Showing posts with label steve. Show all posts
Showing posts with label steve. Show all posts
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.
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.
Thursday, April 26, 2007
Practice Report and Update
Saturday Addendum
One thing I don’t think emphasized enough was how different I am as a coach this year compared to last year. I see how Steve is coaching this year, commenting nearly relentlessly and I know I did almost as much of that last year. When we started to unravel a bit, Steve was having a difficult time handling his frustration, and I know I felt similarly last year. I really think basketball changed this about me. I do less is more when it comes to comments, while still making sure the good outweighs the critical. And when the game that had been a blow-out started to get close, I felt it, but I worked hard to not let it show. I know that several of my parents, most notably Lucas’s dad, loved the fact that I always remained calm and I think this is a big reason we won nearly every close game we had. To be honest I even said something when Steve got audibly flustered that I shouldn’t have said (something like “Calm down” in a quiet and nice way). Anyhow, coaching baseball has made me see how much I’ve grown as a coach and I’m real pleased with the new me during games.
Tuesday Practice
Monday night Steve calls me. Long story short, in a month he’s going to unexpectedly lose his apartment and he and his roommate have to go hunting Tuesday during practice. This is going to leave me on my own for only our second practice.
Last week we’d developed a really awesome practice plan, for the Wednesday practice that was canceled due to rain. I basically decide to go with a modified version of this practice. The practice is going to be heavy on base running with a minor in hitting/bunting.
I get to the field and Jeremy Me is the first to arrive. We play catch for a bit. 5:45, the nominal start time of practice rolls around and he’s the only one there. Now I knew we’d have quite a few late players due to religious school, but I expected more than one kid at the start of practice. Our practice doesn’t start, therefore, in actuality until 6. Practice ends at 7 so it is a short practice. When we start there is only Jeremy Me, Sean, Jared, Cameron and Nick. Austin and Alec came to drop off Nick, but their mother basically couldn’t deal with logistical issues involving having Austin and Alec there so they missed. As we were throwing a little before practice started Nick and Jared were both concerned about their pitching performance. I reassured Jared he’d get to pitch again and Nick that he’d get to pitch two innings again.
We started off with some sprinting competitions with a sample 1st base and home plate. I would yell “Ball 4”, they’d drop their bat and run, going through the bag at first. After a little initial groaning they had some fun with it. We also practiced sprinting down to first and then making the turn towards second. As we were working on this Jeremy Ma, Jeremy F, Matt S, and Nof all showed up. We then worked on a drill where they practiced leading off as soon as the ball crossed home plate from the pitcher. All of these drills are designed to send the message that we will be aggressive on the base paths and to give them the practice that they need to do it. Aggressive base running can mean 1 or 2 runs every single game and I want to make sure we get them all.
By this time it was almost time for us to get the field. I did one last quick game where they were partnered up and I gave them 20 seconds. The goal was to throw back and forth as many times as possible in that time. They were about 2/3 of the distance between bases. The idea here is teach them on how to get the ball out of their gloves and make accurate throws under pressure.
Then it was time for us to take the field. The missing fifteen minutes of instruction would have been devoted to the basics of bunting and some individual hitting instruction (had Steve been there). I decided to go ahead with modified batting practice, where they can earn extra swings based on their bunting ability, anyway giving a very cursory bunting lesson. None of our batters were particularly successful with the bunting, understandably. I’m not sure that this hitting was the best use of time, actually, but they were clamoring to hit and this activity was on my practice so I did it. After the modified BP, we did the “how many bases can you get” game as this is both a throwing game (our one weakness so far) and a hitting game. We still had quite a few errant throws. By this time practice was almost over and so I ended us with a throwing relay race competition.
For this practice I feel like I gave excellent base running instruction. My hitting instruction was so-so, though I did make good progress with our novice bunters.
The big revelation of practice was that the ball Jeremy F rocketed during the game was no fluke. Both during BP and the game he KILLED the ball. He actually got 7 bases during the game, which is about the most you could get.
Nof is going to be our weakest hitter. His fundamentals just aren’t strong and he knows it. He’s an incredibly nice kid though and so hopefully we’ll be able to help him. Matt S is also weak, though he can wallop the ball if he gets a piece of it.
Nothing really stands out either way from any of the others.
Week Wrap-up
Heavens forbid that we actually get a full week of baseball in, our game yesterday was canceled due to rain (hardly unexpected). The forecast is favorable for Saturday though not so good for Tuesday and Wednesday for next week. There is a possibility we won’t play on Saturday as the fields could still be too wet, but hopefully that won’t happen.
I also received a sad email today from Kevin. Justin G has broken his arm and is going to be out for 3 weeks. We’re certainly going to miss his good cheer, his bat, and his pitching. Basically we’re going to miss him. I haven’t talked him yet, but am going to see if he’d be interested in coming to some of the games and perhaps doing some base coaching (not too much harm they can do at 1st base).
Hopefully you’ll see another update on Saturday.
One thing I don’t think emphasized enough was how different I am as a coach this year compared to last year. I see how Steve is coaching this year, commenting nearly relentlessly and I know I did almost as much of that last year. When we started to unravel a bit, Steve was having a difficult time handling his frustration, and I know I felt similarly last year. I really think basketball changed this about me. I do less is more when it comes to comments, while still making sure the good outweighs the critical. And when the game that had been a blow-out started to get close, I felt it, but I worked hard to not let it show. I know that several of my parents, most notably Lucas’s dad, loved the fact that I always remained calm and I think this is a big reason we won nearly every close game we had. To be honest I even said something when Steve got audibly flustered that I shouldn’t have said (something like “Calm down” in a quiet and nice way). Anyhow, coaching baseball has made me see how much I’ve grown as a coach and I’m real pleased with the new me during games.
Tuesday Practice
Monday night Steve calls me. Long story short, in a month he’s going to unexpectedly lose his apartment and he and his roommate have to go hunting Tuesday during practice. This is going to leave me on my own for only our second practice.
Last week we’d developed a really awesome practice plan, for the Wednesday practice that was canceled due to rain. I basically decide to go with a modified version of this practice. The practice is going to be heavy on base running with a minor in hitting/bunting.
I get to the field and Jeremy Me is the first to arrive. We play catch for a bit. 5:45, the nominal start time of practice rolls around and he’s the only one there. Now I knew we’d have quite a few late players due to religious school, but I expected more than one kid at the start of practice. Our practice doesn’t start, therefore, in actuality until 6. Practice ends at 7 so it is a short practice. When we start there is only Jeremy Me, Sean, Jared, Cameron and Nick. Austin and Alec came to drop off Nick, but their mother basically couldn’t deal with logistical issues involving having Austin and Alec there so they missed. As we were throwing a little before practice started Nick and Jared were both concerned about their pitching performance. I reassured Jared he’d get to pitch again and Nick that he’d get to pitch two innings again.
We started off with some sprinting competitions with a sample 1st base and home plate. I would yell “Ball 4”, they’d drop their bat and run, going through the bag at first. After a little initial groaning they had some fun with it. We also practiced sprinting down to first and then making the turn towards second. As we were working on this Jeremy Ma, Jeremy F, Matt S, and Nof all showed up. We then worked on a drill where they practiced leading off as soon as the ball crossed home plate from the pitcher. All of these drills are designed to send the message that we will be aggressive on the base paths and to give them the practice that they need to do it. Aggressive base running can mean 1 or 2 runs every single game and I want to make sure we get them all.
By this time it was almost time for us to get the field. I did one last quick game where they were partnered up and I gave them 20 seconds. The goal was to throw back and forth as many times as possible in that time. They were about 2/3 of the distance between bases. The idea here is teach them on how to get the ball out of their gloves and make accurate throws under pressure.
