Saturday begins our playoffs. We were fortunate to receive a bye, as the brackets are done randomly. There is a good news bad news aspect to that, however. If we lose our first game we’re out of the playoffs. Teams that had a first round game get a consolation game. The good news, of course, is that if we win the first game we either get to play in the championship game or in a 3rd/4th place game.
We will be playing either the Marlins or the Angels for our first game. These would not be the teams I’d pick. We beat the Marlins rather decisively in one game and they beat us even more decisively in the second game we played. The Angels, on the other hand, are the only team we haven’t played, so we have no idea what to expect against them. Our second round game will be against either the A’s or the Orioles, both teams I’m pretty confident we could beat. But even if we don’t we’ll get another game. I just feel like we have such a good team this year, especially after the disaster that was last year, and will admit that I’ll be disappointed if we flame out n the first round.
The rules do change during the playoffs. Where as normally we play either 6 innings, starting no inning after an hour and a half, for the playoffs we play 6 innings. The big “controversy” this year is over a change of the 2-2-1-1 rule. In the regular season a team has to use at least 4 pitchers. However, for the playoffs Kevin decided to change things to a 2-2-2, cutting a pitcher out of the equation. This means teams that have three dominating pitchers have a big advantage over a team like ours where we rely on a bunch of different kids a little.
In order to avoid flaming out in the first round we not going to repeat last year’s mistake of saving our best pitcher for the last two innings. So Jeremy Ma is going to get the start. For the play-offs, as I’ll discuss shortly, you’re allowed to change your lineup for each game. This means that Jeremy should be facing the best players on their team, but hopefully he’ll bring his best stuff.
After two innings of Jeremy our plan is a little more flexible. I think our current plan is to do Jared for an inning or two followed by Justin, who might finish out the start of Jared’s inning and then pitch one of his own or just pitch one of his own, and then to have Jeremy Me ready for the 6th inning save. This leaves Nick out of the equation which might not make sense, because if he can find the strike zone he’s, hands down, our second best pitcher in terms of “stuff”. At the same time having a pitcher in reserve seems like a good thing, as we saw with Nick’s last performance.
Pitching Jared second is important because it will allow him to catch AFTER he’s pitched. Steve and I have agreed that until the last game on Sunday, if we get there, we want to limit our pitchers and catchers to no more than 3 innings combined between the two. That means if we’ll want to use Jared for two innings behind the plate, which I think we will, he’ll pitch just one. We can get an inning from Jeremy Ma, an inning or two from Jeremy Me, which means we’ll be relying on Alec for an inning behind the plate, which is hardly my favorite solution. All things being equal he’ll likely catch the first inning of Jeremy Ma, and I don’t know what after that. Having a catcher who catches the balls means more strikes. It’s not that Alec doesn’t catch the ball, but then again it’s not like he really does either.
In the field certain kids will be slotted into certain spots as well. Noff, for instance, has proven to be incredibly heads up at second base and we’re excited to put him there. Other kids will be more of a mystery. First base itself is a bit of a mystery. Jeremy F and Matt S both like playing there. Are they considerable downgrades from other options? I’m not sure. At the same time I don’t really feel good about them there. It’s likely Jeremy F will see some time there cause I feel considerably worse about putting him elsewhere. Matt S remains a bit of an enigma.
The nice thing is that we will only have to sit two an inning on Saturday, which makes scheduling SO much easier. The bad news is that we are sitting two an inning because Cameron will not be there. This is a major minus when it comes to our hitting. He is arguably the best hitter on the team and it’s not easy to just replace that. Though Cameron has been in a bit of a slump lately. I think the leadoff position is just not the right spot for him. However, it is perfect for Jeremy Ma who draws a lot of walks. After that I think we’re looking at something along the lines of Nick, Jared, Jeremy Me, Jeremy F. At the bottom of the lineup we’ve got (going up) Noff, Sean, and Matt S. That leaves Austin, Alec, and Justin somewhere in the middle. The nice thing is that unlike last year we don’t really have a part where we can’t count on ANY hits. If we can make their pitcher throw a lot of pitches in the first inning I really feel like we could do some damage in the second.
