Organization

I have none of it. I have no organized baseball in my life. It's so depressing because now I have to schedule my baseball around school, but I prefer the other way around.

The weather is getting worse, rain coming down, and a little colder. Being a responsible collegiate athlete, I do my share of conditioning but more important to me is to get the baseball drills in.

I made a vow I wouldn't throw until practice starts up again, which is the very beginning of February. For the past 3-4 years, I never took a break from throwing and I think I'm finally mature enough to shut it down and let it rest and heal whatever damage has been done to it. Throwing is said to be such an unnatural movement, the damage done by throwing can be brutal. In fact, the shoulder can only generate approximately 40 lbs. of force, and that's almost exactly how much force professional pitchers are using. Meaning, they are maxing out their arms when they play. That is why arm care is so important, and even then, it's not enough.

So hitting is where my main focus is at, in terms of baseball specific drills that I do on my own. If I can find someone to swing with me (which gets tough because classes are at different times and it gets dark so early), then I can take real BP, but that's a rarity these days, because of weather and especially with midterms and class projects that are eating my time and holding me back. So generally I'm doing a lot of tee work. Trying to optimize my power. That's what I do. My problem with hitting hasn't necessarily been a contact issue or chasing bad pitches, it's that mechanically, I'm not as good as I can be.

So, I'm trying to stay optimistic, because spring practice will start before I know it. I have a couple weeks left to the semester, some winter break, a week or two of school, and it will start. OK, it's a while, but the bright side is that I have time to improve.

Toughest Season

The toughest season of the year is the winter. It's been that way for years. Ancient tribes had to plan ahead and really struggle to make it past the winter. Well, on a much smaller scale, it's going to be hard for me to keep this blog going through the winter. There won't be any college ball to talk, and obviously the only thing MLB is doing is signing free agents. You know what, I'll make due. Well, if my standard is like three a month like I've been doing, it'll be a breeze.

I'll deal with the winter thing when it comes. Right now, I have just three practices left this fall, and it's kind of depressing. Although, yesterday was the most beautiful day, and we had a scrimmage outside, it was great times. There were a lot of good signs, both team-wise and personally.

But knowing how few practices are left, and that it'll be so long before I step out onto the field, it really motivates you to take advantage of every second you are out there. And with this beautiful weather, there isn't much more you can wish for.

Right now, I'm just going to go out, make sure I'm enjoying every second out there, but also make sure I'm aware of what I'm doing. These fall practices are going to allow me to assess where my game is and where my game needs to improve. Right now, I need to not do too much behind the dish, make sure I throw to bases and not fielders, and get my hands back when hitting. That's obviously not everything, but that is what I can control for now.

Champs

What a game! Matsui was the freakin' man, he certainly had himself a day. There was no way he was going to leg out a triple to complete the cycle, but Japan must have been going nuts. But maybe not as close to how nuts Wash-Heights was. I was watching in a friends apartment, and a minute after the game ended, we ran up to the roof and heard the whole neighborhood just going crazy. Pots, pans, cars, vocal cords.

We gathered some stuff together and roamed down the streets yelling and cheering. Toilet paper hung from street lights, as a few piles of garbage lit on fire, while firecrackers went off amidst chants of "Let's go Yankees!", "Derek Jeter", "Mariano", "Twenty Seven", "Veinti-Siete!"

Great times.

Talkin' Baseball

Amidst all of this studying for annoying midterms and everything else preventing me from being the best player I can be, I decided I need to write a quick post.

We've had two practices so far, and I'm so psyched for the upcoming season. Aside for the new recruitment of rookies, who show some serious promise, I'm also excited about myself. My throws have been looking much sharper, but I really need to start practicing more coming out of the crouch.

Many of you know that I love hitting for power (or at least trying), and when you try to lift the ball, naturally, sometimes you'll miss and it could lead to popups. Now, I'm not saying that I've tried to lift the ball, but I'll say I've tried to hit the ball maybe harder than I should have. That's something I've worked on over the summer, and I also focused on hitting opposite field. I was doing that really well during BP and it felt real good. I'm pretty sure I'll get into a few this year, but for now, I know that hitting line drives and thinking opposite field is good for me.

Also, I'd really appreciate if the Yankees could beat the Phillies in Game 6. Reasons:

1) I'm a Yankee fan, I want them to win.

2) If it goes to Game 7, we have practiced moved to Friday morning so everyone can watch the game Thursday night. So, just how hungover can we be for practice?

Either way, it'll be much easier if the Yanks win. I'm pretty confident they will. I mean, Andy has been throwing really well, and being a lefty has worked wonders for him against the lefty-stacked Phillies lineup. I know his numbers in Game 6 of WS isn't good, but they weren't for Game 6 of ALCS, and look what happened. Also, Pedro's bag of tricks shouldn't work twice. The Yanks are likely to pounce on him. But, I have the utmost respect for Pedro and you never know, he may surprise some folks.

So that's it for me now. I just want to get one more chapter in and then I'm off for some shut-eye. I just really want to enjoy the next 2 1/2 weeks of structured baseball. After this, it's all mostly individual stuff until February.

Appreciation

OK, this will definitely not be a great post, but I'm hoping as I write something, it will lead to something better.

There are several ways to appreciate how good major league players are. One great way, which I guess I do fairly often, is to watch players who aren't in the major leagues. Go watch a minor league lifer or even a player in his mid twenties who has yet to get his cup of coffee.

This guys can rake during BP, pop catchers' mitts like popcorn, and yet, I can make more money than them serving cups of coffee. I am someone who really enjoys watching a minor league game, no matter the level, I'd watch a D-3 game if it was on.

So that's one way. Appreciate how good players who can't make it are. It really puts things in perspective if you are trying to compare yourself to professionals. Also, it makes you feel like none of your work has paid off so be careful.

The other way is obviously to watch major leaguers. But even in this method, I offer my own style. Sure, most like to watch the video of ML hitters bang balls of bleachers in a pace so often that it kind of sounds like that homeless guy who is banging pots together in the subway. But I like to watch the more subtle skill. Last night, with two outs in the ninth and his team down by a run, Johnny Damon had a 9 pitch at bat against closer Brad Lidge, and would eventually line a single and become the tying run. He takes a ball inside and fouls off three straight naaaaasty sliders (count 1-2) and then took two fastballs for balls to run the count full. He fouled off two hard fastballs away, and lined the ninth pitch into LF.

