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."

Taxi Cabs

A couple days ago I had to drive around the upper west and east sides of Manhattan for about four hours. In order to retain a certain level of shadiness, I will not reveal why. But the further along the trip I got, the more I began to hate taxis.

These drivers are absolutely nuts. They prey on the hesitant driver, and cut you off at any angle possible. It seems they are fearless of any crash and they take no precaution- if the spot is an inch bigger than their car, they will squeeze in there. Bottom line- they are good at what they do.

So is Scott Boras. This man has made the most ridiculous negotiations possible and somehow always manages to pull them off. Some people hate him for driving up players' salaries because he increases the market value of even the mediocre player. When teams have to come up with more money to cover their payroll, they have to increase sales and/or sales prices. I'm sure fans noticed how expensive everything is at the ballpark. Try being a Yankee fan. I still root for the Yankees but this summer I might spend more on the Brooklyn Cyclones.

I don't mind players being paid a lot but I don't like when players stand out waiting for the extra 3 million or whatever. I can't really blame them- they are so heavily advised by agents and whatnot, and it has become a tradition of things to do.

In the end, everyone tries to make as much money as possible. Not just baseball players. You can't be angry. Boras makes more money by being a great agent- helping the players make more money. I would love to wake some old time baseball player from the dead and tell him the market value of a consistent .280 hitter who can make the routine plays.

When the Going Gets Tough...

...I need to think harder about something to write about. I've been drawing blanks for a pair of days now and I'm going to have to just start typing about something and hopefully it'll carry me into something you might enjoy.

I guess for now, with not much to write about, I'm going to talk about a classic baseball blog topic. Steiroids. Wait, I'm so sick of that, I don't want to. I'm tired of all the "surprises", and I'm not saying it negatively, I just don't think it's worth wasting energy on. I cannot blame athletes for taking it, but here's what I say should be done:

• Strict and often drug tests
• Asterisk by any stat of a convicted user

Stats get difficult because if you want to take away someone's statistics, then its not fair to the batter of pitcher that opposed the player. Being that it will get way too complicated and nobody will know how many people got away with it, I think asterisks with a syringe going through it is the best solution.

I've been saying this for a while. Steiroids are killing the game - not because players are using them, it's because that is all we fans have to hear about. I couldn't care less. I want to hear about the players and the teams, things that go around in the clubhouse, etc.

I'm going to have to think of something else to write about, because I don't want this post to be about the juice. I refuse to sink to that level. Anyway, what keeps coming to mind is Brett Gardner slamming into the wall tonight and being forced to leave the game. What happens after something like that is that fans applaud the outstanding effort and catch, and Gardner probably gets a day or two off. But my "concern" is that fans don't truly appreciate the lasting effect something like that will have on a player. He will feel that for a long time. And I guarantee you he will be back before he's 100%. And he's going to be just 1 of 25 players on a team who are playing hurt.

These guys play day in and day out, and they don't get much rest. The injuries pile on, and you don't know things heal because something else is hurting. I'll tell you what though, these guys get taken care of. Massages, hot tubs, saunas, the whole deal- these guys get it all, whatever they need. Gardner will wake up in a world of hurt, probably around 3am- but he won't know what time it is- he probably won't be able to turn his neck to the side. Nothing a little neck cracking session can't fix!

The other problem with injuries is not that something is hurting you - it's the domino effect. Lets take a RHP pitcher, who hurts his left ankle on a base hit, rounding first. (You have to excuse the enthusiasm, he raised his batting average to .107.) When he continues to pitch, he wants to keep weight off of that front foot, avoid more pain. But this unusual adjustment in his mechanics causes him to drop his arm angle, so his accuracy faulters. As he serves up consecutive doubles on a hanging curveball, he starts to overthrow. Stress is building up on his elbow, as the terrible mechanics begin to take effect. These kinds of stories happen more than you'd think, and aren't too noticeable without analyzing pitching deliveries side by side.