So I enter this weekend upbeat and hopeful, though quite nervous. I had some unease when we were entering the basketball tourney, but I knew we were still a favorite to get to the championship game. Here, I feel like we have the talent, but we’re not SO much better than the field that we’ll need some luck, or to at least avoid bad luck, to go forward.
I’m not sure if I’ll update Saturday or after the weekend on how we do, but you can count on a full report.
Showing posts with label Nick. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Nick. Show all posts
Friday, June 8, 2007
Wednesday, June 6, 2007
Game versus Cubs
Our last game of the regular season was a good one and so I think we’ll go inning by inning for this one.
Pre-Game
One of the schools had an event last night and of course we have three players from that school so we had just nine players, with Sean, Jeremy F, and Noff all missing. We decided that we were going to give Jared the chance to go two that he didn’t have on Saturday and also we wanted to give Nick one more shot, though under some pretty controlled conditions. Having only 9 players was nice for them since it meant a lot of opportunities to play the infield. Last time we played the Cubs we scored a whole bunch in the top of the 6th inning to come back and win the game by a run. We started the game late because the ump went to the wrong field.
The Game
Austin and Cameron both started off the game with strike-outs. Nick singled and then managed to steal second and third. Unfortunately, Mandel got robbed by the shortstop on a liner and so we don’t score in the inning. After recording two outs, the Cubs manage to load the bases on Jared, before a dribbler back to him at the mound which gets us the third out. 0-0 after 1
They switch pitchers here and we take advantage with a single by Justin, who steals second. When he steals third they over throw the third baseman, on a throw that shouldn’t have been made, and so we get a run and essentially a new inning. Alec strikes out. Jeremy Me singles, gets to second when Jared walks. He steals third and is singled home by Matt S. Austin then singles home Jared, before Cameron grounds out to end the inning. 3-0 BoSox
Jared gets a nice brake when Austin comes up with a well hit ball into center. The next batter rockets a double into deep left, which Cameron does a nice job of getting to and getting back in. Jared hits the next batter. The player on second then steals third on a wild pitch. Next pitch gets by Jeremy Me, who easily recovers the ball. He likely could have made the tag by himself, but he tosses it to Jared who just barely misses the tag. Jared bares down and strikes out that batter and gets the next batter to ground to first. 3-1 after two.
The supposed heart of our order, Nick, Jeremy Ma, and Justin, go down 1-2-3 including 2 strikeouts against the same pitcher we saw in the second. On comes Nick. Nick once again has a rough outing. He ends up lasting only six batters, walking four striking out two. So much for his going two innings. We bring in Justin who strikes out a player to end the inning. Only one run from that inning is fortunate and we maintain a 3-2 lead.
The next inning we stake off. Alec, Jeremy Me, and Jared all hit doubles, followed by a single by Matt S which drives in Jared for our third run. Austin hits into a double play and while Cameron singles Nick pops out. Still we get 3 more runs and go up 6-2.
Justin comes in for his second inning, strikes out the first batter, gets lucky when the second batter CRUSHES the ball, but it hits a tree giving Jeremy Me just enough time to catch the ball for out two. While the next batter walks, the last batter lines out to Justin at the mound. Justin looked very sharp in his inning and a third.
We go down in order in the 5th. The ump has to ump the next game and wants this to be the last inning. However, when Jeremy Ma mows them down, I point out that if we had started on time we still wouldn’t have hit an hour and a half of play time. I get him to agree to play the sixth. While Jeremy Me singles to start things off, we don’t do anything else.
In comes Jeremy Me with a four run lead to protect. And basically our fielding falls apart. There is just one bad fielding play after another. On one Alec calls for a ball which he can’t get to, but Cameron or Justin would have been able to get to. So that’s a hit. On another, it goes through Cameron’s legs at short on a not particularly well hit ball, he simply didn’t get down. On yet another Jeremy Ma fails to come up with a throw at first. Three runs end up scoring before we can get things back into control and we come away with a 6-5 victory. Jeremy Me pitched incredibly well, facing 8 batters on only 17 pitches. Our defense simply failed to come through for him.
