Some games . . .

I've long subscribed to the notion that Major League Baseball works a certain way. It goes like this: Every team plays 162 games of which no matter what they do they will win 50 and lose 50. The other 62 are up for grabs, and on any given day against any given opponent they could be playing any one of the three kinds of games.

Wednesday evening we played one of the losses.

• The weather was crummy, but both teams had to play in it.
• Our best pitcher was off, but he was still a better pitcher than the other teams' hurler.
• If we managed to pick up a batted ball we had a hard time completing the play.
• Their SS made a truly fantastic play on a diving catch to take a double from one of our guys.
• Our #2 pitcher just couldn't find the plate. He tried. He gave it a good effort in a tough situation. But he just didn't have it.

Like I said. This was one of the 50. The best thing for us to do is to get our collective head clear and get ready for the Braves Friday evening.

The league website

The standings on the league website do not, as of Saturday night, reflect any of this week's games.

Our record is not 0-4. We are now 2-5.

Weekend split

Our schedule being what it is, there are some quick turnarounds in the schedule. Too quick, in my opinion, for 9- and 10-year-olds.

We played the Astros Friday at 6:30, in a game that extended until nearly 8:30. The game was tense and close the entire way, and had we gotten to the time limit one inning sooner, we would have won the game 6-5. But the 5th inning got played and the Astros scored twice in the bottom of the inning to win 7-6.

It was a tough break for our pitcher. He's playing organized baseball for the firt time and he was making his first ever start. I thought he really pitched well. He went five innings and battled every batter. Even though we lost the game, we felt Friday was a landmark because we found our second legitimate starting pitcher.

Saturday we played what may have been our best all-around game of the season, winning 10-6.

We had several kids get their first batting contact of the season, and several of those batted balls were extra base hits.

We also got plays in the field!

We ended one inning with a flawlessly handled grounder to SS, who cleanly fielded the ball and tossed it to the 2B who was, as we've done in practice, covering second for a force play.

We ended another inning when a pop on the infield was called for and caught by the SS.

Our SS had a pretty good day.

These plays may sound routine but I've come to believe that no play in the field is routine at this level. I don't know that we would have been able to make the force play in practice in our first week. These successes mean a great deal to me, and I think they mean the world to the players who are making them.

Hopefully our hitting will continue to improve, as our players overcome the stage fright that comes with game ABs, and emulate the swings they show us in practice, where everybody seems to make contact almost every time out.

Monday we'll probably bring the pitch-back to practice and work on short-distance pops and flies. We've done well on these before, and been less successful on long, high flies. I think we need to work on the mechanics of catching pops.

I would also like to work with hitters on the tee or in soft toss so we can work our hitting mechanics, like swing angles, step directions and arm and hand positioning.

I scream! You scream!

We all scream for Ice Cream!

After the game the players clammored for me to buy them ice cream in the afterglow of our first win. I told them if we beat the Astros we'd talk. Then I suggested maybe I bring a case of Keystone and bag of pretzels.

Yes, several parents laughed.

Good times!

More good news!

Not only did we win Wednesday night, but we got some good news from the game after ours between the Braves and Astros.

The Astros beat the Braves 4-0, which is neither here nor there. But the Astros' best pitcher had to pitch 5 innings in the game. That means he's ineligible to pitch against us at all Friday, and may only take the mound for one inning against us Saturday.

Let's hope we can score some runs against their other guys, while getting our other guys to throw strikes this weekend.

Winner! Winner! Chicken Dinner!

The rumble you hear throughout the baseball world is the news that the Granger minor White Sox managed their first win! YEAH!

We nipped the Red Sox 9-8, coming from behind twice to get the win. The game got time-limited in the bottom of the third, with us batting.

