Facing Some Adversity

The Majors are in the midst of our first losing streak of the 2011 season. We lost to the second place Barrie Baycats last week, shrinking our hold on first place to one game. Baserunning mistakes were our undoing and we couldn’t capitalize on Baycat errors to put the game out of reach.

We should have beaten them by six or seven runs, but instead we allowed them to keep hanging around until they started to play well. That’s one thing we can’t do versus good teams. When you have a chance to put runs on the board against one of the top teams in the league, you have to do it.

That’s what championship calibre teams do. When you have your foot on an opponent’s throat, you don’t release the hold and allow them a chance to breathe. You bury them, destroy their morale, and don’t let them back in the game.

The Majors are going to need to acquire that killer instinct if we want to win an IBL championship as opposed to just a regular season championship. Message received and we were able to push that game out of our memory and focus on our trip to Ottawa.

We left at seven o’clock in the morning on Friday destined for the Nation’s Capital. The schedule called for us to play Saturday night and Sunday afternoon.

We ran into a great pitcher on Saturday and were not able to mount any offence. The Fat Cats shut us out 4-0. It was the first time a pitcher has been completely able to neutralize our offensive attack. It was a shock to our entire team. We hadn’t been punched in the mouth like that all year.

The team talked it over after the game and we were confident in our ability to rebound and come out firing on all cylinders the next day.

It didn’t work.

We lost 5-4 on Sunday to finish being swept out of Ottawa by the Fat Cats. Three of our six losses have come against Ottawa this season. We didn’t play that bad in Game 2, we just didn’t score as many runs as they did.

We’ve lost four games in a row. This is the time of the year where we’ll find out what we’re made of.

On a personal note, I haven’t throw in a game since my last appearance. It was remarked to me by a teammate during pre-game warmups that I have a lot of moving parts in my throwing motion and I should try to clean up my delivery in order to maintain consistent mechanics.

It was a salient point. And it’s not the first time I’ve heard it. Now that I’ve gotten my leg mechanics in order and able to derive power from my hips, I need to remove any extraneous motion from my arm movement to have better timing in my delivery.

And though I’m not throwing in games right now, I’m able to throw three or four times a week in the bullpen during games and practices to keep my arm strong and work on becoming a better, more consistent pitcher.

We are now in third place in the IBL with a 13-6 record.

Here’s my latest "Life with the Majors" column.

Coming Back

As I mentioned in last week’s column, I—and to a lesser extent the London Majors—had to bounce back from a desultory outing. The team rectified our poor performance against Ottawa with statement games against Hamilton and a doubleheader against our first place co-conspirators from Barrie.

From a personal standpoint, I didn’t rebound quite so quickly—and with as much dominance—as the rest of the team, but I definitely took a step in the right direction towards getting back to the form I showed in the season opener.

We crushed Hamilton 12-1 on Friday night in a game that quickly turned into a laugher. Our team was out to prove that the lacklustre loss to Ottawa was an aberration and would not be indicative of our play for the rest of the season.

The lopsided score allowed me to get into the game in a low-pressure situation and work on my confidence to attack the strike zone and throw with vigour. I threw the eighth inning when the outcome of the contest was no longer in doubt.

I threw much better than I did in my last two appearances, but still fell short of the success I had in my first start. However, the most important thing about my one inning of relief is that I threw with a confidence that had been lacking previously. My velocity was better than it had been from the mound and I was able to throw good pitches down in the zone.

I was still a little wilder that I’d like to be and I only threw fastballs in Friday’s appearance, but I was emboldened with the uptick in command and control. Plus, my ERA went down, which is always a nice bonus.

There is still a disconnect with my control and velocity from flat ground during warmups and in a game atmosphere. I seem to throw harder and command my tosses more easily while playing catch than I can when facing batters. I need to eliminate that discrepancy. I am on my way to doing so; it’s just going to take some more work.

I’m close to where I need to be. I just need to continue to work hard and the results will come.