The art of fouling off pitches is something often overlooked by the average fan. Lidge hasn't been himself, but his stuff was pretty good (forgetting his "slow" 91mph fastball). He made two tight pitches on the outside corner, and as most well located pitches are, they are tough to make contact with, let alone put in play.

Writing this, I can't describe how tough it is. You need to experience it to understand. I'm pretty sure most of you readers have played baseball, so you do understand, but when you watch Game 5 tonight, watch out for the little things, especially when Cliff Lee is on the mound.

The Fine Balance

This is something I've always struggled with. Not balance like standing on one leg, although I could use some work, I am talking about the balance between the mental game and mechanics. They are both important and they need to work together.

The mental game is obviously important. I've wrote about it many times and I read books and watch videos of sports psychologists and I'd say I'm pretty informed about the subject. But mechanics are also important. It helps improve raw skill and makes for better play. Funny, that last sentence can describe both mechanics and mental game.

There are things that need to happen in a swing. Hip turn, weight transfer, etc. And players spend hours upon hours in the cage, off a tee working on mechanics of hitting. They think about it, they are aware of their problem(s). But most of the mental game preaches, in a nutshell: don't divide you focus from the ball to mechanics. Keep all focus on the ball.

Makes a lot of sense. And so true. It's undeniable. But to get good at baseball, you need that time in practice to sharpen your skills. Dr. Tom Hanson (sports psychologist) says the number one key is practice. The idea is that practice improves confidence, because you know you can succeed.

Now that I think about it, practice time should be reserved for analyzing mechanics but game time should obviously be just thinking all ball. Although, if focusing on all ball makes you better, why not just do that in practice? When do you say, mechanics can succeed well enough to stop focusing on them?

These are the struggles I have.

Instant Replay

Oh my, what a topic. From here on, this should be more spoken about than steroids, because it affects the game so much more now.

As you know, the only play that can be overturned upon replay is a home run, or potential home run. This is a great start, because I honestly feel that you must try to get every call right. Like umpires. But we know humans aren't perfect, and that's why we need cameras, super slo-mo, and a system to implement.

It's fairly obvious, especially over some recent postseason games, that there needs to get a better system. I'm not going to get into plays, I'm sure everyone remembers some. But why choose to get calls wrong? Anyone who doesn't want to advance the implementation of instant replay is choosing to get wrong calls in a baseball game.

The three questions to ask are:

1) To what extent will calls be argued or reviewed?

2) Whose decision will it be to "challenge" the play?

3) How often can you argue?

I don't even know if anyone is trying to decide this. Should fair/foul plays be reviewed? I think so. Safe and out? Definitely. Ball or strike? Ideally, but I don't want to use any TBS or FOX pitch tracker. I don't think those are very accurate, but I don't have another solution. I personally want to see the view from up top and the view from side of hitter. (As a side note, my father, who is probably not reading this, came up with a good solution for balls and strikes, but it gets rid of umpires all together. You have laser like rays that should across the strike zone - horizontally and vertically. If the ball crosses through both set of rays, steeeeerriiiiiiike. Not a bad idea. I just hope it doesn't give the batters cancer.) But this leads right into the next question.

Who will decide what to challenge? Managers? Umpires? Shall we go with the red flag like football? I guess manager is a good idea but umpires should reserve the right, like they do for the current situation.

Lastly, how often? Ideally, there should be no limit, but you'll have the Bobby Cox type manager who would argue every close play - what's there to lose? Maybe three plays all game, and for every call overturned, you get another opportunity back.

Anyway, please comment if you have any ideas or insight. I have a feeling this issue will be brought up big time and stir up some good baseball talk.

The Battery

So Molina has been able to get some good ol' PT by becoming Burnett's personal catcher. Question of the day: Is that cool?

It's weird, because you think at least one side of the battery would be willing to give in and play the game with the best team on the field. But then - who should it be? Should the pitcher start trusting the catcher over his instincts? Should the catcher ignore advanced scouting reports and visible adjustments by the batter, so the pitcher can throw what he wants?

I'll say this - there's always a reason why a catcher calls a pitch. Whether it's because he thinks it's a hitter's weakness, pitcher's strength, or just to set up another pitch. Now there are absolutely some pitchers who are smart and they are aware of the batter's intentions and adjustments. But most just want to throw a pitch for no specific reason. At least, when I get shaken off, and I ask the pitcher why he wanted to throw a certain pitch, I am seldom met with a good reason.

I don't mean to be so against pitchers. False. I do. But I can understand that if I was on the hill, I'd like to take charge as well. I can definitely understand that kind of Type A personality. But there has to be an understanding that the catcher is using game strategy. Now, if the pitcher is also using his own strategy and just feels more comfortable using his (and it's working), you can't argue with that. But as a catcher, if my pitcher has another method that works, I have no problem using it.

I just finished reading a book by Chris Coste, The 33 Year Old Rookie. Great book, and one of his early points was that pitchers loved throwing him, and one of the ways he almost made the Phillies after a great spring training was many of the pitchers requested to throw to him. At least, it got him into many spring training games.

I hope it's very clear that there is a lot more going on in those 60 feet 6 inches than just throwing and catching. And obviously, it's not something with a clear answer. Ultimately, the starting catcher needs that day or two off, and if a certain pitcher likes throwing to the backup backstop, it works out well. In the playoffs, though? Hasn't worked badly for the Yankees so far.

I'll finish off with one quick story. I had been playing on a team, but didn't get to catch for a while. I don't think most of the players knew I caught, I had been DHing and a little first. When the starting catcher was late to a game, I finally got the chance to start, and was really happy to finally get it. The first inning was a bit rough. I was shaken off a couple times and a couple hits (one XBH) led to some early runs, and this wasn't what I needed, as this pitcher was a rock for us all season, and his first bad appearance was with me behind the plate. After the first or second inning, we get to the dugout, he says to me, "OK, that was last time I'm shaking you off." I was very happy to hear that. He didn't give up a run the rest of the game, and we ended up getting the runs back, and either tied or won the game, I don't remember exactly.

