We are in the Championship. This is what we have been waiting for all season. I am getting antsy to get this thing started. We will face Potomac (Nationals) tonight in Game 1 in another best of 5 series. We have had 2 off days in a row after sweeping the first round of the playoffs against Kinston. Game 3 showed what this team is all about. We went down 5-4 and scratched across a run in the 9th on a 2 out single by Jon Gilmore, against a closer who was 30-33 in save opportunities...sorry about it. Then we grinded it out another 4 innings and scored 5 in the 13th to put it away (Axelrod was coaching 1st base this inning). It was a great win for us and just reinforced our resilience and the toughness of this team.

Yesterday we had a short workout at the field and met an Admiral who was in command of the USS Enterprise during 9/11 who coordinated the ensuing retaliation in Afghanistan. He talked to us for a bit about that experience and also how baseball was a joy and release for him during that time and how we do the same for the fans that follow us. These are things that are easy to lose sight of being players and being so close to the game.

I have game 2 again here at home. I can't wait to get this thing started tonight, time for team Beastmode.

"Nothin' to it but to do it"
-Ronnie Coleman

The regular season is over. Now its playoff time and we are a confident team. We won 12 of our last 16 and we celebrated winning the 2nd half title on Sunday. We did something very hard and won both halves of the regular season. We celebrated Sunday at Salem, Va after our game in the clubhouse. Best riot of the year for sure, complete with campaign getting sprayed everywhere, coolers of water being dumped over heads and Ke$ha bumping on the stereo...classic.

I pitched well last start and have gotten a week to rest here before playoffs. We are playing the Kinston Indians who also come in hot. They have some very good pitching so we will just have to match them. Here is a short preview of the series: http://web.minorleaguebaseball.com/news/article.jsp?ymd=20100906&content_id=14352256&vkey=news_milb&fext=.jsp

Ol' Corley just hit you all with some truth.

I will start game 2 and am really looking forward to getting after it. Tonight I will have the honor of receiving Dash pitcher of the year, its a great honor with all other pitchers who have been here. Bottom line is we are all pumped to get out there and take this thing and get a ring. Beastmode time.

As some of you may know or have heard, baseball players can be a little weird. It seems like the longer you play this game the more eccentric and strange you and everyone else gets...here is the definition...This is a great interview of Brian Wilson the Giants closer. Gotta love it.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Yf0j1rmZVbM

1 week left in the regular season. The anticipation for the playoffs has arrived. We still have some meaningful games left which effect the playoff picture. We are already in but other teams are battling to get in like Salem (Red Sox) who we have 5 more games against next series.

Right now we are at home starting a series against Lynchburg (Reds) today. Yesterday we had a much needed off day, the first one in something like 29 days. We just got done sweeping Myrtle Beach, Sunday we had a walkoff win at home which set off yet another "riot" in the clubhouse. This time it was complete with music from Three Days Grace's song "Let's Start a Riot." Go figure. It was a solid riot though, some quality chair banging, couch flipping, chair throwing, and table flipping. No card throwing this time, we always seem to lose the cards which puts a big damper on pregame routines of passoy and casino.

After a week off to set things up for playoffs better, I will start tomorrow. My previous start last week was at Lynchburg where I went all 7 in the 1st game of a double header...so that goes down as a CG in the stat book, I'll take it but one of these days I want to go all 9 and really earn it.

Also, I just got some good news that I am going to "Instructs" a.k.a instructional league. This is a great thing for me because it shows people like what I am doing and it feels good to be recognized for it and to continue play after the season is over. So I will be back in Phoenix starting Sept 19 for around a month.


Go hard and finish strong.

Back home for 4 against Salem (Red Sox) then we hit the road for 7 games. We are in the middle of a long stretch, I think 29 straight days with games. We did have a couple rainouts a little while ago that helped ease this stretch but its definitely a grind.

I was very happy with my last outing, continued to pitch well. I have complete confidence in what I am doing and everything feels great. I pitch again tomorrow here at home.

I feel great and the body is feeling fresh. One thing I do with a couple other starting pitchers to recover is jumping in the hot and cold tubs. We affectionately call them "spa days." We go 2 minutes in a 105 degree tub, then 2 minutes in a 60 degree tub and switch every 2 minutes for a total of 20 minutes. I don't know the exact science behind it, but I always feel great after getting done. The first time in the cold tub always takes your breath away because you start in the hot tub and so the first time is pretty shocking.