The team went into the doubleheader feeling good about our chances and we certainly sent a statement to Barrie that first place is going through London this season. We won the first game 9-1 and won the second 4-3 in a nailbiter that lasted 15 innings.

It was a great sweep by the Majors and gives us a two game lead over the Baycats in the fight for first place in the IBL.

We are heading to Ottawa this weekend for a two game series in our Nation’s Capital. Time for some payback after the hurt they put on us two weeks ago. We’ll be at the midpoint of the regular season when we come back, hopefully still in first place.

5^th Metro News Column

Need to Regroup

The Majors are now tied for first place in the league with a 10-2 record on the season. We had our first bad game of the year on Sunday afternoon against the Ottawa Fat Cats. We ended up losing 16-11 in a game marred by shoddy fielding, bad umpiring and ejections. 

Truthfully, it’s nothing to be worried about it. These games happen throughout the course of a season. Baseball is a fickle game. It’s not like we weren’t prepared or that we weren’t focused. Murphy’s Law just happened to kick our ass.

We made a plethora of mental and physical errors that enabled Ottawa to grab a lead and never look back. There’s no need to read into our play any more than necessary. It was a terrible game on the defensive side of the ball, but it’s definitely not a harbinger of things to come.

To succeed in this game, you need a short memory and never get too high or two low with your emotions.

It’s just unfortunate that we laid an egg on Sunday afternoon because it was our “Pack the Park” fundraiser for charity. As I mentioned in my last Metro News column, our goal was to sell as many tickets as possible for Sunday’s game to get Labatt Park crammed with spectators. I’m not sure of the official tally, but it was estimated that our crowd was between 1500 and 2000 people.

It was a great turnout.

Although we lost, we can’t be accused of putting a boring product on the field. Our offence continued to roll, racking up twenty hits to go along with eleven runs. We are hitting well over .300 through the first third of the season and are averaging almost two home runs per game. These are batting practice numbers.

If I was unfortunate enough to have to face our offence, reading stat sheets before the game would keep me up at night. There are literally no holes in our lineup one through nine in the batting order. I’m just glad I get to watch my teammates hit from the comfort of the dugout rather than ten inches of dirt and clay.

I’d have whiplash by Canada Day.

Speaking of succeeding in the game of baseball with a short memory, I need to heed that advice with respect to my pitching. Physically, I feel great. My arm strength is back where it should and my legs feel as strong as they did before I got sick.

The problem I’m having right now is between my ears. I chalked up my wildness and ineffectiveness in my second start to my lacklustre health at the time. As I discussed last week, my throwing sessions have been feeling good and my mechanics are back where they are supposed to be.

However, I couldn’t carry that out to the mound in a game situation. I was brought in for the ninth inning on Friday night as a situational lefty. I was to face the leadoff hitter of the inning. I felt really good with my stuff in the bullpen, but couldn’t translate that to the mound.

I was so transfixed on throwing strikes—to remove any lingering doubts about my command from my second start—that I was babying the ball to the plate. I wasn’t throwing free and easy. It was like I was scared to throw a ball.

That is no way to pitch. I ended up walking him on eight pitches and was promptly pulled from the game, failing to do my job. I didn’t feel comfortable throughout the entire appearance.

Now I need to focus on the mental aspect of the game to get my head on straight. I’ve proved I can throw well in this league; I just need to gain that confidence back. I had a good bullpen session yesterday, I’ve cleared my head of any negative thoughts and I’m ready to prove my worth to this pitching staff.

4^th Metro News Column

Felled by Hubris

I wasn’t healthy when I took the mound for my second start of the season last week and it definitely showed. I didn’t make it out of the second inning, giving up three earned runs, two hits and walking five. 

It was an admittedly terrible performance. My mechanics felt awful and my body felt extraordinarily weak. I was deriving zero power from my legs and all of my pitches were finishing high in the zone. I didn’t have the strength to follow through with my delivery and attack the bottom half of the strike zone (which is where I have to live with my pitches to be successful).