Post Game
I give a very upbeat talk about how we played well. And even when things started to go poorly we didn’t lose our cool and we prevailed. We gave the game ball to Alec. Everyone felt real good going into the playoffs which is great. The twin’s mother took the time after the game to thank us for all that we’ve done with them which was real nice of her to do. Also nice was that Steve and I ran into Cameron and his mother at the restaurant we’d gone to after the game and so we had a great dinner talking to him and his mother.
There’ll be another update tomorrow as I outline the playoffs and how we’re approaching them.
Pre-Game
One of the schools had an event last night and of course we have three players from that school so we had just nine players, with Sean, Jeremy F, and Noff all missing. We decided that we were going to give Jared the chance to go two that he didn’t have on Saturday and also we wanted to give Nick one more shot, though under some pretty controlled conditions. Having only 9 players was nice for them since it meant a lot of opportunities to play the infield. Last time we played the Cubs we scored a whole bunch in the top of the 6th inning to come back and win the game by a run. We started the game late because the ump went to the wrong field.
The Game
Austin and Cameron both started off the game with strike-outs. Nick singled and then managed to steal second and third. Unfortunately, Mandel got robbed by the shortstop on a liner and so we don’t score in the inning. After recording two outs, the Cubs manage to load the bases on Jared, before a dribbler back to him at the mound which gets us the third out. 0-0 after 1
They switch pitchers here and we take advantage with a single by Justin, who steals second. When he steals third they over throw the third baseman, on a throw that shouldn’t have been made, and so we get a run and essentially a new inning. Alec strikes out. Jeremy Me singles, gets to second when Jared walks. He steals third and is singled home by Matt S. Austin then singles home Jared, before Cameron grounds out to end the inning. 3-0 BoSox
Jared gets a nice brake when Austin comes up with a well hit ball into center. The next batter rockets a double into deep left, which Cameron does a nice job of getting to and getting back in. Jared hits the next batter. The player on second then steals third on a wild pitch. Next pitch gets by Jeremy Me, who easily recovers the ball. He likely could have made the tag by himself, but he tosses it to Jared who just barely misses the tag. Jared bares down and strikes out that batter and gets the next batter to ground to first. 3-1 after two.
The supposed heart of our order, Nick, Jeremy Ma, and Justin, go down 1-2-3 including 2 strikeouts against the same pitcher we saw in the second. On comes Nick. Nick once again has a rough outing. He ends up lasting only six batters, walking four striking out two. So much for his going two innings. We bring in Justin who strikes out a player to end the inning. Only one run from that inning is fortunate and we maintain a 3-2 lead.
The next inning we stake off. Alec, Jeremy Me, and Jared all hit doubles, followed by a single by Matt S which drives in Jared for our third run. Austin hits into a double play and while Cameron singles Nick pops out. Still we get 3 more runs and go up 6-2.
Justin comes in for his second inning, strikes out the first batter, gets lucky when the second batter CRUSHES the ball, but it hits a tree giving Jeremy Me just enough time to catch the ball for out two. While the next batter walks, the last batter lines out to Justin at the mound. Justin looked very sharp in his inning and a third.
We go down in order in the 5th. The ump has to ump the next game and wants this to be the last inning. However, when Jeremy Ma mows them down, I point out that if we had started on time we still wouldn’t have hit an hour and a half of play time. I get him to agree to play the sixth. While Jeremy Me singles to start things off, we don’t do anything else.
In comes Jeremy Me with a four run lead to protect. And basically our fielding falls apart. There is just one bad fielding play after another. On one Alec calls for a ball which he can’t get to, but Cameron or Justin would have been able to get to. So that’s a hit. On another, it goes through Cameron’s legs at short on a not particularly well hit ball, he simply didn’t get down. On yet another Jeremy Ma fails to come up with a throw at first. Three runs end up scoring before we can get things back into control and we come away with a 6-5 victory. Jeremy Me pitched incredibly well, facing 8 batters on only 17 pitches. Our defense simply failed to come through for him.
Post Game
I give a very upbeat talk about how we played well. And even when things started to go poorly we didn’t lose our cool and we prevailed. We gave the game ball to Alec. Everyone felt real good going into the playoffs which is great. The twin’s mother took the time after the game to thank us for all that we’ve done with them which was real nice of her to do. Also nice was that Steve and I ran into Cameron and his mother at the restaurant we’d gone to after the game and so we had a great dinner talking to him and his mother.
