out. They were the home team and when we went up by 9 in the top half of the 5th, pressing up against the time limit, I figured they’d still want to bat. However, their coach called it quits. Which is too bad as I was going to throw Noff, considering that we need another pitcher for the play-offs and Alec blew his audition tonight. I don’t understand why they wouldn’t want to give their team one last at bat, but I guess they felt truly down after a drubbing.
The real problem for them was that their pitchers couldn’t find the strike zone with a laser guided missile. We had 12 walks tonight. Combined with some aggressive base running, a couple of key hits, and we get to 9 runs. It was truly a team effort as 8 of our 12 players scored a run and everyone, except our team leading hitter Cameron, reached base safely (and on their own merits).
There are of course other positives to mention but I won’t go on.
However, tonight didn’t really get us any closer to figuring out the playoff puzzle. Alec might get a chance on Saturday to redeem himself, but I don’t know. Jared shows signs that he could pitch two innings. However, if we’re pitching him two we can’t really catch him three, more like one. That MIGHT be doable if Sean can catch for us. We laid it on the line with him tonight and explained that there is the focused and unfocused Sean. Yesterday we got the focused Sean. We got that again tonight.
The thing is we’re blessed with a surplus of talent. We have no less than three kids, Jeremy Me, Jeremy Ma, and Jared we can comfortably throw behind the plate. Of course the problem is that those are three of our best pitchers right there, which adds to their wear and tear. There has to be a solution to our jigsaw problem, I just haven’t discovered it yet. There’s still time, and if Sean can keep being focused that would certainly help somewhat, but really the issue is we need just one more pitcher. So who’s it going to be?
Wednesday, May 30, 2007
Game versus Braves
Well we finally came together and did some hitting winning 8-4. We were never seriously in jeopardy after a big 5 run first inning. Now granted we left runners in scoring position in the 2nd, 3rd, and 4th, all with less than 2 outs. That was frustrating. Still it was good coasting to a nice easy win.
Steve and I did two things that I think helped contribute to our big day. First, we didn’t put any pressure on about hitting. I think we caused the team to obsess a bit too much and so we were swinging at bad balls. We also redid our lineup, using the one time a season allowance for that. It’s not a whole lot different than before, in that many of the same players are still grouped together but here is our modified versus original:
Cameron (+1) Jeremy Ma
Jeremy F (+9) Cameron
Nick (+2) Justin
Jeremy Ma (-3) Jared
Justin (-2) Nick
Alec (+2) Matt S
Jeremy Me (+5) Austin
Jared (-4) Alec
Sean (+1) Noff
Matt S (-4) Sean
Austin (-4) Jeremy F
Noff (-4) Jeremy Me
Considering we hadn’t seen Jeremy Me or Jeremy F before our first game, and they were the biggest movers, I think we did pretty well overall at crafting our original lineup versus what we have now that we’ve seen them and have some stats.
On the good side of the game was Jeremy Me. The kid had been lock down good for us when he came in relief, but had been rather poor when he started an inning. We’re dealing with a small sample size here, given, but his stuff just looked better when we’ve seen him in relief than starting an inning. However, we need him to start innings for us come the play offs (after yesterday’s game only 3 left). Anyhow we decided he needs some pressure to focus (the opposite of most kids) and so we tried starting him. He pitched well for us, which was a great difference to how we’ve been starting games. We then responded with that monster first inning capped off with a bases loaded legitimate triple by Jeremy Me.
Justin also was a positive for the game. He had some absolutely amazingly heads up base running in the 3rd. After a well hit ball to right center he tried to stretch it out to a double. When that didn’t work he forced a run down. While that rundown went on Jeremy Ma was able to score. When they diverted a throw from the run down to home, Justin then ended up at second anyway. After being advanced to third, he drew a throw home on a dribbler allowing the batter (either Jared or Jeremy Me) to reach safely, but while the throw went home he was standing back at third . He also pitched an OK 5th inning to cap off our victory.
On the negative side is Nick. Both Steve and I commented that he looked out of it before the game started and this was true. He struck out twice, only his second and third strike outs for the season. He also didn’t look too commanding his first inning and fell apart in the second inning we threw him. Part of this was compounded by two throwing errors by Jeremy Ma, which advanced runners farther than they should have, and one error by Nick. Still while these runs can’t be fully attributed to Nick, the fact was he just didn’t have his stuff. We seem to have to seriously consider the idea that as much as we would like he might not be up to pitching two innings. I really think he is up to it, but we have to face the reality that he might not be up to it. If he’s not that means for the playoffs we’ll need six pitchers instead of the five I had thought we’d need. In the playoffs, unless math interferes, you play six innings. Using a 2-2-1-1 pitching schedule you need four pitchers, plus one in relief, plus having 5 pitchers allows you to mix-up who is throwing in a game keeping people fresher. If we go 2-1-1-1-1 we’ll need a sixth pitcher. This means that someone out of the group of Alec, Matt S, Noff, and Cameron will need to emerge. I feel like we’ve given Cameron his shot and he just doesn’t have it. The most likely candidates out of that group are Matt S and Alec, I feel, so we’ll have to see how each of them do. We won’t have Jeremy Ma or Nick on Saturday so that should give us some opportunities to try out some pitchers.
We needed a good performance and it was good to get it. Hopefully we’ll keep the momentum up tonight.
Steve and I did two things that I think helped contribute to our big day. First, we didn’t put any pressure on about hitting. I think we caused the team to obsess a bit too much and so we were swinging at bad balls. We also redid our lineup, using the one time a season allowance for that. It’s not a whole lot different than before, in that many of the same players are still grouped together but here is our modified versus original:
Cameron (+1) Jeremy Ma
Jeremy F (+9) Cameron
Nick (+2) Justin
Jeremy Ma (-3) Jared
Justin (-2) Nick
Alec (+2) Matt S
Jeremy Me (+5) Austin
Jared (-4) Alec
Sean (+1) Noff
Matt S (-4) Sean
Austin (-4) Jeremy F
Noff (-4) Jeremy Me
Considering we hadn’t seen Jeremy Me or Jeremy F before our first game, and they were the biggest movers, I think we did pretty well overall at crafting our original lineup versus what we have now that we’ve seen them and have some stats.
On the good side of the game was Jeremy Me. The kid had been lock down good for us when he came in relief, but had been rather poor when he started an inning. We’re dealing with a small sample size here, given, but his stuff just looked better when we’ve seen him in relief than starting an inning. However, we need him to start innings for us come the play offs (after yesterday’s game only 3 left). Anyhow we decided he needs some pressure to focus (the opposite of most kids) and so we tried starting him. He pitched well for us, which was a great difference to how we’ve been starting games. We then responded with that monster first inning capped off with a bases loaded legitimate triple by Jeremy Me.
Justin also was a positive for the game. He had some absolutely amazingly heads up base running in the 3rd. After a well hit ball to right center he tried to stretch it out to a double. When that didn’t work he forced a run down. While that rundown went on Jeremy Ma was able to score. When they diverted a throw from the run down to home, Justin then ended up at second anyway. After being advanced to third, he drew a throw home on a dribbler allowing the batter (either Jared or Jeremy Me) to reach safely, but while the throw went home he was standing back at third . He also pitched an OK 5th inning to cap off our victory.
On the negative side is Nick. Both Steve and I commented that he looked out of it before the game started and this was true. He struck out twice, only his second and third strike outs for the season. He also didn’t look too commanding his first inning and fell apart in the second inning we threw him. Part of this was compounded by two throwing errors by Jeremy Ma, which advanced runners farther than they should have, and one error by Nick. Still while these runs can’t be fully attributed to Nick, the fact was he just didn’t have his stuff. We seem to have to seriously consider the idea that as much as we would like he might not be up to pitching two innings. I really think he is up to it, but we have to face the reality that he might not be up to it. If he’s not that means for the playoffs we’ll need six pitchers instead of the five I had thought we’d need. In the playoffs, unless math interferes, you play six innings. Using a 2-2-1-1 pitching schedule you need four pitchers, plus one in relief, plus having 5 pitchers allows you to mix-up who is throwing in a game keeping people fresher. If we go 2-1-1-1-1 we’ll need a sixth pitcher. This means that someone out of the group of Alec, Matt S, Noff, and Cameron will need to emerge. I feel like we’ve given Cameron his shot and he just doesn’t have it. The most likely candidates out of that group are Matt S and Alec, I feel, so we’ll have to see how each of them do. We won’t have Jeremy Ma or Nick on Saturday so that should give us some opportunities to try out some pitchers.