My point is that I had never caught this pitcher before and I let him call the game. But he realized it wasn't working, and gave me control. It worked. It won't all the time, because it ultimately relies on the pitchers stuff and command.

Answer: Yes.

Pride

Kind of a nice follow-up to the ego post, but I'd like to take this into a different direction. Every three years there is the World Baseball Classic. It's terrible because it forces guys to hurry their workouts to get back into game ready shape, but it's a great tournament, where the best players represent their country.

For some reason, I feel like foreign players care much more about their own country than the U.S. players do. I mean, don't get me wrong - the players on the U.S. roster are playing hard and to win, but it's the players opting not to play that grind my gears.

I don't think you'll ever see Daisuke Matsuzaka or Ichiro declining a roster spot. But, in the past two tournaments, you had plenty of American aces decline spots. I can't blame them, but I think the U.S. is being misrepresented. I don't want to get into names and stats, but wouldn't it be nice if you had Lincecum, Greinke and Halladay all ready to go. I know these pitchers weren't the same back then, but even then, you had players decline spots. Back when Josh Hamilton was hitting bombs left and right, he declined.

I can't think of many hitters that don't play for U.S., but I'm sure there are. Other countries get 99% of their best players, I think U.S. gets about 80-85. And when you are talking about the best players to walk on this Earth, it's a big deal.

I understand why they don't want to play, and it makes sense. Forget about hurting your ML team in terms of performance, but you are risking injury. You hurry your workouts and now your pitch count and innings count for the year goes up. Being that baseball is a 6 month season, there is no good time to have it. Maybe I'm too patriotic, but I want to see America rip it up in '12. Maybe by then Bryce Harper will bat third and Stephen Strasburg will be on the hill.

Ego

They come in all different sizes. Obviously everyone has some sort of ego, and nobody likes the guy with the huge ego, but most would agree that you have to know you're good in order to have the proper confidence to succeed.

What got me thinking about this was what was happening lately with some old time pitchers maybe hanging on a bit too long. Take the great John Smoltz. The guy has been a beast, racking up great numbers year after year. 19 years in the bigs, only having his ERA above 4 just once since his rookie year, he begins his 20th season with the Red Sox, after 19 straight with the Braves.

He has a terrible stint with the Red Sox, going 2-5, with a 6.53 ERA. He was getting shelled left and right. Nothing really worked for him. He was then moved to the pen. That must have been a terrible feeling. I mean, this guy, one of the best pitchers since the 90s, is suddenly booted from the rotation. His ego is taking a huge hit.

Another example is playing on a team that is already out of the playoff race. Day in, day out, you put in "meaningless" at bats. Sometimes you might play a role in the playoffs, by perhaps beating a contender or even losing to a contender giving them enough wins to get their playoff spot. Sometimes. Mostly, you play before empty stands and get railed on for poor performance.

Well, all it took was for me to put myself in those situations to see how things like that work out. (Before I finish this, I just want to say that each scenario has something else to do with ego - I'm not comparing them.)

With Smoltz, he's not an idiot. He knows what's going on. Yea, it sucks, but when you play on a playoff contending team, like the Red Sox, you have to perform. He was given chances to turn things around but it didn't work. He has to put his ego in his pocket for now, and say, "What would I do if I was in the manager's position?" Once you open up your mind to how you look from the outside, things might start to make sense. And by the way, Smoltz is a class act, he couldn't have handled it better. He, of course, was traded to St. Louis, where he is 1-1 in 4 starts with a 3.27 ERA.

In terms of playing on a losing team, well, most of you know, I need not put myself in someone else's shoes. Ha. Seriously. This is where your ego takes over. I don't see what's wrong with playing for yourself. Playing for yourself as best as you can, will bring the team to win games, instead of playing lazily and wasting ABs. Also, ML players are playing for millions, so I don't care what your situation is, just play. And maybe hope to get traded.

To sum in up, ego can come into the equation several ways. There are surely more. But this gives a little look into some situations that the ego (or lack thereof) can help.

The Big 3-0

OK, I'm not going to talk about the 3-0 count, although there is plenty to talk about there. That's for another time. The big 3-0 refers to the 30th post. Here it comes.

There was a play in tonight's Yankee game that I would like to discuss. As usual, I encourage comments, please feel free to share your opinion.

Ball game tied at 3, bottom 8, 1st and 2nd, 1 out, 1-1 count on the lefty hitter, and the Yanks attempt a double steal. Catcher fires a seed down to third, ball gets away, into LF, runners move up, which now gives the Yanks the lead with a runner on third and one out. View it here.

The question I was asked was: Who is to blame?

It's very very tough to blame someone. I'll start with the catcher's perspective. You make a throw like that, an absolute seed that beat the runner. It didn't just beat him before the bag, the throw beat him to the spot. In other words, you could throw at his feet and it gets there before his hands hit the bag, but Napoli's throw beat Gardner's hands. That's a seed and a very good throw. Great release too. Quick feet, quick arm. Now, for Figgins, the third baseman. He wasn't grounded. If he's grounded, waiting for throw in an athletic position, he makes that play easily. But he's still moving in the direction of third base dugout, and now throw is taking him to second. Even though it was maybe two and a half feet off of third, he couldn't get that extra reach. Tough play, because ML plays develop so quickly. However, I think the bottom line is this -

If that throw doesn't get the runner, something is wrong on the receiving end.

Umpires

OK, without a season going on, it's very hard to find something to write about. I barely watch any Major League games, being as I have class late at night and that's also when I usually work. (For those who don't know I am a rec supervisor at school, and I am also on the Event Staff.)

Being a Yankee fan, I obviously saw the Arod/Girardi ejection. Arod got rung up on a ball that was, honestly, borderline. I think Arod was angry because catcher and umpire were talking and it made it look like ump gave borderline call to catcher because he was in the middle of a friendly chat. But if that would happen in a normal situation, he would just be dissapointed but wouldn't yell at umpire after being rung up. Could have gone either way, he just got the short end of the stick. Given the circumstances, Arod took it personally.

I personally prefer that umpires only say something when a call needs to be made. Only because if they start small talking, I have to also. I'd much rather focus on my pitcher and defense. It gets distracting sometimes. Your thinking about a lot of stuff, and the umpire mutters something. I really don't care what you think about that last play, I have to prepare for the next one.

