After taking a peek at the teams we are playing down Florida, I have to say that it is not going to be an easy road. We are definitely going to have to earn each victory because the teams we are playing are not going to roll over and hand us the ball game. As I stated in my previous post, we are starting off with Heidelberg and Ohio Wesleyan, two very tough opponents. Heidelberg is currently ranked 8th in the country.
After our Saturday double header, we go back to Winter Haven for a double header Sunday where we play Wittenberg. The next day we will have a much needed off day. Four games in two days really does take a toll on you physically. On Tuesday, we play a single game against Mount Union. Last year we split a double header with them, so this should be a good game. The next day, Wednesday, we play a double header against Albion College who's from Michigan. We get our second day off Thursday where we will probably have a practice or something, so we may not be totally "off", but we'll see. Friday, which will be our last day down there, we will play Suffolk University, a team from Boston, Massachusetts.
The majority of our games down there are teams in our region, so it is important that we do good because is could be the determining factor in our postseason. If we do good against teams in our region this year and happen to not win our conference, then we have the possibility of getting an at-large bid in the regionals. But that would be a last-option sort of thing. If we do good in our conference, which I know we will, then we won't have to worry about it.
Wednesday, February 25, 2009
Florida Trip
A week from tomorrow, we are heading down Florida for our annual spring break trip. This is something that players look forward to year-round. To get out of this city and to some place warm, especially in early March to play baseball, is a highlight of our year. It doesn't get any better than playing baseball under the Florida sun. However, we have a little glitch in our plans. Usually, we take a flight to whatever city we are staying at in Florida. This year, because the economy is so bad, we are taking a charter bus. This did not go over too well with the majority of the team and there are still players who are a bit upset--which is totally understandable. No one wants to be cooped up on a bus for 20 hours, especially since we are driving straight through. Now don't get me wrong, we are stopping for food and things along those lines, but we are not going to a hotel until we reach our destination, which is going to be Port Charlotte. Once we get there, I have a feeling that alot of the stress from the ride will diminish.
The plan is to leave Thursday night around 11 pm. The reason we are departing so late is that some guys have night class, which they will be unable to miss. I guess we will reach Port Charlotte sometime Friday late-afternoon or early-evening. We will then play a double-header Saturday against two top teams in the country--Heidelberg and Ohio Wesleyan. After these games, we will leave Port Charlotte and head to Winter Haven where we will be staying for the rest of the week, playing an additional six games to wrap up the trip. Despite the bus ride, players are already getting real anxious to head down there--including myself.
Finally Outside
Today was a good day to practice baseball. The weather was warm and the sun was out, making it a very pleasant day for an outdoor practice. Unfortunately, we are still unable to use our practice field down River Road, so we did drills on the football field. We even got to do some long tossing today, which is great. Tossing in the gym day in and day out can get pretty repetitive. Plus, you are limited with space, so throwing long distances is out of the question. It felt good to let the wing air out and loosen up some of the rust.
Outfielders even got to see some actual fly balls off the bat, versus throwing fly balls to each other in the gym--not exactly a game like situation. After that, we got to work on relays from third, second, and to home. This is another important thing to accomplish because we are unable to do this indoors. We were a bit shaky at first but ended real well, which is definitely a positive.
When the outfielders were done, it was time for infield. We did our drills, then took some ground balls. After this, we got to take a whole infield as a team. When we completed a good round of infield, we worked on pop-ups in the infield and practicing on who had priority. This may sounds like a grade school thing, but you even see mishaps in the pros, so it's important to practice this every once in awhile. We ended practice with a good session of hitting in the old gym. Coach was a lenient today because we didn't have to do any conditioning. Trust me, none of the guys complained either.
Outfielders even got to see some actual fly balls off the bat, versus throwing fly balls to each other in the gym--not exactly a game like situation. After that, we got to work on relays from third, second, and to home. This is another important thing to accomplish because we are unable to do this indoors. We were a bit shaky at first but ended real well, which is definitely a positive.