We needed a good performance and it was good to get it. Hopefully we’ll keep the momentum up tonight.
Sunday, May 27, 2007
Game versus A's
Well Wednesday was another disappointment. We had to call the game after only 4 innings because we were blown out. The problem is that we scored only 1 run compared to the many we scored the last time we played the A's. Sure there were fielding miscues and mishaps. Sure our pitching could have been sharper, but that doesn’t get around the fact that we scored 1 run. Our bats have just died. I don’t know why it is and it’s incredibly frustrating. Steve also cost us a run by attempting to steal home with Noff’s little brother, who was playing for us. This kid was ill prepared for that demand and was tagged out easily, but would have scored when the batter hit a single. This isn’t the first time that this has happened and I did say something to him about how that wasn’t the right situation. However, what does 1 run matter in this context? Not a whole lot. The mystery of why our bats have just stopped is puzzling and frustrating to me and I wish I had the answer. My inadequacies as a baseball coach are showing through again which is a good deal of my frustration. Hopefully we’ll turn it around soon, as the season is rapidly drawing to a close and I’d like to have a successful playoff.
Wednesday, May 23, 2007
Game vs Cardinals
Yesterday’s game was another disappointment. We had 3 hits in four innings of play. Now granted we had several more walks and did score some runs, and we had a double play on a flyball to the outfield with the bases loaded that ended the inning. However, we simply did not produce the kind of offense we needed to. Matt S did not look well in his pitching and had to be pulled in favor of Noff who did look good. Nick struggled yet again in his second inning though he pulled through in the end. Jeremy Me caught an inning for us and looked good. So a loss, and one where we didn’t have any energy, but hardly catastrophe. We go at them again tonight
It seems like today would be a good time to do an overview of the team, going by our original batting order.
Jeremy Ma – Our best pitcher and likely our second best catcher. He has the second biggest difference between his OBP and his batting average with the biggest difference going to the kid with the worst BA. This suggests to me that while he has a very discerning eye, he should perhaps be putting the ball into play a bit more. Of course I’d rather have him walk than strike out, so I’m not sure if this merits a conversation with him. Thoughts would be welcome.
Cameron – Unexpectedly did not show up for our game yesterday. Hopefully he’ll be at today’s game as we’re only expecting exactly 9. I’d call to confirm except our contact sheet is missing his phone number for some reason. Anyhow, Cameron is our best hitter with a stratospheric 1.67 OPS. Of course since OBP is so much higher in Little League than in the majors it’s hard to say just how great this is, but either way it’s pretty terrific. I feel like we’ve done a bit of a disservice to him as we haven’t worked much with him on his pitching as he could likely be good with some work. However, with the wealth of pitching we have this year our time, oh so limited, has been spent elsewhere.
Justin – Hard to say too much about him since he was out for so long. He does play very smart baseball. Hopefully he’ll be a reliable pitcher for us, and I think we’re going to really push this to the extreme today possibly pitching him two innings. He has a beautiful swing so I would expect his rather pedestrian batting average to rise as he gets some more at bats.
Nick – Nick might be our best all around player at the moment. His pitching has been nearly as good as Jeremy Ma despite having nowhere near as much experience. He has an extremely respectable 1.47 OPS. He runs well, loves baseball, is eager to learn. Not a whole lot you can say which isn’t positive. We saw a bit of mental weakness yesterday. His being a dominant pitcher, as he has been for us, was more of a metamorphosis than an evolution and so the mental part is something he doesn’t have a lot of practice with. Additionally, his pitching of two innings is still a hit or miss prospect. He’s lights out for an inning nearly every time but the second inning is something he needs to master a little bit better. But I think he’ll get there.
Jared – Much to my surprise you could make an argument for his being the third best pitcher on the team after Nick and Jeremy Ma. He’s definitely our best catcher. Hopefully he’ll continue to grow in these areas. His hitting is alright though nowhere nearly as good as I’d thought at the start of the season.
Matt S – He’s perhaps the nicest kid on our team. He’s so big it is easy to forget that he’s only in 5th grade. He’s very rough around a lot of edges part of it is likely because his body hasn’t caught up to his size yet so the coordination isn’t all there. However, if that happens he could be a real good player. His hitting isn’t what I would like especially as he has a tendency to strike out. But I think that’s clearly because of his coordination difficulties. We need to find him a couple more chances at catcher before the season ends.
Austin – He’s pretty good at making contact with the ball. However, the ball doesn’t tend to go anywhere when he does make contact. He hasn’t grown nearly as much as I would have liked. We did some work with him on his pitching but that just didn’t turn out. I think the lack of practices hurt him more than any other player.
Alec – He has quite a bit of potential at catcher though I’m not sure we’re going to be able to realize it all this season. He’s also shown some ability at pitcher which I’m not sure we’re going to fully realize either. However, he’s come a long way in a short time and should be proud of what he’s accomplished this year.
Noff – Quiet kid. He seems like he’s an OKish pitcher. Steve and I have had to work hard to make sure he doesn’t get lost in the shuffle, especially as he’s our worst hitter. Hopefully he’ll continue to find success in the other things he does for us. I just wish he wasn’t so afraid to bunt, a fear I don’t quite understand, as I thin he’d be really good.
Sean – He started off the season hitting so well. And then he dropped off. I think some of this is because he went up there scared after getting hit a couple of times. I don’t really know the cure for that. He’s also wildly inconsistent in terms of his attention. He’s a passable catcher, though I am glad that Jeremy Me seems to be panning out more since it means that we really won’t have to play him come playoff crunch time. I hope we can turn his hitting back around in the time we have left.
Jeremy F – He’s been a pleasant surprise. I actually think if the guy wasn’t afraid of his shadow he’d be a good ball player. He really struggles against top notch pitching but otherwise is great about making contact and getting on base, having the smallest differential between his BA and OBP, which is ok as he gets a “hit” (remembering we count almost all error assisted hits as hits rather than outs for purposes of computing BA and OBP) 55% of the time.
Jeremy Me – We haven’t gotten him an inning lately though part of that is because we haven’t played a whole lot lately. I really wish I could figure out why he can’t start an inning for us without falling apart as when he’s on he’s great. His turning out to be a serviceable catcher is a great bonus. We just have to figure out a way to get him back on the mound.
That segues into one of our biggest problems right now. We have more pitchers who deserve time than innings. I don’t really like to just concede games so we’ll continue to use Nick and Jeremy Ma. After the innings they’ve gotten we have a fairly dense groupings of innings pitched. It’s a nice dilemma to have, but still a balancing act to get everyone some quality time on the mound.
Tonight will be interesting as we’re only going to have 9 players, including having Noff’s little brother. This is due to a band concert, so perhaps the other team will be in the same position as us, however I’d feel a whole lot better if I knew that Cameron was going to be there for sure.
It seems like today would be a good time to do an overview of the team, going by our original batting order.
Jeremy Ma – Our best pitcher and likely our second best catcher. He has the second biggest difference between his OBP and his batting average with the biggest difference going to the kid with the worst BA. This suggests to me that while he has a very discerning eye, he should perhaps be putting the ball into play a bit more. Of course I’d rather have him walk than strike out, so I’m not sure if this merits a conversation with him. Thoughts would be welcome.
Cameron – Unexpectedly did not show up for our game yesterday. Hopefully he’ll be at today’s game as we’re only expecting exactly 9. I’d call to confirm except our contact sheet is missing his phone number for some reason. Anyhow, Cameron is our best hitter with a stratospheric 1.67 OPS. Of course since OBP is so much higher in Little League than in the majors it’s hard to say just how great this is, but either way it’s pretty terrific. I feel like we’ve done a bit of a disservice to him as we haven’t worked much with him on his pitching as he could likely be good with some work. However, with the wealth of pitching we have this year our time, oh so limited, has been spent elsewhere.