I always wondered if catchers and hitters talk to umpires in the Major Leagues, because it happens a lot in amateur games. I've never seen it on TV, but I guess it happens here and there. Truth is, professional umpires should be just that. Professional.

Offseason

It is here. No summer ball, no fall ball (not until October) and now it's just weeks straight of working out, throwing, BP, all on own time. We have captains' practice once a week (no coaches) but even that is indoors so it's pretty annoying.

Basically, the only baseball done these days is coming straight from motivation to get better. Honestly, I don't see how people can let the oppurtunity go, to take BP everyday and get stronger. OK, I get why some people don't like the weight room, but hitting is the most fun part of baseball.

I was listening the other day to an interview with Carlos Pena of the Rays and it was about the mental side of baseball. When the conversation moved to the AL championship team, he was asked what he said to the team before the games against the Red Sox. Basically, he said how it was everything they wanted. All the work they put in, day in, day out, this is why you do it, and now they were there. The grind of putting in the work everyday is finally paying off, and now they have to play like they always have.

So that's the stage I'm at now. I'm going through drills and hitting routines daily, and I absolutely cannot wait until I see when it pays off.

The Big Picture

So we lost, 8-5 in the championship. Pretty disappointing loss, and as usual, you always feel like you should have won. Absolutely. Even though we went down like by 6 runs, I was so sure we would put up a big fight and take the game. Just by the way we played all year, I felt like it was almost a fluke that we lost, but it happens.

And now we can go back and think about the big picture. I mean, we played 10 games, across like 3 months so games were few and far between. The 11th was the championship game, because we got a free ride in the playoffs - teams had to drop out, long story. Anyway, it's so few, and it's really a shame we lost but also - do or die! There is no series! Anything can happen, and something did. Our starting pitcher wasn't himself and that's it, no redemption opportunity. And that's really what hurts. We can't go back out and get another chance.

So my focus now is to just focus on all the positives of the season. We put up some huge numbers and really beat up on some teams, but obviously, couldn't do it every time. You can't beat up on yourself after a loss, and it's not like we played badly for a stretch in the playoffs where you can be angry. We lost one game, and we chipped away but too late in the game. At the end of the day, it was a great season.

Now I'm just looking forward to college baseball starting up again. We don't have tryouts until October, but we have weekly captains' practice and I take BP everyday and get my throwing in. Still though, I can't wait to get back on to the field again. It's the time of year where you just put in hours upon hours of work, motivated from last year and for the upcoming year, and hope that the daily focus and preparation will pay off.

Championship

So this Sunday one of my summer teams is playing in the championship, barring no rain and that the field isn't underwater from rain on Friday or Saturday.

There is no series, it's win or go home. And thinking about it, it really goes against how baseball is normally played. With the 162 game season, sometimes, along the way, a single game can become meaningless, and players don't have the sense of urgency to win. You won't see too many on the top railing, itching for guys to get on base and be driven home.

I was always skeptical of people who said, "Guys on bench make such a big deal. If they cheer, players on the field will play better." Still, as much as I think about it, I truly fail to see the connection. Maybe I'm not a normal player, but I'm not up there trying to satisfy the cheers of anybody. I am playing for myself, doing what I can do to help the team win. Coach gives me the bunt sign, or hit and run, I don't see how my execution will be different when guys are loud or quiet. If you have an answer, please comment or let me know.

Back to championships. In playoff games, you'll see guys on the top rail all the time, guys talking, chattering, really in the game. But I don't like to focus on the bench. I focus on the player. The guy in the box. Is he pressing? Is he opening up the strikezone? Helping the pitcher?

To an extent, I would have to say, your play should be changed for these types of games. I think you have to bat on the side of aggressiveness and field on the side of "don't make the error that puts the guy in scoring position." Why? Because if you're are not aggressive at the plate, you leave too much up to the umpire. Now, that doesn't mean to change your approach, and it doesn't mean to chase pitches. It means, foul off the borderline, don't take it. On defense, don't rush the throw if Ichiro is running up the line on a slow grounder to third. If he gets a base hit, fine, don't rush the throw and have it wind up rolling done seats by RF, while Ichiro hustles into third.

So what will it take to win?

Guys need to play to the best of their ability and then you need to get lucky. Ability. To do what? To not over-think situations. To focus on the task at hand, not the result, or the overall picture. Focus on taking a good swing, not the the ball going over the wall. We just have to do what we've done all season. Throw the ball, hit the ball, catch the ball.

The Journey

You know how there are some people who tie everything in life to baseball?

Something unexpected came up - "they threw me a curveball." She totally rejected him - "he struck out."

So I'm going to kind of do that right now a little bit. It all began when I was driving home from a wedding this past Sunday night and kind of wanted a little quiet (or relaxed music), so it was clutch when a music radio station actually had a talk radio segment.

This guy was talking about rejuvenating yourself and things about that topic and the first caller gave his opinion on how he views life. His basic premise was that you have goals, and then when you reach them, now what? Life doesn't stop, there's always something else. The host then gave an example - you are looking forward to getting married, and then it happens, where do you go from there? You have to go along the journey, and these goals are not stop signs, but rather just something along the way.

Then he said how things can happen along that journey, perhaps unpleasant things, but we must keep in mind that there is much to follow (hopefully) and obviously to keep things in perspective.

Now, obviously, this is where the baseball wheels in my head began to turn. Lets look at two scenarios - doing well, and not doing well.

You're just mashing. You are 8 for your last 15, just mashing out there. Well, unless you're planning on hanging up the spikes, you better stop celebrating and start keeping things in perspective. It's just 15 at bats. That's just a few games worth. Chances are you got a ways to go to the season, let alone the career.

Now let's say you're struggling. Hitless in 10 at bats, 6 of them being strikeouts. Seems like a few miserable trips to the ballpark, but that's just a little bump on the road. The key is to simply learn from it and move on. You can't get caught up in one of those. Just get back on track and you'll barely remember that little hiccup.

