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.