To wrap up, it'll be interesting and see how Gardner's play is when he comes back. Some people might slump a bit. I forget where I read once someone injured his neck and he couldn't turn his head all the way and it prevented him from getting two eyes on the pitcher. These things affect players more than fans realize.

Advantage

As one who grew up in New York, I've learned to treasure whatever sun I get. Especially when I started playing baseball at the ripe old age of 17, it's not always easy to get a normal schedule going. But I've got the slimmest of chances of becoming a really serious baseball player. Serious = ones who are draft worthy- or even ones who wouldn't embarrass themselves at a Major League tryout.

I'll give myself one paragraph and then go back to what the blog is about. I'd dedicate 8 hours a day to baseball, but the only problem is, I don't have the facilities, nor the partners. The former is the biggest problem. I try to do what I can, but I get lazy when it comes to working out over the summer, as the gym is much much much farther away from me than when I'm at school. I take plenty of dry swings at home, and right now I'm looking to purchase a net, to hit balls into. Wait, enough of being lazy. No excuses. I'm going to buy it now. Done. Check out what I just bought. Probably can't use baseballs with this, but wiffeballs will be fine. My point is, it takes a lot of heart and dedication to truly excel at a sport. Obviously, for some, excel means to be one of the best in the world (any ML player). All I'm saying is that as big a baseball fanatic I may be, it's very hard for me to put in the work necessary to truly excel.

One disadvantage I always think I have, is the late start I got playing the game. I always wonder if or how I'd be better if I grew up with a baseball in my crib. Its a disadvantage I try to eliminate by getting as much experience as possible. Playing HS ball, summer ball, spring ball (for lack of better name - it's when I played in Israel), college ball, fall ball, the whole deal. I'm sure you get the point. Its not something I'll ever think I can make up for because I can't erase the fact that I missed out on 10 years of baseball.

Another disadvantage I have, and this is very common so don't take this post as a cry for sympathy, is playing in the north. Many wonder why the NCAA came up with certain dates programs must shut down until, or cannot begin practice. This is to level the playing field, so all colleges have an equal shot. All teams would now have similar practice hours and number of games. Here is an article that gives some statistics about the difference between northern and southern college ball. Let me put down a couple that stuck out at me:

• No cold-weather program won since 1966, unless you count Wichita State, which won in 1989.
• The Big Ten has 18 CWS (College World Series) appearances all time.

Not too much of a surprise, to be honest. I read an article about this, and the author estimated that if you play down south your whole life, you'd get thousands of more at bats than the northern baseball player by the time you finish college. That's a lot! Do you know how much you learn, how much better you get with a thousand at bats?

I don't really have any soothing way to neutralize the matter and end this post. I guess the NCAA is trying to help out, but I doubt it can really eliminate the full advantage. Bottom line- life is unfair - which makes everything "fair". You want more at bats? Get good and get a scholarship to Rice. Settle for Miami if you have to.

Old Pirates

Yes they rob I, sold I to the merchant ships.

Many many people in this world could afford to this sing the Redemption Song. One of them being the Mets' ace, Johan Santana. While most of the time the Mets should be singing the song after blowing his games, today was on him. He pitched 3 innings, surrendering 9 runs, sending the Yankees well on their way to a 15-0 shellacking of the Mets.

It happens all the time. In every situation, in every scenario of life, someone's success is almost always another's failure. Thankfully, not everyone is succesful all the time, so it works the other way around as well. When not coming through, a real competitor only counts down the time until his next opportunity at redemption. Most hitters have just one night of sleep until the oppurtunity comes. Even a closer could have a short waiting period. But starters have it second to worst. It is 5 full days until their next start, and it's five days of everyone and their grandmother questioning the skills of the player.

The guys who have it worse, have to wait a full offseason. Some end the season giving up walk off home runs, eliminating their team from the playoffs. It takes a long time to recover from something like that. But part of the game is not being short sighted. Everyone has to know that eventually they will redeem themselves and in the short term it may seem like all is lost, nothing is gained by focusing on it. It is best to emancipate yourself from mental slavery; none but ourselves can free our mind. One must focus on what to do to improve their skills, to avoid repeating the failure.

