After my training session at Goodlife and a couple of throwing sessions last week, I was feeling some pain in my upper back, left tricep and elbow. It had flared up a week earlier, but I didn’t pay too much attention to it. My woefully uneducated guess is that my supposed ‘maintenance’ strength training program is still a little too intense for an in-season workout program, so I’ve taken steps to make it a little less taxing on my body.
However, the discomfort I was feeling gave me the opportunity to experience another one of the seemingly never-ending perks of being a London Major: free chiropractic services. Doc did some minor chiropractic work on my back, but he spent most of my two sessions last week (did I mention that it’s free; amazing) using Active Release Therapy and electrical currents to heal my sore areas. He also used something called laser acupuncture which mimics traditional acupuncture with electrical waves. It’s very cool stuff and it works. My arm and back felt fantastic afterwards.
And it’s a good thing my arm felt good because at practice last Tuesday I was informed that I would be making the season opening start on Friday against the Hamilton Thunderbirds. There were a myriad of scenarios running through my mind when I was called into the manager’s office, but starting the 2011 season on the mound was not one of them.
I was admittedly anxious for the rest of the week as Friday moved closer. This was my first start in the Intercounty League
Also adding to my stress and anxiety was the news that I’d been offered to write a weekly column in the Metro News London newspaper: here is a link to the column intro and a short biography I wrote. My first column was posted the same day as the game and in it I talked about being named the Opening Day starter, so I was putting my neck on the line. If I threw poorly, it would be a spectacular and very public flameout (here's my first column)
(My weekly allotment for the Metro News is only 300 words per column so I will continue to write a weekly article for this blog on topics I am not able to cover in my Metro News column)
Friday arrived and I just wanted to get to the park and begin throwing. Waiting around at the dorm watching the clock move was excruciating. I’m comfortable with a ball and glove in my hand; I was not comfortable alone with my thoughts of various ways I could screw up the first game of the season.
I got to the park about ninety minutes before the first pitch (I already went through my pre-game stretch and light workout at the small gym located in the basement of the residence hall). Instead of heading out to the field to throw, I was directed to the dugout where I would be interviewed by a columnist from the London Free Press who wanted to talk about my baseball and writing career.
There seemed to be quite a large build up to this start and I hadn’t even thrown yet. The nerves got to me a little more and the pressure seemed to close in a little further. I was fine once I started throwing in the outfield and cracked a few jokes with my teammates. I felt good in the bullpen and as people started to stream into the stadium to get a look at the 2011 edition of the Majors.
Because it was the Home Opener, there was a lot of excitement around the stadium and a lot of things going on that made it difficult to concentrate on the task at hand. There were speeches, the singing of ‘O Canada’, sponsor recognition, youth baseball involvement, an appearance by the Town Crier (I didn’t even know such a position existed) and the announcement of the starting line-ups.
The above video is from the latter; my only goal was to keep one foot in front of the other and not fall flat on my face.
Finally, after what seemed like an eternity, the game began and I walked out to the mound. I tried to remain calm and cool on the outside, but inside my heart was thundering away in my chest like a jackhammer. Typically, I can tell what type of outing I will have by the result of my first pitch. I threw a high fastball and the leadoff hitter mercifully took a hack at it, popping it up to the second basemen for the first out of the game. And I could breathe again.
My stat line for the night: 5IP, 0R, 1H, 2K, 3BB. I was not happy with the walks and I will need better control if I want to continue to be successful in this league. However, I am ecstatic with that start to the season (we ended up winning the game 6-2).
Here is the link to the London Free Press article to show that I am not lying about my stats.
However, my body fell apart on Saturday morning. I had an extremely sore throat, fever and every muscle in my body was wracked with pain. I’m not sure what the cause was, but I can only assume that my body was so stressed and focused on pitching well on Friday that it had nothing left for the weekend. I was still trying to recover fully yesterday. It knocked me on my ass.
But I need to get better soon as I’m due for my second start of the season this weekend. Now I know what to expect from pitching in this league; I can’t wait to get back on the mound.
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