My Blog

Last night, we opened our Spring Season at Twin Creeks.  Eric came by to drop off Frank’s new bat, a 26 oz Worth Mutant.  Nothing really impressive about it, but Frank seems to like it.  Anyways, he wants a composite bat for this league since it is allowed here (unlike SF, where you’re impelled to have obsolete bats that barely feature any of today’s modern bat technologies and innovations.

Anyhow, to keep a long story short…, the Demons battled a stronger and faster team last night, and hung in to only lose at the end, 17-16.  Our infield defense was horrendous and our outfield defense (me included) was shaky sans Savage.  All in all, I wasn’t too upset with the game because unlike the Cannons, the team I manage, these guys battle through and shrug off a lot of their inefficiencies and blunders.  They are a high-spirited team fueled by the attendance and enthusiasm of their wives, girlfriends, mothers, sons, and friends.  Unlike a game four seasons ago where they quit on me, which led to an irate email on my behalf, the Demons have shown no sign of succumbing despite the occasional pummeling by a better opponent.  I am proud of them and honored to be a part of their team. 

My performance was below average.  I went 2 for 4 with a walk and scored 2 runs.  I’ll attempt to break down the positives and the negatives.

POSITIVES

I love my new bat, Worth Mayhem JH98 27.5 oz.  The ball rockets off it.  On one of my hits, the first baseman came to me and said, “I don’t care what they (his teammates) say, I’m not getting in front of that…!”  I must thank my bat broker, Eric, for introducing me to it.

I’m seeing the ball pretty well now that Twin Creeks has switched to a neon green ball.  I have been struggling to see the ball during the night games.  But last night, I had relatively little to no problems seeing.

Despite losing, I had a lot of fun.  Softball, along with bowling makes my work week go by faster.  I’m not a hard man to please.

NEGATIVES

The game ended with me hitting into a force out at second.  The other team did a rather heinous shift to right field, where the second baseman pretty much flanked the grass of the outfield.  On any given day, it would have been a hit, but last night, it wasn’t.  Part of it was that I could not, for the love of God, get the ball up in the air.  My shots were hard, but they went right into the ground.  Other than that, I need to improve my hitting to other parts of the field (a large complaint by a lot of my teammates) when other teams cheat/play smart (you pick) and apply a shift on me.

Another thing I noticed as I batted in front of Savage is my inability to shake off pitches.  What I mean by that is my focusing on my at bat has to improve.  I talked to Savage a lot about being a better team player and trusting the batter behind you to get the job done, as he has seen me try to do too much with garbage pitches.  Last night, with Savage batting behind me, I was conscious that I should try my best to get our best hitter up so he can get a crack at things.  All night I felt a little uncomfortable as I usually don’t think about taking walks as I am more tuned to see the ball, hit the ball.  But last night pointed out that I might not be cut out to wait for pitches and work the pitch count.  Easy solution: flip Savage and me in the lineup.  Harder solution: I need to work on that and be a better 2 strike hitter.

Physically, I felt a little weak and flat.  I worked out relatively hard on Monday, and I  was pretty amped and emotionally fatigued after Tuesday’s bowling league.  So by the time I make the drive down to

Sunnyvale

on Wednesday after work, I am often running on fumes.  Part of that can be attributed to my lack of activity since my 4 wisdom teeth were extracted.  Nonetheless, I am confident my energy level will increase as I start my workout regimen again.  But aside from that, I feel lighter (probably lost a few lbs.) and a little more nimble, but definitely weaker.

CURRENT AFFAIRS

I’m looking for part-time work… maybe as a server/waiter at a restaurant.  I want to make a few extra dollars so that I can get one step closer to owning a home in the Bay Area, which I feel the Bay Area home prices are preposterous.  So if anyone has a part-time gig for me, let me know!  Other than that, I’m still waiting for that big earthquake to drive some of these buyers out of the Bay Area real estate market.

Best "Space Pickup Line" I heard on the radio today (as the DJ mentioned the notorious Lisa Novak is now working for the Navy as a curriculum developer) -

"Why don’t you come explore my black hole?"

This entry was posted on Thursday, March 22nd, 2007 at 10:45 am and is filed under Current Affairs, Sports. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can skip to the end and leave a response. Pinging is currently not allowed.