Then it was time for us to take the field. The missing fifteen minutes of instruction would have been devoted to the basics of bunting and some individual hitting instruction (had Steve been there). I decided to go ahead with modified batting practice, where they can earn extra swings based on their bunting ability, anyway giving a very cursory bunting lesson. None of our batters were particularly successful with the bunting, understandably. I’m not sure that this hitting was the best use of time, actually, but they were clamoring to hit and this activity was on my practice so I did it. After the modified BP, we did the “how many bases can you get” game as this is both a throwing game (our one weakness so far) and a hitting game. We still had quite a few errant throws. By this time practice was almost over and so I ended us with a throwing relay race competition.
For this practice I feel like I gave excellent base running instruction. My hitting instruction was so-so, though I did make good progress with our novice bunters.
The big revelation of practice was that the ball Jeremy F rocketed during the game was no fluke. Both during BP and the game he KILLED the ball. He actually got 7 bases during the game, which is about the most you could get.
Nof is going to be our weakest hitter. His fundamentals just aren’t strong and he knows it. He’s an incredibly nice kid though and so hopefully we’ll be able to help him. Matt S is also weak, though he can wallop the ball if he gets a piece of it.
Nothing really stands out either way from any of the others.
Week Wrap-up
Heavens forbid that we actually get a full week of baseball in, our game yesterday was canceled due to rain (hardly unexpected). The forecast is favorable for Saturday though not so good for Tuesday and Wednesday for next week. There is a possibility we won’t play on Saturday as the fields could still be too wet, but hopefully that won’t happen.
I also received a sad email today from Kevin. Justin G has broken his arm and is going to be out for 3 weeks. We’re certainly going to miss his good cheer, his bat, and his pitching. Basically we’re going to miss him. I haven’t talked him yet, but am going to see if he’d be interested in coming to some of the games and perhaps doing some base coaching (not too much harm they can do at 1st base).
Hopefully you’ll see another update on Saturday.
Saturday, November 11, 2006
Reader Izulde comments
Thanks for bring this up since I hadn't really talked about it. To be honest I miss doing this with someone. There have also certainly been things we can't do because there's only one of me. For instance I found a great transition drill but it requires two coaches and I would love to do some station work. In fact we might still do some station work later on in the season and just bring in some parents for the end of practice. There is a reason, however, that parents are not the coach of the travel team and it's a good reason which is also why I haven't allowed parents at practice.
Overall, however, while I am quite pleased with my decision to do this solo venture. It was the right choice, not to have a co-coach. I will, if I do this again, try and find an assistant coach.
But I will love the time, I know, when baseball comes around and I get Steve back to do the whole experience with.
Overall I'd have to say that you're way ahead of the curve relative to where you were with baseball and I think that has to really boost your confidence about flying solo.Well we are ahead of where we were in baseball, I think. More on this topic in my next update.
Thanks for bring this up since I hadn't really talked about it. To be honest I miss doing this with someone. There have also certainly been things we can't do because there's only one of me. For instance I found a great transition drill but it requires two coaches and I would love to do some station work. In fact we might still do some station work later on in the season and just bring in some parents for the end of practice. There is a reason, however, that parents are not the coach of the travel team and it's a good reason which is also why I haven't allowed parents at practice.
Overall, however, while I am quite pleased with my decision to do this solo venture. It was the right choice, not to have a co-coach. I will, if I do this again, try and find an assistant coach.
But I will love the time, I know, when baseball comes around and I get Steve back to do the whole experience with.
Tuesday, May 9, 2006
Practice Report
We’re about half way through the season. I have compiled some very interesting things statistically. Since we’re about half way through the season I want to do a player by player rundown combing these stats with my own evaluations. However, it is late, I am tired, and since I won’t have time to post really before tomorrow I wanted to recap today while it’s fresh.
The weather forecast was terrible. Steve called me 3 times during the day to find out if I had heard if they were going to cancel practice. It was clear he wanted them to cancel. I worry with all this losing that he’s tuning out. Anyhow, it doesn’t start raining until he gets off the train where I pick him up (which is typical for us). I drive him to his house as we are taking separate cars (which again is not something we normally do) as I have a job interview of sorts after the practice (I mention this as it’ll be important for something later on). So I arrive at the field about 30 minutes before the practice and it’s unpleasant and raining. Due to my not wanting hat hair at the interview I have no hat on so we hang in the car for a few minutes and then get out. Brendan is the first to show, with Ethan there right after. It is raining somewhat hard when Bobby arrives and Jesse calls me to find out about practice. Steve and I confer and decide he shouldn’t bother as we’ll likely practice for about 15 minutes, especially as the other team isn’t present. Of course at that point it clears up, almost at the exact time practice is to begin. I do some work with Ethan on his pitching and Steve works with Brendan on his catching. When it becomes clear that we’re not going home imminently we get the team out there for batting practice.
The other team we are to share the field with, arrives nearly all at once on time, it’s kind of scary. The other asks what time we’re practicing until. I tell him the time and we agree on a time to switch the field. We get our team up there for the “modified” batting practice where they can earn bonus swings based on how well they bunt. Ethan comes out as the only person to bunt through both times, but overall our bunting has improved. Especially Everett. He later tells me he’s been practicing with his brothers. This warmed my heart. It to me is an example of having standards, as he had indicated that he wasn’t so good at bunting and didn’t want to do it, and I told him “well tough luck we’re going to be bunting” so he decides that maybe he should work on it. Especially as a travel team player having one more tool in his arsenal is not something that will hurt him, and will be something which will definitely benefit the team.
We then do our “2-1” drill where each batter starts the count at 2-1. Bobby is our pitcher for this and Brendan the catcher. Bobby does not look very good. Brendan also does not look particularly great. In particular, he is still not getting almost any ball in the dirt and his throws back to the pitcher are wild half the time. The former I can excuse, the latter I find maddeningly frustrating. As the plan is to use Trey and Everett for 2 innings each tomorrow we really sort of need Brendan to be available to catch, but I’m not sure he’s there yet. We’ll see what Steve says when we do lineups tomorrow. So as Trey, our last batter is at the plate, the other team starts to come in literally swarming over our team. I look at my watch and see that it’s 3 minutes before our agreed switching time. I sort of pleadingly ask for one more batter before I think “why ask?” and say “We still have time. We’re going to finish this batter before we switch.” This guy was clearly a bit of an asshole, as will become clearer later, and so I was glad I had been firm here.
Anyhow so we go into the deep outfield, out of the other team’s way which is more then they did for us. We then work on sliding. The kids just ate this up and had a blast. Brendan has been a terrible slider, but improved a lot in this practice. Kelvin is clearly afraid of sliding as he slows way down before sliding. I did get him to run faster though before the slowdown so even that was good.
Next we worked on a rundown drill. They looked terrible. But they still had a fun time, though they looked pretty bad. We’ll definitely have to return to this as it’s an important skill and a good way to get an “easy” out.
We the ended practice with running bases. Steve and I were the throwers. The kids all had a blast. Lots of fun. Kelvin won. What’s interesting is that he has the worse base running skills of any of our kids. Getting doubled up in our last game and also doing fairly poor as a runner in the rundown drill. So it seems like he needs some instruction here rather then lacking natural instinct. What I found amusing is that Steve really wasn’t so good at executing rundowns. He became far too determined at outrunning the kids, which he can do as he’s 24 and they’re 12, and so this was amusing in light of the poor way they did rundowns.
Overall it was another really good practice. And we had a few more kids this time, which was good. Jim was once again an unannounced no show which concerns me as next to Bobby he’s the person I want to work with the most on pitching. The kids left the practice feeling upbeat. I feel that their work on sliding went very well. They all got some good chances to hit the ball in batting practice and the 2-1 game and they had fun with running bases and the rundown drill, even if they weren’t very good at it.
So once again it become incumbent upon us to get the energy going before the game. If they didn’t tire themselves out so much with running bases I would even play that for 5 minutes before a game. Perhaps a game, instead of a talk, is our pregame key. I mean our talks are short, 3 minutes or less, but perhaps we do a 60 second one. Dunno. We’d have to think of a good game as well, perhaps “footbaseball” as there’s SOME running there. This idea just came to me as I am writing this out so it’s very unfinished.
