I am currently relaxing in my hotel room at the Executive inn at Evansville, Indiana. We concluded the first 3 games of our 6 game road trip in St. Louis and arrived here in Evansville yesterday.

Fun fact: the Evansville stadium is where they filmed A League of Their Own. The movie with Tom Hanks about women baseball players.

Evansville is better than I expected, at least where we are staying. There is a casino and some pretty good food spots within walking distance if I decide to brave the heat.

Yesterday in St. Louis we played a day game, I was in the stands charting, man it was warm...warm and sticky 98 deg, 85% humidity 108 heat index or something. That formula equates to instant profuse sweating. This reminds me of Tony Muser who managed me in Rookie ball with the Padres. It was usaully 115 degrees there and he would always say "boys just remember, its not hot, its just a little warm."

I am a starting pitcher now. I made my first start on Sunday and went 3 innings. I did pretty good, I just need to get used to it and build up the stamina to go deeper into the game. I had a 50 pitch pitch count, I expect Ill be around 60-70 tomarrow.

After being in the bullpen since just after the beginning of my senior season at UC Irvine, it takes a little time to build up the endurance to throw 100+ pitches in a game. You cant physically go right to it.

Starting is a lot different, especially the time in between starts. I can now develop a throwing/lifting/stretching/running routine which I think will help my velocity out. I was happy with my velocity my last start, I hit 93 once. I hope to build on that and that hopefully gets me some more scouts to notice.

Okay over and out

Update

First of all, hats off to the Lakers. So pumped, repeat next year hopefully against the Cavs so the Lebron/Kobe debate gets settled. Seems pretty obvious to me, but some people just don't get it...hopefully you aren't one of these clowns.

As for baseball, the Thunderbolts are sporting a 13-10 record, its all bunched up near the top of the standings, we are 2 games back of River City who we are playing right now. They have a solid squad, a couple guys were in AAA last year.

We got rained out tonight, first rainout of the year, so we have the ole double header tomarrow. For us players a rainout is spent sitting in the clubhouse watching TV, listining to music and playing cards for a few hours. Through much training I have learned to focus on each of these mediums at the same time, it is truly an art form, you can't teach it.

I have been doing well, just going about my business and getting outs as best I can. I am now the closer which is a lot of fun for me. I love being in that pressure position which brings out the best in me. The combination of adrenaline and focus is a blast.

Last series we played at Southern Illinois against my old buddy Tyler Davis. We played together at SBCC (part of the "big 3" of 2005. Tyler, Justin Aspegren, and myself). We also both played for the Padres together. It is very ironic how our baseball lives cross at the unlikeliest of junctions. What are the odds we end up at the same JC, then get drafted by the same MLB team, then both get released by that team and play against each other in the Frontier league.

I told him that if we meet again on the field in three years it better be in the big leagues.

So here is a little insight into the road trips we make in this league. We played a 7pm game in Cleveland on Thursday night and returned from our roadtrip that night arriving back at our place at 4:30 am and got back at the field at 5pm for our game for that night.

Holla!

Good times

Feeling good, we're feeling alright, yeah

Here is a little about my current life. Back again in the Midwest, I now remember how bizarre of a place this is. Last night, I woke up in the middle of the night to deafening thunder and lightning and heavy rain, then was rudely woken by bright sunlight a few hours later. Then it poured and pounded again when I went to the gym and when I got out it was sunny and outrageously humid. Now its about to rain again...and through it all we play baseball games.

Now I am not complaining...just stating the facts people. Whats with complaining anyway? Where does complaining get you in life? Almost certainly it makes you go backwards. I was given an example from the bible Sunday that relates to this. The message was to not worry about the little things in life. We spend lots of time thinking about minuscule "problems" which inflate like balloons into energy consuming brooding. So I'm gonna do my best to knock that off.

My last post was littered with complaints, justifications, and bitterness. I am just going to move forward and trust that everything will be all right. This is a fun team here, good guys and good players. Most of the team has played affiliated (MLB organization) baseball. We are 7-3, about to head out to our second roady to Lake Erie. From what I understand it is new all turf field and no cleats are allowed. I hope I don't take a tumble haha. I have been doin' well here and am just trying to get better everyday.


Here are some words of Wisdom from the Regee band Rebellution:

"Well it's a struggle everyday we're stressin'.
But what's a life without dedication?
I'm, I'm gonna pick up that soul's intention to soak in music relaxation
Feeling good, we're feeling alright, yeah"