Boys of Summer

Nothing signals the start of the summer better than Independence Day.  The Fourth of July is iconic in American culture for barbeques, warm weather, military appreciation, baseball, and fireworks.  Minor League teams always seem to do well on July 3 and July 4 (with all teams having a home date on either of these days to get the increased gate sales), with fans packing stadiums around the country to watch America’s Pastime and enjoy a post-game fireworks show.

The firework spectacles last night at The Epicenter and tonight at The Diamond were nice to see; a refreshing few minutes that allowed my mind to wander off the field and become lost in the awe of this 2,000-year-old Chinese invention.  The summer months become the Dog Days, where the long season can turn into a grind.  We are still refreshed from the recent All-Star break, and most players will not begin to feel the grind of the Dog Days until August.  This is where the offseason and in-season training will yield dividends, preventing fatigue as the days get hotter.

While government employees (and many others) took their holiday yesterday, we were busy working; our “holidays” come on random weekdays every two weeks.  However, we cannot complain, for we are playing a game for work, and subsequently providing enjoyment for everyone else working traditional jobs.  We will take the random “holidays” on random weekdays throughout the season, knowing we have the major offseason holidays (Thanksgiving, Christmas, New Years) to ourselves.  For the next eight weeks, we will be pushing our bodies and minds to their limits with the goal of bettering ourselves and making a run for one of the two playoff spots up for grabs this second-half of the season.

A Tale of Two Halves

After the opening series against Lancaster and amid the Manny Ramirez fiasco in Inland Empire, we are now underway in the second half of the season.  During the first-half of the season, we were 30-40, and finished fourth place in the southern division.  High Desert won the division and clinched the first of three divisional playoff spots, with the two remaining spots up for grabs in the second half.

The two-half playoff system is used in the Minor Leagues until the Triple-A level, where it is the traditional full-season divisional and wild card winners that make the postseason.  The two-half systems grants the divisional winner of each half a playoff spot, with the best overall record for both halves of the remaining three teams getting the wild card spot.  In the event that one team wins both halves, the second place team for the second half would get the spot reserved for the second half winner.

This playoff system is a fair system, and gives teams the opportunity to “right the ship” if they suffered a dismal first-half of the season.  The rewards presented by this system are twofold.  First, teams that may have suffered from the challenge of dealing with very fluid rosters have a fresh chance during the second-half to make a playoff push.  Second, the wild card entrant rewards the team that was not able to win a half, but played consistently well enough throughout the entire season to make the playoffs.

The quirk this system presents in the 10-team California League is that six teams qualify for the playoffs, an odd number for playoff matchups.  To combat this issue, the first-half winner is given a “bye” in the first round, with the other two teams squaring off to play them in the divisional championship series.

Despite our first-half struggles, we are still in a position with three other teams to get one of the two playoff spots up for grabs this half.  With better consistency and improved effort, we can get back to an even keel and make our playoff run.

When it Rains, it Pours

The weather in southern California has been seemingly off lately, with the sun appearing today for what seems like the first time in two weeks, and the evenings holding a chill in the air.  Tonight’s game at High Desert brought more of the same weather oddities, with rain forcing the early completion of the game in the sixth inning.

We entered the bottom of the sixth clinging to a 1-0 lead when it started drizzling.  After a lead-off single, the rain started falling harder, and a blooper fell into left field.  After a few pitches to the third batter of the inning, it was pouring by this point and the players were pulled off the field.  A tarp was put on the mound, but that was the only area covered since there is no tarp at High Desert.  About ten minutes into the delay, some groundskeepers were bringing out what looked like a tarp for home plate.  However, this cover was merely amounted to some old, vinyl advertisement banners.  Rain is so infrequent there is no need for one.  However, the tarp’s absence tonight made a 20-minute rainstorm the demise of the field and sealed High Desert’s loss.

What made tonight comical was that we were delayed an hour and ten minutes before the game was called.  There was a copious amount of water left on the field from the 20 minute downpour, and we thought that it was going to be called almost immediately.  Standing water was prominent all over the infield, especially in the home plate area, which was not “covered” until ten minutes after it had been pouring. 