"Discipline is the bridge between goals and accomplishment"
Jim Rohn

In beautiful Wilmington, Delaware for a 4 game series against the Blue Rocks (Royals). It's ok though because my biggest problem right now is hoping that my milk stays cold enough. This fridge in the hotel room is pretty weak.



This is the stretch run of the season, we only have about 3 weeks left before playoffs. August always seems to fly by really quick because the end of the season is right there staring you in the face.



My last start was the best of my season, probably my career. I went 8 innings, 4 hits, 1 run, 0BB and I think 4 K's. I only threw 89 pitches. I felt absolutely in control the whole game. In my start tomorrow my goal is just to go out there and take control of the game and attack those guys. I am really trying to finish up strong and just keep goin hard.

I never look at my own stats, but I always check up on my college teammates from UCI and other buddies I have in Pro Ball. Lots of Anteaters are doin well in pro-ball, its great to see. Also lots of guys who work out at P3 are having great seasons, really good to see.

Tonight we are using all the Kangaroo Court money to buy ourselves a good post game spread. I think I ended up contributing like $10 in fines.....whateeeev.

FINISH STRONG!

All endeavor calls for the ability to tramp the last mile, shape the last plan, endure the last hours toil. The fight to the finish spirit is the one... characteristic we must posses if we are to face the future as finishers
--Henry David Thoreau

We are now in the midst of a 7 game home stand back in Winston. I think we all enjoy being being back here for extended periods like this, its a lot easier to relax and just chill a little bit. We play Frederick (Orioles) the next 4 games and then back on the road to I don't know where. I tend not to look ahead to where we go next until a day or 2 before hand, it adds a little surprise element to it.

I pitched well last start against Myrtle Beach, I had my best velocity all year and had good command down in the zone. Really its no secret how to pitch well. If you can locate down in the zone, things usually will turn out all right. My arm strength is getting better now, I have gone deep into the game my last 2 starts. I have cut out "sides" (a.k.a bullpens or throwing off the mound for any baseball illiterates haha) in between starts and longtoss instead. I feel like this has 2 advantages. First I get a little extra rest and recovery and second I can build arm strength by longtossing on my "day 2"(2 days after my start) which would normally be a side day.

I start tomorrow against Frederick, my goal is to go deep into the game again and be the domination station.

Reports from SB is that Fiesta is going on. Man I miss that, not much quality Mexican food in these parts....like zero. I used to love the one at Mackenzie park as a kid. We felt like we owned the place because we played ball on those fields...good times.

I had a birthday recently, here is what came to mind:

You know you're getting old when you get that one candle on the cake. It's like, "See if you can blow this out"
--Jerry Seinfeld

*Of course this never happened to me because I don't eat cake.............

We are in Myrtle Beach this weekend , maybe the tourist capital of the world. Our game got rained out yesterday, so we have a double header today, I pitch tomorrow. My last start went well, I got lots of groundballs and was economical enough to go 7 strong innings. My last post stirred up some talk with a couple of my teammates.

Seth Loman now asks me everyday "axe you hot? you tired?" Seth's main interests include: bad movies, mma, having big-league hair, and snuggies. Another teamate, Jon Gilmore also likes the blog. Gily enjoys smashing baseballs, watching intense weight training videos on youtube, drinking gallons of milk daily, and being a heartthrob for 13 year old girls.

I am getting hungry, probably gonna go hit up Joe's Crab Shack in a little bit. Here are some of those killer youtube vids to get you PUMPED!

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RpqksKiImCk&feature=related
-last 10 seconds are priceless

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-6mRbQG-PL4

In my last post I wrote that the days are going fast now...after a 23 day hiatus I am giving ya'll (my new southern slang) an update. As the temperature rises in July and August, I am doing all I can do for my body to function at a high level. Honostly, it would be super easy to get lazy with my nutriiton, weight training and mobility, sleep, and overall well-being. Sometimes you have no other options than to succomb to the visiting clubbies spread before and after games, but I do all that I can to be aware of how my body is doing.

Besides that, it is easy to stay up late and waste time. Believe it or not, it is hard to go to sleep right away after a 10 hour day of being in 100 degree humid weather. It is especially hard after an intense game or after I pitch when the game runs through my head over and over and over. I have tried to wake up around the same time every day, Usually in the 915, 930 range unless we are getting in from a road trip and I dont get to bed until the early morning.

This is the time of year that I love. I love it because everybody else hates it. This is when I resolve to seperate myself and finish strong. I have learned to never say things like "I'm hot" or "I'm tired." It enforces that thought into your subcouncious and the subconcious of those around you.