Take a look at Big Papi. He's been struggling for a long time now, and everyone is practically writing him off. But I firmly believe he will be back on top and be hitting 3rd in Boston's meaty lineup. (As a Yankee fan, I hate to admit it, but it's true.) It might happen because David will figure something out, but it also might happen because pitchers may take him too lightly. Everyone gets back on top, even for a little bit. (Yes, I referred to Papi as David.)

And when someone gets back on top, another one is humbled. And nobody sums in up better than Clint Hurdle:

"There are two kinds of people in this game: Those who are humble, and those who are about to be."

Touche.

Different Game

Wow, Friday night, bottom 9, Mets beating the Yanks 8-7, two on, two out, and Arod pops up to the second baseman. Drifting, drifting, it hits off the heel of his glove, and it drops, both runners come around to score, and the Yanks won 9-8.

"When I played the game, you were taught to catch the ball with two hands. Always two hands." Those are the words of an older man in my synagogue when talking about the play. He went on to say how some players play to look good on TV. And I thought about that, and as much as I think everyone should still catch with two hands (it is safer), I think the game has changed where it isn't necessary to catch with two hands.

Nowadays, the gloves are very deep and balls actually get caught inside players' gloves. Back when this older man played (he is mid-70s), gloves looked something more like this. If you have your throwing arm hanging by your side with this glove, you better hope you can catch with your shoetops. With this deep-dish glove, you're more likely to catch the ball with just one hand, and maybe a few other pieces of merchandise if you're lucky.

This new glove business has really changed the game. Ever wonder why you don't have black and white webgems? Because you weren't likely to hold on to the ball if you layed out, full extension and crash into the ground. (Another theory is, they never had to lay out because they were able to move their legs and tremendous speeds. Check this out.)

Many things were different way back then. Back then, players used heavier bats, they didn't know that using light bats created more bat speed, which is arguably the most crucial hitting factor. Ted Williams claimed to have been one of the first to begin to use light bats, and he used a 34 ounce. Later in his career, he moved down to a 32 ounce bat. A toothpick, he called it. Let it be known that the mighty Arod swings a 31. Babe Ruth used a 54 ounce bat.

Lastly, to say something about the esteemed catcher position- the gloves have changed as well, probably more than other positions. Johnny Bench was the second player to use the hinged (able to catch with one hand) glove, but he was the one to really popularize it. Now, everyone uses it. I think when you're the best at something, that tends to happen. Bench changed the face of catching. With the hinged glove, it brought the aspect of framing the baseball into the position. Try sticking a low outside fastball with this.

Obviously the game will only continue to change, little by little. Maybe it'll work its way back to something like this. For now, all we know is that Luis Castillo will catch his next few popups with two hands.

Mental Side of Baseball

So the first hump has been climbed. Its been the longest amount of time since my last post, but the blog is alive. I've been putting together some thoughts trying to make this one remotely half decent. I figure the mental side of baseball is something good to talk about- we've all heard the expressions.

"A baseball game is simply a nervous breakdown divided into nine innings."
- Earl Wilson

"Baseball is 90% mental -- the other half is physical."

-Yogi Berra

Anyone familiar with the moneyball story knows how Billy Beane was so exceptionally talented in every tool of the game, but was never able to have a consistent season in the show. This is credited to lack of being mentally able to play the game. He got to frustrated on the short-term immediate happenings of a game. I always wondered what would happen to baseball (or all sports) if the mental side of the game were to be neutralized.

I'm assuming if that were to happen, there would really be no edges. If a pitcher had the ability to paint the corner with blazing 96mph gas, he would, and it wouldn't depend on whether he's checking out the chick in the third row. Batters would be able to fully concentrate on the ball, allowing their superhuman hand-eye coordination to take over and simply mash, day in and day out.