Justin – Hard to say too much about him since he was out for so long. He does play very smart baseball. Hopefully he’ll be a reliable pitcher for us, and I think we’re going to really push this to the extreme today possibly pitching him two innings. He has a beautiful swing so I would expect his rather pedestrian batting average to rise as he gets some more at bats.
Nick – Nick might be our best all around player at the moment. His pitching has been nearly as good as Jeremy Ma despite having nowhere near as much experience. He has an extremely respectable 1.47 OPS. He runs well, loves baseball, is eager to learn. Not a whole lot you can say which isn’t positive. We saw a bit of mental weakness yesterday. His being a dominant pitcher, as he has been for us, was more of a metamorphosis than an evolution and so the mental part is something he doesn’t have a lot of practice with. Additionally, his pitching of two innings is still a hit or miss prospect. He’s lights out for an inning nearly every time but the second inning is something he needs to master a little bit better. But I think he’ll get there.
Jared – Much to my surprise you could make an argument for his being the third best pitcher on the team after Nick and Jeremy Ma. He’s definitely our best catcher. Hopefully he’ll continue to grow in these areas. His hitting is alright though nowhere nearly as good as I’d thought at the start of the season.
Matt S – He’s perhaps the nicest kid on our team. He’s so big it is easy to forget that he’s only in 5th grade. He’s very rough around a lot of edges part of it is likely because his body hasn’t caught up to his size yet so the coordination isn’t all there. However, if that happens he could be a real good player. His hitting isn’t what I would like especially as he has a tendency to strike out. But I think that’s clearly because of his coordination difficulties. We need to find him a couple more chances at catcher before the season ends.
Austin – He’s pretty good at making contact with the ball. However, the ball doesn’t tend to go anywhere when he does make contact. He hasn’t grown nearly as much as I would have liked. We did some work with him on his pitching but that just didn’t turn out. I think the lack of practices hurt him more than any other player.
Alec – He has quite a bit of potential at catcher though I’m not sure we’re going to be able to realize it all this season. He’s also shown some ability at pitcher which I’m not sure we’re going to fully realize either. However, he’s come a long way in a short time and should be proud of what he’s accomplished this year.
Noff – Quiet kid. He seems like he’s an OKish pitcher. Steve and I have had to work hard to make sure he doesn’t get lost in the shuffle, especially as he’s our worst hitter. Hopefully he’ll continue to find success in the other things he does for us. I just wish he wasn’t so afraid to bunt, a fear I don’t quite understand, as I thin he’d be really good.
Sean – He started off the season hitting so well. And then he dropped off. I think some of this is because he went up there scared after getting hit a couple of times. I don’t really know the cure for that. He’s also wildly inconsistent in terms of his attention. He’s a passable catcher, though I am glad that Jeremy Me seems to be panning out more since it means that we really won’t have to play him come playoff crunch time. I hope we can turn his hitting back around in the time we have left.
Jeremy F – He’s been a pleasant surprise. I actually think if the guy wasn’t afraid of his shadow he’d be a good ball player. He really struggles against top notch pitching but otherwise is great about making contact and getting on base, having the smallest differential between his BA and OBP, which is ok as he gets a “hit” (remembering we count almost all error assisted hits as hits rather than outs for purposes of computing BA and OBP) 55% of the time.
Jeremy Me – We haven’t gotten him an inning lately though part of that is because we haven’t played a whole lot lately. I really wish I could figure out why he can’t start an inning for us without falling apart as when he’s on he’s great. His turning out to be a serviceable catcher is a great bonus. We just have to figure out a way to get him back on the mound.
That segues into one of our biggest problems right now. We have more pitchers who deserve time than innings. I don’t really like to just concede games so we’ll continue to use Nick and Jeremy Ma. After the innings they’ve gotten we have a fairly dense groupings of innings pitched. It’s a nice dilemma to have, but still a balancing act to get everyone some quality time on the mound.
Tonight will be interesting as we’re only going to have 9 players, including having Noff’s little brother. This is due to a band concert, so perhaps the other team will be in the same position as us, however I’d feel a whole lot better if I knew that Cameron was going to be there for sure.
Wednesday, May 16, 2007
Rain Outs
We were rained out of our game yesterday and practice today. With no game on Saturday we're off until next Tuesday.
Sunday, May 13, 2007
BoSox vs. Marlins
Travel Basketball Convergence
As we’re warming up before the game, who do I see but Dante, from my travel basketball team, there for his soccer team. We didn’t have much time to say more than hello. He did ask me if I was going to coach the team next year and I said “I don’t know” which is pretty much a lie because I absolutely plan on going back.
Then during the game, Eric came up to me and we were chatting a little. And basically he offered me a position coaching for them. While I didn’t accept, I did express interest and explain that I would need to coach either 4th or 6th grade, and would only coach the upper division team (as HP has teams in both the upper and lower divisions) and he was amenable to that. I now just need to decide if I have the time, when I’ll likely be switching teaching positions, to coach two teams, because with the new administration, coaching for my home town is a lot more appealing. However, I couldn’t run out on my team from last year, especially not with their moving up from the lower to upper division, assuming at least two of the triplets return.
The Game
Yesterday was not great. Going into the sixth and final inning we were down by 7, which also happens to be the most you can score in an inning, meaning the best we could do was tie. Anyhow seems like a good time to do a good, bad, and ugly for the game.
Good
Our 6th Inning hitting: We came out and rocked their pitcher who was accurate but slow. We had the absolute heart of our order up and it showed as we had 2 singles followed by 4 doubles, a sac fly, and two more singles which netted us our 7 runs. It showed once again that we were a team who could come from behind.
Justin: It was Justin’s first day back after breaking his thumb. He pitched moderately well, made a stupid play in the 5th inning at 3rd, but it was his hitting that we really missed. He had a good at bat in the 3rd, which ended in a walk. He then proceeded to steal two bases. In the sixth he was the first one to start our extra base hit rally. It’s good to have him back.
Cameron: The kid isn’t fast (not slow, but not fast) and so the fact that he’s hitting .667 is a testament to how well he’s hitting. He once again did well at the plate going 2-2 in clutch places.
Matt S: He pitched fairly well again recording two strike-outs though he did let up a couple of runs. He suffered from some bad bounces on those though. He also had a near homer, over the fence, during the sixth.
Jeremy Me’s fielding: He made an incredible play in the 4th at second diving for a hard hit ball with the bases loaded that saved us two runs when he caught it for the third out.
The Bad
Jeremy Ma’s pitching: He didn’t have the same snap on it that he normally does and just couldn’t close the game for us. He actually look bad enough in the 5th that I considered having Nick, who hadn’t pitched for us, come in and pitch the sixth. And frankly after he walked the a batter in the sixth I should have likely pulled him. I didn’t since I figured Jeremy was better under the pressure, but he just didn’t have it on Saturday, or rather I should say he didn’t have what he normally had. After the kid he walked, which had followed a double and a steal, a guy came in and won the game on an infield single. If they hadn’t won the game after the first run they would still have been going strong and he could have easily allowed 3 or 4 runs during the inning.
Our bats against good pitchers: The last couple of games we’ve faced more good pitchers and we have not been able to hit them. This game we eeked out a run in the second, getting lucky scored a couple in the third, but we were basically shut down for the day. Last game was a similar story for most of the game. We’re only going to see more of the good pitchers and less of the bad pitchers, so this is a problem.
Sean’s head: Kid is wildly inconsistent. Some days he’s definitely our best catcher, but other days he’s just out of it. No real rhyme or reason as to which day it’s going to be either, as far as I can tell.
The Ugly
Jeremy Me’s pitching: Basically he’s a relief pitcher. I think coming in with the pressure causes him to throw hard and thus better. When he starts an inning he just doesn’t look as sharp. He ended up allowing 4 very ugly runs, and we had to pull him after four walks and a hit batter. Between this and Cameron, it’s a good thing Justin’s back because our next best pitcher is Jared, who we need to catch. Jeremy Me will be our good to reliever, but I hesitate to put him in to start an inning again.