Anyhow practice ends. I go inside the building there to change into a suit for the interview. When I come back out, 15 minutes, after our practice ended the other team is JUST on their last person. In other words their coach not only wanted to kick us off the field early, but was not really splitting the time equally as they were staying later then we were in any case. I do not think well of this, though am somewhat muted in light of what comes later.
So off I go to job interview and I realize that I’ve left my suit jacket back at the building. After the interview (which I totally kicked ass at, but will not accept the job if offered to me unless the salary blows my mind) I return. There is a game going on the field we had used. I see that a kid I have a pretty good relationship with from the library/youth center is about to pitch so I go over to watch. I then can’t help but overhear the kid’s manager really complaining about how stacked the teams were and how he got the short end of the stick. This guy’s team has not done too well from what I’ve heard, so I can understand his frustration. While he’s bitching, I insert myself into the conversation, to ask questions of process. And from what I heard, overall I can’t complain too much about it. If desired I can explain all that I learned, but basically it sounds like the assigning into teams was done in a good matter. The best part was when the Park District guy said “And then we had 5 parents come and review the teams. In fact weren’t you one of those people?” That was classic.
Anyhow that guy goes and coaches so I’m left with the park district guy, Kevin. We talk some more. Turns out that he had suggested the idea, done in a nearby community, that a team would stay together for 2 years. So the 5th graders we had this year would all be together again as 6th graders next year if they returned to the league. I thought this was a great idea, considering that I think the work we’ve done this year would really pay dividends. Turns out this idea was rejected by the Park District Board, for whatever reason. When the season ends I will be using my political contacts to try and champion this idea, which I will pretend was my own for his sake, as it would be really good for the kids. The positives are overwhelming. What I also find interesting is that he says he’s seen every team play twice now and that there are 2 teams head and shoulders above the rest of the league and 2 heads and shoulders below it. We’re 1 of the two that has a talent deficit and that this guy has no real right to complain as he’s got several players who can really play. And from the two innings I saw? He’s right.
Overall today I am in a much better place then I was Saturday. The team we play tomorrow is supposedly the other team that is one of the bottom two. That gives me hope. In general I have taken the time to zen and that has helped. I also came up with what I think will be a great plan on how to use our pitchers to the best. It seems right now that Percy, Trey, Everett, and Avi are a notch above everyone else. We’ll need two more come playoffs but for now 4 is great. Anyhow, I remembered that towards the end of last season we started taking pitch counts very seriously. We gave a kid a number of pitches he could throw and then we’d pull him. While I’m not as worried about pitch counts now, I think as we try and find our 2 inning pitchers we can use a similar strategy. So, unless disaster strikes, Trey will pitch the first 2 and Everett the third. In the fourth Everett will be told that he will pitch to 4-6 batters, depending on how many pitches he throws. Then Percy will come into the game and pitch the remainder of the inning. Depending on how many he throws a similar strategy can then be used in the 5th with Avi. In this way we can put a hook on a kid who is tired, without bruised egos. It’s not that they’re pitching poorly, it’s just a matter of the pitch count.
So that’s the plan. I’m excited. I want to win. I think we can win. So now we just have to do it.
The weather forecast was terrible. Steve called me 3 times during the day to find out if I had heard if they were going to cancel practice. It was clear he wanted them to cancel. I worry with all this losing that he’s tuning out. Anyhow, it doesn’t start raining until he gets off the train where I pick him up (which is typical for us). I drive him to his house as we are taking separate cars (which again is not something we normally do) as I have a job interview of sorts after the practice (I mention this as it’ll be important for something later on). So I arrive at the field about 30 minutes before the practice and it’s unpleasant and raining. Due to my not wanting hat hair at the interview I have no hat on so we hang in the car for a few minutes and then get out. Brendan is the first to show, with Ethan there right after. It is raining somewhat hard when Bobby arrives and Jesse calls me to find out about practice. Steve and I confer and decide he shouldn’t bother as we’ll likely practice for about 15 minutes, especially as the other team isn’t present. Of course at that point it clears up, almost at the exact time practice is to begin. I do some work with Ethan on his pitching and Steve works with Brendan on his catching. When it becomes clear that we’re not going home imminently we get the team out there for batting practice.
The other team we are to share the field with, arrives nearly all at once on time, it’s kind of scary. The other asks what time we’re practicing until. I tell him the time and we agree on a time to switch the field. We get our team up there for the “modified” batting practice where they can earn bonus swings based on how well they bunt. Ethan comes out as the only person to bunt through both times, but overall our bunting has improved. Especially Everett. He later tells me he’s been practicing with his brothers. This warmed my heart. It to me is an example of having standards, as he had indicated that he wasn’t so good at bunting and didn’t want to do it, and I told him “well tough luck we’re going to be bunting” so he decides that maybe he should work on it. Especially as a travel team player having one more tool in his arsenal is not something that will hurt him, and will be something which will definitely benefit the team.
We then do our “2-1” drill where each batter starts the count at 2-1. Bobby is our pitcher for this and Brendan the catcher. Bobby does not look very good. Brendan also does not look particularly great. In particular, he is still not getting almost any ball in the dirt and his throws back to the pitcher are wild half the time. The former I can excuse, the latter I find maddeningly frustrating. As the plan is to use Trey and Everett for 2 innings each tomorrow we really sort of need Brendan to be available to catch, but I’m not sure he’s there yet. We’ll see what Steve says when we do lineups tomorrow. So as Trey, our last batter is at the plate, the other team starts to come in literally swarming over our team. I look at my watch and see that it’s 3 minutes before our agreed switching time. I sort of pleadingly ask for one more batter before I think “why ask?” and say “We still have time. We’re going to finish this batter before we switch.” This guy was clearly a bit of an asshole, as will become clearer later, and so I was glad I had been firm here.
Anyhow so we go into the deep outfield, out of the other team’s way which is more then they did for us. We then work on sliding. The kids just ate this up and had a blast. Brendan has been a terrible slider, but improved a lot in this practice. Kelvin is clearly afraid of sliding as he slows way down before sliding. I did get him to run faster though before the slowdown so even that was good.
Next we worked on a rundown drill. They looked terrible. But they still had a fun time, though they looked pretty bad. We’ll definitely have to return to this as it’s an important skill and a good way to get an “easy” out.
We the ended practice with running bases. Steve and I were the throwers. The kids all had a blast. Lots of fun. Kelvin won. What’s interesting is that he has the worse base running skills of any of our kids. Getting doubled up in our last game and also doing fairly poor as a runner in the rundown drill. So it seems like he needs some instruction here rather then lacking natural instinct. What I found amusing is that Steve really wasn’t so good at executing rundowns. He became far too determined at outrunning the kids, which he can do as he’s 24 and they’re 12, and so this was amusing in light of the poor way they did rundowns.
Overall it was another really good practice. And we had a few more kids this time, which was good. Jim was once again an unannounced no show which concerns me as next to Bobby he’s the person I want to work with the most on pitching. The kids left the practice feeling upbeat. I feel that their work on sliding went very well. They all got some good chances to hit the ball in batting practice and the 2-1 game and they had fun with running bases and the rundown drill, even if they weren’t very good at it.
So once again it become incumbent upon us to get the energy going before the game. If they didn’t tire themselves out so much with running bases I would even play that for 5 minutes before a game. Perhaps a game, instead of a talk, is our pregame key. I mean our talks are short, 3 minutes or less, but perhaps we do a 60 second one. Dunno. We’d have to think of a good game as well, perhaps “footbaseball” as there’s SOME running there. This idea just came to me as I am writing this out so it’s very unfinished.