I'll finish up with a personal story. Coming off a decent freshman year at the collegiate level, I was determined to really break out sophomore year. I did a lot of extra cage work, and couldn't imagine what kind of start I would get off to. 0-15. I don't think I had a slide like that during my freshman year, and this is how I open up my sophomore campaign. I got very frustrated out there. I got back to the bench, I slammed my helmet down, I wasn't happy. After games, I didn't want to go to dinner with the guys, I just went to sleep. Well, I began to notice how major leaguers don't show emotion after at bats- most of them do realize that it's just a small hiccup. (Note: I end up with 70 some odd at-bats in my 23 game schedule, they have like 600 in their 162 game schedule. Sometimes we amateurs can underestimate the hiccups.) I just focus on staying relaxed now, no matter the situation and just have fun playing. Well, I started hitting a bit, and from then on hit .356, finishing at .284 by years end. Junior year coming up, time to do big things. Just one more step further along the journey.

Slumps

The S word. I'm going to get right into it, mainly because I can't think of a good way to introduce the topic.

It happens to everyone. Can't buy a hit, they just ain't falling. Before I go over some ways to get out of it, I want to introduce an idea, but before I do, I want to say that I would need serious tape or film to prove anything.

We all know the famous claims about Arod. He can't hit in October. His batting average folds in half and doesn't come through in the clutch. But what about this - what if, for those few at bats one gets in the playoffs, he didn't get his pitch. I know it's crazy, but could it be that they tried to pitch around him and he stretched the strikezone a bit, just trying to hit too much?

Lets bring the example to a smaller scale. Someone goes 0-10, they are in a bit of a slump. I say that first what should be analyzed is swings made. I say this because before you know it, everyone advocates a change in the swing, be it in the stride, hand position, etc.

I think the big problem with changing the swing, is that it gets the player thinking too much. Now he's got to go take BP and work on keeping his hands here, his toe pointed this way, his knee bent, instead of doing what is natural and keeping a clean head. Now, at some points, there must be a time for this, and I'm the last guy to challenge a major league hitting coach, so lets pretend I'm talking about the amateur level here.

In the book, The Mental Game of Baseball, they bring a quote from someone who gives his routine when it comes to breaking the bad streak. I forget who it was, but he says that when he slumps, he'll try this way, that way, and after a week or so, he'll just go back to what he used to do and it'll usually work. The authors' point was to stop making all these adjustments and go to what is natural - just clear your mind and release what has happened.

If you want to have a good luck charm, fine. I never saw the point, because you'll never be perfect and if it was a good luck charm, wouldn't you bat 1.000? Anyway, just take it easy during the hard times, try not to think too much. Stick to your one pitch to hit. If your batting average slips, that's OK, it happens. But don't help the pitcher out by trying too hard.

Results

It's always nice when things finally pay off. You put in work, you put in more work and when it works out well, it's a great feeling.

I was saying in previous posts how I've been working on things in my swing to maximize power, mainly my load. Well, this Sunday, I had myself a day at the ballpark. I don't want to go into too much detail, but I hit a HR, double, and triple over the course of a doubleheader. Videos can be seen here.

Obviously, right now, I'm feeling great, but you can only ride the good streak for so long. It's only a matter of time before a dry spell comes along. It's how baseball works. You'll have times where any pitch that is thrown somehow ends up in your wheelhouse but other times where you put good swings on the ball, you're just missing or popping it up.

How do you stay on the good streak? Ryan Zimmerman's hit streak earlier this year prompted him to keep the same batting gloves (usually changed every 2-3 games) and cleats (usually changes "every other week or two"). You could tell (link to video) he was mostly doing that for shtick, but mainly he just keeps his same BP routine, same hitting drills and takes each at bat at a time.

How do you get out of a bad streak? Jason Giambi had two solutions: this one and this one. Bad streaks could start from many places, and I will post one just on that, so stay tuned.

Anyway, I don't get superstitious at all, but I would love to stay hot, so maybe, maybe, I'll always eat egg and cheese on a bagel before I leave to the ballpark. Oh, so that's how it begins.

Little Things

When speaking about goals and expectations and whatnot, you often hear: worry about the little things and the big things usually take care of themselves. In other words, worry about having good plate appearances or work on keeping your pitches down and then the bigger things like batting average or ERA will suddenly improve.

Well, currently, I've been working on a few little things in my swings, and I think, and am pretty confident, that if I can nail them down, I will see a big increase in my power numbers. So, basically, if I can just work on keeping my hips closed during my stride, I think I'll be able to hit the ball harder and further.

I remember, perhaps last year or two years ago, Bobby Abreu lined the ball right off Twins' pitcher Nick Blackburn's face. Abreu then immediately went on what was then (could still be) his longest drought without getting a hit. When discussing it, I think it was decided that he was kind of leaking his hips and pulling off the ball. Now, I don't see how such a small (barely noticable) mechanical problem suddenly causes a hitter to go hitless for 15-some at bats.

When thinking about it a little while, I realized that at the ML level, such a small mechanical problem can really spiral into something very serious. Yea, it'll make you miss the 95mph gas, or miss the exploding slider. Furthermore, when someone from the film department realizes Abreu is pulling off, they immediately adjust their scouting report, and suddenly, everyone knows to pitch away away away.

OK, so that explains a lot. But here's my next question. And this is where my big problem lies, because I spend a lot of time swinging off a tee, taking dry swings and I can't shake the problem unless I think about it. Now I know you can't think about mechanics when you're at the plate, but how does Abreu have one week of working on something and then it becomes second nature.

I'd venture to say he takes a lot more BP than me, and I have no real facility to do that. I'll keep working, but if someone can explain how he can make something second nature so quickly, that would be nice.

Anticipation

You know it's bad when every single post I feel like apologizing for not posting often. It gets tough, trying to find things to write about, and usually I take the smallest thing that pops into my head, and as I think about it, it gets bigger and something OK to write about.

Right now, July is coming to an end, and it's about three weeks until school starts up. Now, I'm not too excited for school, but sometime in September, baseball practice begins. I love summer ball, but I like the organization of playing for a school. I love the BP before games, the IF/OF. I was thinking how easy it is for me to get pumped about school starting because anyway, I have just 20 something games to look forward to. Everyone knows how a professional season is such a grind and it gets tough to stay focused.

I remember, way back in March, Jamie Moyer said he woke up a few times in the middle of the night, right before Day 1 of spring training. Keep in mind, he is 46 years of age, playing in his 23rd Major League season. Pretty crazy, but I guess it makes sense, to play that long you must love it. If you didn't love it, you would take the money and run, once your numbers begin to decline.