Our throwing: We ended up allowing all sorts of trouble as several consecutive throwing errors on a steal at third base allowed two runs to score. It was bad news. We’ve done some work on this at practice and looked pretty good last game, so I hoped we’d moved forward, but it appears one of those two steps forward, one step back things.
The twin’s minds: If you asked them they’re both the reason we lost. We were warned that they would play mental games with themselves and they did. For the most part they played well. The exception being Alec who made the first throw on that awful play, even after both Steve and I said not to throw the ball. But their moping required some extended talks, mostly by Steve, to keep them focused.
All things considered, if we’d tied the game it would have been an incredible victory after our seven run inning. However, the Marlins won, getting their revenge after we beat them pretty decisively, and it was the better team that walked away with the victory. Tuesday’s a new chance and hopefully we’ll put out a better showing.
As we’re warming up before the game, who do I see but Dante, from my travel basketball team, there for his soccer team. We didn’t have much time to say more than hello. He did ask me if I was going to coach the team next year and I said “I don’t know” which is pretty much a lie because I absolutely plan on going back.
Then during the game, Eric came up to me and we were chatting a little. And basically he offered me a position coaching for them. While I didn’t accept, I did express interest and explain that I would need to coach either 4th or 6th grade, and would only coach the upper division team (as HP has teams in both the upper and lower divisions) and he was amenable to that. I now just need to decide if I have the time, when I’ll likely be switching teaching positions, to coach two teams, because with the new administration, coaching for my home town is a lot more appealing. However, I couldn’t run out on my team from last year, especially not with their moving up from the lower to upper division, assuming at least two of the triplets return.
The Game
Yesterday was not great. Going into the sixth and final inning we were down by 7, which also happens to be the most you can score in an inning, meaning the best we could do was tie. Anyhow seems like a good time to do a good, bad, and ugly for the game.
Good
Our 6th Inning hitting: We came out and rocked their pitcher who was accurate but slow. We had the absolute heart of our order up and it showed as we had 2 singles followed by 4 doubles, a sac fly, and two more singles which netted us our 7 runs. It showed once again that we were a team who could come from behind.
Justin: It was Justin’s first day back after breaking his thumb. He pitched moderately well, made a stupid play in the 5th inning at 3rd, but it was his hitting that we really missed. He had a good at bat in the 3rd, which ended in a walk. He then proceeded to steal two bases. In the sixth he was the first one to start our extra base hit rally. It’s good to have him back.
Cameron: The kid isn’t fast (not slow, but not fast) and so the fact that he’s hitting .667 is a testament to how well he’s hitting. He once again did well at the plate going 2-2 in clutch places.
Matt S: He pitched fairly well again recording two strike-outs though he did let up a couple of runs. He suffered from some bad bounces on those though. He also had a near homer, over the fence, during the sixth.
Jeremy Me’s fielding: He made an incredible play in the 4th at second diving for a hard hit ball with the bases loaded that saved us two runs when he caught it for the third out.
The Bad
Jeremy Ma’s pitching: He didn’t have the same snap on it that he normally does and just couldn’t close the game for us. He actually look bad enough in the 5th that I considered having Nick, who hadn’t pitched for us, come in and pitch the sixth. And frankly after he walked the a batter in the sixth I should have likely pulled him. I didn’t since I figured Jeremy was better under the pressure, but he just didn’t have it on Saturday, or rather I should say he didn’t have what he normally had. After the kid he walked, which had followed a double and a steal, a guy came in and won the game on an infield single. If they hadn’t won the game after the first run they would still have been going strong and he could have easily allowed 3 or 4 runs during the inning.
Our bats against good pitchers: The last couple of games we’ve faced more good pitchers and we have not been able to hit them. This game we eeked out a run in the second, getting lucky scored a couple in the third, but we were basically shut down for the day. Last game was a similar story for most of the game. We’re only going to see more of the good pitchers and less of the bad pitchers, so this is a problem.
Sean’s head: Kid is wildly inconsistent. Some days he’s definitely our best catcher, but other days he’s just out of it. No real rhyme or reason as to which day it’s going to be either, as far as I can tell.
The Ugly
Jeremy Me’s pitching: Basically he’s a relief pitcher. I think coming in with the pressure causes him to throw hard and thus better. When he starts an inning he just doesn’t look as sharp. He ended up allowing 4 very ugly runs, and we had to pull him after four walks and a hit batter. Between this and Cameron, it’s a good thing Justin’s back because our next best pitcher is Jared, who we need to catch. Jeremy Me will be our good to reliever, but I hesitate to put him in to start an inning again.
Our throwing: We ended up allowing all sorts of trouble as several consecutive throwing errors on a steal at third base allowed two runs to score. It was bad news. We’ve done some work on this at practice and looked pretty good last game, so I hoped we’d moved forward, but it appears one of those two steps forward, one step back things.
The twin’s minds: If you asked them they’re both the reason we lost. We were warned that they would play mental games with themselves and they did. For the most part they played well. The exception being Alec who made the first throw on that awful play, even after both Steve and I said not to throw the ball. But their moping required some extended talks, mostly by Steve, to keep them focused.
All things considered, if we’d tied the game it would have been an incredible victory after our seven run inning. However, the Marlins won, getting their revenge after we beat them pretty decisively, and it was the better team that walked away with the victory. Tuesday’s a new chance and hopefully we’ll put out a better showing.
Thursday, May 10, 2007
Game vs Astros
Setting the Lineup
This year’s lineup making is so much easier than last years. The fact that we have several kids who are somewhat competent catchers helps. As does the fact that we have several kids who can play well at pretty much any position we put them at. 11 players is also easier to schedule than 12 players, though we could soon be back to 12 as Justin’s finger is just about healed. Anyhow, we’d told Sean he could catch 2 innings, and Nof, Alec, and Cameron that they’d be pitching. Jared missed Tuesday’s practice without notifying us so he got to sit twice. For catchers it was going to be Sean for the first two, Jeremy Ma in the 3rd, Jared in the 4th and 5th, and as a sop to him Matt S in the 6th.
The Game
We’re the home team, with our friendly ump Mark calling the balls and strikes against the Astrods. Noff is on the mound against what has to be a weaker part of their order and sends them down 1-2-3, though this included a fantastic play at short by Jeremy Ma. A kid hit it hard up the middle, Noff got his glove on it, deflected it, Jeremy Ma adjusted picked it up barehanded and got the kid at first. Just a terrific play.
We got up, after a hot grounder by Sean back at the pitcher, Jeremy F singles and steals. Jeremy Me flies out to center, but Jeremy Ma doubles home Jeremy F and is then driven home himself by Cameron. Nick strikes out to end the inning. 2-0 Red Sox.
Cameron is on the mound and does not look good. He eventually lets up 3 runs and has to be removed because he’s walked four. Jared comes in finishes the inning uneventfully. I think Jared has shown that he deserves more innings at the mound and Cameron should really only see time for us in relief as he just walks too many. 3-2 Astros.
Fortunately we come back with a one out double by Matt S who scores after Alec singles him home. 3-3
I’m sort of dreading the next inning as we have Alec on the mound. He hasn’t ever pitched for us and while he looked good in warm ups when I’ve practiced with him, I wonder if he’ll be able to translate that to the mound. And the good news is that he does. After letting up a walk and a single to a weak part of their order, he gets one player to fly out. And then suddenly he has heat on his pitches, striking out the next two players looking real good. It was insane. One batter he looks OK, the next he’s throwing them in there hard and well. We’ll definitely have to see him again. We take the lead in the bottom half of the inning with 2 runs, started off by a double with Sean. 5-3 Red Sox
Nick is up for us and after walking the first guy, who then proceeds to steal second and third on wild pitches, settles down. The first batter scores when a player grounds out to first, but otherwise he looked good. 5-4
It is then a bunch of uneventful half innings. Both teams go down 1-2-3 in the bottom of the 4th and the 5th. I had hoped in the bottom of the 5th we’d get an insurance run, but they have their ace on the mound. Fortunately we have our ace on the mound as well. So going into the 6th, Jeremy Ma just has to hold them for us to win our 6th straight. And he does hold them, except that on a disputed call a kid gets awarded first base on a hit by pitch. It sounded like it’d hit his bat and initially it was ruled that way for us, but in the end that ruling was reversed. The kid stole a couple of bases on Matt S and scored on a grounder to first. Jeremy Ma ended the inning by striking a kid out with a wicked change-up that ended up striking Matt S in the thigh and caused him to roll around on the ground in pain.