While the umpires and managers discussed the prospects of completing the game, some groundskeepers had started pushing the water around the dirt with squeegees.  Needless to say, this was about as effective as throwing deck chairs off the Titanic.  Some rakes finally showed up, and with the enlisted help of some fans, efforts were made to try raking some dry, sandy dirt in with the soaked infield.  In these situations, a substance called Turface is generally used to mix in with wet dirt to make it more playable.  Turface is known for its highly absorbent properties, and can quickly dry out a field.  Unfortunately, High Desert did not have any of this either.  After about a half hour of watching these futile efforts, the game was called and we were victorious with the 1-0 win.

The Bombs Bursting in Air

When young kids are involved, you can never be too sure of what is going to happen.  Last night, during signing of the National Anthem, a young boy, about six or seven years of age, made it one of the most comic anthems anyone has ever seen.

This was a typical firework night National Anthem production, which involves the well-timed firing of red flares to depict the “rocket’s red glare,” and has fireworks exploding for “the bombs bursting in air.”  Players from local youth leagues usually accompany the starters onto the field and stand with them for the performance of The Anthem. 

During the performance, the red flares went off on cue, followed by the explosive fireworks, which tend to be very loud.  Apparently, the young boy with our shortstop was caught off-guard and got spooked, because he promptly started screaming, crying, and ran off the field.  When this happened, the players on the field and those in the stands fought hard to keep it together through the rest of The Anthem.  At the conclusion of The Anthem, there was a loud wave of laughter that came over the stadium, everyone trying to comprehend what just happened.

It is understandable that a young boy could have been frightened by these loud fireworks, but for him to run off the field screaming can only be described as comical.  Kids are resilient and can brush off a lot.  Hopefully, he will look back on this one day and do what an entire stadium did at his expense: laugh.

The 27th Out is the Hardest to Get

Baseball is a funny game.  You can do things so perfectly and square up a line drive, only to have it easily caught by an outfielder, and you can look so badly on a swing, and hit a blooper that falls safely for a hit.  It is a game of inches and near misses.  Perhaps most of the most dynamic features of baseball, however, is that there is no clock.  The only “time” constraint in the game is that 27 outs must be recorded for a game to be complete.

After Lake Elsinore had recorded 24 outs tonight, we found ourselves on the short-end of a 3-0 score and staring our fourth straight loss in the face entering the bottom of the ninth.  After a few batters, we found ourselves with runners at first and second with one out.  A ground ball is hit, almost surely a double-play ball.  However, Julio Perez is able to beat out the tail end of the play, leaving runners at first and third with two outs.  Twenty-six down, one to go.

Entering the box was Clay Fuller.  It is no secret Fuller has been struggling of late, but that will not keep him from taking the at bat.  Baseball is unforgiving; you will take your at bats with whatever you have that night, regardless of whether you are confident in your swing or doubting your ability to put the ball in play.  So after going hitless in his first three at-bats, Fuller ties the game with a three-run homerun to right-center field.  Twenty-seven outs would not be enough to decide this contest.

After escaping a two-out Lake Elsinore double in the top of the tenth, we headed to the bottom half of the frame with continued optimism.  With two on and two outs in the bottom of the tenth, Rian Kiniry stepped in the box.  Having come in the game hitting under .200, Kiniry was in the midst of a strong 3-for-4 performance and looking to cap off the comeback.  After working the count and swinging through two pitches, he sealed the Storm’s demise and completed the comeback with a walk-off single to right field.

Longtime Baltimore Orioles manager, Earl Weaver, called baseball the greatest game because, “You can’t sit on a lead and run a few plays into the line and just kill the clock. You’ve got to throw the ball over the damn plate and give the other man his chance.”  Looking at this game through eight and a half innings, you could argue that we had no business winning tonight’s game.  However, Lake Elsinore had to give us our chance to prevent them from recording all 27 outs.  We proved tonight that until the 27^th out is made, there always exists the opportunity to be surprised.