Our winning rally was testament to our players' resilience. The Red Sox plated four runs of their five-run rally on what everybody but the umpire thought was a diving catch by our shortstop with the bases loaded. Granted it was a close play, but the kid had the ball in his mitt when he opened it. But the ump called it a trap and panic followed. If the SS had tossed the ball to the 2B who was standing on the base for a force out the play would have ended with no harm done. Instead all our guys started yelling at the ump, the Red Sox' runners started running around the bases, which led to our guys' throwing the ball wildly around the diamond. By the time the dust settled four had scored.

But we responded in the bottom of the inning, loading the bases on walks, then our lead runner was walked in. This led to our best hitter, IG, coming up with two out and the bases still chucked. I told him to look for the first pitch to be laid in there, and he swung at what turned out to be a pitch in the dirt. But when the 0-1 came right down main street he slammed it to the deep outfield, over everybody for a bases clearing 3-run double.

IG was our pitcher tonight, too, and he mowed down the Red Sox in the top of the third with three straight strikeouts.

We've had some bad luck in games to start the season, and our guys have had every excuse to get down. But our comeback tonight was steller. We've been having almost perfect attendance at practices, including optional batting practice. Every guy on the team has improved his baseball skills: throwing, catching and hitting better.

I'm relieved we're off the schnide. And our guys deserved a win. A great one, all around!

Dangerous Territory

Unhappily, I feel we are in very dangerous territory.

I have heard some rumblings from parents about other parents finger-pointing in the stands at other kids during games when things have gone wrong. I've also heard rumblings of kids picking at/on each other about bad plays.

This has to stop.

In practice today I told our players:

• Nobody has room to point fingers at anybody else. Everybody, myself included, has made mistakes.
• We lose as a team.
• We win as a team.
• We need to pull together to win.
  
• If we pull together we can't help but win games.
• If I hear anybody picking on anybody else in practice, I'll send the offender home for the day.
  

I think everybody on the team has improved their skills, but everybody has room for a lot more improvement. Our talent level is not that much different from the teams with much better records. But in order to get the wins we deserve, we need to play together, pull for each other and work as a team.

Saturday - One that got away

Whoa. Where to start on Saturday's game?

For the first two innings we looked great. We hit the ball, we ran the bases, we made the Red Sox' pitchers throw strikes (which they couldn't very well do in the wind). We led 8-1.

But in the top of the third everything that could go wrong, did go wrong:

• The Red Sox got a line drive hit that was about two feet to the left of our shortstop. He made a diving attempt, but if a 10-year-old makes that play, it's exceptional.
  
• We dropped a pop-up early in the inning that the wind moved around.
• The umpire refused to call runner interference when crashed into our shortstop on a groundball, saying the SS did nothing to "avoid contact." (More on this below.)
  
• Our best pitcher got his leg stepped on on a play at home and had to come out of the game.
• Our reliever couldn't find the strike zone and by the time the starter walked off the leg injury, two more runners were on base.
  
• We dropped another pop up with two out, allowing two more runs to score.

Had we been able to make the "easy" plays, we would have won the game. And we'll spend some time in practice on Monday catching pop-ups.

The umpire's refusal to call the interference was devastating. Perhaps he got confused and thought he was refereeing pro basketball and that his options were block, charge or no call. But that is clearly not the case, and the rulebook is clear on the matter:

"Offensive interference is an act by the team at bat which interferes with, obstructs, impedes, hinders or confuses any fielder attempting to make a play."

The defender trying to make a play on the ball has the right to the area and it's the responsibility of the runner to not interfere. It's not a matter of both having a right to the same spot at the same time. The defender must cede the right of way.

At the time the bases were loaded, making the correct enforcement of the play slightly problematic, but only in respect to the runner on first. No matter what else, the runner on second should have been called out and the runner on third should have been sent back to third and not allowed to score. The batter should have been awarded a single.

Now, the tricky part, I think the runner at first should have been awarded second, in essence, being forced to advance. I say this because the interference did not circumvent a double play, and it would not have been fair to the Red Sox to call the batter out, the way it would have had to called in a higher level of baseball. The batter can not be allowed to return to bat, since he put the ball in play into fair territory. The runner at first could not be left at first and did nothing to justify his being called out, though he did benefit from the interference because he could not, then, be forced at second.