There’ll be another update tomorrow as I outline the playoffs and how we’re approaching them.
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.
Monday, April 30, 2007
Cubs vs. Red Sox
We are facing the Cubs today. We had practiced with them on Tuesday and they were also 2-0 entering the game. However, they’d allowed almost no runs in their first few games, which was more impressive, to me, than their victories.
We’re the away team so we’re up to bat first. We get a couple of base runners with two outs but Alec ends the inning with a strikeout. Jeremy Ma throws a great inning sending them down 1-2-3 on only 9 pitches.
Second inning starts off with a couple of strikeouts, as they have the same pitcher in there from the first inning. However, after Jeremy F draws a walk and steals second, Jeremy Me drives him home with a double. They come out strong and score 2 putting us down 2-1.
We start to get things going with Cameron drawing a walk, and Nick singling him over to third. They have a very bad catcher in there and so after Jared lines out to the pitcher, who caught the ball more out of self defense than anything. If it had gotten by him it’d have been a two run single, easily. Anyhow, I convince Cameron to steal home next time the ball gets by the catcher. All goes well and Cameron will be safe, except he doesn’t slide and so he gets called out. Matt S then flies out left to end the inning. Their coach commented to me that this inning could have gone real poorly for them.
Nick comes in and on only 16 pitches strikes out the side, including have walked a guy. The big test for him will come next inning, as we’ve seen that he can just dominate the first inning he throws, the question is if he can keep it together for a second inning. When I told him before the game that he’d be pitching two, he was pleased but told me that if starts walking people to take him out. I assured him, that he’d be pulled pretty quickly if it looked like he didn’t have it for two innings. Anyhow, after 3 it’s still 2-1 Cubs.
We continue not to get anything going in the fourth. Fortunately, Nick does not need to be pulled as he strikes out the first two, lets up a single, however Jeremy Ma, playing catcher, throws out a guy who attempts to steal second ending the inning.
In the 5th we should have just gone to town. Jeremy F singles and proceeds to steal first. Jeremy Me then walks. Jeremy F steals third, the throw goes wild and Jeremy F gets a run. After Jeremy Ma walks, Jeremy Me, tries to steal third but gets thrown out. I would not have had him steal there, but don’t say anything since I hadn’t told him not to and we’ve been preaching aggressive base running. Jeremy Ma does advance to second. I then tell Jeremy Ma not to steal unless I tell him to, as their catcher has figured things out and I don’t want to risk us losing a big inning. So of course, Jeremy Ma on the first passed ball attempts to steal and gets thrown out. I was really upset with him about this, as not only did he ignore what I had said to do, but should have seen on his own that we just had a guy thrown out at third attempting to do the same thing. We do score Cameron after he walks, and is then driven home by Nick, who gets a legitimate double but ends up on third after some astute base running when the Cubs are sloppy getting the ball back to the mound. The inning ends, however. Good news is that we’re now up 3-2.
Cameron is now on the mound for us and things do not go particularly well. As in he walks the first three guys he faces. This then causes Steve and I some consternation about who to bring in if we need to pull him. We can either bring in Jeremy Me, who is scheduled to pitch the sixth making him ineligible to pitch there, or bring in Jared who is likely to be just as shaky as Cameron. Fortunately, Cameron settles down and strikes out the next batter. When the bases got loaded Jared, as shortstop, called out to throw home if they had the play. I immediately correct him and say “throw to an infield base” as we have Matt S catching and I don’t trust his ability to make the play. So of course when the next guy hits a ball right to Jared, Jared comes up with it and rockets it home instead of going to first or third, both of which would have been easy outs. Matt S, misses it and so instead of out 2 we now have the bases still loaded and only 1 out. Cameron strikes out the next guy. Which makes the fact that the next kid comes up and rockets a ball into the outfield all the more tragic. They tried to stretch out a triple, and we’d have gotten the out at third, except that Sean wasn’t covering the base. Fortunately the next kid flies out to end the inning. Still we are now down 7-3, when we might have gotten out of the inning with a tied ball game.