Anyhow practice ends. I go inside the building there to change into a suit for the interview. When I come back out, 15 minutes, after our practice ended the other team is JUST on their last person. In other words their coach not only wanted to kick us off the field early, but was not really splitting the time equally as they were staying later then we were in any case. I do not think well of this, though am somewhat muted in light of what comes later.
So off I go to job interview and I realize that I’ve left my suit jacket back at the building. After the interview (which I totally kicked ass at, but will not accept the job if offered to me unless the salary blows my mind) I return. There is a game going on the field we had used. I see that a kid I have a pretty good relationship with from the library/youth center is about to pitch so I go over to watch. I then can’t help but overhear the kid’s manager really complaining about how stacked the teams were and how he got the short end of the stick. This guy’s team has not done too well from what I’ve heard, so I can understand his frustration. While he’s bitching, I insert myself into the conversation, to ask questions of process. And from what I heard, overall I can’t complain too much about it. If desired I can explain all that I learned, but basically it sounds like the assigning into teams was done in a good matter. The best part was when the Park District guy said “And then we had 5 parents come and review the teams. In fact weren’t you one of those people?” That was classic.
Anyhow that guy goes and coaches so I’m left with the park district guy, Kevin. We talk some more. Turns out that he had suggested the idea, done in a nearby community, that a team would stay together for 2 years. So the 5th graders we had this year would all be together again as 6th graders next year if they returned to the league. I thought this was a great idea, considering that I think the work we’ve done this year would really pay dividends. Turns out this idea was rejected by the Park District Board, for whatever reason. When the season ends I will be using my political contacts to try and champion this idea, which I will pretend was my own for his sake, as it would be really good for the kids. The positives are overwhelming. What I also find interesting is that he says he’s seen every team play twice now and that there are 2 teams head and shoulders above the rest of the league and 2 heads and shoulders below it. We’re 1 of the two that has a talent deficit and that this guy has no real right to complain as he’s got several players who can really play. And from the two innings I saw? He’s right.
Overall today I am in a much better place then I was Saturday. The team we play tomorrow is supposedly the other team that is one of the bottom two. That gives me hope. In general I have taken the time to zen and that has helped. I also came up with what I think will be a great plan on how to use our pitchers to the best. It seems right now that Percy, Trey, Everett, and Avi are a notch above everyone else. We’ll need two more come playoffs but for now 4 is great. Anyhow, I remembered that towards the end of last season we started taking pitch counts very seriously. We gave a kid a number of pitches he could throw and then we’d pull him. While I’m not as worried about pitch counts now, I think as we try and find our 2 inning pitchers we can use a similar strategy. So, unless disaster strikes, Trey will pitch the first 2 and Everett the third. In the fourth Everett will be told that he will pitch to 4-6 batters, depending on how many pitches he throws. Then Percy will come into the game and pitch the remainder of the inning. Depending on how many he throws a similar strategy can then be used in the 5th with Avi. In this way we can put a hook on a kid who is tired, without bruised egos. It’s not that they’re pitching poorly, it’s just a matter of the pitch count.
So that’s the plan. I’m excited. I want to win. I think we can win. So now we just have to do it.
Friday, April 28, 2006
Game Report
Before the Game
As we had the 7:30 game Steve and I figured we would go to his early, whip out the lineups and then go to dinner before getting to the field nice and early.
We had decided we were going to do two schedules, one with Jim and one without. Jim’s family had experienced the death of a family friend recently and so it was unknown whether or not he’d be there. We sit down and fairly easily work out the lineups. We’re just finishing up when my phone rings. The caller ID tells me that it is Avi’s house. Avi, who we of course have pitching. I pick-up the phone and Avi’s mom tells me Avi will not be at the game. When I ask why she starts to babble a little before it is discovered that Avi had baseball taken away as a punishment for misbehavior. Steve and I were not happy with this. Steve grew especially livid when he learned that she could have called us earlier in the day. We both agree that penalizing the whole team, as this does, when there are a myriad of options open to a parent for discipline is unfortunate.
Well at this point the entire lineup needs to be redone and it leaves us a pitcher short. For simplicities sake we decide to just assume Jim will not be there, which is what was indicated as most likely when we found out Monday about the death. We put together a lineup. And it’s painful. I won’t lie. We end up feeling forced to give Brendan an inning at catching. As of now Steve and I agree that we do not want Trey or Everett to catch until after they have pitched which means early inning pitches for them. In order to solve the inning of pitching we were hoping Avi to do we end up giving Jodi two innings. I’m still not sure what made us think this was a good move.
We end up with the following pitchers:
Trey, Trey, Everett, Jodi, Jodi, Percy
Steve and I go to dinner and have some great pizza. We then drive to the field getting us there about 40 minutes before our game, and about halfway through the preceding game on the field. Just as we are pulling up to the parking lot Steve’s phone rings. It’s a local phone number we don’t recognize. Trouble. It’s Bobby on the line. Now I only heard 1 side of the conversation but it must have gone something like this.
Bobby: I am not coming to today’s game
Steve: Why not buddy?
Bobby: Well I can’t find any of my uniform and my parents are out of town so I can’t ask them where it is.
Steve: (exhaling) Well do you have a way to get to the game?
Bobby: Yes
Steve: Well then you should come and we’ll sort out the uniform issue at the game
Bobby: You’re sure?
Steve: Yes. Just come. We’ll see you at the game.
He hangs up and explains. Now Bobby is by no shakes an all-star player. But on our team? He’s one of our more consistent fielders and serviceable at the plate. We could really use him. Not to mention if he is does not show that means we have exactly 9 players and so if there is the expected unexpected no show we’re playing with 8 players. Anyhow crisis averted.
While Steve and I throw to each other we scout out the two teams playing. And it becomes clear that we could be competitive with both of them.
Our first player arrives about 30 minutes early and all of the players are actually there, except 1, 20 minutes before the game. It was great. Just as the first player arrives we get a call. It’s from Jim and he WILL be at the game. As Steve takes the players to warm up, I immediately start to redo our lineups. Best of all it means that JF will not have to pitch two innings.
In the end we end up with the following Pitcher/Catch combos:
Trey/Jesse, Trey/Jesse, Everett/Trey, Jodi/Jesse, Jim/Everett, Percy/Evertt
I manage to get some time with Percy before the game and work on correcting a problem with his motion that is giving him poor control. Hopefully he’ll be ok if he has to pitch.
The Game
We’re the visiting team. Trey is leading off so we hope to get right on the board. Trey starts off with a walk and steals second. Everett grounds out, advancing Trey to 3rd. Now we have Brendan. Steve and I had talked to him about getting up there and swinging at the first couple of pitches, as he’s been pretty much watching these and finding himself behind in the count, and sure enough he does this. On a 2-2 count he makes contact, only the second or third time all season, and hits it hard to short. Steve sends Trey home. Now this was a questionable decision. Trey, however, did not help the matter by hesitating and then not appearing to run full out. Anyhow the SS makes a nice play, and the catcher, who we find out later catches for the travel team, makes a perfect catch and tag and Trey is out. Brendan ends up stealing second on the first pitch which lets me talk to Trey in the dugout (I’m coaching 1st this inning). He tells me he disagreed with the decision to send him. I said did that disagreement mean he didn’t go as quickly and as hard as he should have. He says he doesn’t know, and I believe him, but it gives me a chance to reinforce the importance of listening to us, and if we make the wrong decision it’s not his fault and no one will be mad. It’s all done in a very neutral/upbeat way, so it SHOULD have had a bearing on what will happen later. Anyhow Jesse strikes out to end the first.
Trey allows a couple of hits to the heart of their order but escapes without allowing a run and we have a 0-0 game after 1.
We can’t get anything going in the second, despite getting Bobby to 3rd with 1 out. Trey has little problem in the bottom half and it remains 0-0 in a pretty well played ball game.
In the third Jim leads off with a walk. And then we start to pound the ball. Trey hits a double, Everett hits a 2 run single, Jesse absolutely KILLS a ball into LF for a double. Bobby gets a single and we end up with 5 legitimately earned runs.