Would you have .500 hitters? Maybe a modern day 400 game winner. I'm not really sure how to even know. But the Wall Street Journal computes statistics for which team has a better chance of winning. Surely this does take into account a throwing yips, like one of Chuck Knoblauch. But, there would, of course, be that bit of luck that comes in baseball- I doubt that will ever pass.

There will always be "a gork, a groundball, you get a groundball with eyes, you get a dying quail" (Quote from Crash Davis of Bull Durham, explaining one extra of those a week for .250 hitter, and you're in the hall of fame.) and, of course, a duck fart. Those things are a part of the game. A pitcher makes his best pitch, shatters the batter's bat, but it ducks in for a base knock to win the game. Or lose it. He hangs a 3-2 curve and the batter hits a rope, right at the center fielder. Its all part of the greatest game on Earth.

And, I guess while everyone tries to figure out that mental edge, whether it comes through visualization or confidence, sometimes, it just won't go your way.

Athletes' Responsibility to the Public

I like to keep things Baseball (I like to try and remember to always capitalize the name of my religion) up in this blog, but occasionally it may have to linger in a different area for a while before I reel it back in.

Recently when the Cavs lost in the playoffs, LeBron James didn't stick around at all after the game to talk to the media, and he was grilled for it. He was called unprofessional and stuff like that. I wondered for a while if this is true. Athletes are expected to be very patient with the media and maybe it's a little unfair to make everyone stay and talk about everything on the columnists' mind. I know they get paid plenty of money and the fans pay their salaries, but they are paid to really take their sport seriously. To spend hours and hours a day practicing the little boring things of their respective sport. And after all that, all the time and effort, all the hopes and dreams, you lose. Now, it happens to every team but one. Its a feeling very few athletes ever don't have, and everyone has experienced it. It's a pretty gray area- I guess I do understand where he's coming from.

I'm definitely not a fan of it, but I think some people should be sticking up for him. I'm sure he doesn't take this whole thing very lightly, thats for sure. There are times (as anybody with any experience in any sport has played) where you just want to be alone after games. This past year, I started the season 0-15. I couldn't buy a hit, and I wasn't even hitting the ball hard- there were barely any positives to look at. And after the games, I skipped the hot tub tradition and dinner with the guys because I just wanted to be alone. And I play DIII baseball. I can't imagine what it is to play professionally at any level.

I'll say this, I don't support prima donnas and I recently saw a clip of Alex Rios aboslutely ignoring this kid asking for an autograph. There was no big crowd just a kid walking with him to his car. This is where I don't understand it. It takes me 3/4 of a second to sign my name. With his athletic ability, he should have it down to .5 or less. There really is no excuse for this. I don't care how bad things are going for you, someone who is looking beyond that and appreciates you anyway wants you to sign something.

The only thing I can say about these athletes and the media is that their whole day is very organized and set. Day in and day out you come to the park and after the game you have the press conference. Its all part of the same routine. Almost as routine as this blog is getting.

Bring Out the Brooms

Well, all the late night anticipation really paid off, as we swept earlier today, 10-0 (mercy rule) and 6-1. There were some crazy things going on out there, things I've never seen before.

Firstly, our starting pitcher struck out 12 batters in 5 innings. Of 15 outs, 12 were rung up on Ks. That is pure dominance. The truth is, it was all done with fastballs and changeups, and a team that can't hit a lick. I think he threw 3-4 curves the whole game.

Their pitching is something definitely worth writing about, too. It was very very slow. Some of you know I play in a different league that is much more competitive and I'm seeing low to mid 80's consistently, and I show up today and this guy is throwing over-the-top slow pitch softball. It really requires great discipline to hit this kind of pitching because you have to wait for your pitch even though they all look like watermelons. One is used to loading as the pitcher is about to bring his arm forward, and now you can load when the ball is halfway to the plate. If you don't know what a load is, read this great article, it is one of the best I have seen about the loading sequence.

