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Barkeep49 · 04-23-2006, 03:35 PM

Setting the Line-Up
Steve and I met around 2 hours before the game. Originally we were going to go right to breakfast but I suggested we do the lineups on the computer, as we normally do, and then grab breakfast. Steve agreed we had ample time to do it this way and so we sat down and hammered things out. The important parts:

*We decide to have TG scheduled to pitch the 5th and 6th leaving him in reserve for when we feel it would be best to use him
*Steve had made a push to still use BS2 as a catcher, arguing that we didn’t really have choices. Whether or not to use BS2, despite his poor form and missing of practice, was decided when Steve was reminded I had talked to TG about catching an inning and had been OK with it. So we decided not to use BS2 as a catcher. Furthermore, when doing the schedule one person would have to sit twice. This person was to be BS2. Steve and I agreed as a general practice if somebody misses a game or practice without telling us, that this will be the consequence.
*The pitching/catching batteries are tentatively set to be: ES/JM, AK/TG, JS/ES, PW/ES, TG/JM, & TG/JM. When using ES as a catcher we agreed that using him as a pitcher before having him catch was important and so it is likely that ES will start many games for us. AK was given the second inning as we’d promised he’d pitch and so we wanted to do it early to send the right message. Deciding between PW and BS1 was a coin flip. I made the call to use PW as I have been working with BS1 and would like to have him be in good form before he throws again, with him knowing that’s the goal.

Pre-Game

After a great breakfast and a quick stop at Walgreens we get to the field about an hour before the game. There is a Triple A (the league below us) game going on when we get there. Steve and I throw to each other a bit. Now remembering that we had stressed 20 minutes at practice, our first show was TG. I inform him that he’ll be catching an inning and throwing 2. TG is still clearly uncomfortable with this. But he nods.

The players slowly trickle in with only TG, BS1, PW, and JM being on time, however almost all of the players were there by a quarter to, so it’s a define improvement. I think if Steve and I keep stressing the importance this rate will go up.

When BS1 arrives I immediately pull him aside and start working with him on the 3 second delay rotation. And there’s been a huge difference. I ask him if he’s been practicing, and he claims not, so I’m not sure why it’s suddenly clicking, but it did. After doing this about 6 times in a row successfully I setup as catcher and have him throw to me. Out of the 10 pitches I had him throw he had the proper footwork for 8 of them. It was just a huge improvement. If he’s able to do this again on Tuesday at practice we can start to work on his actual throwing mechanics. Very exciting. BS1 was sitting out during the second inning and he asked if we could do some more practice. I told him I had to focus on the game, but loved his work ethic.

After this I pull aside PW and have him throw me some pitches. After a couple of off pitches he settled down nicely and threw well. I told him that if he can do this without a batter, he can do it with a batter. He made some excuses about it just being a bad day on Tuesday. I don’t really buy it, and keep on the upbeat message of just thinking about it like there’s no one there. I hold out hope that the 4th inning won’t be completely disastrous.

As we gather around the bench and put up the lineup, TG finally coughs up what has been bothering him, when I tell him he’s catching AK. It turns out last year, in the lower league, the coach was having him catch for the best pitcher on the kid and he just couldn’t do it. He felt good about the fact that it was AK because he knew that AK didn’t pitch all that quickly. This explains his reaction as he was clearly reluctant to do it, but since I was the coach he was going to do it, and without complaint. It was a good reminder of the power as a coach you can have. I am glad though we got the anxiety out there in the open and it gave me a chance to reinforce the idea that my goal for him was not to be catching every ball, simply to keep it in front of him. I had been saying this from the time I first told he was going to catch, and when I said it at this point it was likely the 5th time I had said it. It seems like it was at this point that it sunk in though as he clearly was realizing that he could do what I was asking of him.