Life doesn’t start out well when their pitcher gets the balls over the plate and strikes out Matt S. However, after the pitcher hits Austin (in the groin), he becomes rattled. We then start a rally. Alec singles. Nof hits a double driving in Austin. Jereremy F singles, scoring another. Jeremy Me doubles, as does Jeremy Ma, giving us three more. We now are up 8-7 going into the bottom of the sixth.
Once again Jeremy Me is called up on to save the game for us. And while they do manage to get runners on second and third, Jeremy Me takes care of business striking out the last two players. We win in an another squeaker.
After the game, Steve and I disagree. Since we won, all is good for Steve. I feel like we had several mental errors, and our throws are still not as accurate as they should be. I know that if we’d lost the game, I’d have felt more positive about it than Steve. He’s pretty results driven, where as I try to see the good in loses and the not so good (if it’s there) in victory. Anyhow, game ball goes to Nick for his commanding two inning performance.
Good news is that, weather permitting, we’ll have two games this week as they made Wednesday’s practice into a game. Tomorrow’s forecast calls for thunderstorms, but hopefully they won’t come around here.
We’re the away team so we’re up to bat first. We get a couple of base runners with two outs but Alec ends the inning with a strikeout. Jeremy Ma throws a great inning sending them down 1-2-3 on only 9 pitches.
Second inning starts off with a couple of strikeouts, as they have the same pitcher in there from the first inning. However, after Jeremy F draws a walk and steals second, Jeremy Me drives him home with a double. They come out strong and score 2 putting us down 2-1.
We start to get things going with Cameron drawing a walk, and Nick singling him over to third. They have a very bad catcher in there and so after Jared lines out to the pitcher, who caught the ball more out of self defense than anything. If it had gotten by him it’d have been a two run single, easily. Anyhow, I convince Cameron to steal home next time the ball gets by the catcher. All goes well and Cameron will be safe, except he doesn’t slide and so he gets called out. Matt S then flies out left to end the inning. Their coach commented to me that this inning could have gone real poorly for them.
Nick comes in and on only 16 pitches strikes out the side, including have walked a guy. The big test for him will come next inning, as we’ve seen that he can just dominate the first inning he throws, the question is if he can keep it together for a second inning. When I told him before the game that he’d be pitching two, he was pleased but told me that if starts walking people to take him out. I assured him, that he’d be pulled pretty quickly if it looked like he didn’t have it for two innings. Anyhow, after 3 it’s still 2-1 Cubs.
We continue not to get anything going in the fourth. Fortunately, Nick does not need to be pulled as he strikes out the first two, lets up a single, however Jeremy Ma, playing catcher, throws out a guy who attempts to steal second ending the inning.
In the 5th we should have just gone to town. Jeremy F singles and proceeds to steal first. Jeremy Me then walks. Jeremy F steals third, the throw goes wild and Jeremy F gets a run. After Jeremy Ma walks, Jeremy Me, tries to steal third but gets thrown out. I would not have had him steal there, but don’t say anything since I hadn’t told him not to and we’ve been preaching aggressive base running. Jeremy Ma does advance to second. I then tell Jeremy Ma not to steal unless I tell him to, as their catcher has figured things out and I don’t want to risk us losing a big inning. So of course, Jeremy Ma on the first passed ball attempts to steal and gets thrown out. I was really upset with him about this, as not only did he ignore what I had said to do, but should have seen on his own that we just had a guy thrown out at third attempting to do the same thing. We do score Cameron after he walks, and is then driven home by Nick, who gets a legitimate double but ends up on third after some astute base running when the Cubs are sloppy getting the ball back to the mound. The inning ends, however. Good news is that we’re now up 3-2.
Cameron is now on the mound for us and things do not go particularly well. As in he walks the first three guys he faces. This then causes Steve and I some consternation about who to bring in if we need to pull him. We can either bring in Jeremy Me, who is scheduled to pitch the sixth making him ineligible to pitch there, or bring in Jared who is likely to be just as shaky as Cameron. Fortunately, Cameron settles down and strikes out the next batter. When the bases got loaded Jared, as shortstop, called out to throw home if they had the play. I immediately correct him and say “throw to an infield base” as we have Matt S catching and I don’t trust his ability to make the play. So of course when the next guy hits a ball right to Jared, Jared comes up with it and rockets it home instead of going to first or third, both of which would have been easy outs. Matt S, misses it and so instead of out 2 we now have the bases still loaded and only 1 out. Cameron strikes out the next guy. Which makes the fact that the next kid comes up and rockets a ball into the outfield all the more tragic. They tried to stretch out a triple, and we’d have gotten the out at third, except that Sean wasn’t covering the base. Fortunately the next kid flies out to end the inning. Still we are now down 7-3, when we might have gotten out of the inning with a tied ball game.