One of my favorite baseball movies is The Rookie. A great part of the movie is when Jimmy Morris gets into that "bored" funk while in the minors and he contemplates quitting and going home to his wife and kids. Well, the scene goes, he leaves the bar, wanders around and finds himself behind the LF fence of a little league ball game. Somehow, it awakened the kid in him, and he began to love playing again. The following scene, which is the next day in the locker room, he walks up to his friend and says, "You know what we get to do today, Brooks? We get to play baseball."

Playing so few games a year, I can't imagine not being excited going to play baseball. It just can't happen too easily. But I guess, with the aches and pains that go along with the season, and traveling and the slumps, everyone could use a break. Hopefully I'll get some sort of chance to play a season like that and see for myself.

Perfect

It was the last word muttered by Samurai Katsumoto as he convinced the American Samurai, Nathan Algren to help him kill himself. (Clip. Start from 6:25) But lately, perfect is the game Mark Buehrle threw against the Rays yesterday.

He struck out just six batters over nine innings, and obviously had 27 go up, and 27 down. Of course, you can't mention Beuhrle's gem without showing the catch by Dewayne Wise, CF. It's just probably one of the best catches you'll ever see, under the circumstances. I'm sorry, I know you've heard that line a million times already, but it's the truest fact right now.

What is actually amazing is the Dewayne Wise did not start the game. Scott Podsenick started in CF, and not to say that he wouldn't have made the catch either, but Wise was put in for the ninth inning only. First batter, Gabe Kapler gives one a ride, but oviously, we all know what happened. Ozzie Guillen, maybe you got lucky, but you look like a genius anyway.

This isn't the first time Buehrle surrended zero hits in a game. He pitched a no hitter back in 2007. I was thinking about it, and trying to imagine the pressure of really knowing you are so close. I mean, every single pitch is such a risk. Broken bat single, a hanger, anything could ruin it. As a Yankee fan, it pains me to to talk about Mike Mussina's gem. He had a perfect game into the ninth, two outs on the batter with two strikes. Of course, Carl Everett hit a single to break the perfect game and the no-no.

Sadly, as I do some research, I see a whole list of pitchers who lost the perfect game on the 27th batter:

On nine occasions in Major League Baseball history, a perfect game has been spoiled when the batter representing what would have been the third and final out in the ninth inning reached base. Unless otherwise noted, the pitcher in question finished and won the game without allowing any more baserunners:^[38]

• On July 4, 1908, Hooks Wiltse of the New York Giants hit Philadelphia Phillies pitcher George McQuillan on a 2-2 count in a scoreless game—the only time a 0–0 perfect game has been broken up by the 27th batter. Umpire Cy Rigler later admitted that he should have called the previous pitch strike 3. Wiltse pitched on, winning 1-0; his ten-inning no-hitter set a record for longest complete game no-hitter that has been tied twice but never broken.^[39]
• On August 5, 1932, Tommy Bridges of the Detroit Tigers gave up a pinch-hit single to the Washington Senators' Dave Harris.^[40]
• On June 27, 1958, Billy Pierce of the Chicago White Sox gave up a double, which landed just inches in fair territory, on his first pitch to Senators pinch hitter Ed Fitz Gerald.^[41]
• On September 2, 1972, Milt Pappas of the Chicago Cubs walked San Diego Padres pinch hitter Larry Stahl on a borderline 3-2 pitch. Pappas finished with a no-hitter. The umpire, Bruce Froemming, was in his second year; he went on to a 37-year career in which he umpired a record 11 no-hitters. Pappas believed he had struck out Stahl, and years later continued to bear ill will toward Froemming.^[42]
• On April 15, 1983, Milt Wilcox of the Tigers surrendered a pinch-hit single to the White Sox' Jerry Hairston, Sr.^[43]
• On May 2, 1988, Ron Robinson of the Cincinnati Reds gave up a single to the Montreal Expos' Wallace Johnson. Robinson then allowed a two-run homer to Tim Raines and was removed from the game. The final score was 3-2, with Robinson the winner.^[44] (Robinson's teammate Tom Browning threw his perfect game later that season.)
• On August 4, 1989, Dave Stieb of the Toronto Blue Jays gave up a double to the New York Yankees' Roberto Kelly, followed by an RBI single by Steve Sax. Stieb finished with a 2-1 victory.^[45]
• On April 20, 1990, Brian Holman of the Seattle Mariners gave up a home run to Ken Phelps of the Oakland Athletics.^[46]
• On September 2, 2001, Mike Mussina of the Yankees gave up a two-strike single to Boston Red Sox pinch hitter Carl Everett.^[47]

Terrible, just terrible. Hey, it happens. Better luck next time.

Steroids

What's a baseball blog without a post about steroids? I may have spoken a bit in a previous post, but I read an interview with Mickey Rivers and he was asked what he thought about all the juice.

What an honest man Mr. Rivers is. He said that if there was something like that way back when, something to prolong his career, he would have done it- and so would have his friends.

Obviously! Is it a surprise? I'm surprised we don't hear more about people being tested positive. These guys play so much ball, they work out so much, the juice makes it so much easier, and you'll be more successful, which means way for money.

Now, you have to understand both sides in the steroids issue. You have to understand why players will do anything for an edge. You are basically raised from a young age that to compete and advance in the ranks of the game, you need your edge. Anyway, you have to understand why it's illegal. It is unfair to the record books to allow performance enhancing drug users to suddenly take over.

Like I said, the only thing to do is note whoever tested positive, and now stricter testing must be enforced. Simple as that. No taking names out.

Basically, I loved to hear the honesty that Mickey Rivers showed. I kind of hear it like this - If there was something out there to help my team win, I'd have taken it.

Obviously there are ways to spin everything. Bottom line- you make yourself better. Get that edge.

Results

OK, its been a very long time. I apologize to those who actually check for updates and I will try to get a couple in today and get going on a consistent basis.

Anyway, part of the reason I haven't been writing is because I really couldn't find anything to talk about. For now, I'll give a bit of an update on my new "not overswinging" swing. The results.