The First Couple of Inning
As we take the field, it becomes apparent that KS is not present. This obviously annoys me, especially as he was scheduled to play 1st in the first. I quickly plug in TG, who had been scheduled to sit. ES strikes out the first two in short order. The heart of their order comes up and scores 3 runs, including a stupid play by JM. ES threw a ball in the dirt and it got by JM. ES comes jogging in, as the runner isn’t going, and JM sees some reason to flip it to ES. You can predict what happens next: ES misses, and EG, at second base, is not backing up ES, despite having been reminded and sure enough then the run DOES score. Anyhow they get 3 which includes ES striking out a batter with runners on second and third. After ES struck out the first two batters I had hoped we were in for a good day, but 3 runs was fine, all things considered.

With KS not being there, JS is the first up. He walks. TG is then hit by a pitch, which brings ES up. Es promptly rockets the ball into the gap in right center scoring JS and TG for a nice double. BS2 strikes out, JM gets a solid infield hit, but PW and BS1 both ground out to the pitcher to end the inning. Still 3-2 is just fine.

AK is now pitching to TG. The whole thing went great. TG didn’t really have any problems catching the ball. Most importantly AK got a weaker part of their lineup to strike out, and then hit two back to him at the mound. He fielded both of them perfectly. The first one was hit pretty quickly, so he took his time, ran over towards first and then underhanded it to JM for the out. The next play was a slow roller and he did a great job picking it up and getting an accurate throw for an easy out.

In the bottom of the inning despite AK and EG getting on with a walk and hit batter, we can’t get anything going as JS and TG were both absolutely smoked by the pitcher. Still at the end of 2 we’re looking at a 3-2 ballgame.

The Last 3 innings
Which is, of course, when the wheels come off. JS’s mechanics were just terrible. He was repeatedly dropping his glove arm and his balls were coming up short, or being thrown wildly to the side. Things weren’t helped when PW made a silly mental error costing us an early out by not knowing which base to throw the ball to. JS only ended up walking 1 batter despite only throwing 4 strikes to 8 batters. JS was clearly frustrated on the mound and while it was going on it seemed much worse then the 5 runs it turned out to be. The first of the two controversial calls also occurred this inning. After JS let up his walk, JM caught the batter cheating too far down the line at 3rd and threw the ball down to AK who caught the ball and made a nice tag getting the batter by more then a step. But he was called safe. AK immediately started to complain and I very loudly and forcefully had to cut it off. This out turned into a run as well which makes the whole thing even more unfortunate. We’re now looking at an 8-2 game where your are maxed out at 7 runs in an inning.

Things do look a little better when ES and BS2 are hit by pitches. We manage to get both of them home, but it’s basically by trading a run for an out, which when considering how far we’re down is not the goal. During this inning I look at my watch and we’re rapidly approaching the 1 hour mark. Steve and I discuss, and basically he leaves it up to me to decide whether or not it’s time to bring TG in. I decide it is. Just as the inning ends I find out that EG has to leave. Did EG tell either of us he was leaving early? Of course not. This now means that we have no one sitting on the bench. I scramble a little to get people in reasonable positions and basically use the 5th inning lineup positions in the 4th inning.

My thinking is if TG can keep it 8-4 we stand a good chance. So of course my dreams are crushed as the weaker part of their order just wails on TG. There were a couple of bad fielding plays, including one by TG himself, which did not help the situation. In the end TG faces 10 of 12 batters but manages to hunker down against the good part of the order and gets away with only allowing 3 runs.

I feel some hope as we have the top of order come up and their pitcher is clearly not a very good pitcher. His arm mechanics are just terrible and it’s clear he’s trying to “aim” every pitch. AK leads off with a walk. As JS bats I let TG know that this pitcher is aiming his pitches and so he should wait because he’ll either get no pitches or a great pitch to hit. JS walks. TG comes up and on his first pitch hits a screamer into center. I thought for sure it was going to drop and send JS. The centerfield makes a great shoestring catch, however, and JS is forced to hustle back to the bag and there’s no real chance of a double up as he ran the play well. This now brings ES up to the plate. ES hits a screamer through the gap in right center and we’re off to the races. ES is running his heart out and by the time JS has reached 3rd ES is less then half a base path behind him. Steve waves in JS, a move I absolutely support. JS is clearly flagging as he makes the turn and he looks back at the ball two or three times. In the end the relay from the second baseman is a perfect throw to the catcher. JS slides in, as they go to tag him and he’s called out.