Steve and I feel good about the game since we basically have the heart of our order up. After Jeremy Me strikes out, Jeremy Ma gets things going with a walk. Cameron and Nick fly out, however, to end the game with a 6-6 tie.
All-in-all, it was another good effort and I have no real complaints about the outcome. Not to mention we play the Marlins Saturday and they’re the one team who we really hit well, so hopefully after a relatively dead day for us at bat, we’ll rebound nicely in that game.
This year’s lineup making is so much easier than last years. The fact that we have several kids who are somewhat competent catchers helps. As does the fact that we have several kids who can play well at pretty much any position we put them at. 11 players is also easier to schedule than 12 players, though we could soon be back to 12 as Justin’s finger is just about healed. Anyhow, we’d told Sean he could catch 2 innings, and Nof, Alec, and Cameron that they’d be pitching. Jared missed Tuesday’s practice without notifying us so he got to sit twice. For catchers it was going to be Sean for the first two, Jeremy Ma in the 3rd, Jared in the 4th and 5th, and as a sop to him Matt S in the 6th.
The Game
We’re the home team, with our friendly ump Mark calling the balls and strikes against the Astrods. Noff is on the mound against what has to be a weaker part of their order and sends them down 1-2-3, though this included a fantastic play at short by Jeremy Ma. A kid hit it hard up the middle, Noff got his glove on it, deflected it, Jeremy Ma adjusted picked it up barehanded and got the kid at first. Just a terrific play.
We got up, after a hot grounder by Sean back at the pitcher, Jeremy F singles and steals. Jeremy Me flies out to center, but Jeremy Ma doubles home Jeremy F and is then driven home himself by Cameron. Nick strikes out to end the inning. 2-0 Red Sox.
Cameron is on the mound and does not look good. He eventually lets up 3 runs and has to be removed because he’s walked four. Jared comes in finishes the inning uneventfully. I think Jared has shown that he deserves more innings at the mound and Cameron should really only see time for us in relief as he just walks too many. 3-2 Astros.
Fortunately we come back with a one out double by Matt S who scores after Alec singles him home. 3-3
I’m sort of dreading the next inning as we have Alec on the mound. He hasn’t ever pitched for us and while he looked good in warm ups when I’ve practiced with him, I wonder if he’ll be able to translate that to the mound. And the good news is that he does. After letting up a walk and a single to a weak part of their order, he gets one player to fly out. And then suddenly he has heat on his pitches, striking out the next two players looking real good. It was insane. One batter he looks OK, the next he’s throwing them in there hard and well. We’ll definitely have to see him again. We take the lead in the bottom half of the inning with 2 runs, started off by a double with Sean. 5-3 Red Sox
Nick is up for us and after walking the first guy, who then proceeds to steal second and third on wild pitches, settles down. The first batter scores when a player grounds out to first, but otherwise he looked good. 5-4
It is then a bunch of uneventful half innings. Both teams go down 1-2-3 in the bottom of the 4th and the 5th. I had hoped in the bottom of the 5th we’d get an insurance run, but they have their ace on the mound. Fortunately we have our ace on the mound as well. So going into the 6th, Jeremy Ma just has to hold them for us to win our 6th straight. And he does hold them, except that on a disputed call a kid gets awarded first base on a hit by pitch. It sounded like it’d hit his bat and initially it was ruled that way for us, but in the end that ruling was reversed. The kid stole a couple of bases on Matt S and scored on a grounder to first. Jeremy Ma ended the inning by striking a kid out with a wicked change-up that ended up striking Matt S in the thigh and caused him to roll around on the ground in pain.
Steve and I feel good about the game since we basically have the heart of our order up. After Jeremy Me strikes out, Jeremy Ma gets things going with a walk. Cameron and Nick fly out, however, to end the game with a 6-6 tie.
All-in-all, it was another good effort and I have no real complaints about the outcome. Not to mention we play the Marlins Saturday and they’re the one team who we really hit well, so hopefully after a relatively dead day for us at bat, we’ll rebound nicely in that game.
Wednesday, May 9, 2007
Practice Report
After our win on Wednesday at dinner Steve and I discussed a few areas we’d like to focus on for our next practice, which was held yesterday. We came up with four major areas: throwing, sliding, bunting, and game awareness.
One good thing is that the practice field we were assigned to had another unused field and so rather than share the field with a team we went and used this unused field, which was nice because it gave us complete freedom to do whatever we wanted.
As I had discussed at our last practice we moved the starting time to 6 and went a full hour and a half. Jeremy Me’s phone number didn’t work for Steve and so he showed up expecting a 5:45 start time. This was great as it gave us some time to hang out with him and he’s finally coming out of his shell some. It was terrific. He expressed some interest to us about playing catcher so we’ll have to give him a shot there at some point.
We started off practice with a good jog. Steve let Jeremy F and Ma get out to a nice lead in front of them. I was bring up the rear and attempted to catch up. Steve proceeded to smoke me and Jeremy F, granted with his good head start, actually managed to beat Steve. The kid is fast.
Next we played some speed catch. People partner up, try and get the most round trip catches in 30 seconds. This went well. As did our next activity. We introduced something called “5 and 10” which is basically competitive catch. You play about 50 or so feet away from your partner. If you throw at eye level you get 10 points, at chest level 5. First player to 50 wins. We did a second round of this as well which was fun. Starting off practice with a couple of games never hurts.
Next we lined people up on the third baseline and went over the bunting mechanics. Next we divided them into two groups and one group went with Steve and did whiffle ball hitting, while the other group worked on bunting with me. Nof proved to be our best bunter, but of course he said he doesn’t want to bunt and was pretty adamant about it. I’m going to try and wear him down though because he’s not a great hitter and having him be a good bunter would be terrific. Sean was a pretty good bunter, as was Matt S. One thing I had forgotten from last year: travel players aren’t really that much better bunters than non-travel players. They just haven’t worked on the skill either so everyone’s at a somewhat level playing field.
Next we did a quick sliding lesson. Everyone did really well on it except for Jeremy Me, who couldn’t do it at all or even come close. We’ll have to do some 1 on 1 work cause he needs to learn how to slide.
Finally, we closed practice with our 2-1 game. Count starts at 2 and 1 and then it’s baseball. The team struggled the first go round with the concept but as they did their second at bats seemed to get the concept down. During this time we saw Jeremy Me, Nick, and Sean pitch. Sean didn’t do so well, though he wasn’t terrible. Instead he was overly self critical of himself and after expressing some interest in pitching in a game now doesn’t want to pitch. That’s ok. It’s too bad we only have one more practice since I think this drill would be good in the long run to play.
Anyhow, I feel like this was one of the better, if not the best, practices Steve and I have run. There was a lot of fundamentals work done (sliding, bunting, and hitting). There was fun had. The team was on task, worked hard, and was eager to learn. I’m so pleased and hopefully we go out and win again tonight.
One good thing is that the practice field we were assigned to had another unused field and so rather than share the field with a team we went and used this unused field, which was nice because it gave us complete freedom to do whatever we wanted.
As I had discussed at our last practice we moved the starting time to 6 and went a full hour and a half. Jeremy Me’s phone number didn’t work for Steve and so he showed up expecting a 5:45 start time. This was great as it gave us some time to hang out with him and he’s finally coming out of his shell some. It was terrific. He expressed some interest to us about playing catcher so we’ll have to give him a shot there at some point.
We started off practice with a good jog. Steve let Jeremy F and Ma get out to a nice lead in front of them. I was bring up the rear and attempted to catch up. Steve proceeded to smoke me and Jeremy F, granted with his good head start, actually managed to beat Steve. The kid is fast.
Next we played some speed catch. People partner up, try and get the most round trip catches in 30 seconds. This went well. As did our next activity. We introduced something called “5 and 10” which is basically competitive catch. You play about 50 or so feet away from your partner. If you throw at eye level you get 10 points, at chest level 5. First player to 50 wins. We did a second round of this as well which was fun. Starting off practice with a couple of games never hurts.