As the bottom half starts, with a couple of singles to the better part of the order, I comment to Steve that Everett seems like he’s never going to have an easy inning. Anyhow the bases get loaded on a Everett walk. Now before we now it, the bases are loaded. When the first base runner got on, Steve and I both told TG: DO NOT THROW UNLESS WE TELL YOU TO. Anyhow the bases are loaded. The kid on first is a slower player. After the second pitch he goes a little too far and Trey looks him back and when he kind of walks back to the bag Trey makes a throw. Percy is playing first and while he was on the bag he was not expecting a throw, which might have been OK, if it were not the fact that Trey makes a terrible throw that ends up sailing well over his head. TWO runs score and it’s only a nice throw by Jodi to Jesse that holds the last, slow, runner at 3rd. The run ends up scoring on a single to 3rd, but overall Everett does a nice job of pitching out of trouble, striking out two. Brendan also makes a great diving catch on a popup at 3rd.
The next inning when Trey is on the bench I talk to him as he’s putting his bat away. I ask him, in a sincere voice, “Did you know that you play on travel?” He gives me this look that says “Are you crazy” but says yes. I then explain that Steve and I know it as well. And that he doesn’t need to go out there and try and make all star plays simply because he’s an excellent player. Further that he needs to listen to us. Period. Trey couldn’t really look at me by the end of this discussion and was close to tears. And I say good. I don’t mind letting a player know that he’s screwed up, done in a nice way of course, because it gives me more credibility if I say they did a good job.
It’s important to remember despite the 3 runs that scored we are still dominating this game. We have completely deflated the other team and our team is playing pumped up. Jodi leads off the 4th with a walk and ends up at 2nd. I then make a poor call on a passed ball and send her to 3rd. Normally this would not be a poor decision, but with Trey and Everett scheduled to hit now that she’s gotten on I should have had faith that she would have scored when they hit it. Furthermore, I know that the guy they have catching, somebody who I’ve coached fairly extensively in basketball, has a great and accurate arm. So yeah that was a bad call and Jodi gets out as a result. Jim strikes out and Trey pops up to end the inning.
This is Jodi’s inning to pitch. However, as Bobby is sitting out, I had told him we were going to work on his on his pitching. So we go out of the dugout. He tells me he has been practicing and it’s true. He’s looking really good. Not only is he maintaining his arm balance but his arm mechanics are looking better then before. Now I am only half paying attention to the game at this point so I don’t really know what’s happening. I do hear a couple balls hit and from what Steve’s saying I know it’s not going well. After what sounds like a particularly disastrous play, I explain to Bobby that I need to go see what’s happening. Steve later tells me that Everett booted a ball at second base and then stood there instead of trying to either get the ball, or cover 1st, for Kellen who evidently was attempting to recover the ball. The first play I see is a ball hit to short. Jim, our SS, positions himself well, but then like a bat out of hell, Everett comes and grabs the ball, WAY on the SS side of second base, muffs it and the runner ends up safe. Later on Kellen misses a throw that pops out of his glove. A kid hits a hard hit ball to third and Brendan ends up throwing the ball so far into right field that it ends up being a “grand slam”. It was ugly. Jodi neglects to record an out. We are saved only by the seven run cap on an inning. Her mechanics are in need of work, because she kept aiming the ball rather then throwing it, but she is a pretty gifted player so I hope that it will be an easy fix. Regardless, by the sheer necessity of what we are dealing with she is going to get more innings.
Anyhow instead of being up by 2 we are now down by 5. I had been noticing some bad dynamics going on the bench when I had been coaching first. Further, Bobby had made a comment to me. Jesse, I think, has been crossing the line from player to coach on occasion. What he’s saying isn’t ever wrong, but I don’t think the team is responding well to hearing it from him. So I have Brendan’s father coach first base, while I stay in the dugout. Last year since we had 3 coaches we rotated who was coaching bases and in the dugout and I have realized how valuable this time was. As such I have decided that I will make this a semi-regular habit for me and am encouraging Steve to do the same. Everett starts off by striking out, Brendan then draws a walk and steals second. Brendan does not know how to slide and could have really hurt himself the way he slid into second here, so I think we will work on sliding at our next practice. Jesse grounds out to the pitcher. Percy walks. Both advance a base when there is a passed ball. Bobby then hits a triple into the gap in right center. Sadly Fuller records his first strikeout of the year to end the game.
And we lose 10-7.
Post Game Analysis and Looking Forward
Frankly I’m not sure what we could have done differently that would have made a difference. Both Steve and I made a bad call on sending a runner, but that alone wouldn’t have made the difference. Trey not listening to us on a throw cost us two runs but that alone wouldn’t have made the difference. Both of those put together though? That’s likely the 3 runs we lost by which is frustrating. In the end this was a game Steve and I both feel that we should have won. We basically dominated and were it not for the seven run inning we’d have won. The sad thing is that with who was there I didn’t feel better about bringing in a different pitcher for Jodi since I wasn’t sure they’d have been an improvement. Hopefully we will not have that situation again.
Steve noticed that Brendan was showboating and so he’s going to have to talk to him about that.
Our game tomorrow is against the Braves who have been just killing everyone in the league. I don’t know what happened Wednesday but going into that game they had hit at least 1 homerun and had reached the 7 run cap in each game. They appear to be a dominating team. I think as such that we should use it as a learning experience. Try and see if Avi can pitch two innings. See how Percy and Bobby would pitch against real batters, etc. Steve would rather not take this development of people approach and instead would like to really try and throw our best possible pitchers against them. So we’ll see what we end up doing.
We have also had some talks about how in general to use our pitchers. Steve is wondering if we shouldn’t hold back our good pitchers more. I pointed out that if we had done this we wouldn’t necessarily have had the momentum we had going into that inning. I do like the idea of developing Percy as a “relief” pitcher who would come in and throw hard for 1/3 or 2/3 of an inning but he isn’t there yet. For now it seems that we will likely hold Avi in reserve as he can be spared but also seems to be able to get outs.
There is no doubt we’re getting loads better with each game and so it’s sad that we didn’t win this one and are going to face such an uphill climb in the next game.
As we had the 7:30 game Steve and I figured we would go to his early, whip out the lineups and then go to dinner before getting to the field nice and early.
We had decided we were going to do two schedules, one with Jim and one without. Jim’s family had experienced the death of a family friend recently and so it was unknown whether or not he’d be there. We sit down and fairly easily work out the lineups. We’re just finishing up when my phone rings. The caller ID tells me that it is Avi’s house. Avi, who we of course have pitching. I pick-up the phone and Avi’s mom tells me Avi will not be at the game. When I ask why she starts to babble a little before it is discovered that Avi had baseball taken away as a punishment for misbehavior. Steve and I were not happy with this. Steve grew especially livid when he learned that she could have called us earlier in the day. We both agree that penalizing the whole team, as this does, when there are a myriad of options open to a parent for discipline is unfortunate.
Well at this point the entire lineup needs to be redone and it leaves us a pitcher short. For simplicities sake we decide to just assume Jim will not be there, which is what was indicated as most likely when we found out Monday about the death. We put together a lineup. And it’s painful. I won’t lie. We end up feeling forced to give Brendan an inning at catching. As of now Steve and I agree that we do not want Trey or Everett to catch until after they have pitched which means early inning pitches for them. In order to solve the inning of pitching we were hoping Avi to do we end up giving Jodi two innings. I’m still not sure what made us think this was a good move.
We end up with the following pitchers:
Trey, Trey, Everett, Jodi, Jodi, Percy
Steve and I go to dinner and have some great pizza. We then drive to the field getting us there about 40 minutes before our game, and about halfway through the preceding game on the field. Just as we are pulling up to the parking lot Steve’s phone rings. It’s a local phone number we don’t recognize. Trouble. It’s Bobby on the line. Now I only heard 1 side of the conversation but it must have gone something like this.