I will finish this blog strong too, I will post more often! sorry Grams!

Again the days have gone by quickly, this time of year that's what seems to happen. The first have of the season seems so long and then the last couple months zoom by. I am now back in Winston-Salem after having 2 starts in AA. One of the pitchers there came off the DL. I knew going in that they had lots of guys on the DL and I might only be there for a little bit, so its not like I'm shook up or nothin. I did really well in my last start against Chattanooga (Dodgers). We played there for 6 games, they are a pretty loaded team. I went 6 innings, 4 hits, 1 run, 1 BB, 5k. I felt good about it because I just attacked them and mixed my pitches well.

The coaches there were really pleased with what I can do and hopefully I will be back up there this year. So after moving into an apartment and getting all that set up, I drove back to Winston haha. This can be a tough deal, you never really know whats going on. Players get moved quickly and you never get too comfortable in one place. Im lucky because I get to stay with family here so it was easy to come back and have a place to go to right away.

So im back wearing that purple...I will be starting Saturday at Lynchburg (Reds), Virginia. Im just looking forward to gettin back on the hill and goin hard...doin what i do.

“Sometimes we stare so long at a door that is closing that we see too late the one that is open.”
-Alexander Graham Bell

"Depreciate every so-called obsticle. Minimize them...Make a true estimate of your own ability, then raise it 10 percent. Do not become egotistical but develop a wholesome self-respect"
-Norman Vincent Peale

The last week has gone by real quick. Last Wednesday I was moved up to the AA Birmingham Barons. I drove the 7 hours from Winston to here on Thursday. I definitely did not sleep much that night because of Game 7 of the NBA finals and all the packing I had to do for the early morning departure. We all watched the game in the Dash clubhouse after our game and it was a blast. We had all the Latinos in there goin nuts whistling and everyone talking smack to each other, it was awesome. When the Lakers won all the Lake Show fans jumped around in a circle like we would for a walkoff homerun celebration at home plate.

So all told it was a great day, the Lakers won and I got promoted. I started last Sunday against the Jacksonville Suns (Marlins) and went 4 innings giving up 2 runs. I felt like I pitched like crap and my mindset sucked. I got it out of the way though and now I will settle in. I pitched the Sunday day game so it was a little bit warm out there and I was on 3 days rest from my last start. However I pitched away from contact and was trying to be too fine with my pitches. The 4th inning I said something like "screw it" and just went out there and got pissed off and had my only clean inning with 2 strikeouts. I really need to take that mentality every time out and just attack hitters like I do and limit my pitch count so I can get deep into games.

We are the road now for 6 games against the Chattanooga Lookouts (Dodgers). I don't know why but they play a lot of long series in the Southern League. In most leagues you play 3 or 4 game series, but here its 5 games a lot of times. I will start again on Saturday.

One of the perks of AA is you get some more perks. Like you don't carry your baseball bag to the bus or take it off. On the road, the bus takes all our stuff to the field and the road clubbies unload it and put it all away for you in your locker. They also clean your spikes after the game. Drawback is you pay more in clubhouse dues its like $11-12 per day plus tip at the end. The food spread is similar probably a little better. Last night we had ribs, mashed potatoes and beans.

So I'm gonna do my best to make the most of this opportunity and just keep goin hard. The hay is in the barn as Coach Serrano would say. Now its time to let it work for me.

Read Philippians 4:13. repeat it 10 times a day

As the all-star break nears we are now 3.5 games ahead of Salem for first place. We played 3 innings today before being rained out so we have to finish this game next saturday when we travel to Wilmington. It was 95 degrees, and literally 20 minutes later was 80 degrees with some angry rain. I always tell me teammate who is from NC "sweet state bro" [insert your own level of sarcasm].

We dropped all 3 games in Myrtle Beach, we lost some close games but played pretty flat. There are lots of distractions there and whenever we go I just try to lay low, it would be a fun time if I let it be a fun time, but that type of fun doesn't really get the job done haha.

Yesterday was a long, long day. We had a night game on Friday, then this kids fun day event at the stadium at 730AM the next morning. It lasted from 8-1230 with a short break in the middle. We were assigned to random stations. I got the hitting station so for the first hour and a half I threw wiffle balls to kids...the arm was cooked haha. I paid another dude 15 bucks to switch with me for the second session. Best 15 bucks I ever spent. I signed autographs sitting down in the shade for the next hour and a half. I went over to the wall and looked down at the hitting station and it was a zoo...I WIN.