Next we lined people up on the third baseline and went over the bunting mechanics. Next we divided them into two groups and one group went with Steve and did whiffle ball hitting, while the other group worked on bunting with me. Nof proved to be our best bunter, but of course he said he doesn’t want to bunt and was pretty adamant about it. I’m going to try and wear him down though because he’s not a great hitter and having him be a good bunter would be terrific. Sean was a pretty good bunter, as was Matt S. One thing I had forgotten from last year: travel players aren’t really that much better bunters than non-travel players. They just haven’t worked on the skill either so everyone’s at a somewhat level playing field.
Next we did a quick sliding lesson. Everyone did really well on it except for Jeremy Me, who couldn’t do it at all or even come close. We’ll have to do some 1 on 1 work cause he needs to learn how to slide.
Finally, we closed practice with our 2-1 game. Count starts at 2 and 1 and then it’s baseball. The team struggled the first go round with the concept but as they did their second at bats seemed to get the concept down. During this time we saw Jeremy Me, Nick, and Sean pitch. Sean didn’t do so well, though he wasn’t terrible. Instead he was overly self critical of himself and after expressing some interest in pitching in a game now doesn’t want to pitch. That’s ok. It’s too bad we only have one more practice since I think this drill would be good in the long run to play.
Anyhow, I feel like this was one of the better, if not the best, practices Steve and I have run. There was a lot of fundamentals work done (sliding, bunting, and hitting). There was fun had. The team was on task, worked hard, and was eager to learn. I’m so pleased and hopefully we go out and win again tonight.
Thursday, May 3, 2007
Red Sox vs. Marlins
Pre-Game
Steve and I had done the lineups for the game the night before. We went with, again, six pitchers. I made a crucial mistake. The twins told me that they would be at the game right on time or a little late. And we still scheduled them to pitch in the first inning. This would prove to be a mistake. We also scheduled Matt S to pitch in the 3rd, rather than 1st or 2nd, since his dad had asked for that inning to give his wife a chance to get to the game to see him pitch.
As I’m leaving the house I feel how cold it is, and think perhaps I should get my jacket, since it’s a little chilly even with my having on a long-sleeved shirt. I then decide I’ll just tough it out. Ohh that was a big mistake.
Anyhow when we get to the field, we do a little warm-ups and then since the Marlins aren’t there we take the field and so some infield practice while Steve works with Matt S on his catching.
The Game
We are the home team. Since the twins are late, I come up with the idea of doing a slightly modified version of the fifth inning. This means Cameron is our starting pitcher and instead of his throwing to Alec, he’ll be throwing to Jared. Cameron, as his is his norm, starts off with a walk. After that, however, he does a better job of getting the ball over the plate. He does allow two runs, but really, in most ways, had the best control we’ve seen from him yet. It was nice to see.
Jeremy Me starts things off with a well hit ball to the outfield, unfortunately it’s right at a travel player who catches it. Jeremy Ma gets things started in earnest for us with a double. I really thought it was going to be a triple, but that same travel player made a great throw to hold him at second. He advances to third when Cameron grounds out to the pitcher. Nick drives him in with a single. After Jared walks, Matt S strikes out to end the inning. 2-1 Marlins
Nick is now up on the mound. I’m hopeful as he’s been our best pitcher. So of course their first batter doubles. He then steals third. After a strike out and a grounder to short, which scores the run, Nick just gets hit upon. In the end he lets up four. He wasn’t throwing poorly, but the ump, who is a guy Steve and I know well, is very inconsistent in his calls so that combined with some good hitting lets up the runs.
Austin and Alec both single, though Austin gets out at third on a fielders choice with Nof getting to first. After Sean hits it to the first basemen for the second out we’ve got runners at second and third. Preaching our aggressive style I send Alec on a passed ball. They can’t quite make the tag, as he does a nice job of sliding and so we score a run. As I thought it might this rattles the pitcher, who’d bene looking good up until that point. Jeremy F then singles home Nof, Jeremey Me doubles and scores after Jeremy Ma singles. Cameron, rockets a ball to the first basemen to end the inning. Still we get the four runs back to make it a 6-5 game.
Matt S is on the mound for us. He looks real good in his warm-ups. After a few rough pitches he settles down. While he does let up two runs he located most of the balls over the plate and even better showed some velocity. He definitely earned some more innings.
And in the third we go wild. Nick walks and ends up stealing home after a single by Jared, who ends up at third. Steve makes a questionable call to send Jared, who gets called out at home. Matt S then grounds it to the first basemen (which would have scored Jared). But we start a two out rally after Austin singles and Alec and Nof walk to load the bases. Sean then hits home two of them with a double while Jeremy F hits a base clearing triple. Jeremy Me singles Jeremy F home, but unfortunately Jeremy Ma ends the inning with a dribbler to short. However, we get six big runs to put us up 11-8
Jeremy Ma comes in and after walking the first batter settles down and takes care of business. By this point it’s bitterly cold. The sun has gone down. A fog has rolled in. There is a lake breeze which rattles through you. It’s miserable. We are also, 12 minutes away from the time limit. I tell the team our goal is simple “12 minutes of hits”. Cameron starts us off well with a double. In an on going theme with Cameron he forgets to slide at second. Nick rockets a ball to the short stop who bobbles it and comes up with the bare handed catch. When Cameron steals third with Jared at the plate he once again fails to slide. I tell him at this point he needs to slide. I also let him know if we play another half inning that he’ll be sitting out (he was originally scheduled to sit the sixth). He’s disappointed at first until I explain that this is so we can Jeremy Me available for relief. He’s happy about that. Anyhow, with Matt S at bat, Cameron takes advantage of a passed ball and, for once slides, causing him to be safe. While that was going on Jared had stolen second and never stops running, coming safely into third on a close play. He scores when Matt S gets an error assisted single. Unfortunately we can’t really get anything else going. We do get a couple of insurance runs to put us up 13-8 and don’t hit the time limit so we’re playing one more.
Austin is up on the mound. He looks like he’s going to be ok as after a couple of bad pitches he gets the batter to popup to him. Unfortunately he then can’t get the ball over the plate and proceeds to walk the bases. I decide to pull him. In comes Jeremy Me to save the game once again. I tell him that I don’t care how many runs he lets up. He asks what the socre is and I tell him again it doesn’t matter, just to pitch. And it’s true. I have no doubt that even if they score 7 (the most allowed) that we can come back and get 3 to win in the bottom part of the inning. First batter hits one right back to the mound and Jeremy Me gets the runner out at home. The bases are still loaded and he does let up a single, but the next guy grounds out to Nick at first and the game is over. 13-9 good guys.
Post Game
Overall despite the bitter cold it was a great game. It was the comfortable victory that Steve and I had talked about the last couple of games. Couple of notes I didn’t work in there. Jared once again displayed bad sportsmanship by rooting for one of their players to drop the ball on a play. I’ve told him before that we root for our team not against the other team and so I, even as the play was going on, let him have it again. Kevin also complemented Steve and I, for what was the millionth time, about how awesome we are. It never hurts to hear nice things. Sean is also agitating to catch two innings, so perhaps we’ll accommodate this request at the next game.
We don’t have a game on Saturday (it’s our bye) so we have six days off before our next practice on Tuesday. I think we’re going to work on sliding and throwing as our primary skills. Rumor has it we’re the only undefeated team, which is nice, though we’re not THAT much better than the rest of the league. So far it’s been a pretty successful season I’d say considering that we’ve used many different players at many different positions. So far things are pretty good in Red Sox land.
Steve and I had done the lineups for the game the night before. We went with, again, six pitchers. I made a crucial mistake. The twins told me that they would be at the game right on time or a little late. And we still scheduled them to pitch in the first inning. This would prove to be a mistake. We also scheduled Matt S to pitch in the 3rd, rather than 1st or 2nd, since his dad had asked for that inning to give his wife a chance to get to the game to see him pitch.
As I’m leaving the house I feel how cold it is, and think perhaps I should get my jacket, since it’s a little chilly even with my having on a long-sleeved shirt. I then decide I’ll just tough it out. Ohh that was a big mistake.