At this point JS just loses it. He throws off his batting gloves and immediately starts to break down. I go over and calm him down. JS insists that he slid under the tag, but it was a close play made so because JS kept looking back which slowed him down just enough to make it a close play. When I talked to him he insisted that he didn’t understand what Steve was telling him to do, which I just can’t believe to be true. Anyway the play completely deflates our inning, and while we get two runs, it could have been a much bigger inning if we had that run and out back.

TG comes and pitches his second inning, allowing a leadoff single and a double that turns into a triple because of poor fielding. He then gets it under control and we only lose 1 more run and we’re standing at 12-6 going into the last inning. TG was clearly not as sharp as he had been before. I was talking during the game to his father and he says that basically TG is out of baseball shape but should be getting back into shape soon based on all the baseball that he’s doing. I wonder if it was just an off day or if the inning he did at catcher weakened him enough to make a difference. Having him in reserve should have made a big difference as if he had clamped down, liked we hoped he would, and allowed say 2 runs instead of 4 during his 2 innings, it’s a different ball game.

They have yet another new pitcher up there and it’s yet another guy we can hit. And we come out and do our thing. PW and JM get on base on walks. BS grounds one to the pitcher. FO then comes up and has what is, without an exaggeration, a 10 pitch at bat. In the end he gets a single. The right fielder, a travel player, tries to get the out at first but instead throws the ball out away, not to mention FO would have been safe anyway. The ump then makes a bad call in our favor. JM had advanced to third on the hit, and PW to second. Once the ball was overthrown, JM should have gotten home and PW 3rd, but instead as we had them running anyway, the ump gives PW home on the overthrow. AK walks to give us runners on first and second. The momentum is clearly on our side. The pitcher is tiring. We’re about to hit the best part of our lineup. JS works a couple of pitches and then hits a ball to the first basemen. And AK, instead of running to second, goes back to first. Bam before you know it, there’s a double play and the game’s over. Evidently JS said something not too nice to AK at this point that I did not hear. I did hear BS1 start to say something and immediately put the kibosh on that. It was an incredibly dumb play, but we don’t need the already least popular kid on the team being further ostracized because of it.

Post Game and Looking Forward

We give a pretty good post game speech. I talk about how we are all feeling so rotten because we played so well and we left so much on the field and other things along these general lines. BS1 gets the game ball for an amazing catch he made at short during the 5th. It was going to go to AK but we had to make a last minute change based on the last play of the game.

As people filter away I grab TG to talk with him. I stress to him the importance of not moping, as he did some of that on the mound, even when things aren’t going as well as they normally do. Simultaneously Steve is talking to JS. We finish our talks at about the same time and then see AK crying as he leaves. We both grab him and reassure him. It’s at this point that I learn that JS said something not too nice. As we are talking, JS even comes over and apologizes for what he said to AK. We remind AK about all the good things that happened during the game and to try and not let 1 play or comment ruin a good day. He definitely calms down by the end though he is clearly still not very happy.

All-in-all, it was our best game. We are still having lots of trouble having a big inning and preventing the other team from taking what should be a 1 or 2 run inning and making it into a 4 or 5 run inning. At practice on Tuesday we will once again be focusing on groundballs, do a drill to promote situational awareness, and some sort of nebulous team building exercise that Steve and I need to find to make sure we continue to bond as a team in response to the dynamic that manifested itself at the end of the game. JM told me that he felt AK was better this game, and I agree, so it’s too bad we had that one moment at the end which unraveled things a bit. While we still lost I was heartened at the progress we made. We play the Orioles on Wednesday a team I have heard nothing about so I have no idea as to what kind of opposition they’ll be. If we can play another good game though I will be very happy, especially if we can show more improvement after the practice.

