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.