When the outfielders were done, it was time for infield. We did our drills, then took some ground balls. After this, we got to take a whole infield as a team. When we completed a good round of infield, we worked on pop-ups in the infield and practicing on who had priority. This may sounds like a grade school thing, but you even see mishaps in the pros, so it's important to practice this every once in awhile. We ended practice with a good session of hitting in the old gym. Coach was a lenient today because we didn't have to do any conditioning. Trust me, none of the guys complained either.
Tuesday, February 24, 2009
Last Saturday Practice
This past Saturday was the team's last Saturday morning practice of the season. It is the last time hitters will see live pitching and the last time pitchers will pitch to hitters until our official game. I have to sat that all things went well too. We started off practice with our usual warm up then tossed. Once we got our arms loose, we headed to the old gym where we had both portable mounds set up inside the cages. Usually what happens is that when the infields hit, the outfielders will do drills and vice versa. This eliminates the old gym getting all crowded because it's tough to have all the hitters standing around swinging bats. This also eliminates the possibility of someone getting hit while someone swings. I've seen it happen and it's is not something you want to see.
Since we have a large amount of pitchers, they were broken up into three groups. Each group had four pitchers and each pitcher pitched four innings. An inning consisted of 15 pitches. So a pitcher could face 15 batters in an inning if they all swung at the first pitch, or they could face like 2 or 3. It's all up to how the batter did. Once each pitcher got their four inning in, the next group of pitchers would come in. We did this until every pitcher pitched. As you could imagine, this takes a lot of time, hence the reason Saturday practices can go up to four hours. but it gets the batters alot of at-bats and alot of practice. So it all works out.
Since we have a large amount of pitchers, they were broken up into three groups. Each group had four pitchers and each pitcher pitched four innings. An inning consisted of 15 pitches. So a pitcher could face 15 batters in an inning if they all swung at the first pitch, or they could face like 2 or 3. It's all up to how the batter did. Once each pitcher got their four inning in, the next group of pitchers would come in. We did this until every pitcher pitched. As you could imagine, this takes a lot of time, hence the reason Saturday practices can go up to four hours. but it gets the batters alot of at-bats and alot of practice. So it all works out.
Sunday, February 15, 2009
So Long, Sabo
It has been brought to the team's attention that Chris Sabo, our new infield coach, will no longer be coaching us. I do not know how this came about but I can say that I am a little disappointed. I was really looking forward to learning things from a former professional baseball player. You could imagine the amounts of knowledge that he has that he could have passed down to us. It really could have been beneficial to us, and I'm sure would have made us a better ball team. But things happen and life goes on. I'm sure he has his reasons and I wish him the best. I didn't even get a chance to get his autograph. All things set aside, we have 13 days till we start and we are all looking forward to opening day.
Tuesday, February 10, 2009
Roid-Riguez
I would like to get off topic just a little bit and talk about the MLB. It has come to my attention that yet another one of Major League's Baseball premiere athletes has been tested positive for steroids. That lucky individual is Alex Rodriguez, third baseman for the New York Yankees. Tests have proven that he failed a mandatory drug test, which tested him positive for an illegal substance.
With an interview with Peter Gammons, A-Rod admitted to using performance enhancing drugs from the 2001-2003 seasons. The name of the drug taken was not mentioned, but is known to be illegal. Rodriguez admitted to being, young, stupid, and very naive when using the drugs and took all responsibility for his actions. He added that he should have asked the proper questions before using the drug. However, he didn't and for that he is very regretful. When asked by Gammons why he told Katie Couric during a CBS interview that he didn't take steroids, Rodriguez replied that he couldn't even be honest with himself, so how could he be honest with her and CBS.