In hindsight, I probably shouldn’t have taken the mound. It was my ego that implored me to take the ball. I short-sightedly thought I could get Intercounty Baseball League hitters out at less than full strength.

It was a foolish decision. Not only was I still suffering adverse health effects, but those health problems forced me, as I mentioned last week, to abandon my between outing throwing and strength regimen. Over a two week span—between my first and second appearances—I was only able to workout in the gym once and throw once.

Such a lacklustre conditioning program is not going to cut it in the IBL; I found that out the hard way.

Luckily, the offensive juggernaut that is the London Majors saved me from a loss and we ended up winning the game 18-7. My poor start was inconsequential to the final score.

Have I mentioned how much I enjoy pitching with this offence?

So, I learned the importance of pitching at full capacity and I will no longer put myself in a position to throw when all signs point towards resting and getting healthy. It’s never too late to learn something new.

Over the past week, I’ve concentrated on getting healthy and getting my arm and body back in shape. I’ve been training in the gym, struggling to regain the strength that I lost during my layoff. I’ve also fine-tuned the mechanical deficiencies that cropped up in my last outing and I’m convinced that I’m back where I need to be to succeed. I’m running at 100% again and I’m ready to throw this weekend if I’m called upon.

The London Majors have continued our hot start and we are now 7-1 on the season with three home games coming up this weekend. If we can somehow manage to win all three games, we should have a foothold on first place in the league through the first third of the season.

Of course, there is still a lot of ball to be played over the summer.

And that might be an understatement. We had a doubleheader rained out on Saturday, which means we now have four games to make up in an already packed June and July schedule. We are playing well now, but we’re really going to have to focus over the coming weeks to build on this early season success.

Here is my latest “Life with the Majors” column for Metro News London.

The Majors are on a Roll

Now that the rain has actually managed to subside for the time being—although the threat of Mother Nature blanketing the London area with more hellacious storms always seems to be a distinct possibility—we are playing tremendous baseball when given the opportunity. 

The Majors are 5-0 to start the 2011 season and we currently sit in first place in the Intercounty Baseball League standings. Our starting pitching has been very good, but our offence has been absolutely crushing the ball each and every game.

The hitters are making it very easy on the pitching staff by bludgeoning opponent’s pitching with a plethora of extra base hits and home runs. I have never been on a team with a stronger batting line-up than the 2011 edition of the London Majors. Every hitter in the order has a professional approach at the plate and goes into each at-bat with a plan in mind. It’s been a treat to witness and has given me insight into how the mind of a batter works; very interesting stuff.

I was scheduled to pitch over the weekend but a rainout on Friday complicated matters. My outing was pushed back, which turned out to be a blessing in disguise, as I am having some further health issues that piggybacked on the sickness that felled me after my first start of the season.

I don’t want to get into any gory details, but let’s just say that I am suffering from a lower body injury and I’m forced to sit on a donut. Take from that what you will. Let your imagination run wild. Actually not too wild; let’s keep things PG. I don’t know if it’s living in a dorm environment, but I’ve never had health issues like this since I started working out heavily after I left university.

Due to my throwing schedule and my feeble condition last week my workouts have fallen by the wayside. I need to get healthy fast. We have a lot of games coming up and I will be counted on, as will the rest of the staff, to throw a lot of innings over the coming weeks.

We need to continue to press the gas petal to the floor and try to keep rolling on this undefeated stretch. The worst thing that could happen is that we get complacent about our hot start and stop giving the effort that saw us get to this position in the first place. We can’t think games are owed to us because we’ve gotten an early taste of success; we need to continue to battle hard each and every inning.

From everything I’ve seen of our team in games and practices, I’m confident we have the necessary mental toughness to continue to work hard. We could be set up for a very special season.

I just hope I’m still alive to see it.

Here is the link to my second Metro News London column.