04-23-2006, 03:35 PM	#35
Barkeep49 Coordinator Join Date: Jan 2001 Location: Not too far away	Setting the Line-Up Steve and I met around 2 hours before the game. Originally we were going to go right to breakfast but I suggested we do the lineups on the computer, as we normally do, and then grab breakfast. Steve agreed we had ample time to do it this way and so we sat down and hammered things out. The important parts: We decide to have TG scheduled to pitch the 5th and 6th leaving him in reserve for when we feel it would be best to use him Steve had made a push to still use BS2 as a catcher, arguing that we didn’t really have choices. Whether or not to use BS2, despite his poor form and missing of practice, was decided when Steve was reminded I had talked to TG about catching an inning and had been OK with it. So we decided not to use BS2 as a catcher. Furthermore, when doing the schedule one person would have to sit twice. This person was to be BS2. Steve and I agreed as a general practice if somebody misses a game or practice without telling us, that this will be the consequence. The pitching/catching batteries are tentatively set to be: ES/JM, AK/TG, JS/ES, PW/ES, TG/JM, & TG/JM. When using ES as a catcher we agreed that using him as a pitcher before having him catch was important and so it is likely that ES will start many games for us. AK was given the second inning as we’d promised he’d pitch and so we wanted to do it early to send the right message. Deciding between PW and BS1 was a coin flip. I made the call to use PW as I have been working with BS1 and would like to have him be in good form before he throws again, with him knowing that’s the goal. Pre-Game* After a great breakfast and a quick stop at Walgreens we get to the field about an hour before the game. There is a Triple A (the league below us) game going on when we get there. Steve and I throw to each other a bit. Now remembering that we had stressed 20 minutes at practice, our first show was TG. I inform him that he’ll be catching an inning and throwing 2. TG is still clearly uncomfortable with this. But he nods. The players slowly trickle in with only TG, BS1, PW, and JM being on time, however almost all of the players were there by a quarter to, so it’s a define improvement. I think if Steve and I keep stressing the importance this rate will go up. When BS1 arrives I immediately pull him aside and start working with him on the 3 second delay rotation. And there’s been a huge difference. I ask him if he’s been practicing, and he claims not, so I’m not sure why it’s suddenly clicking, but it did. After doing this about 6 times in a row successfully I setup as catcher and have him throw to me. Out of the 10 pitches I had him throw he had the proper footwork for 8 of them. It was just a huge improvement. If he’s able to do this again on Tuesday at practice we can start to work on his actual throwing mechanics. Very exciting. BS1 was sitting out during the second inning and he asked if we could do some more practice. I told him I had to focus on the game, but loved his work ethic. After this I pull aside PW and have him throw me some pitches. After a couple of off pitches he settled down nicely and threw well. I told him that if he can do this without a batter, he can do it with a batter. He made some excuses about it just being a bad day on Tuesday. I don’t really buy it, and keep on the upbeat message of just thinking about it like there’s no one there. I hold out hope that the 4th inning won’t be completely disastrous. As we gather around the bench and put up the lineup, TG finally coughs up what has been bothering him, when I tell him he’s catching AK. It turns out last year, in the lower league, the coach was having him catch for the best pitcher on the kid and he just couldn’t do it. He felt good about the fact that it was AK because he knew that AK didn’t pitch all that quickly. This explains his reaction as he was clearly reluctant to do it, but since I was the coach he was going to do it, and without complaint. It was a good reminder of the power as a coach you can have. I am glad though we got the anxiety out there in the open and it gave me a chance to reinforce the idea that my goal for him was not to be catching every ball, simply to keep it in front of him. I had been saying this from the time I first told he was going to catch, and when I said it at this point it was likely the 5th time I had said it. It seems like it was at this point that it sunk in though as he clearly was realizing that he could do what I was asking of him. The First Couple of Inning As we take the field, it becomes apparent that KS is not present. This obviously annoys me, especially as he was scheduled to play 1st in the first. I quickly plug in TG, who had been scheduled to sit. ES strikes out the first two in short order. The heart of