I feel that this is the best thing Rodriguez could have done. He needed to tell the truth, take responsibility for his actions, and then move on. His image will be forever tarnished and his chances of making it into the Hall of Fame may be minimal. Steroid use is definitely a black cloud over the MLB and I hope it gets better. At the very bottom of my blog page, you will find the interview A-Rod had with Gammons.
With an interview with Peter Gammons, A-Rod admitted to using performance enhancing drugs from the 2001-2003 seasons. The name of the drug taken was not mentioned, but is known to be illegal. Rodriguez admitted to being, young, stupid, and very naive when using the drugs and took all responsibility for his actions. He added that he should have asked the proper questions before using the drug. However, he didn't and for that he is very regretful. When asked by Gammons why he told Katie Couric during a CBS interview that he didn't take steroids, Rodriguez replied that he couldn't even be honest with himself, so how could he be honest with her and CBS.
I feel that this is the best thing Rodriguez could have done. He needed to tell the truth, take responsibility for his actions, and then move on. His image will be forever tarnished and his chances of making it into the Hall of Fame may be minimal. Steroid use is definitely a black cloud over the MLB and I hope it gets better. At the very bottom of my blog page, you will find the interview A-Rod had with Gammons.
Monday, February 9, 2009
Preseason Polls?? What A Joke
The preseason polls just came out for baseball and we were picked to finish fourth in the HCAC. Franklin was picked first, Rose-Hulman second, and Transylvania third. Anderson was fifth followed by Manchester, Bluffton, Hanover, and Defiance.
I personally feel that preseason polls are a joke. How can you pick teams to finish in a certain place when they have not even played yet. A phrase used many times in baseball is that any team can be beat on any given day. This is very true. Now I'm not salty because we were picked fourth because I know what we are capable of and I guess we just need to prove people wrong, just like we did last year. We were picked to finish second last year and ended up winning the conference, so it goes to show that anything can happen.
The only polls and statistics that should be taken into consideration are the postseason polls. After everything is all said and done, then we can look at who finished in what place.
I personally feel that preseason polls are a joke. How can you pick teams to finish in a certain place when they have not even played yet. A phrase used many times in baseball is that any team can be beat on any given day. This is very true. Now I'm not salty because we were picked fourth because I know what we are capable of and I guess we just need to prove people wrong, just like we did last year. We were picked to finish second last year and ended up winning the conference, so it goes to show that anything can happen.
The only polls and statistics that should be taken into consideration are the postseason polls. After everything is all said and done, then we can look at who finished in what place.
The Time is Near
This past Saturday we had a very productive practice. It was the first time the pitchers pitched live against hitters and it was the first time since the fall that hitters have seen some sort of live pitching. As a hitter, I can honestly say that it takes some time to get use to seeing live pitching again, especially since it's been months since we have seen any sort of action. Luckily it doesn't take much time to get your "eye" back. Overall, I have to say that everyone did well. the hitters, though a bit rusty, didn't hit the ball too bad for the first day. The pitchers looked pretty good too. Though our pitching staff is young, I hope they do well this year.
Some people may be wondering how we could see live pitching, especially since there was a half of foot of snow on the ground. The truth is we were all crammed in the small gym in the Harrington Center in the netted batting cages. Unfortunately this is all we have to work with but I suppose it is better than nothing. It doesn't help that the weather doesn't cooperate either. However, it could always be worse.
Believe it or not, our opening day is right around the corner--only 19 days. We still have alot of things to do in a short period of time, so you can imagine that we will be very busy the next couple of weeks.
Some people may be wondering how we could see live pitching, especially since there was a half of foot of snow on the ground. The truth is we were all crammed in the small gym in the Harrington Center in the netted batting cages. Unfortunately this is all we have to work with but I suppose it is better than nothing. It doesn't help that the weather doesn't cooperate either. However, it could always be worse.
Believe it or not, our opening day is right around the corner--only 19 days. We still have alot of things to do in a short period of time, so you can imagine that we will be very busy the next couple of weeks.
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