Anyhow when we get to the field, we do a little warm-ups and then since the Marlins aren’t there we take the field and so some infield practice while Steve works with Matt S on his catching.
The Game
We are the home team. Since the twins are late, I come up with the idea of doing a slightly modified version of the fifth inning. This means Cameron is our starting pitcher and instead of his throwing to Alec, he’ll be throwing to Jared. Cameron, as his is his norm, starts off with a walk. After that, however, he does a better job of getting the ball over the plate. He does allow two runs, but really, in most ways, had the best control we’ve seen from him yet. It was nice to see.
Jeremy Me starts things off with a well hit ball to the outfield, unfortunately it’s right at a travel player who catches it. Jeremy Ma gets things started in earnest for us with a double. I really thought it was going to be a triple, but that same travel player made a great throw to hold him at second. He advances to third when Cameron grounds out to the pitcher. Nick drives him in with a single. After Jared walks, Matt S strikes out to end the inning. 2-1 Marlins
Nick is now up on the mound. I’m hopeful as he’s been our best pitcher. So of course their first batter doubles. He then steals third. After a strike out and a grounder to short, which scores the run, Nick just gets hit upon. In the end he lets up four. He wasn’t throwing poorly, but the ump, who is a guy Steve and I know well, is very inconsistent in his calls so that combined with some good hitting lets up the runs.
Austin and Alec both single, though Austin gets out at third on a fielders choice with Nof getting to first. After Sean hits it to the first basemen for the second out we’ve got runners at second and third. Preaching our aggressive style I send Alec on a passed ball. They can’t quite make the tag, as he does a nice job of sliding and so we score a run. As I thought it might this rattles the pitcher, who’d bene looking good up until that point. Jeremy F then singles home Nof, Jeremey Me doubles and scores after Jeremy Ma singles. Cameron, rockets a ball to the first basemen to end the inning. Still we get the four runs back to make it a 6-5 game.
Matt S is on the mound for us. He looks real good in his warm-ups. After a few rough pitches he settles down. While he does let up two runs he located most of the balls over the plate and even better showed some velocity. He definitely earned some more innings.
And in the third we go wild. Nick walks and ends up stealing home after a single by Jared, who ends up at third. Steve makes a questionable call to send Jared, who gets called out at home. Matt S then grounds it to the first basemen (which would have scored Jared). But we start a two out rally after Austin singles and Alec and Nof walk to load the bases. Sean then hits home two of them with a double while Jeremy F hits a base clearing triple. Jeremy Me singles Jeremy F home, but unfortunately Jeremy Ma ends the inning with a dribbler to short. However, we get six big runs to put us up 11-8
Jeremy Ma comes in and after walking the first batter settles down and takes care of business. By this point it’s bitterly cold. The sun has gone down. A fog has rolled in. There is a lake breeze which rattles through you. It’s miserable. We are also, 12 minutes away from the time limit. I tell the team our goal is simple “12 minutes of hits”. Cameron starts us off well with a double. In an on going theme with Cameron he forgets to slide at second. Nick rockets a ball to the short stop who bobbles it and comes up with the bare handed catch. When Cameron steals third with Jared at the plate he once again fails to slide. I tell him at this point he needs to slide. I also let him know if we play another half inning that he’ll be sitting out (he was originally scheduled to sit the sixth). He’s disappointed at first until I explain that this is so we can Jeremy Me available for relief. He’s happy about that. Anyhow, with Matt S at bat, Cameron takes advantage of a passed ball and, for once slides, causing him to be safe. While that was going on Jared had stolen second and never stops running, coming safely into third on a close play. He scores when Matt S gets an error assisted single. Unfortunately we can’t really get anything else going. We do get a couple of insurance runs to put us up 13-8 and don’t hit the time limit so we’re playing one more.
Austin is up on the mound. He looks like he’s going to be ok as after a couple of bad pitches he gets the batter to popup to him. Unfortunately he then can’t get the ball over the plate and proceeds to walk the bases. I decide to pull him. In comes Jeremy Me to save the game once again. I tell him that I don’t care how many runs he lets up. He asks what the socre is and I tell him again it doesn’t matter, just to pitch. And it’s true. I have no doubt that even if they score 7 (the most allowed) that we can come back and get 3 to win in the bottom part of the inning. First batter hits one right back to the mound and Jeremy Me gets the runner out at home. The bases are still loaded and he does let up a single, but the next guy grounds out to Nick at first and the game is over. 13-9 good guys.
Post Game
Overall despite the bitter cold it was a great game. It was the comfortable victory that Steve and I had talked about the last couple of games. Couple of notes I didn’t work in there. Jared once again displayed bad sportsmanship by rooting for one of their players to drop the ball on a play. I’ve told him before that we root for our team not against the other team and so I, even as the play was going on, let him have it again. Kevin also complemented Steve and I, for what was the millionth time, about how awesome we are. It never hurts to hear nice things. Sean is also agitating to catch two innings, so perhaps we’ll accommodate this request at the next game.
We don’t have a game on Saturday (it’s our bye) so we have six days off before our next practice on Tuesday. I think we’re going to work on sliding and throwing as our primary skills. Rumor has it we’re the only undefeated team, which is nice, though we’re not THAT much better than the rest of the league. So far it’s been a pretty successful season I’d say considering that we’ve used many different players at many different positions. So far things are pretty good in Red Sox land.
Tuesday, May 1, 2007
BoSox vs. Braves
Steve and I had decided that we wanted to see 6 different pitchers for this game, after going with the typical 2-2-1-1 setup last game. It was time to see some new pitchers, so we decided to give Jared another chance, and also to give Nof and Matt S their first chances to pitch. We were careful to have a good pitcher ready to come in for relief if need be. When we get to the field we realize that we’re going to be playing the Braves which means we’ll see Percy (from last year) and Steve and I are both excited about that.
We start off well, with Nick hitting a single. We then proceed to run ragged on their catcher, who is Jesse's little brother from last year, with Nick advancing to third. Jared draws a walk, steals second. Matt S also draws a walk. Nick then scores when Austin is hit by a pitch. During Alec’s at bat Jared scores on a passed ball. Unfortunately even after he walks to load the bases we can’t get anything more going as their pitcher has finally found the strike zone. Still we come out with a 2-0 lead.
Jared is first up on the mound for us. And he starts off with his continuing habit of throwing off the plate. He ends up walking the first guy. However, during that at bat he pitched one high but over plate. I stressed to him that was what we wanted him to do. Just get the ball over, even if it is high. And he settled down some and was able to start to throw some strikes. In pretty ugly fashion, assisted by the fact that he looked to be facing the dregs of their lineup he strikes out the next three. It was a good inning from him and nice to see him have some success.
After Jeremy Me strikes out, Jeremy Ma walks and scores after being advanced to second my Cameron’s single and then home on a double by Nick, which turns into a triple when Cameron is thrown out at the plate (when I sent him) on a close play. Jared strikes out to end the inning.
Jeremy Ma does not start off well, throwing some balls and then hitting the batter. We have a particularly weak infield behind him so he really needs to record some Ks I feel for this not to be a bad inning. The next batter gets on base and the two runners are able to advance when the batter hits the ball back to the pitcher. On the next play there is a wild pitch and a run scores. Next play up there is ANOTHER wild pitch and this time we get the guy out at the plate, which was great to see. This was just one of several good plays made by Austin behind the plate. He was great at getting the mask off real quickly, was real nice. This helps him with his ability to catch popup fouls that most catchers at this age don’t have a prayer with. He didn’t catch any today but he will. Anyhow after that wild play the batter is walked and ends up at third on some steals, but Jeremy strikes out the batter to end the inning. 3-1 Sox
In a continuing theme Matt S starts off the inning by getting hit by a pitch. When Austin grounds out to first he advances to second and is then thrown out steal third. The kid should never steal a base but since we preach aggressiveness it’s hard to criticize him there. Nof then hits a double scoring Alec. Sean walks. Jeremy F hits a single scoring Nof, but our rally is ended when Jeremy Me grounds out to end the inning.