Life doesn’t start out well when their pitcher gets the balls over the plate and strikes out Matt S. However, after the pitcher hits Austin (in the groin), he becomes rattled. We then start a rally. Alec singles. Nof hits a double driving in Austin. Jereremy F singles, scoring another. Jeremy Me doubles, as does Jeremy Ma, giving us three more. We now are up 8-7 going into the bottom of the sixth.
Once again Jeremy Me is called up on to save the game for us. And while they do manage to get runners on second and third, Jeremy Me takes care of business striking out the last two players. We win in an another squeaker.
After the game, Steve and I disagree. Since we won, all is good for Steve. I feel like we had several mental errors, and our throws are still not as accurate as they should be. I know that if we’d lost the game, I’d have felt more positive about it than Steve. He’s pretty results driven, where as I try to see the good in loses and the not so good (if it’s there) in victory. Anyhow, game ball goes to Nick for his commanding two inning performance.
Good news is that, weather permitting, we’ll have two games this week as they made Wednesday’s practice into a game. Tomorrow’s forecast calls for thunderstorms, but hopefully they won’t come around here.
Saturday, April 21, 2007
BoSox vs. Yankees
Pre-Game
Steve and I were hanging out the night before and so we ended up making the lineups Friday night. Jeremy Ma was going to be unable to attend since we was going to the Bulls/Heat playoff game, lucky guy. We decided that we wanted to continue trying lots of different kids in different spots. We also agreed to give Jared and Austin a chance to pitch. All of our kids would see three innings of infield in the game if we went the full sixth, a possibility given the nice forecast, which we felt real good about.
Our team arrived early and with energy for our second game. I did some work before the game with Jared on his pitching. He didn’t look particularly strong. I changed him from working out of the windup to working out of the stretch. Still could have been far better. I need to really brush up on my pitching instruction since I’ve not been able to give the sort of specific tips to my pitchers that I’d like to be able to do.
The Game
The other game ends and we’re up to bat, facing the Yankees. We go down 1-2-3, though with no strike outs which is good. We gave Jared the start since we want to use him at catcher and it’s good, we’ve learned, to have them pitch before catching. Based on our work before the game, I knew that it could get real ugly. Sure enough he walks the first batter and second batter after going to full counts each time. He induces the next batter to ground out to second before walking two more. At this point he’s reached his limit and so I have to pull him, having also walked in a run. In comes Justin, who was scheduled to pitch the second. I feel good about Justin pitching as we know he’ll get the ball over. He lives up to our expectations, striking out the first batter, and doing the old ground-out to center (there was a force at second). Still they score 1 and we once again will have to play from behind.
Fortunately, we’re not behind for too long. After Matt A (who’s been nicknamed Noff) gets a walk, Sean hits into a fielder’s choice getting Noff out at second. Jeremy F then singles. Jeremy M singles in Sean. Jeremy F is now at third. It is here that I learn that he’s an absolute nervous nelly on the basepaths. He’s just terrified of getting out. To the point where he won’t even lead off at third. It doesn’t batter as after Cameron walks, Justin hits into a fielders choice scoring Jeremy. Nick ends the inning with a ground out and we capture the lead 2-1.
Justin comes back in and after allowing a walk to the first batter gets the next three out so we maintain our lead. Jared starts our inning with a strike out. Matt S then hits a hard hit ball that gets underneath their shortstops glove for a single. He ends up scoring after advancing to second on a fielders choice and a single by Alec.
We have another new pitcher in Austin, who we have throw to his brother. This is an unmitigated disaster. While Justin showed some signs of progress, Austin is a long way from being a pitcher we can use. After four consecutive walks, we use Cameron in relief. Cameron looks a lot better than he did in the first game. It looks like we might get away with only allowing one run, until one of their guys hits a base clearing triple. We end up allowing four runs giving them a 5-4 lead.