Law of The League

Today is the fourth off day of the season and the last before the conclusion of the first-half.  I have no extravagant plans for the day besides laundry and catching up on emails and phone calls.  We finish up with 13 games going into the All-Star break, hopefully accomplishing the task of building some positive momentum going into the second-half.

Lately, in collaboration with fellow catcher Brian Walker, we have noticed some interesting trends in our games with regard to pitching and pitch calling.  It what we have dubbed the “Law of The League,” there seems to be a high preponderance of 1-1 off-speed pitches.  It what seems to be occurring about 60 or 70 percent of the time, whenever a count goes to one ball and one strike, a change-up or breaking ball is thrown.  Why does this happen?  1-1 is a neutral count, meaning that if the pitcher throws a strike on the next pitch, he will have the advantage in the 1-2 count; but, if he throws a ball, being behind with a 2-1 count is not a terrible place to be and still leaves some doubt in a hitter’s mind as to what the 2-1 pitch will be.  So, hitters being more apt to swing with one strike on them to avoid a two-strike count makes pitchers (and catchers) more likely to throw something off-speed, knowing that if they throw it for a ball, they are still in an okay position being behind 2-1.  This increased propensity to swing, however, makes the off-speed pitch the natural choice, with the goal of achieving a swing and miss, or even better, a weak ground ball or pop out.

The 1-1 off-speed pitch is almost a guarantee if the 1-1 count was reached with two fastballs.  The reasoning behind this is that showing a hitter the same pitch for a third time in a row is discouraged due to his enhanced timing and movement recognition having already seen the pitch twice.  This is why pitchers are always trying to change the hitter’s eye level and give them a different “look.”

There are some casual trends to mention that have been noticed this season and over the years of baseball observation.

3-0, 3-1 mystery.  Pitchers can seem to throw a 3-0 pitch down the middle, after wildly throwing three balls, but will then miss badly with the 3-1 pitch.  Perhaps pitchers are a little more relaxed 3-0, as many hitters are not comfortable swinging in this count and often take the pitch.  However, they get all worked up 3-1 and have the same problems they were having throwing the first three balls of the at-bat. 

2-out melt-downs.  After two quick outs in an inning, it seems that pitchers will often go 2-0 to the next batter, usually ending up in a walk or base hit.  Then, a few batters later, a multi-run inning has been created after the inning began with much promise.  Two quick outs can trigger too much of a relaxed feeling, and this little bit of let-up is enough to get behind hitters and lead to these dismal innings.

PETCO

Plenty of good seats still available.  This pretty much sums up today’s game against Lake Elsinore that was played at their Major League affiliate’s (San Diego Padres) PETCO Park.  Once a season, Lake Elsinore plays a “home” game at this venue, with the Quakes winning the scheduling lottery for the game this season.

At the outset, playing in a Major League ballpark seems like an incredible experience.  However, my feelings about the entire event, and shared by several of my teammates, are mixed.  Upon arrival, we were ushered into an auxiliary locker room, which was not much more than shower and bathroom facilities with a bunch of chairs lined up along the walls.  This was not a huge deal, especially after being in Modesto’s clubhouse, but things were a bit cramps.  Just outside of our locker room was our “training room.”  This was nothing more than a table cordoned off from the staging area, which runs around the entire bottom level of the stadium, by curtains.  Again, not a huge issue, just a little different.

Our pregame was limited to hitting in the batting cages under the stadium, pitchers’ bullpens and sides, and infield.  I understand that wear and tear on the field is trying to be kept at a minimum, but an abbreviated batting practice on the field would not have done too much damage and enhanced the overall experience.  College tournaments are played at Major League stadiums and they always seem to come out alright; taking a light batting practice on the field would have gone mostly unnoticed.  

We were told not to wear metal spikes during pregame; it was either turfs or molded cleats.  For me, this was a bigger issue since I only wear metal spikes on the field (I have never felt comfortable in molded cleats since I am always on the dirt).  Relegated to my turfs, I kept longer throwing to a minimum to prevent slipping and blowing out a groin.  Another pregame quirk included the starting pitchers having to do their long-toss on the warning track.  Seriously, are two short long-toss sessions really going to tear up a field?