Our big question mark is now on the mound: Nof. As he finishes his warm ups I express to him how important it is to just get the ball over the plate. We don’t care if they get a lot of runs as long as he’s throwing strikes. First batter up, which we think to be close to the heart of their order, he gets up 0-2 before the guy rockets a triple to center. He scores easily when the next guy hits a single. The onslaught continues when the next batter gets a single due to bad fielding. Fortunately only one more runner scores after a grounder to third for an out, a ball down the line at third where Jared astutely gets out a runner going for home and another grounder to third. We’re up 5-3 at the end of 3.
As the fourth starts it looks like it’ll possibly be the last inning based on the time limit. Jeremy Ma then grounds out. Cameron comes through with a bloop single into right and ends up at third when Nick doubles. Cameron scores after Jared grounds out and that’s all we get.
I’m happy to have Jeremy Me up on the mound here. He starts off shaky, however, allowing the first two runners on. They end up scoring, but that’s all they get, including a great play made by Nof to get the third out. Everyone was giving him praise as we went into our team circle at the half inning which was so great to see. He had that smile of pride, where you could just tell how happy he was. It’s moments like that which make me glad to be coaching.
Of course there is still time left to start another inning. It did look real bad at first when Jeremy Me let up those first two hits that we’d have the double whammy of them scoring enough to extend the inning and thus end the game because we couldn’t start a new inning. But fortunately that didn’t happen.
Austin starts off with a walk and a steal. Alec singles him home and gets called out at second trying to get second after they throw home. He overslides the base and gets called out which he was quite upset about. Nothing else going so we now have a 7-5 lead going into the last half inning.
Steve and I had decided that Matt S, who was scheduled, would not pitch if the game was still close. Instead we’d throw Nick. I let Nick know at the start of the half inning that if it was close he’d be pitching. Matt S asks me if he’s going to pitch. He’s been very excited to pitch and his dad is standing close enough to the dugout to overhear what I say to him. And the explanation is “Depends on how many runs we score. I’ve never really seen you pitch and I’m not going to throw you out there for your first chance in a real close game. We’ll go with Nick instead. I want you to be successful and pitching for the first time in a real close game isn’t the right situation. You will, however, pitch in the first or second tomorrow.” Matt was real accepting of this and after the game his dad thanked me for handling it like that.
So Nick is on the mound to save the game for us. And things don’t start well when he hits the first batter. However, that batter gets thrown out by Jeremy Me at third when tries to advance on the next batters single. Nick pretty much settles down after that and we win the game 7-5.
This game was close, and frankly I’m not sure why. We were so much better fundamentally than they were. The real answer, I feel, is that our bats were just not as alive as they had been. Sure we score 7, but we didn’t hit the ball as much and having to go station to station, rather than have some doubles and triples thrown in there, makes life hard.
So far, so well. The only negative of the season is the continued difference between Steve and I over how important winning is versus growth. For Steve all is well as long as we win, and I know that’s just not quite true. Not a big issue while we’re winning, but I’m worried about what will happen if we lose a game or two.
We start off well, with Nick hitting a single. We then proceed to run ragged on their catcher, who is Jesse's little brother from last year, with Nick advancing to third. Jared draws a walk, steals second. Matt S also draws a walk. Nick then scores when Austin is hit by a pitch. During Alec’s at bat Jared scores on a passed ball. Unfortunately even after he walks to load the bases we can’t get anything more going as their pitcher has finally found the strike zone. Still we come out with a 2-0 lead.
Jared is first up on the mound for us. And he starts off with his continuing habit of throwing off the plate. He ends up walking the first guy. However, during that at bat he pitched one high but over plate. I stressed to him that was what we wanted him to do. Just get the ball over, even if it is high. And he settled down some and was able to start to throw some strikes. In pretty ugly fashion, assisted by the fact that he looked to be facing the dregs of their lineup he strikes out the next three. It was a good inning from him and nice to see him have some success.
After Jeremy Me strikes out, Jeremy Ma walks and scores after being advanced to second my Cameron’s single and then home on a double by Nick, which turns into a triple when Cameron is thrown out at the plate (when I sent him) on a close play. Jared strikes out to end the inning.
Jeremy Ma does not start off well, throwing some balls and then hitting the batter. We have a particularly weak infield behind him so he really needs to record some Ks I feel for this not to be a bad inning. The next batter gets on base and the two runners are able to advance when the batter hits the ball back to the pitcher. On the next play there is a wild pitch and a run scores. Next play up there is ANOTHER wild pitch and this time we get the guy out at the plate, which was great to see. This was just one of several good plays made by Austin behind the plate. He was great at getting the mask off real quickly, was real nice. This helps him with his ability to catch popup fouls that most catchers at this age don’t have a prayer with. He didn’t catch any today but he will. Anyhow after that wild play the batter is walked and ends up at third on some steals, but Jeremy strikes out the batter to end the inning. 3-1 Sox
In a continuing theme Matt S starts off the inning by getting hit by a pitch. When Austin grounds out to first he advances to second and is then thrown out steal third. The kid should never steal a base but since we preach aggressiveness it’s hard to criticize him there. Nof then hits a double scoring Alec. Sean walks. Jeremy F hits a single scoring Nof, but our rally is ended when Jeremy Me grounds out to end the inning.
Our big question mark is now on the mound: Nof. As he finishes his warm ups I express to him how important it is to just get the ball over the plate. We don’t care if they get a lot of runs as long as he’s throwing strikes. First batter up, which we think to be close to the heart of their order, he gets up 0-2 before the guy rockets a triple to center. He scores easily when the next guy hits a single. The onslaught continues when the next batter gets a single due to bad fielding. Fortunately only one more runner scores after a grounder to third for an out, a ball down the line at third where Jared astutely gets out a runner going for home and another grounder to third. We’re up 5-3 at the end of 3.
As the fourth starts it looks like it’ll possibly be the last inning based on the time limit. Jeremy Ma then grounds out. Cameron comes through with a bloop single into right and ends up at third when Nick doubles. Cameron scores after Jared grounds out and that’s all we get.
I’m happy to have Jeremy Me up on the mound here. He starts off shaky, however, allowing the first two runners on. They end up scoring, but that’s all they get, including a great play made by Nof to get the third out. Everyone was giving him praise as we went into our team circle at the half inning which was so great to see. He had that smile of pride, where you could just tell how happy he was. It’s moments like that which make me glad to be coaching.
Of course there is still time left to start another inning. It did look real bad at first when Jeremy Me let up those first two hits that we’d have the double whammy of them scoring enough to extend the inning and thus end the game because we couldn’t start a new inning. But fortunately that didn’t happen.
Austin starts off with a walk and a steal. Alec singles him home and gets called out at second trying to get second after they throw home. He overslides the base and gets called out which he was quite upset about. Nothing else going so we now have a 7-5 lead going into the last half inning.
Steve and I had decided that Matt S, who was scheduled, would not pitch if the game was still close. Instead we’d throw Nick. I let Nick know at the start of the half inning that if it was close he’d be pitching. Matt S asks me if he’s going to pitch. He’s been very excited to pitch and his dad is standing close enough to the dugout to overhear what I say to him. And the explanation is “Depends on how many runs we score. I’ve never really seen you pitch and I’m not going to throw you out there for your first chance in a real close game. We’ll go with Nick instead. I want you to be successful and pitching for the first time in a real close game isn’t the right situation. You will, however, pitch in the first or second tomorrow.” Matt was real accepting of this and after the game his dad thanked me for handling it like that.
So Nick is on the mound to save the game for us. And things don’t start well when he hits the first batter. However, that batter gets thrown out by Jeremy Me at third when tries to advance on the next batters single. Nick pretty much settles down after that and we win the game 7-5.
This game was close, and frankly I’m not sure why. We were so much better fundamentally than they were. The real answer, I feel, is that our bats were just not as alive as they had been. Sure we score 7, but we didn’t hit the ball as much and having to go station to station, rather than have some doubles and triples thrown in there, makes life hard.
So far, so well. The only negative of the season is the continued difference between Steve and I over how important winning is versus growth. For Steve all is well as long as we win, and I know that’s just not quite true. Not a big issue while we’re winning, but I’m worried about what will happen if we lose a game or two.
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