Then we stuck around and had a baseball game. 1-1 9th inning, dreading the prospect of extra innings Justin Greene hit a walkoff home run to win it. When we played our 20 inning game we pretty much went nuts in the locker room throwing over couches and tables and banging on chairs and throwing playing cards up in the air. We have had a few walkoff wins since then and everytime we do the same thing. We call them riots, its so much fun. This team is a blast we definitely have a good time.

One of our starting pitchers went on the disabled list so I will be taking his place in the starting rotation. I start Wednesday at home against Frederick (Orioles).

We are 5 games ahead of Salem for first place after just sweeping Kinston at home in a 4 game series. We just arrived in Myrtle Beach for a nice little 3 game road trip. Our last road trip was 9 games so this is real nice. I have continued to pitch well my last few times out . The last appearance I had against Kinston I felt terrible warming up in the bullpen. I had no feel for anything except a fastball and I just kept praying to God to help me because I was lost. I could not throw a changeup anywhere near the plate...for real not even close. I got out to the game and had some of the best stuff I had all year. Amazing. I just let go of myself and my doubt and rolled with it, first changeup I threw was dirty. Amazing.

I forgot to mention we had Kangaroo Court again...I was fined a total of 2.50 for taking a foam roll everywhere I go, eating "birdseed", and for something else I seem to have forgot at this time.

The legendary John Wooden passed away, he influenced so many people and there is no doubt his principles will live on forever. If you have never read one of his books read one.

Be more concerned with your character than your reputation, because your character is what you really are, while your reputation is merely what others think you are.
John Wooden

If you don't have time to do it right, when will you have time to do it over?
John Wooden

Material possessions, winning scores, and great reputations are meaningless in the eyes of the Lord, because He knows what we really are and that is all that matters.
John Wooden

better pictures of our stadium

All day event

In the last post I mentioned we had a double header. It wasn't what we expected. Our game against Myrtle Beach (Braves) got rained out so usually what happens is we play two 7 inning games. But the Dash had sold out their luxury boxes or something so rather than exchange those tickets out and lose money the front office had us play two 9 inning games. Something like that.

So I got to the field at 8:45 for our 12pm game which we lost 5-0. Then we waited around at the field for the night game at 7pm. I started the game and went 6 innings, allowing 1 run on 3 hits. I don't think I had any 3 ball count. It was 1-1 after 6 when I was taken out. It remained that way and we went into extra innings. I think the mutual feeling was like "wow really? extra inning in the 2nd game of a double header?"

We didn't know what was in store for us. The innings kept sailing by. They scored a run in two different innings, but we tied it up both times and so we kept going. Our bullpen was really thin and we had to stretch guys out to amounts of pitches/innings they weren't used to. About the 15th inning the feeling changed to something like "well who cares how long this goes we gotta win this damn game no matter what."

20th inning. We are now out of pitching. We put in our utility infield/outfield guy Kyle Shelton who played 12 innings at 2nd base, 7 innings in Left Field and now he was on the mound. Leadoff hit, bunt, fly ball, fly ball...scoreless inning. We came in all pumped up . During the game we were trying all kinds of stuff to start a rally. We did "rally mids" (your pants are mid shin...brutal look basically), we tried pants above the knees. We tried "rally shades" (everyone wears sunglasses). We had our sleeveless jerseys on so in the 20th we rolled up our sleeves so our bare arms were showing. We had guys on 1st and 3rd with 2 outs and our catcher who had caught all 20 innings got a base hit to right field and all rushed the field and celebrated. We threw a party out there it was awesome.

We all rolled into the clubhouse and just starting yelling and screaming for about 5 minutes no joke. We started banging our charis and we flipped over our couches and tables and started throwing playing cards up in the air. It was beautiful chaos. I think we were all delirious.

So we got a 20 inning 5:30 hour victory...still the 2nd longest game I ever played to the 5:40 in the college world series. This one felt waaaaay longer. 29 innings in a day turned out to be a blast.

link to game article:
http://web.minorleaguebaseball.com/news/article.jsp?ymd=20100520&content_id=10230876&vkey=news_t580&fext=.jsp&sid=t580

Ok those 2 weeks since I wrote really went fast. We came home from that last road trip and had a short 3 game series at home. After that we went on another 7 day roady to Potomic (DC area, Nationals) and to Lynchburg (VA, Reds). We went 6-1 on the road so we are still playing well and in first place. I pitched 3 good innings against Potamic, my third inning they had a guy on 2nd with 2 outs and we were winning 6-5. I really reached back and threw the best pitches I had all night and struck the guy out on 4 pitches. It was good to find out I still had more in the tank when I needed it at that point. I threw the hardest I have all season right there with 3 2-seamers away and a cutter up and in for the K.