Basically, it started from just realizing- I'm not playing as well as I should. I'm not hitting like I can. So, almost in an act of desperation, I just wanted to hit the ball, nothing monstrous. So I wasn't swinging out of my shoes anymore.

Well, right away, to sum it up, I'm making much better contact, much more consistently. I'm putting the barrel on almost every pitch I've been swinging at. My average has been going way up in both leagues I'm playing in.

Still though, sometimes I see ML players swing so hard, they fall down or both legs come off the ground. How do they do it?

Well, either way, I'm going to stick with what works. I still have plenty of work to do with my swing, but for now, I took a huge step in a good direction.

Showing Emotion

I love to watch baseball games and see the emotion that players have. I also love to watch baseball games and see the emotion that players don't have.

I think in one of my other posts I touched on this a bit (Old Pirates), but I'll use this post to get into it. Here are a few scenarios that we see often and note emotion shown by players:

• Pitcher gives up a lead by surrendering a big fly
• Batter gives his team the lead by hitting a bomb
• Fielder makes a sensational web gem, saving the pitcher's tuchus

See, I think players are mostly taught to only hide emotion when things are going badly for them. The only exception I know to that is Joba Chamberlain's crazy fist pump after an inning ending K. He was heavily criticized from the likes of Derek Jeter and Goose Gossage.

Other than that, players today are granted free parking passes to sit in the batters box after a home run. I haven't heard much critique for that, and I don't know when it has become acceptable. I know in olden times (probably even just 10-15 years ago) if you stood up a pitcher, you knew that a pitch was coming at you high and tight.

Pitchers tend to have different reactions when they are saved by an outstanding effort from a fielder. Check out the "atta boy" from Phil Coke to Brett Gardner.

There are definitely times that its hard to stop the emotion from showing. You can try to conceal it, but I'll share a story of mine that got me pumped.

I'm catching, man on third and the batter walks. Our coach had made us practice this play in practice a few times and when I recognized the situation, I walked slowly to my pitcher, not wanting to totally leave home plate vacant. I told him that if the batter jogs around first and turns for two, he runs to cover home. Sure enough the batter takes off and I sprint towards the batter (now past first base) as the pitcher covers home. As I close in on him, my middle infielders yell "four" to let me know that the other runner broke for home. I turn, throw home and nail the runner at the plate. I got down nice and low to the ground and almost punched a hole right through it. Well, almost.

The trend in modern baseball is definitely veering towards more emotion-showing and showboating, but I just hope it doesn't get to that point where a pitcher pulls out a sharpie and signs the ball as his celebration. Or something from one of these.

Yankee Stadium

Well, I finally went. I actually held off a few weeks ago from breaking the bank to sit in the Legends Seats, and today I had free tickets which were awesome, just below the press boxes, in the Delta 360 suite.

First off, the stadium is awesome. It is spacious, clean, and full of great Yankee pictures and whatnot on the walls. The field is obviously gorgeous, and they have the most jumbo of trons, it is amazing. And, I was on it. All props go to the cute girls two rows above me. Bless them.

Yanks did win, 10-8, yet another come from behind win. There were four home runs total, two from each club. If there's something I'm addicted to, it is home runs. I have recently admitted that I probably do swing for the fences too much. Not necessarily for the lift, but just swinging too hard. I'm working on finding the right balance, because I don't want to be just a singles hitter.

Anyway, I got to the ballpark early enough to see the end of the Jays' BP. What is amazing is, they'd take these hacks, what looks like 80%, and hit beautiful line drives, a real línea, and then the ball just goes. And goes and goes. Boom! In to the seats. Granted, sometimes they popped it up, didn't get it right, or it didn't clear the wall, but I love watching the sheer awesomeness of major leaguers.

Hopefully one day Met fans will experience it. Zing!

Scouting Report

I can go on and on about how in-depth ML scouting reports are. They have hitter/pitcher abilities meaning, how hard one throws or power zones of a hitter. They also have the tendencies of players. What he chases or what he likes to throw in certain counts. There is so much more thinking at that level, its very hard to imagine it unless you've read some books on it or heard from a former ML player or coach.

At the amateur level, however, there are definitely things you can pick up on that will increase your chances of success. And that's really all it's about - increasing the chance of success. There is never a guarantee in baseball. Everyone knows the famous lines about hitting your spot but the batter cracks a duck fart and thats the game winning RBI. Miss your spot and the batter just misses, I guess you can call it luck.

A few of you readers requested that I blog more about personal experiences. I'd prefer not to write about myself but once in a while, if it flows, I'll throw something in. Last week, my team is getting no-hit, and just getting clobbered. We were very sloppy in the field and it was a game you just want to get out of. I happened to be on the bench and when we had a pitching change, I got to play some first base.

A few innings later, it is my turn at bat (third in the inning), my team still not having been able to solve two different pitchers and scratch one hit. The first batter up sees a fastball for strike one. Curve, strike two. Curve, strike three. I didn't think much of it, but I kept it logged in my mind. (I was a bit annoyed the batter stood up there with the bat on his shoulder - we are down plenty, we need hits.) I was in the hole at the time. The next batter walked on four pitches. My turn. He throws a fastball for strike one. OK, I'm sitting on another fastball. I don't want to chase anything but my pitch. He throws a curve, but it's low, count is 1-1. Another fastball is away, and the fourth pitch is a fastball inside, but I checked my swing and fouled it off. 2-2. OK, he's got me two strikes, and he's thrown plenty of fastballs now, he went with the hammer last time he had someone two strikes.

I remind myself to be quick and be ready to hit the fastball, but I was sitting on the curve. Sure enough, he throws the deuce and I lined it into left field for a single, breaking up the no-no. From there, my team had two more consecutive hits, and we scored two runs that inning, but ended up losing 12-2.

I think the important thing here is to know that its definitely easier to hit a pitch that you know is coming. If I tell you a fastball is coming, you'll be more succesful hitting than if you had to think about the deuce, slide-piece, change, etc. Simply, that is why batting averages go down when behind in the count- you just can't afford to sit on one pitch. Sitting on a pitch is just like someone telling you, "this pitch is coming in this location", and if you don't get it, don't swing- the luxury of being able to afford a strike.

Ah, hitting. So simple, right?