As for the game itself, we came out on the short end of the affair.  It was a cool experience playing in a stadium that large, albeit eerily quiet amidst all of those empty seats.  Overall, today’s venue enhances the desire to achieve our goal of playing in the Big Leagues.  At times, this occurred at the expense of us feeling like strangers in our own profession.  However, this will be remembered for a while.

Activated

After two weeks of rehabbing, my shoulder has healed (enough) and I have been activated from the disabled list.  I was lucky to have escaped a more serious injury (again), and only missed 14 games during my time on the shelf.  I have done my best to maintain game shape conditioning through running and sprint workouts, and doing as many drills as I could these past few days of being allowed to perform full activity.

With my activation, C.J. Bressoud, who took my place on the roster, will be sent back to Arizona to clear room on the roster for me.  I played with C.J. last year in Cedar Rapids and he is a good guy.  His departure will be disappointing after getting reacquainted with him these past two weeks, but this game always leaves you wondering when someone will be making another appearance as your teammate.

Returning from the off day, we begin a crucial stretch of the first-half, which will most likely be an indicator of how we will fare in the overall playoff picture this season.  The two-half season system enables teams that struggled during the first half to have an opportunity to make the playoffs by winning the second-half, or earn the wild card spot by having the best overall record of divisional teams not yet in the playoffs.  So, if our efforts during these final 25 days of the half do not result in a first-half championship, it can set us up nicely for a playoff run in the second-half.

Benefits of Aging

Whoever said aging has its perks might have been a baseball player.  In the top of the first inning tonight, Vladimir Guerrero was batting with a runner at first and one out.  On a one-two pitch, Guerrero tried to check his swing, an attempt that was an apparent failure to everyone in the ballpark, except the umpires.  After a moment of hesitation, the plate umpire appealed to the base umpire for help.  What happened next can only be described as comical.  The base umpire took a long pause, made a quick motion as if he was going to call him out on the swing, then smiled coyly and made the safe signal.  The subsequent chuckles in our dugout and the smiles on the faces of Guerrero and both coaching staffs all seemed to say “the young California League umpires couldn’t find it them to punch out a Major Leaguer.”

Sure, everyone wanted to see Guerrero take another swing, but it was still pretty obvious he swung.  The only defense for the umpires arose from the deficient two-umpire system (in place until the triple-A level), which makes any check swing appeals with any runners on base a tossup as far as correctness goes (due to the base umpire’s placement behind the pitcher’s mound).  Two pitches later, Guerrero dribbled a single through the right side, and we went on to score two runs in the first inning.  This is just another story to add to the growing list of conversational material to be used at future cocktail parties.

Major League Rehab Asssignments

After a heartbreaking loss in High Desert last night, we rebounded tonight to take the series opener from the Lake Elsinore Storm (San Diego affiliate), albeit with some help from some Major League rehabbers.  Kelvim Escobar started for us tonight and threw 4.2 innings (his pitch count was 60), while Vladimir Guerrero was our designated hitter and had a double, RBI, and a run in three at-bats.  Cliff Floyd was on rehab assignment with the Storm, taking some at-bats as their designated hitter.

It is common for the California League to be home to some Major League rehab appearances due to some affiliates’ close proximities to the locations of their parent clubs.  These rehabbers do not cost their teams roster space, and all players on the active roster as eligible to play.  Escobar and Guerrero are the second and third players making appearances for us this season, with Ervin Santana making a start for us a few weeks ago.  There always seems to be more of a frenzy prior to these games.  Scores of fans line the fences to get a glimpse of the Major Leaguers and hope that they pause from their pregame routines to sign a few autographs.

To the players, it is business as usual with us going through our regular routines.  However, we do take the time to watch these players go about their routines; after all, they are who we are striving to become.  For the fans though, these rarities are a much bigger deal and jump at the chance to see Big Leaguers in their backyards (at a much cheaper rate).  A tangible perk for the players of these assignments is that a post-game spread is usually purchased for us by the Major Leaguers.