We need some runs in the fourth and Sean starts things out well by getting a single. He then steals second. I tell him to steal a half second too late, on a particularly poor catcher, and he gets called out, just barely. Whoops. Anyhow, Jeremy F then hits a single, steals second and third. Jeremy M unfortunately pops up to the pitcher for the second out. Cameron walks, and steals second easily, which is nice because Justin then drives in Jeremy, advancing Cameron to third. Nick hits another single driving in Justin. Jared continues our little rally, but unfortunately Matt grounds out to the pitcher. However, we’ve recaptured the lead, 6-5, Bo Sox. The bottom of the inning, with our ace pitcher Nick, goes as expected with his striking out the side on 14 pitches.
We then continue our offensive spurt scoring four more thanks to singles by Austin and Alec, a walk by Sean, a triple by Jeremy F, on a hit that he just laced, who scores on a single by Jeremy M. Four more runs gives us a 10-5 lead. The bottom of the fifth is going to be our last inning. We’ve got our best pitcher up. I’m thinking the game is in the bag. Except it just doesn’t happen that way. Nick gets a couple of bad calls on some strikes. This isn’t helped by the fact that Matt S, who is catching, isn’t a particularly good catcher. Nothing is working for Nick and we eventually have to pull him, with the bases loaded, only one out and having already surrendered 3 runs. In comes Jeremy M. His dad made a big deal the first day we met him how we pitched in relief last year. When he gets to the mound I ask him what we’re expecting him to do. He tells me “close the game”. I agree that is what we’re asking, but I ask him how he’s going to do that. He tells me “throw strikes”. I agree that this is the way. I tell him not to worry about letting them hit the ball, just to get it over the plate. He promptly ignores my advice (ok not really) and strikes out the first batter. This then brings up the strongest player on their team. On a 2-2 count the kid gets a hold of the ball. Fortunately Jared is out in left. He tracks down the ball and we escape with another win.
Post Game thoughts
The game ball went to Jeremy F, who was 3-3 including his great triple. He’s a nervous kid and I’m real glad he had some success today. Austin and Alec are going to need a lot of work on their hitting, as they’re just ugly to watch right now.
At catcher, Jared remains our strongest catcher, with Sean our second best catcher there today (Jeremy Ma might be better). Alec didn’t look nearly as good today and Matt S looked bad. Matt S really has a desire to play the position so it looks like he’s going to be Steve’s project this year.
Our fielding remains strong, with only one error, by Jeremy F at short, while our throwing could use some work. We’ll do some of that at our next practice, of course.
Overall, we continued to hit well today. Considering we had to remove three pitchers because they had walked four batters, to come away with the victory is just wonderful. I think we’re really starting to get a feel for who we can count on as pitchers and who we won’t be able to. Steve and I remain very upbeat about what we’ll able to achieve this year.
Steve and I were hanging out the night before and so we ended up making the lineups Friday night. Jeremy Ma was going to be unable to attend since we was going to the Bulls/Heat playoff game, lucky guy. We decided that we wanted to continue trying lots of different kids in different spots. We also agreed to give Jared and Austin a chance to pitch. All of our kids would see three innings of infield in the game if we went the full sixth, a possibility given the nice forecast, which we felt real good about.
Our team arrived early and with energy for our second game. I did some work before the game with Jared on his pitching. He didn’t look particularly strong. I changed him from working out of the windup to working out of the stretch. Still could have been far better. I need to really brush up on my pitching instruction since I’ve not been able to give the sort of specific tips to my pitchers that I’d like to be able to do.
The Game
The other game ends and we’re up to bat, facing the Yankees. We go down 1-2-3, though with no strike outs which is good. We gave Jared the start since we want to use him at catcher and it’s good, we’ve learned, to have them pitch before catching. Based on our work before the game, I knew that it could get real ugly. Sure enough he walks the first batter and second batter after going to full counts each time. He induces the next batter to ground out to second before walking two more. At this point he’s reached his limit and so I have to pull him, having also walked in a run. In comes Justin, who was scheduled to pitch the second. I feel good about Justin pitching as we know he’ll get the ball over. He lives up to our expectations, striking out the first batter, and doing the old ground-out to center (there was a force at second). Still they score 1 and we once again will have to play from behind.