Basically, the reason I think it's so difficult to hit slow pitching is because it has disrupted your timing. And anybody who has spent any number of innings in a batters box knows, if you have poor timing, you have no chance. Even with good timing, you could have a mechanical flaw that prevents you from squaring up the pitch. There are so many things to talk about when it comes to hitting, I don't know which direction to go.

All I know for now is that playing baseball at any level has to make guys appreciate how the pros do it. They face electric stuff and its pretty remarkable just how many home runs you see.

Anticipation and Terrible Sleeping Habits

The title of this post is exactly the reason why I'm awake right now. I think mostly this all started during finals, when I would procrastinate and only begin studying late in the night, just hours before a final. Being awake all night, I'd take my final, enjoy a second breakfast (I usually got a nice one before also) and then head to sleep for as long as I can. 

I have zero problems with this study method. It's very effective, too. For one, if you really think about it, you have altered your whole sleep schedule exactly to fit around your finals. How much more could you be doing to make school a priority? Answer: nothing at the current moment, but a hell of a lot 4 months ago. 

When I said before that I have zero problems with this sleep schedule, I lied. I have one problem. Its very hard to break. To break this pattern, you have to fight the tiredness for a whole day, basically staying awake around 34 hours and then just crash as soon as you think you can sleep through the night without waking up too early. Once, I went to sleep at 7pm after a long day's battle and woke up at 3am (much to my surprise) and the cycle just picked up right where it left off, but to a lesser degree. Well, to make a long story short, I'm basically on the cycle again, after napping way too long on the Sabbath. Well, in my defense, I used the day of rest optimally. 

The reason why I would prefer to be off this horrid cycle (no, not because it sounds like I have my own type of period) is because I have a baseball game at 9am- just 6 hours from now. I planned on waking up in 3 and a half hours, this way I have enough time to do the morning stuff and head out to the ballpark. This is where perhaps I am so excited to play ball tomorrow, it is hard for me to sleep. I'm not ashamed to admit it. Baseball still does this to me. When we first start practicing again after the winter, I didn't get any sleep the nights before the first few practices. 

I know, some of you may be thinking that its irresponsible of me to stay up so late and then be tired during the game. Well, I actually have a history of playing pretty well when getting very little sleep the night before. Still, I won't do it on purpose, only when I'm on the wretched cycle. Back in my freshman year of college, I used to stay up late Saturday nights (after the killer naps during the day) playing ping pong with a teammate who lived on the same floor as I did. While he would get to sleep around 3am, I used to last until around 5, and get a few hours before the game. Well, one night, it wasn't happening. 5am, 530, 545, 6, the minutes ticked by. What was I supposed to do? I got up, surfed the web for a while, showered and got myself ready for the game. The game would happen to be one of my finest games as a freshman. I threw out a pair of baserunners and went 2-4 with a double and two RBIs. 

Anyway, I'm pretty glad for now that I was able to get this post in. I thought the next time I'd have to really take some time write would by Monday. Peace!

Day 2

I was recently told that if I don't write something everyday, I'll never be able to continue the blog. I'm not even sure I want to continue, but I hope the single digit number of people who read this actually enjoy it and can see my million dollar smile emerge from the letters when I write a corny joke, so I am going to try and make this happen. Make it work. It diiiiiiiiid work. Yea, baseball chatter.

I never knew what to make of baseball chatter, really. There are all sorts, from phrases to different voices used to cheer on your team. When I first started, I was pretty new to chatter, and I always was very critical of myself and what I said. Many times, chatter is spewed at the most electric speeds, and you must (or at least I do) carefully prepare the words in your head beforehand and wait for the perfect moment. Honestly, nobody does it better than Robert Wuhl, or Larry (third from the left) from the film Bull Durham.