Bobby: I am not coming to today’s game
Steve: Why not buddy?
Bobby: Well I can’t find any of my uniform and my parents are out of town so I can’t ask them where it is.
Steve: (exhaling) Well do you have a way to get to the game?
Bobby: Yes
Steve: Well then you should come and we’ll sort out the uniform issue at the game
Bobby: You’re sure?
Steve: Yes. Just come. We’ll see you at the game.
He hangs up and explains. Now Bobby is by no shakes an all-star player. But on our team? He’s one of our more consistent fielders and serviceable at the plate. We could really use him. Not to mention if he is does not show that means we have exactly 9 players and so if there is the expected unexpected no show we’re playing with 8 players. Anyhow crisis averted.
While Steve and I throw to each other we scout out the two teams playing. And it becomes clear that we could be competitive with both of them.
Our first player arrives about 30 minutes early and all of the players are actually there, except 1, 20 minutes before the game. It was great. Just as the first player arrives we get a call. It’s from Jim and he WILL be at the game. As Steve takes the players to warm up, I immediately start to redo our lineups. Best of all it means that JF will not have to pitch two innings.
In the end we end up with the following Pitcher/Catch combos:
Trey/Jesse, Trey/Jesse, Everett/Trey, Jodi/Jesse, Jim/Everett, Percy/Evertt
I manage to get some time with Percy before the game and work on correcting a problem with his motion that is giving him poor control. Hopefully he’ll be ok if he has to pitch.
The Game
We’re the visiting team. Trey is leading off so we hope to get right on the board. Trey starts off with a walk and steals second. Everett grounds out, advancing Trey to 3rd. Now we have Brendan. Steve and I had talked to him about getting up there and swinging at the first couple of pitches, as he’s been pretty much watching these and finding himself behind in the count, and sure enough he does this. On a 2-2 count he makes contact, only the second or third time all season, and hits it hard to short. Steve sends Trey home. Now this was a questionable decision. Trey, however, did not help the matter by hesitating and then not appearing to run full out. Anyhow the SS makes a nice play, and the catcher, who we find out later catches for the travel team, makes a perfect catch and tag and Trey is out. Brendan ends up stealing second on the first pitch which lets me talk to Trey in the dugout (I’m coaching 1st this inning). He tells me he disagreed with the decision to send him. I said did that disagreement mean he didn’t go as quickly and as hard as he should have. He says he doesn’t know, and I believe him, but it gives me a chance to reinforce the importance of listening to us, and if we make the wrong decision it’s not his fault and no one will be mad. It’s all done in a very neutral/upbeat way, so it SHOULD have had a bearing on what will happen later. Anyhow Jesse strikes out to end the first.
Trey allows a couple of hits to the heart of their order but escapes without allowing a run and we have a 0-0 game after 1.
We can’t get anything going in the second, despite getting Bobby to 3rd with 1 out. Trey has little problem in the bottom half and it remains 0-0 in a pretty well played ball game.
In the third Jim leads off with a walk. And then we start to pound the ball. Trey hits a double, Everett hits a 2 run single, Jesse absolutely KILLS a ball into LF for a double. Bobby gets a single and we end up with 5 legitimately earned runs.
As the bottom half starts, with a couple of singles to the better part of the order, I comment to Steve that Everett seems like he’s never going to have an easy inning. Anyhow the bases get loaded on a Everett walk. Now before we now it, the bases are loaded. When the first base runner got on, Steve and I both told TG: DO NOT THROW UNLESS WE TELL YOU TO. Anyhow the bases are loaded. The kid on first is a slower player. After the second pitch he goes a little too far and Trey looks him back and when he kind of walks back to the bag Trey makes a throw. Percy is playing first and while he was on the bag he was not expecting a throw, which might have been OK, if it were not the fact that Trey makes a terrible throw that ends up sailing well over his head. TWO runs score and it’s only a nice throw by Jodi to Jesse that holds the last, slow, runner at 3rd. The run ends up scoring on a single to 3rd, but overall Everett does a nice job of pitching out of trouble, striking out two. Brendan also makes a great diving catch on a popup at 3rd.
The next inning when Trey is on the bench I talk to him as he’s putting his bat away. I ask him, in a sincere voice, “Did you know that you play on travel?” He gives me this look that says “Are you crazy” but says yes. I then explain that Steve and I know it as well. And that he doesn’t need to go out there and try and make all star plays simply because he’s an excellent player. Further that he needs to listen to us. Period. Trey couldn’t really look at me by the end of this discussion and was close to tears. And I say good. I don’t mind letting a player know that he’s screwed up, done in a nice way of course, because it gives me more credibility if I say they did a good job.
It’s important to remember despite the 3 runs that scored we are still dominating this game. We have completely deflated the other team and our team is playing pumped up. Jodi leads off the 4th with a walk and ends up at 2nd. I then make a poor call on a passed ball and send her to 3rd. Normally this would not be a poor decision, but with Trey and Everett scheduled to hit now that she’s gotten on I should have had faith that she would have scored when they hit it. Furthermore, I know that the guy they have catching, somebody who I’ve coached fairly extensively in basketball, has a great and accurate arm. So yeah that was a bad call and Jodi gets out as a result. Jim strikes out and Trey pops up to end the inning.
This is Jodi’s inning to pitch. However, as Bobby is sitting out, I had told him we were going to work on his on his pitching. So we go out of the dugout. He tells me he has been practicing and it’s true. He’s looking really good. Not only is he maintaining his arm balance but his arm mechanics are looking better then before. Now I am only half paying attention to the game at this point so I don’t really know what’s happening. I do hear a couple balls hit and from what Steve’s saying I know it’s not going well. After what sounds like a particularly disastrous play, I explain to Bobby that I need to go see what’s happening. Steve later tells me that Everett booted a ball at second base and then stood there instead of trying to either get the ball, or cover 1st, for Kellen who evidently was attempting to recover the ball. The first play I see is a ball hit to short. Jim, our SS, positions himself well, but then like a bat out of hell, Everett comes and grabs the ball, WAY on the SS side of second base, muffs it and the runner ends up safe. Later on Kellen misses a throw that pops out of his glove. A kid hits a hard hit ball to third and Brendan ends up throwing the ball so far into right field that it ends up being a “grand slam”. It was ugly. Jodi neglects to record an out. We are saved only by the seven run cap on an inning. Her mechanics are in need of work, because she kept aiming the ball rather then throwing it, but she is a pretty gifted player so I hope that it will be an easy fix. Regardless, by the sheer necessity of what we are dealing with she is going to get more innings.
Anyhow instead of being up by 2 we are now down by 5. I had been noticing some bad dynamics going on the bench when I had been coaching first. Further, Bobby had made a comment to me. Jesse, I think, has been crossing the line from player to coach on occasion. What he’s saying isn’t ever wrong, but I don’t think the team is responding well to hearing it from him. So I have Brendan’s father coach first base, while I stay in the dugout. Last year since we had 3 coaches we rotated who was coaching bases and in the dugout and I have realized how valuable this time was. As such I have decided that I will make this a semi-regular habit for me and am encouraging Steve to do the same. Everett starts off by striking out, Brendan then draws a walk and steals second. Brendan does not know how to slide and could have really hurt himself the way he slid into second here, so I think we will work on sliding at our next practice. Jesse grounds out to the pitcher. Percy walks. Both advance a base when there is a passed ball. Bobby then hits a triple into the gap in right center. Sadly Fuller records his first strikeout of the year to end the game.
And we lose 10-7.
