My Manhattan Weekend.

http://danielthebabehotujac.podbean.com/e/baseball-podcast-1430105806/

The Big Dogs.

Tuesday we had a game. This game was a test for my guys. We were playing a 14 year old team and my guys are all 13 and below, except for one 14 year old. This team was gigantic! Five players were six foot,  200lbs or more and they threw harder than what any of my guys had seen before.
Shortly after we took a full team infield and my guys did horrible. I called them off, had them run, and hoped for the best.
The game started and it was rough sailing. Each leadoff hitter in the inning for the opposing team hit a double and eventually scored. My team didn't get any offense going until the 4th inning. Then we had a great inning but didn't score any. We left with bases loaded. The next inning we scored eight runs. It was our game at that point. The other team caved in and the better team emerged. It was the best game I've coached.

Parent Meeting.

So this year is a really big change for the parents. We have 11 kids total instead of 10 and we as coaches decided that we would only start 10 and not play the entire lineup. This means that one player will sit during parts of the games. The parents are not too fond of that concept. After most games, I have some sort of confrontation from a parent mad at me for sitting their child and not playing him. Of course, every time I am approached I say the same thing... "It was best for the team as a whole unit to have your chid sit at that time." I'm not sure how long it's going to take until all the parents realize that but the team is currently 9-0 on the season and what I'm doing is going to work.
An advocate parent took it upon himself to organize a parent meeting to try and explain to the parents what the strategy is, why he's (I'm) doing it, and how it will help the players in life and in baseball. I was told that the meeting went well wit of course the minor complaints from parents who believe in the every player gets a ribbon mentality.
Overall I think there will be a positive change in the parent support now that they feel in the loop, whether they support it or not.

New Pitchers

Primarily this year the team has worked off of five main pitchers; three starters and two relievers. We have a big tournament coming up next weekend and we will play at least five games minimum. Last practice I had some amateur pitchers get some work in to hopefully get them ready to pitch in games for the big tournament. It will be a challenge but we shall see what happens with it!

It was a weird feel at practice, the boys showed up as winners, and not as first losers...

First Tournament Day Two.

I started off the morning missing my alarm. I was just a few minutes late to the field but again I just got my players ready on a cold early morning and we were ready to play. I made my lineup and talked to my starting pitchers.

We played a team called the Nitro that has always beaten us apparently (without me). I had my hardest thrower on the mound because I wasn't sure if my defense and offense were awake yet. Well turns out they were. I don't remember much about that game but I know we won on a somewhat lucky call and time limit. Who says you can't have clock management in baseball?

The second game was against a team in a much worse bracket and they were called the Storm. We were playing on a hitters field and my team was stroking the ball so I put on a pitch to contact pitcher because I wanted to save the rest of my guys for the championship game I was pretty sure we would get to. It was a hitters game the first inning with a score of 2-2, only difference was that my pitcher threw 14 pitches and their pitcher threw 34 pitches. The second inning was the same story where we scored a few runs and they didn't score any though. They left their pitcher in throughout the game, even when it was 10-2 (us) and the poor kid threw 150+ pitches... that's terrible to do to a player! We stomped them in that game. Now on to the championship game!

We played the Predators again for a rematch of the first game of the tourney. I noticed right away that they were screwed. They had no life to them, they only had nine players to our eleven, and their fans were quiet as ever. I knew if I got my team up and excited that we would win this game. The first three innings were a defensive showcase. Both teams making great plays and hitters were being robbed of base hits. It was about the 4th inning that we exploded for seven runs. I switched pitchers and we held them that inning. Then we scored another three runs making it 10-0. The fans got loud, my players got a little extra life to them and things were looking up. I had the same approach for my catcher and pitcher and we got the first three hitters we faced out. Thus ending the 5th inning and giving us our first ever tournament win. 

Everybody was excited and quite a few parents congratulated me for teaching this team and molding them in to a championship team. I had a few messages from players thanking me and asking me what the next goal on the season was. Below is the first place trophy picture.

photo cred. Tracy Jepson.

First Tournament Day One.

At 8 am I awoke and was getting ready to make the drive to Salina, KS. It was a long and boring ride but I had myself some Dunkin Donuts to stay awake and "excited" to be driving. When I got to the field complex I spoke with the other Head Coach and we made a productive lineup and talked to our pitchers.
The first game was against the Predators. This team reminded me of the movie Billy Madison. They had their basketball hype circle, they were screaming and yelling and quite frankly I could see any one of them at any moment saying "O'Doyle Rules!"
The first game was ours but a bad inning of pitching and fielding changed the game. What was 6-1 became 6-6. We had a chance to win the game as we were the home team but a 50/50 coaching call and a bad jump by our baserunner ended the game at 6-6, which was the first tie I have ever experienced in my 13 years of baseball.
The second game was ours from the get-go. We played a team called the Scorpions and they were a joke. We mowed through them and ended the day with a win.
We had a team barbecue and I called it an early night to get well rested for a 9:00 A.M. game the next morning.

photo cred. Tracy Jepson

photo cred. Tracy Jepson.

First Scrimmage.

We had our first scrimmage this past Sunday. We played a lower level single A team and it was quite an experience for me. I made my first lineup card and had my first coaches meeting. It was completely informal but still, it was an experience. We played a team called the Topeka Force. I won't get too in detail about the game but it was easily our game. The final score was 4-4 (we had to quit due to time and sunlight). We had about 10-12 hits as a team and committed no errors in the field. The other team however had no hits and no errors. No hits!? Yep, no hits for their entire team. My 3rd inning pitcher did not do well at all. He gave up about six walks and hit two batters. If it were an actual game and our record were on the line, he would have been pulled much earlier. I had a few coaches in my ear asking why he hadn't been pulled yet but I wanted to test him. He got himself in to that mess so I wanted to see if he could get out. I went out there and had a mound visit with him and he ended up striking out the next batter. Then he fell back in the same routine of walking hitters. Other than that subtle ugliness, the game was ours if it were an actual game. Especially if it were a full seven inning game.