We are back home in Winston now thankfully for 7 games. Our game yesterday got rained out so I will start the second game of the day night doubleheader tomorrow against Myrtle Beach.

A cool thing that happened recently is that my teammate form UCI, Bryan Petersen got called up to the big leagues for the Marlins. He got a hit in his 1st at bat. He is the 2nd Anteater to play in the MLB after Brady Anderson. With the way the program has developed into a national powerhouse year after year there will be many more eaters to follow. But Petey is leading the way, he is a true professional and always had that quiet confidence and professional demeanour. So congrats to him.

Dash 1st baseman Seth Loman offers the words of wisdom for today
"You can't snuggie your way to the big leagues"

Kangaroo Court

I am writing this from my hotel bed in Frederick, Maryland. Just got back from Chipotle, it was the best I could do for Cinco de Mayo. Chipotle is probably the most American Mexican food ever but it gets the job done.

We won 2 of 3 at Wilmington and have lost the first 2 games here against the Keys. Both have been tough losses, we have made a few costly errors and haven't come up with those big 2 out hits with runners on.

Sometimes I like to share with you what goes on behind the scenes. Such as what happens in the bullpen which I will get to in the future. Every few weeks we hold Kangaroo Court. For those who don't know, Kangaroo Court is a system where you can write people up and fine them for things they do on and off the field. Different clubhouses have different rules. We carry around "the box" so you can fine people even on road trips. Here are the basic parameters:

In order to fine someone you get a piece of paper and write down the fine. You have to write your name and a witness on the paper too.

When we empty out the box for court we have 3 judges. They read the fine and the accused has to stand up and argue his case. This team has a rule that if you don't argue you get a double fine. This is good because you always hear that persons side of it and it gets pretty funny. At the end of the year we collect all the money and use it for a party.

Fines range from .25 to $1 but you can get double max fined for $2.

One Latino guy racked up $8.25 last time in the first 2 weeks, he did some serious work. The total was like $65 so he paid a huge percentage of that haha.

Kangaroo court is a great time, it's hilarious what some of these fines are. I won't say too much because what happens in the clubhouse stays in the clubhouse. I managed to escape this one with only $.25 being owed. One guy in spring training was convinced I was a serial killer....so you know $.25

4/27

After winning 9 straight and getting back from Myrtle Beach we arrived back home and lost 2 of 3 to Wilmington (Royals). I pitched 2 good innings our 3rd game a Myrtle. I felt really on top of things, got ahead in the count well and pretty much dictated every at bat.

I write a few things on the inside of my hat that remind me of my plan out there. One of them is "authority." This means 2 things to me. I want to throw all my pitches with authority and confidence and I want to have authority over the at bat. The easiest way to have authority and dictate an at bat is to throw strike one. Strike one is said to be the "best pitch in baseball." This statement is absolutely true. I used to half joke that the best pitch was strike 3...not true.

We are in first place at 12-5 and we start a 3 game series at home with the Frederick Keyes (Oriols) today.

Yesterday was an off day and 8 of us played golf. Brutal course but it was fun. I think the course might have been haunted because balls disappeared in the middle of the fairway, it was outrageous.

An avid reader told me I wrote too much about fish and not enough about baseball last time. I offer my deep apologies to everyone and I will refrain from writing about fish ever again.


"These young guys are playing checkers. I'm out there playing chess."
Kobe Bryant

Myrtle Beach 4/19

After a successful homestand we arrived in Myrtle Beach today. The Dash are hot, we have won 5 straight and are 7-3. We had 2 walkoff victories on the homestand so that was a lot of fun. Our game yesterday ended on a 2 run home run by Ozzie Lewis with 2 outs. It was a back and forth game and we showed alot of fight coming back with 2 outs in the 9th.

In Myrtle we are staying right on the "Boardwalk at the Beach." It's basically a big tourist trap and that per diem goes real fast here with all the restaurants. A bunch of us just got back from Margartitaville. Jimmy Buffet's songs are replaying over and over in my head. If I worked there I would flip out within the first 2 hours.

This Boardwalk basically sits on top and around a body of water filled with big carp, ducks, and turtles. You can feed the fish for a quarter and they all come to the surf ice in anticipation with gaping mouths. When you drop the food all hell breaks loose there are tons of these fish and then the ducks swim in and basically walk on them to try to get food as well. Last year one guy fed them pasta I heard they eat anything.