their order comes up and scores 3 runs, including a stupid play by JM. ES threw a ball in the dirt and it got by JM. ES comes jogging in, as the runner isn’t going, and JM sees some reason to flip it to ES. You can predict what happens next: ES misses, and EG, at second base, is not backing up ES, despite having been reminded and sure enough then the run DOES score. Anyhow they get 3 which includes ES striking out a batter with runners on second and third. After ES struck out the first two batters I had hoped we were in for a good day, but 3 runs was fine, all things considered. With KS not being there, JS is the first up. He walks. TG is then hit by a pitch, which brings ES up. Es promptly rockets the ball into the gap in right center scoring JS and TG for a nice double. BS2 strikes out, JM gets a solid infield hit, but PW and BS1 both ground out to the pitcher to end the inning. Still 3-2 is just fine. AK is now pitching to TG. The whole thing went great. TG didn’t really have any problems catching the ball. Most importantly AK got a weaker part of their lineup to strike out, and then hit two back to him at the mound. He fielded both of them perfectly. The first one was hit pretty quickly, so he took his time, ran over towards first and then underhanded it to JM for the out. The next play was a slow roller and he did a great job picking it up and getting an accurate throw for an easy out. In the bottom of the inning despite AK and EG getting on with a walk and hit batter, we can’t get anything going as JS and TG were both absolutely smoked by the pitcher. Still at the end of 2 we’re looking at a 3-2 ballgame. The Last 3 innings Which is, of course, when the wheels come off. JS’s mechanics were just terrible. He was repeatedly dropping his glove arm and his balls were coming up short, or being thrown wildly to the side. Things weren’t helped when PW made a silly mental error costing us an early out by not knowing which base to throw the ball to. JS only ended up walking 1 batter despite only throwing 4 strikes to 8 batters. JS was clearly frustrated on the mound and while it was going on it seemed much worse then the 5 runs it turned out to be. The first of the two controversial calls also occurred this inning. After JS let up his walk, JM caught the batter cheating too far down the line at 3rd and threw the ball down to AK who caught the ball and made a nice tag getting the batter by more then a step. But he was called safe. AK immediately started to complain and I very loudly and forcefully had to cut it off. This out turned into a run as well which makes the whole thing even more unfortunate. We’re now looking at an 8-2 game where your are maxed out at 7 runs in an inning. Things do look a little better when ES and BS2 are hit by pitches. We manage to get both of them home, but it’s basically by trading a run for an out, which when considering how far we’re down is not the goal. During this inning I look at my watch and we’re rapidly approaching the 1 hour mark. Steve and I discuss, and basically he leaves it up to me to decide whether or not it’s time to bring TG in. I decide it is. Just as the inning ends I find out that EG has to leave. Did EG tell either of us he was leaving early? Of course not. This now means that we have no one sitting on the bench. I scramble a little to get people in reasonable positions and basically use the 5th inning lineup positions in the 4th inning. My thinking is if TG can keep it 8-4 we stand a good chance. So of course my dreams are crushed as the weaker part of their order just wails on TG. There were a couple of bad fielding plays, including one by TG himself, which did not help the situation. In the end TG faces 10 of 12 batters but manages to hunker down against the good part of the order and gets away with only allowing 3 runs. I feel some hope as we have the top of order come up and their pitcher is clearly not a very good pitcher. His arm mechanics are just terrible and it’s clear he’s trying to “aim” every pitch. AK leads off with a walk. As JS bats I let TG know that this pitcher is aiming his pitches and so he should wait because he’ll either get no pitches or a great pitch to hit. JS walks. TG comes up and on his first pitch hits a screamer into center. I thought for sure it was going to drop and send JS. The centerfield makes a great shoestring catch, however, and JS is forced to hustle back to the bag and there’s no real chance of a double up as he ran the play well. This now brings ES up to the plate. ES hits a screamer through the gap in right center and we’re off to the races. ES is running his heart out and by the time JS has reached 3rd ES is less then half a base path behind him. Steve waves in JS, a move I absolutely support. JS is clearly flagging as he makes the turn and he looks back at the ball two or three times. In the end