Post Game Analysis and Looking Forward
Frankly I’m not sure what we could have done differently that would have made a difference. Both Steve and I made a bad call on sending a runner, but that alone wouldn’t have made the difference. Trey not listening to us on a throw cost us two runs but that alone wouldn’t have made the difference. Both of those put together though? That’s likely the 3 runs we lost by which is frustrating. In the end this was a game Steve and I both feel that we should have won. We basically dominated and were it not for the seven run inning we’d have won. The sad thing is that with who was there I didn’t feel better about bringing in a different pitcher for Jodi since I wasn’t sure they’d have been an improvement. Hopefully we will not have that situation again.
Steve noticed that Brendan was showboating and so he’s going to have to talk to him about that.
Our game tomorrow is against the Braves who have been just killing everyone in the league. I don’t know what happened Wednesday but going into that game they had hit at least 1 homerun and had reached the 7 run cap in each game. They appear to be a dominating team. I think as such that we should use it as a learning experience. Try and see if Avi can pitch two innings. See how Percy and Bobby would pitch against real batters, etc. Steve would rather not take this development of people approach and instead would like to really try and throw our best possible pitchers against them. So we’ll see what we end up doing.
We have also had some talks about how in general to use our pitchers. Steve is wondering if we shouldn’t hold back our good pitchers more. I pointed out that if we had done this we wouldn’t necessarily have had the momentum we had going into that inning. I do like the idea of developing Percy as a “relief” pitcher who would come in and throw hard for 1/3 or 2/3 of an inning but he isn’t there yet. For now it seems that we will likely hold Avi in reserve as he can be spared but also seems to be able to get outs.
There is no doubt we’re getting loads better with each game and so it’s sad that we didn’t win this one and are going to face such an uphill climb in the next game.
Tuesday, April 4, 2006
Meet the Team
Background
Last year I was going through the mail and for some reason saw the Park District’s athletics brochure. I then got the idea to coach a team in the house baseball league. I wanted to do it with somebody as I was only 23 at the time and so there would be a sort of “safety” in numbers. I had previously coached a high school prep league basketball team (the sport I really am best qualified to coach in) and wanted to have a coaching experience in the spring. I contacted a former best friend from high school, who I had fallen out of touch with after our first year of college, to see if he’d be interested in doing it with me. He was and we agreed to do the 5th-6th grade league as that would have the kids be old enough that they would have some grasp of the basics, but not so old that we didn’t know a million times more about how to play baseball then they did.
We ended up coaching the Mets last year. It was a good experience as we were matched with an assistant coach, purely by luck, who was normally a head coach but was starting a new job and so he was unsure if he’d have the time to be a head coach. I was technically the head coach, but in reality it was more that we were all co-coaches with none of us ever raising a fuss about decisions that were made. My friend, whose name is Steve, and I did the lineups and such, but having that experienced coach in our corner was invaluable. I feel like we both learned a lot and we had the time of our lives doing it. Our team ended up finishing in 3rd place out of the 16 teams so we felt really good about it. I really can’t express what a blast we had. We decided, however, that we were ready to do it on our own this year.
The Team Comes Together
In previous years what they had done is all the coaches got together and evaluated the players. They then drafted a team. After the draft teams were distributed randomly so you most likely did not get the team you drafted. This year they did it differently. Rather then evaluating the kids through a 3 hour clinic they had the coaches fill out extensive evaluations at the end of the previous season. This, combined with any changes from this year’s clinic, which coaches could not attend was how they graded the players. They then simply put people onto teams. The catch was that they also didn’t tell anyone that they would be coaching until AFTER the teams were out. Steve and I at first felt we were being jerked around, but really it wasn’t true, they just did things in a sort of strange manner.
When the roster came out, we saw that we were indeed coaches and would be co-coaching the Marlins. Looking over the roster I knew about a quarter of the kids. Despite our wishing and hoping we didn’t get any of the same kids as last year. As I said at the time I felt that their combined weight was MAYBE as much as me. Further, despite this being baseball, and their being a separate softball league, one of the players I knew was a girl. I happen to know she was a complete tomboy and from what little I knew most likely an excellent athlete, but this combined with the complete lack of skill that I expected from the other players did not make me hopeful.
The First Practice
Today was our first practice. Last year we had 2 practices and then the rest of the days were games. This year we are going to have 3 practices before the first game and then at least 1 of the 3 days each week is a practice. This will be quite different and I think might actually be too much practice for a house league (there’s something nice about just letting them play) but it will allow Steve and I to do things we couldn’t do last year.
Whereas Steve would be happy to wing things, the teacher in me knows that planning must be done and so it seems like I will be doing most of the outlining of what we do during practice, which is fine. As we have 3 kids who cannot make Tuesday practices, nor games, we decided to save fielding, pitching/catching until tomorrow when the whole squad will be there as in Majors baseball good fielding wins more games (or rather doesn’t lose them) then anything else.
As such today was a hitting practice. After stretching and quick intro, half of the 9 (1 Hebrew School kid was there) kids went with Steve to do hitting off the Tee while the other half was with me doing whiffle golf ball hitting. After we did that for about 40 minutes we were able to use the baseball diamond (2 teams practice on the same field) and so we played a hitting/conditioning game. Turns out during one group at the Tee somebody made a derogatory remark against Mexicans, which wasn’t so good as one of our players is Latino.
After both teams had a chance to bat we called them in, at second base away from the parents (that was Steve’s excellent idea) and focused on the importance of us as a team. I think it was a pretty successful practice all things considered
Meet the Team
Steve got to the field before I did. A father and his son were already there. The first thing the father says to Steve is “You’ve got your work cut-out for you.” He goes onto explain that his son, a kid of average height for a 6th grader, was going to be one of the tallest people on the team. And this proved to be entirely true. One of the kids even admitted during practice today that there are a couple kindergartners bigger then he is, which as a 5th grader isn’t what you want. The team we got last year was no real shakes either, but they came together extremely well and developed as players well, so I still hold out hope for a successful season.
Let’s do a person by person breakdown. I am going to use pseudonyms to protect the kid’s identities.
Jodi – This is our girl. She’s a Hebrew Schooler so we’ll see her tomorrow.
Try – Could be the best player on the team. Though I haven’t really seen him pitch except loosely to his dad it’s likely he’ll be our starting pitcher. Above average, though not knockout, hitter.
Ethan – This kid carries himself like an athlete. During our game he ran so hard he made himself sick, so you’ve got to like the hustle. Thing is he couldn’t make contact with a moving ball. I keep wanting to think that he was just excited as it was the first practice, as his form is decent, but he is swinging too soon for the most part, but he’s a bit of a mystery for now.
Avi -- Hebrew schooler
Jesse - Our tallest player. He’s not a great hitter, and has your typical 6th grader’s focus, which is to say not much, BUT he’s the sort of kid who, without being asked, will go and get balls that were hit. He has a sense of humor so he isn’t a goody too shoes either. He needs to not be so stiff in his batting posture.
Fuller – Hebrew schooler. I know his twin older brothers well and both are below average athletes. One of them tells me he’s more athletic then them so perhaps he’ll be OK.
Jim – This is the kid who is shorter then kindergartners. Besides being short he also seems like a bit of a goof. Steve is much more down on him then I am.
Everett – Next to TG he is in contention for our best player. He can hit everything. And he’s a lefty. During whiffle ball practice he was able to hit things all over the strike zone. As we use a continuous batting order (so the kid who got the last out the previous game bats last the next game) he’ll be our #1 hitter. He’s one of the kids I knew and as the whole family is athletes, and nice, I am very excited to have him on my team.
Bobby – When I first looked over the roster I didn’t remember that I knew this kid. I know him from when I was student teaching and his mom really likes me, which is always a plus. He seems to have a good grasp of some technical areas, such as how to position ones self for a cut-off, but isn’t a great hitter or fielder as I remember him pretty clearly from last year.
Brendan – Our Latino kid who also happens to be white trash. Thinks more highly of himself then his skills merit, but I like it that way rather then the other way around. Is above average on our team, but not really above average.