I am goin good, I have a few things to clean up but I am satisfied with how things are going for me.

4/12

We are back home in Winston-Salem after spliting our first series with Kinston 2-2. We won the first game, dropped the next 2 and the got a much needed win in game 4 to even it up.

I got to catch up a little bit with my college roomate at UCI Bryce Stowell who is a pitcher now with Kinston. It's great to see your buddies out there on this journey.

I pitched 3 innings in game 3 and had good results. I felt a little rusty from a longish layoff but I got the job done. I allowed 1 hit and no runs or walks. I could have done a better job getting ahead of hitters especailly in my first inning but I made pitches when I had to with a man on base and cruised through the next 2 innings. It was good to get out there and get some kinks out and get on track.

We had a brief practice in our new stadium for the first time today. There are some crazy angles in the outfield and there is gonna be some bizarre stuff happening out there. I must say this place is a "graveyard" meaning its tough to hit a home run there. So thats good for pitchers but it also means big gaps and anything that gets passed an outfielder in the gap is probably a triple. So we will just have to see how the field plays.

Opening night of BB&T Ballpark tommorrow. The stadium seats 5500, but I heard 6500 will be packing it in so it should be fun.

Words of Wisdom:
"Anything in any way beautiful derives its beauty from itself and asks nothing beyond itself. Praise is no part of it, for nothing is made worse or better by praise."
-Marcus Aurelius

4/7

Since leaveing spring training I am definately a little behind on the reportation (I make up words). It was kind of a whirlwind flying in and going to the hotel for a couple days. Since coming to NC we played a scrimmage in Charlotte our triple A team and 2 games in Kannapolis our low A team.

Charlotte was playing the big league team and we went to take over for the big league team whenever Jake Peavy was done pitching. Peavy ended up going for innings and we finished out the last 5 innings for the big league team. Our side lost 4-3. It was a cool game and atmosphere probably like 9000 people there. We all dressed out in White Sox uniforms so they thought we were big leaguers too and were hounding us for autographs and stuff. We were just like "hey man we arent who you think we are...sorry bout it." I pitched 2 innings no hits/walks with 4 K's. Hope to play in that ballpark in Charlotte eventually.

We are itching to get this season going. We have been practicing at this local high school because our field is not ready and its just a weird situation. We have been doing all the prep stuff too. Like yesterday we had Media Day after practice. They had a press conference, interviews and took our pictures and moving scoreboard shots like the have in the football intros on ESPN.

Basically we are pumped to start tomarrow and get to what we do best, playing ball. We bus to Kinston tomarrow to play the Indians affilate. Time to get after it!

Baseball Season Quotes

You always get a special kick on opening day, no matter how many you go through. You look forward to it like a birthday party when you're a kid. You think something wonderful is going to happen. - JOE DIMAGGIO

There is no sports event like Opening Day of baseball, the sense of beating back the forces of darkness and the National Football League. - George Vecsey

The good thing about Opening Day is, at the end of the day it counts. It's on record. - Phillies shortstop Jimmy Rollins

This shit don't count. This shit don't go on the bubble gum card." - Rickey Henderson on spring training

I love Opening Day. I think we all do, whether it's the players, coaches or front office. It's just a special day in our American culture. It's weaved into the fabric of what we are, and I think it's a great day. - Padres manager Bud Black

Links for Dash and my player page

Winston Salem Dash http://web.minorleaguebaseball.com/index.jsp?sid=t580

Me http://web.minorleaguebaseball.com/milb/stats/stats.jsp?pos=P&sid=t580&t=p_pbp&pid=518420

BB&T Ballpark

Just got back from the new park. It is pretty incredible, maybe the best minor league field Ive ever seen. This or Dayton.

There is still a little bit of construction going on and the playing surfice isnt done yet. They have to level the dirt and the brown in the grass you see is sand which is used to level the infield. . The clubhouse is outrageous as well. Huge lockers with tons of storage space. There are a few couches in the middle and for lack of better words it is huge and awesome. We have a little weight room in there with squat rack and a dumbbells and whatnot and a nice big training room too.

There is a long video board that is on the left field fence all the way out to left center. Huge scoreboard and smaller scoreboards the border the first and second levels of the stadium. There is also luxury boxes and a club/restaurant upstairs. The photos don't do it justice but here they are taken from my (not so) high resolution camera on my phone.