Fortunately, we’re not behind for too long. After Matt A (who’s been nicknamed Noff) gets a walk, Sean hits into a fielder’s choice getting Noff out at second. Jeremy F then singles. Jeremy M singles in Sean. Jeremy F is now at third. It is here that I learn that he’s an absolute nervous nelly on the basepaths. He’s just terrified of getting out. To the point where he won’t even lead off at third. It doesn’t batter as after Cameron walks, Justin hits into a fielders choice scoring Jeremy. Nick ends the inning with a ground out and we capture the lead 2-1.
Justin comes back in and after allowing a walk to the first batter gets the next three out so we maintain our lead. Jared starts our inning with a strike out. Matt S then hits a hard hit ball that gets underneath their shortstops glove for a single. He ends up scoring after advancing to second on a fielders choice and a single by Alec.
We have another new pitcher in Austin, who we have throw to his brother. This is an unmitigated disaster. While Justin showed some signs of progress, Austin is a long way from being a pitcher we can use. After four consecutive walks, we use Cameron in relief. Cameron looks a lot better than he did in the first game. It looks like we might get away with only allowing one run, until one of their guys hits a base clearing triple. We end up allowing four runs giving them a 5-4 lead.
We need some runs in the fourth and Sean starts things out well by getting a single. He then steals second. I tell him to steal a half second too late, on a particularly poor catcher, and he gets called out, just barely. Whoops. Anyhow, Jeremy F then hits a single, steals second and third. Jeremy M unfortunately pops up to the pitcher for the second out. Cameron walks, and steals second easily, which is nice because Justin then drives in Jeremy, advancing Cameron to third. Nick hits another single driving in Justin. Jared continues our little rally, but unfortunately Matt grounds out to the pitcher. However, we’ve recaptured the lead, 6-5, Bo Sox. The bottom of the inning, with our ace pitcher Nick, goes as expected with his striking out the side on 14 pitches.
We then continue our offensive spurt scoring four more thanks to singles by Austin and Alec, a walk by Sean, a triple by Jeremy F, on a hit that he just laced, who scores on a single by Jeremy M. Four more runs gives us a 10-5 lead. The bottom of the fifth is going to be our last inning. We’ve got our best pitcher up. I’m thinking the game is in the bag. Except it just doesn’t happen that way. Nick gets a couple of bad calls on some strikes. This isn’t helped by the fact that Matt S, who is catching, isn’t a particularly good catcher. Nothing is working for Nick and we eventually have to pull him, with the bases loaded, only one out and having already surrendered 3 runs. In comes Jeremy M. His dad made a big deal the first day we met him how we pitched in relief last year. When he gets to the mound I ask him what we’re expecting him to do. He tells me “close the game”. I agree that is what we’re asking, but I ask him how he’s going to do that. He tells me “throw strikes”. I agree that this is the way. I tell him not to worry about letting them hit the ball, just to get it over the plate. He promptly ignores my advice (ok not really) and strikes out the first batter. This then brings up the strongest player on their team. On a 2-2 count the kid gets a hold of the ball. Fortunately Jared is out in left. He tracks down the ball and we escape with another win.
Post Game thoughts
The game ball went to Jeremy F, who was 3-3 including his great triple. He’s a nervous kid and I’m real glad he had some success today. Austin and Alec are going to need a lot of work on their hitting, as they’re just ugly to watch right now.
At catcher, Jared remains our strongest catcher, with Sean our second best catcher there today (Jeremy Ma might be better). Alec didn’t look nearly as good today and Matt S looked bad. Matt S really has a desire to play the position so it looks like he’s going to be Steve’s project this year.
Our fielding remains strong, with only one error, by Jeremy F at short, while our throwing could use some work. We’ll do some of that at our next practice, of course.
Overall, we continued to hit well today. Considering we had to remove three pitchers because they had walked four batters, to come away with the victory is just wonderful. I think we’re really starting to get a feel for who we can count on as pitchers and who we won’t be able to. Steve and I remain very upbeat about what we’ll able to achieve this year.
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