the relay from the second baseman is a perfect throw to the catcher. JS slides in, as they go to tag him and he’s called out. At this point JS just loses it. He throws off his batting gloves and immediately starts to break down. I go over and calm him down. JS insists that he slid under the tag, but it was a close play made so because JS kept looking back which slowed him down just enough to make it a close play. When I talked to him he insisted that he didn’t understand what Steve was telling him to do, which I just can’t believe to be true. Anyway the play completely deflates our inning, and while we get two runs, it could have been a much bigger inning if we had that run and out back. TG comes and pitches his second inning, allowing a leadoff single and a double that turns into a triple because of poor fielding. He then gets it under control and we only lose 1 more run and we’re standing at 12-6 going into the last inning. TG was clearly not as sharp as he had been before. I was talking during the game to his father and he says that basically TG is out of baseball shape but should be getting back into shape soon based on all the baseball that he’s doing. I wonder if it was just an off day or if the inning he did at catcher weakened him enough to make a difference. Having him in reserve should have made a big difference as if he had clamped down, liked we hoped he would, and allowed say 2 runs instead of 4 during his 2 innings, it’s a different ball game. They have yet another new pitcher up there and it’s yet another guy we can hit. And we come out and do our thing. PW and JM get on base on walks. BS grounds one to the pitcher. FO then comes up and has what is, without an exaggeration, a 10 pitch at bat. In the end he gets a single. The right fielder, a travel player, tries to get the out at first but instead throws the ball out away, not to mention FO would have been safe anyway. The ump then makes a bad call in our favor. JM had advanced to third on the hit, and PW to second. Once the ball was overthrown, JM should have gotten home and PW 3rd, but instead as we had them running anyway, the ump gives PW home on the overthrow. AK walks to give us runners on first and second. The momentum is clearly on our side. The pitcher is tiring. We’re about to hit the best part of our lineup. JS works a couple of pitches and then hits a ball to the first basemen. And AK, instead of running to second, goes back to first. Bam before you know it, there’s a double play and the game’s over. Evidently JS said something not too nice to AK at this point that I did not hear. I did hear BS1 start to say something and immediately put the kibosh on that. It was an incredibly dumb play, but we don’t need the already least popular kid on the team being further ostracized because of it. Post Game and Looking Forward We give a pretty good post game speech. I talk about how we are all feeling so rotten because we played so well and we left so much on the field and other things along these general lines. BS1 gets the game ball for an amazing catch he made at short during the 5th. It was going to go to AK but we had to make a last minute change based on the last play of the game. As people filter away I grab TG to talk with him. I stress to him the importance of not moping, as he did some of that on the mound, even when things aren’t going as well as they normally do. Simultaneously Steve is talking to JS. We finish our talks at about the same time and then see AK crying as he leaves. We both grab him and reassure him. It’s at this point that I learn that JS said something not too nice. As we are talking, JS even comes over and apologizes for what he said to AK. We remind AK about all the good things that happened during the game and to try and not let 1 play or comment ruin a good day. He definitely calms down by the end though he is clearly still not very happy. All-in-all, it was our best game. We are still having lots of trouble having a big inning and preventing the other team from taking what should be a 1 or 2 run inning and making it into a 4 or 5 run inning. At practice on Tuesday we will once again be focusing on groundballs, do a drill to promote situational awareness, and some sort of nebulous team building exercise that Steve and I need to find to make sure we continue to bond as a team in response to the dynamic that manifested itself at the end of the game. JM told me that he felt AK was better this game, and I agree, so it’s too bad we had that one moment at the end which unraveled things a bit. While we still lost I was heartened at the progress we made. We play the Orioles on Wednesday a team I have heard nothing about so I have no idea as to what kind of opposition they’ll be. If we can play another good game though I will be very happy, especially if we can show more improvement after the practice.