Sidearm Chicago

#1

First game. Relief appearance, 5-0 game.

The mound was a mess. The rubber had a wooden board buried in front of it. On both sides of it were holes where the day’s pitchers had dug in. Unreal. I felt so uncomfortble. But hey, guys had pitched on it all day. No excuses.

I got the first batter to weakly ground out to second on the second pitch (and first strike) I threw. Good stuff.

Second batter looks at strike 1, fastball. He fell over swinging at my slider on the second pitch. Caused quite a commotion, pretty cool. Everyone was just wanting to leave and I gave them something to perk up over. Next pitch, I hit him in the back of the leg with a fastball.

The next batter I threw one strike and four balls to, one a wild pitch, the fourth a slider that hit him in the side. Our league has a rule that if you hit two batters, you’re gone. That was my day–and it was over before it even started.

I will work on some things this week and be ready when I get the call again, no matter what the game situation is. Until next time.

#2

If you get out to a mound and it’s not up to standard, take the time to make It so you can pitch off of it. Once you step out there it’s YOUR mound you OWN it.

Considering you’ve had a lengthy lay off and they threw you into the fire I’d find some positives and look for the mental areas you need to improve on as well as the physical areas.

#3

Will do. I’ll scoop those up. About the mound…I’ll be bringing water and a rake with me from here on out to touch 'em up before the game too. May sound excessive…but some of the parks we play at…sheesh. No maintenance whatsoever. Team’s pitchers even discussed buying some decent dirt and just spending a Saturday re-doing the crappier mounds we’ll see.

This week really made me realize how easy it is to lose control of my thoughts. I had that guy down 0-2, and all I could think was “don’t lose your footing and lose this guy”–which is exactly what I did. If I get that guy out, completely different outing. Lesson learned. Thanks Wales-