Kelvin – An immigrant from somewhere in the former Soviet Union, his mother sounds like Checkov from Star Trek and he still has a noticeable Russin accent. Seems like a really good kid, but he couldn’t hit a moving ball to save his life. Good news? He’s perhaps the fastest kid on the team, and as I said we’re doing pretty well in the speed department. As a stop gap measure, until his hitting comes around, if it comes around (he needs a lot of work) I think we’ll make sure he understands the basics of bunting.
Percy – I know this kid plays travel baseball because I saw his name on the roster and his mother told me he did. He is also very fast, in our game where most kids got 6 bases, he got 7. That said I haven’t seen the sort of skills I otherwise expect from a travel player. We’ll see.
And that’s our team. Look for an update tomorrow after our second practice, first with the whole team. It’s going to be a fielding practice, and we’re going to start to see who our pitches and catchers are. Should be a good one.
Last year I was going through the mail and for some reason saw the Park District’s athletics brochure. I then got the idea to coach a team in the house baseball league. I wanted to do it with somebody as I was only 23 at the time and so there would be a sort of “safety” in numbers. I had previously coached a high school prep league basketball team (the sport I really am best qualified to coach in) and wanted to have a coaching experience in the spring. I contacted a former best friend from high school, who I had fallen out of touch with after our first year of college, to see if he’d be interested in doing it with me. He was and we agreed to do the 5th-6th grade league as that would have the kids be old enough that they would have some grasp of the basics, but not so old that we didn’t know a million times more about how to play baseball then they did.
We ended up coaching the Mets last year. It was a good experience as we were matched with an assistant coach, purely by luck, who was normally a head coach but was starting a new job and so he was unsure if he’d have the time to be a head coach. I was technically the head coach, but in reality it was more that we were all co-coaches with none of us ever raising a fuss about decisions that were made. My friend, whose name is Steve, and I did the lineups and such, but having that experienced coach in our corner was invaluable. I feel like we both learned a lot and we had the time of our lives doing it. Our team ended up finishing in 3rd place out of the 16 teams so we felt really good about it. I really can’t express what a blast we had. We decided, however, that we were ready to do it on our own this year.
The Team Comes Together
In previous years what they had done is all the coaches got together and evaluated the players. They then drafted a team. After the draft teams were distributed randomly so you most likely did not get the team you drafted. This year they did it differently. Rather then evaluating the kids through a 3 hour clinic they had the coaches fill out extensive evaluations at the end of the previous season. This, combined with any changes from this year’s clinic, which coaches could not attend was how they graded the players. They then simply put people onto teams. The catch was that they also didn’t tell anyone that they would be coaching until AFTER the teams were out. Steve and I at first felt we were being jerked around, but really it wasn’t true, they just did things in a sort of strange manner.
When the roster came out, we saw that we were indeed coaches and would be co-coaching the Marlins. Looking over the roster I knew about a quarter of the kids. Despite our wishing and hoping we didn’t get any of the same kids as last year. As I said at the time I felt that their combined weight was MAYBE as much as me. Further, despite this being baseball, and their being a separate softball league, one of the players I knew was a girl. I happen to know she was a complete tomboy and from what little I knew most likely an excellent athlete, but this combined with the complete lack of skill that I expected from the other players did not make me hopeful.
The First Practice
Today was our first practice. Last year we had 2 practices and then the rest of the days were games. This year we are going to have 3 practices before the first game and then at least 1 of the 3 days each week is a practice. This will be quite different and I think might actually be too much practice for a house league (there’s something nice about just letting them play) but it will allow Steve and I to do things we couldn’t do last year.
Whereas Steve would be happy to wing things, the teacher in me knows that planning must be done and so it seems like I will be doing most of the outlining of what we do during practice, which is fine. As we have 3 kids who cannot make Tuesday practices, nor games, we decided to save fielding, pitching/catching until tomorrow when the whole squad will be there as in Majors baseball good fielding wins more games (or rather doesn’t lose them) then anything else.
As such today was a hitting practice. After stretching and quick intro, half of the 9 (1 Hebrew School kid was there) kids went with Steve to do hitting off the Tee while the other half was with me doing whiffle golf ball hitting. After we did that for about 40 minutes we were able to use the baseball diamond (2 teams practice on the same field) and so we played a hitting/conditioning game. Turns out during one group at the Tee somebody made a derogatory remark against Mexicans, which wasn’t so good as one of our players is Latino.
After both teams had a chance to bat we called them in, at second base away from the parents (that was Steve’s excellent idea) and focused on the importance of us as a team. I think it was a pretty successful practice all things considered
Meet the Team
Steve got to the field before I did. A father and his son were already there. The first thing the father says to Steve is “You’ve got your work cut-out for you.” He goes onto explain that his son, a kid of average height for a 6th grader, was going to be one of the tallest people on the team. And this proved to be entirely true. One of the kids even admitted during practice today that there are a couple kindergartners bigger then he is, which as a 5th grader isn’t what you want. The team we got last year was no real shakes either, but they came together extremely well and developed as players well, so I still hold out hope for a successful season.
Let’s do a person by person breakdown. I am going to use pseudonyms to protect the kid’s identities.
Jodi – This is our girl. She’s a Hebrew Schooler so we’ll see her tomorrow.
Try – Could be the best player on the team. Though I haven’t really seen him pitch except loosely to his dad it’s likely he’ll be our starting pitcher. Above average, though not knockout, hitter.
Ethan – This kid carries himself like an athlete. During our game he ran so hard he made himself sick, so you’ve got to like the hustle. Thing is he couldn’t make contact with a moving ball. I keep wanting to think that he was just excited as it was the first practice, as his form is decent, but he is swinging too soon for the most part, but he’s a bit of a mystery for now.
Avi -- Hebrew schooler
Jesse - Our tallest player. He’s not a great hitter, and has your typical 6th grader’s focus, which is to say not much, BUT he’s the sort of kid who, without being asked, will go and get balls that were hit. He has a sense of humor so he isn’t a goody too shoes either. He needs to not be so stiff in his batting posture.
Fuller – Hebrew schooler. I know his twin older brothers well and both are below average athletes. One of them tells me he’s more athletic then them so perhaps he’ll be OK.
Jim – This is the kid who is shorter then kindergartners. Besides being short he also seems like a bit of a goof. Steve is much more down on him then I am.
Everett – Next to TG he is in contention for our best player. He can hit everything. And he’s a lefty. During whiffle ball practice he was able to hit things all over the strike zone. As we use a continuous batting order (so the kid who got the last out the previous game bats last the next game) he’ll be our #1 hitter. He’s one of the kids I knew and as the whole family is athletes, and nice, I am very excited to have him on my team.
Bobby – When I first looked over the roster I didn’t remember that I knew this kid. I know him from when I was student teaching and his mom really likes me, which is always a plus. He seems to have a good grasp of some technical areas, such as how to position ones self for a cut-off, but isn’t a great hitter or fielder as I remember him pretty clearly from last year.
Brendan – Our Latino kid who also happens to be white trash. Thinks more highly of himself then his skills merit, but I like it that way rather then the other way around. Is above average on our team, but not really above average.
Kelvin – An immigrant from somewhere in the former Soviet Union, his mother sounds like Checkov from Star Trek and he still has a noticeable Russin accent. Seems like a really good kid, but he couldn’t hit a moving ball to save his life. Good news? He’s perhaps the fastest kid on the team, and as I said we’re doing pretty well in the speed department. As a stop gap measure, until his hitting comes around, if it comes around (he needs a lot of work) I think we’ll make sure he understands the basics of bunting.
Percy – I know this kid plays travel baseball because I saw his name on the roster and his mother told me he did. He is also very fast, in our game where most kids got 6 bases, he got 7. That said I haven’t seen the sort of skills I otherwise expect from a travel player. We’ll see.
And that’s our team. Look for an update tomorrow after our second practice, first with the whole team. It’s going to be a fielding practice, and we’re going to start to see who our pitches and catchers are. Should be a good one.
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