Confidence

This is something which baseball folk claim can totally change a player's performance. If you have confidence, you'll catch up to the heater. With confidence, this guy will paint the corners. He just needs a few knocks to get some confidence up, and then he will play better.

I agree to an extent. As with anything in life, if you do something with lack of confidence, you will probably not do a good job. Don't think you can impress the guy in an interview- you probably won't. But emphasis on probably. Confidence is not everything. It simply isn't.

Excuse me for being so strong on this issue, but most of it has to do with how I got into the game and the teams I've played on. As you may know, I didn't start playing baseball until I was 17, a pretty late start. Going to Yeshiva for college, many of my teammates also got a very late start - even later than me. Now, I love playing for Yeshiva, but there have been some crazy people in that program. Guys who didn't really know how to play the game the right way.

Some people, so damn in love with the mental side of baseball, they would be going around critiquing what people say. "You can't say that! If you even think or say for a second that you might not get a hit - you won't." To me, this is such a loser's mentality. Confidence is not something that shows externally. I don't mean to get cheesy, but it is an internal state of mind.

Take a look at professional athletes. Have you seen the latest SI with the Joe Mauer article? About his amazing hitting to open up his season (batting over .400), Mauer said, "It's probably not going to last forever, but I'll try to hold on to it as long as I can."

He fully understands that his streak will end- it happens to everyone. He knows that he will eventually slump- it's OK to admit it.

And you have to be a realist, by the way. I bet when every batter steps in against the 40 year old Mariano Rivera, they know that even at 39, hitters batted just. 165 against him. You know that all odds are against the hitter- even the best ones. You don't have to walk to the plate thinking you have no chance, but my point is that you can realize that failure is inevitable and saying that things may occur is defeating yourself mentally.

You know you are capable, you use a sound approach, and with this, you are confident that you can piece together a quality at bat- and that is a success.

Off Days

I've had quite a few of my own the past few days. I apologize to my readers- for all of you who actually visit this page, there should definitely be something up more often than I've been doing.

Truth is, things have been pretty annoying. I've had 6 straight games rained out, and if rain actually leads to depression, I don't want to know what not playing baseball does to me.

So I figured a word about off days would be appropriate, something to get back on track with. I've spoken about the physical toll playing everyday takes on players' bodies. Its probably something you really have to try for yourself because you can't really know what it's like.

So lets say a player is struggling, or he just "needs a day off", something to break up a small rhythm and get back on track. My first guess is that the day off barely matters. Most of the time, they have to be loose the whole game just in case they need to pinch hit or run. This means they have to warm up, get stretched out before the game like everyone else. They aren't actually resting that much. I guess they aren't on there feet as much throughout the night.

Some may recall the story in Moneyball when Scott Hatteburg was given the night off and he thought he wouldn't play, so over the course of the game, he was downing huge amounts of coffee and then later he was told he may pinch hit in a few innings. Well, he was wired out of his mind, but he went to hit for a long time in the underground cage and finally when it came his turn to bat, he actually had a walk off home run to win the game. (I believe the A's were up 10-0 and then blew the lead, but Hatteburg ended up winning it for them anyway.)

When I was at baseball camp, back when I was an older teen, first learning baseball, the catching coach was saying how sometimes coaches will give the catcher a day off- and he'll send the backstop to the bullpen for the day. Well, that ain't no day of rest. Thet's even worse. You are catching just as many pitches in the pen and doing it for longer intervals. "You want to give me a day off, make me the DH." I won't forget that line.

Now free on Hulu, there is a documentary on high school Japanese baseball. I won't spoil it for you as I highly recommend the film, but here is a list of a few amazing things said or done by either a player or coach:

• Player said they practice from when school is out (2pm) until 9pm. Then he goes home and practices some more.
• The day after a team loses in their summer tournament, they begin practicing the following day for next year.
• One player remarked how he doesn't remember not playing fatigued. He just wishes he can get rid of the tiredness.
• One coach said how losing is always the coach's fault. You can never blame the players. If they lose, he didn't manage their skills well.

Everything is unbelievable about their ethic, but you have to question the fact that players are clearly not playing to their capability if they are that fatigued all the time. Regardless, there are plenty of things to gain from the film. Of course, now I bow before I step onto the field.

Ignorant

ig⋅no⋅rant

  [ig-ner-uhnt] Show IPA

–adjective

1.	lacking in knowledge or training; unlearned: an ignorant man.

2.	lacking knowledge or information as to a particular subject or fact: ignorant of quantum physics.

3.	uninformed; unaware.

4.	due to or showing lack of knowledge or training: an ignorant statement.

Straight up, I cannot stand ignorant people. Obviously we are all ignorant in certain areas and subjects, but please don't talk about things in a public forum when you don't know anything. Many of you may know that I am a very big fan and supporter of Alex Rodriguez. I 100% excuse him for not being "clutch." (It is simply not true, but for those who want to take one series performance and judge him based on it, I will cater to you.)

Lately, Rodriguez has been struggling a bit, since returning from hip surgery. He has hit just .213, but manages to get on base a beastly 37.1% of the time. If that is not a sign of respect from opposing pitchers, I don't know what is.

When hitters slump, they tend to spiral down even further and get over-anxious, chasing bad pitches that "wasn't you" or should have "leave that." For someone to not fall into that hole and manage to keep his approach sound enough to still help the team generate runs and score, is something clearly very undervalued.

I read in the New York Post today that when Arod pinch hit (said to be the hardest thing to do in baseball) for someone late in the game on Saturday, he "merely drew a walk." How ignorant can you be? If they don't pitch to you, they don't pitch to you. Let me take you through the at-bat pitch by pitch:

1. 94mph fastball- low, 1-0
2. 86mph - up and away, 2-0
3. fastball- strike at the knees, 2-1
4. 94mph fastball- inside, 3-1
5. 95mph fastball- inside, ball four.

It should be known that the strike that he took, crossed the lower half of hit knees and was deemed "borderline" by the announcer. He never saw a single pitch in the wheelhouse. Do you want him to chase?

Lastly, lets review the situation of the game. He came up with a man on first, top of the 8th, his team down 2-1, and nobody out. On the first pitch, the runner stole second. After Arod's plate appearance, it was first and second, nobody out, his team down by a single run.

"Merely drew a walk."