Winston

Spring training is over and I am back in Winston-Salem now. Spring ended well, I threw 3 innings before we left, not allowing a base runner with 3 strikeouts only throwing 31 pitches.

Spring training went by super fast, it was only 3 weeks essentially. The last week of spring training can be nerve racking. That is the time when guys are getting released all around you. Some guys are done playing the game they love forever, some look for new opportunities. I have gotten several calls from ex-teammates who want my help finding them a new team or just have questions about the process because I went through it. Professional baseball is a harsh environment and is not always fair. There are many factors that go into filling out rosters and its tough when every year you have an influx of young guys straight out of college who they need to make room for. So you don't stay in this game long if you don't progress and make moves.

I used to really think about all this and put pressure on myself but now I have a different outlook. Honestly I am not worried about it at all. I am committed to just going out and pitching with confidence and enjoying it...Its simple really.

We are now in the Quality Inn. We have to find a place to live and I'm leaning towards living with a couple teammates. I thought about the solo mission but in the end its too expensive. I might get my car shipped out here too. Having that freedom is a huge plus for me.

We flew in yesterday and have an off day today. We are going to set up our lockers at brand new BB&T Ballpark today and then have a little batting practice tomorrow and then we bus to Charlotte to play our AAA team. Next 2 days I think we play our Low A team in Kannapolis.

We open up in Kinston on April 8th.

The Journey is the Reward

3/26

Today was a good day. Went to the park ate some breakfast, did a little lift and stretch, played catch and watched our 6 inning intrasquad. Then ate lunch and showered and got outta there by 12. As close to an off day as it gets! Free day activities=Went to the grocery store, caught up on the new office episodes over the Internet, did some reading, ate a few more times (1 more makes 6 meals today), stretched/yoga a few times, NCAA tourney games. By the way great game last night Xavier vs Kansas State. They really got after it, unreal game 2OT.



Yesterday I threw my first inning of this spring against the Indians in Goodyear. I had a little oblique problem and was out a week but fortunately its all good now and I am back in action. It went well, I threw 8 pitches (8 strikes) so it was a quick 1, 2, 3 inning with a K. I felt pretty good, my mechanics had been a tad off in my bullpens after the oblique strain because I was compensating for it. I felt like I was better in that area yesterday for sure...I felt real good out there.



Tomorrow I assume I will pitch again at home against the Reds.

Words of Wisdom

Kaizen--Japanese for "constant daily improvement"

Spring continues to roll on. We started games against other teams Saturday. I am scheduled to pitch tomarrow in my first game outing. When games start you are either at the park from 7 to about 5 or if you are off and dont have to chart or shag foul balls that day you are done by about 11:30.

I was out there doing the radar gun and charting yesterday and I got torched by the sun, im sporting a nice lobster color left side of my neck.

We played the Padres today I was wishing I would pitch against them to show them whats up, but it will have to wait for another day.

Not much going on other than ball, Ive gone to a few movies like Brooklyns Finest and Repoman. The former is a little brutal, the later is pretty solid. By the way I think the word "brutal" popped into my head because Tiger Woods used it a few times in his interview...which ive seen about 10 times now...show someting else ESPN.

Also went to dinner at Outback in Scottsdale with some other baseball who are in spring training here who train with me at P3 in the offseason.


Why do people sing take me out to the ball game when they're alread there?

Day 5

Just got back to the Comfort Suites after day 5

I am lounging on my couch with my feet up watching some Around the Horn on ESPN just recharging after the day. A little later I'm gonna get together with my buddy Kenny and his wife Lyndsay to get some dinner over here in Glendale by the football/hockey stadium. Its a cool area there are some shops and restaurants all intertwined next to the hockey arena, its like its own little city.

Things are going well at Camelback Ranch. This is where we share our facility with the Dodgers. It opened last year and its really nice and clean. They take good care of us here and the White Sox really seem to genuinely care about the welfare of their players.

It is a little different from my first 2 springs with the Padres. For one we are sort of separated from the big leaguers. But you see them around in the parking lot or on the practice field which is next to the 4 fields we use. I saw Jake Peavy in the lot the other day and talked to him for a little bit. My uncle is his agent and I got to know him when we were both with the Padres. Definitely a good guy and I really admire the way he competes out there on the mound, the guy gets after it.