Most of the time, chatter is of the enjoyable nature, mostly to make the bench laugh, keeping the atmosphere loose. I think the overused "don't rub it", "we got ice", and "wear it" (all said when a batter is hit by a pitch) don't really do a job when it comes to chatter. I think, at least for amateur baseball's sake, guys need to come up with something original. I'll tell you, I've put myself to the task. And I don't mean just ranting in different octaves and speeds, I mean clever lines. I won't claim to be good, but I've take the phrase "duck on the pond" (used when runner is in scoring position) and built on it. Anytime there's a hefty man in scoring position, I make sure to convey to the batter he's got "a fat duck waiting on the pond." While it may not sound funny, its better when 50 people (that is both teams, umpires and fans in a an amateur game) all hear it loud and clear when fatty waddles his way into second for a standup double.

As I wrap up, I'd like to take this time and request something from the good 'ol single digit audience. While writing this, I was wondering about softball (I don't mean men playing, I mean the female phenoms who it 95 mph equivalents over the fence) and the chatter they may or may not have. Feel free to contact me or leave any comments regarding softball chatter. Mostly when I watch in on TV, it sounds like shrieks and cheering, but not chatter. Chatter is way way different. With the college world series coming up, pay close attention to the voices on the field - you'll hear it. Atta boy.

My First Blog

I don't really know what to write about and I only started this thing because I was bored and have nothing to do once the Yankee game ended. I guess I'll write about my first experience with catcher's gear, being as my blog is called "Tools of Ignorance".

Growing up in the carfields of Brooklyn, I pretty much played softball all my life. I was a big time Yankee fan, but all of my gloves were the 13 inch kind. You know, the vacuum cleaners. My family took softball pretty seriously and we were pretty good. In the summer camps we went to, the Schwartz Bros were always first rounders in the draft, even when we weren't in the oldest bunk.

When my oldest brother began college, Yeshiva University was starting a club team (they had no varsity) and after he joined, he suggested I try. From then on, we stuck to baseball, hitting fungos, and learning the grips- my brother pitched and played infield. I wasn't sure what I was, I never played before. In softball though, I pretty much played anywhere- except catcher. Who wants to play catcher in softball - it's so demeaning and you really have no responsibility back there.

After seeing my brother off before his first game, I actually met his coach and my brother grabbed my shoulder and said, "Coach, this guy will be your catcher one day." (I had once been in Modells with my father and I picked up a catcher's mask. When I caught my Dad pitching to my brother, I used to sit like 20 feet behind the batter.) I shook my head, thought of sitting so close to the batter and said, "Nah, second baseman."

Well, my brother was right and it was just a month or two later that I was looking for a baseball camp to go to. My brother had convinced me to become a catcher and to this day, I really don't know how or why, but I love him for it. Regardless, one Sunday, we went to Modells to buy my first set of gear- chest protector, shin guards and the new hockey style mask. I tried it all on, it all fit- the shin guards fit fine if the vertical settings were at its highest.

If you don't know by now, adult sized shin guards do not have settings to make it bigger or smaller. Tighter and looser, yes, but not tall and short. I had bought youth shin guards at the age of 17. I practiced blocking and receiving and I was not good at it. But I thought I would be damn good, and here I was, never playing baseball before, going to a camp geared toward the college-bound high school player. Ignorance is bliss.

Well, I found out I was wearing youth shin guards when all the other catchers had much bigger and intimidating shin guards. Sure, I got weird looks, but it wasn't as embarassing as my poor play. Everyone was very nice though, and during the first week, I quickly ordered a new pair of shin guards, the man size. And to this day, I still wear the man size shin guards.

Just now I remembered a story that I must tell. I was hanging out with a friend one Sunday morning, back when were probably like 8-10 years old. And he played little league baseball, and his dad was their coach, so he let me tag along and play. While I can't remember what I did at the plate, I do recall them asking me if I want to play catcher in the last inning. Yes I do. So, as noted before, I did sit 10 feet behind the batter. This time I had full gear (maybe even same as 10 years in the future) so I guess I sat closer. Well, I ran up the past balls count and couldn't even keep my eyes open when the batter didn't swing. Thats all for now. Lets see how long till I write again.