Sunday should have been our first game. Because of a work commitment I was getting to the game exactly at the time I had asked the team to be there by (I generally try and be the first person there). I find out that there is no one at the school to lower the baskets or turn on the lights. The coach of the team we were playing at attempted to find another place to play or a way to get someone to set-up this gym, but it was to no avail. Our parents were very nice about the whole thing. The good news for me was that I used the half hour while the other coach was trying to figure stuff out to hold an impromptu practice. We did some good work running our offense. It still looks very chaotic. But there was far more purpose in their movement. I still worry about our defense, as it has continued to not receive the attention it deserves.

We didn’t do any explicit man to man work at yesterday’s practice either. However, it was a good practice. With the beginning of the season a lot of the practice had been slower paced than I would have liked. This was still somewhat true yesterday as we spent about 25 minutes doing goal setting, after our Fundamental Five on the triple threat position. However, after that it was a very active practice. We did our shooting continuous motion. It was quite revealing to see just how poor some of their forms are. Grant in particular does a lot of chest shooting. I purposefully ran the continuous motion before having done any real shooting work, because I wanted to see where they were as a baseline. The good news was that a few were able to make some minor adjustments as they went on, both on their own and from my suggestions, and were able to end better than they started.

Following a water break we, we did Champs and Chumps with the Mikan drill. Champs and Chumps is basically where there is some sort of 1 on 1 contest and after a round, the winner moves up to a “higher” court while the loser moves down. Seth and Alec both excelled here, while Leo, someone who based on his size I need playing at least defense against bigger guys, did not.

Finally we played 3 on 2/2 on 3. In this drill 3 of the players from a team are on one half of a court, the other 2 on the other half. The 3 players are on the offensive side, so when they have the ball it’s 3 on 2, with a 15 second shot clock. When the 2 have the ball, their goal is to get it past half court, with each of the 2 people having to touch the ball in bounds. It’s a good drill to teach some skills of what not to do when getting pressed, while also teaching how to trap and take advantage of a 3 on 2. Mason got killed in this drill, while Alec, Austin, and Michael showed some good stuff.

It was then time to go. It was good practice, because I feel I was much better about giving instruction and making sure they knew what they were learning. We debriefed, for instance, after 3 on 2/2 on 3 to talk about some of the things they had learned. I will then take the lessons they talked about and explain to them how the press break they’re going to learn (next Monday probably) applies those principles.

I feel better about our game Wednesday in terms of where we are at after our practice yesterday and our session on Sunday. We’re playing a team which is physically big, so it should be interesting.

Playoff Preview

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.

Game versus White Sox

Well it seems fitting that after one of our best games of the season we come out and have trouble. The pitching was about what I expected. Well Nick in the first let up more than I’d have expected but that was due to Matt S catching him more than anything. Alec actually did better than I was expected and settled down after the first few batters. He was also helped out when Noff made a great play on a ball hit to him at second, tagging a runner going to second before throwing to first for the double play. Speaking of Noff he pitched his normal way, which is he gets the ball over the plate though he will be hit (he averages less than a walk an inning but about 3 hits an inning). Jeremy Me also had a nice inning in the fifth striking out two and basically looking in command the whole time, though he did allow a walk and a hit. Matt S, however, did not pitch well and had to be relieved in favor of Jared.

It looked like Jared was going to pitch two, however, Jeremy Me got the nod in the 5th after Alec through a hissy fit after striking out and his father removed him from the game meaning we needed Jared to catch. It was Alec’s second hissy fit of the game. After the game Steve and I talked to both twins as Austin had his own fit after he tried to stretch a double into a triple, against Steve’s orders, and got tagged out when he overran the base. It was very disappointing and we let them know it.

Also disappointing were our bats. Now granted we were missing Jeremy Ma and Cameron, two of our better hitters, but we just couldn’t get much going. Particularly frustrating was the third inning when the were not throwing a good pitcher and we just utterly failed to take advantage of the situation.

And, as there often is in a game of this sort, we had some bad luck without any countervailing good luck.

The play-offs start for us next Saturday. We used today as a last chance for people to get some innings in at various positions we won’t use them at again. We’ll get a little more serious on Tuesday, our last game, before our playoff debut. Despite yesterday’s debacle, I still feel very good about our chances. But I’ll do more of a playoff preview and end of the regular season wrap-up on Wednesday or Thursday.

Game vs. Yankees

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?

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.