I threw live bp today to hitters. The way it works is you put an L-screen in front of the mound and tell the hitter whats coming so both you and he can get something out of it. Each hitter gets 5 pitches then they switch out. Its funny how if you execute pitches nobody hits the ball hard even though they know whats coming. Nobody hit the ball hard of me, there wouldn't have been any hits, I struck out a few guys too. Its a good indicator that my stuff is good and I have good movement and rotation on my pitches.

All and all its good to be back in spring, getting to see all these guys again is fun. Yesterday I went out to Chili's with 5 guys in the area who all played with the Windy City Thunderbolts the Indy ball team I was with for those long.....loooong 3 months hahaha.

"Relish Today, Ketchup Tomorrow"
--Woody Paige
but if you have too much relish the mustard will come off the hotdog......i know...sorry

BEASTMODE

This is my first post after the end of last season in September. After reading back over some of my posts I was a little disappointed in the depth of my reports. This is especially true on the topic of my performances. I would usually write something like "I pitched well." But what does that mean? My bad

Basically I don't like to toot my own horn and I think humility is part of having good character. I think that is why I didn't go into great detail. Fact is I did pitch well...pretty damn good. I really rode a wave of confidence towards the middle/end of last year. I have continued to be very confident over the off season and into spring training. Right now I feel like a beast physically and I must say I am extremely confident. It seems like an oxymoron but right now I have an aura of almost arrogance while residing to remain humble and give all the glory to God.

As for my off season it was great. My training meant waking up at 530am and training at 6am at SBCC mainly because otherwise it was too crowded in there. Then in December or January I went back to P3 to train. I really progressed physically this off season, I guess I say that every year but this year I feel better than ever. I feel super strong and explosive. I did things I was even surprised at in my training. Its funny everyone is surprised I am a pitcher. Some Seattle Mariners front office guys came into P3 and they asked Marcus Elliot (P3 owner) what I play, shortstop? centerfield? strong safety? Also I am more mobile than ever before, super loose and fresh. All this is summarized as me being in beastmode...yup i said it. beastmode.



As for baseball this off season I eased into it more than normal. I started playing catch after 2 months but instead of blowing it out and throwing 6 days a week, I knocked it down to 3-4 days a week all off season. I feel fresh and not burned out, plus my arm strength is great. One day I threw longtoss 125 yards threw the field goal post and beyond. I also started earlier with bullpens and added in some live pitching at SBCC. I did this because the past few years I have got off to slow starts and get better as the season goes on. So I decided to start earlier with the mound work, I think it will really pay off.

I drove into AZ on Sunday, the rain pretty much followed me here the whole way so the drive was a little slower than normal...especially when a semi-truck crashed and the trailer broke open and all kinds of cargo was all over the freeway. whoops.

So I got settled into the Comfort Suites and its a legit hotel. Mainly because there is a good sized fridge and microwave in the room. So last night after getting in I went to Sprouts Farmers Market (grocery store) and loaded up on food. Got some sando material (turkey, swiss, avocado, spinach, whole-grain bread), I also got some premade meals like salmon and talapia, I got broccoli too...the MVP of vegetables haha. All this to go along with my multi-grain oatmeal, quinoa, sweet potatoes, apples, tangerines, goji berries, blueberries, and almonds that I brought from home.

Im wacko yes

Want more wacko? I went to home improvement right now and bought a long dowell to stretch plus a PVC pipe to use as a foam roller. For those of you who don't know a foam roller is for self massage basically. Usually its done with foam but I'm at the point where I'm really loose and I kneed something harder. So you lay down on this rock hard PVC pipe with whatever muscle is tight and let the good times roll. pun intended

Yesterday woke up at 615 hoped on the bus to the field and had a physical that took like 2 hours. Its a pretty thorough process. Piss test, blood drawn, tetanus shot, skin sample, grip test, body fat, wingspan, orthopedics, and the topper is the classic turn your head and cough. When I got strapped up to the EKG I couldn't help thinking we were all kind of robot warrior going out to do battle.

Then since the fields were wet we waited around another 2 -3 hours and then I threw my bullpen. It went really well, I hit all my spots except 2 times so that went really really well.

Then I did my 4 leg circuit test and lifted and ran. The leg circuits are 20 speed squats, 20 lunges, 20 get ups, and 10 squat jumps. We have to do it 4 times straight no stopping...piece of cake. I admit my quads are sore today.

Ill describe the stadium, facility, and whats going on more later, this has been a long post, but there was lots to cover

WORDS OF WISDOM

don't listen to your GPS or you might end up in a lake...i learned this from michael in the office.

my friends gave me hard time about listening to my TomTom a weak ago and fittingly this episode was on last night.