Personally, I think the ump was not alert enough to make any call, thus he made no call. At the least, the runner had to be called out. Had he called the runner out and allowed the others to advance, I would have been unhappy, but I would have accepted it. Had he done anything but what he did, I would have been okay with that. But having done nothing, he made the worst possible decision. If this were any level above 9-and 10-year-olds, I would have blown a gasket and been thrown out of the game. I considered such action at the time and decided not to do so.

Having umpired myself up to semi-pro, I know that being the man in blue is a tough job. And from the umps perspective, games like yesterday are no fun. The wind was blowing, the pitching was wild, the game was sloppy. It was the kind of game that helped me decide to do something else with my free time. But the guy that accepts the job owes it to the league and the players to do the job, to call the game fair, to know the rules, and enforce them as best as he can. I did not feel we got fair treatment yesterday.

An encouraging 10-1 loss

Yes, we lost to the Red Sox, 10-1. But let me tell you why I'm more encouraged with this loss than Wednesday's defeat.

Tonight, our pitchers threw a lot of strikes. That the other team's good hitters is somewhat beside the point.

AB, our starter tonight, does not have blazing velocity on the mound. He's a 9-year-old who's arm has improved vastly from last year at this time when he was starting his first season of organized baseball, and playing catcher almost every inning on a bad Pee-Wee team. I told him it was most important to throw strikes, and for the most part he did. We made a few plays in the field behind him, but for the most pat, the balls they put in play resulted in runners on base.

Our second pitcher, MF, is a 10-year old that has never played organized baseball before now, and he got the bottom of the Red Sox' order out. He did a good job throwing strikes once he settled down.

That the weather was nice also helped, A LOT!!! We play them again tomorrow, our ace will pitch that game, and hopefully keep us in it and give us a chance to win.

Wednesday downer

The 10-2 loss to the Astros Wednesday was disappointing.

We couldn't seem to get off the field on defense, and couldn't seem to get a timely hit on offense.

And it was cold. Really cold.

The team has Thursday off, and we're looking forward to a better, more fun outing, Friday.

Wow! Everybody looked better tonight

Monday practice was a real pleasant surprise. Everybody on the team seemed to have their best practice of the season.

With ideal weather, everybody got their arms good and loose and threw with more distance and accuracy than they had all spring. Our throwing drills went well, with almost everybody on the team making good catches, and quick, accurate throws.

When we scrimmaged, the defenses each made plays in the field that could win a game. On one play a sharp grounder was hit to the third baseman, who gloved it cleanly and made a perfect throw across the diamond to get the out at first.

The only thing that didn't work was fly ball drill that was more my fault for not being able to hit good flies, than anything else.

We'll have batting practice tomorrow night. Hopefully the weather will be nice enough to allow us to have a good session.

I'm impressed with the way our players, as a team, have improved in throwing and catching.

We also had a pitcher emerge in pitching tryouts. I had not considered this kid in assessing my pitching, so when he started throwing non-gravity ball strikes, and followed that by being able to locate his pitches, I WAS STOKED.

It's supposed to be cold Wednesday, so no one pitcher will throw more than two innings in that weather. Our pitching depth will be tested.

A tough, but encouraging loss

We lost our first game to the Red Sox 5-3.

We looked like we had a first-rate case of the first-game jitters, giving up 4 runs in the top of the first. Once we settled down, we played them even. Our pitching was solid, we stuck with the same pitcher through the game. He was nervous at the start, but once again, once he got his feet underneath him, he was lights out.

Our weaknesses are pretty much what we thought they were, and my previous post sums up the situation pretty well.

Monday we'll work on throwing, and hitting stances. We'll also work with our other pitchers on mechanics and mind set.

We competed hard, and never hung our heads, even when we were down 5-0 through 4 1/2.

We've proven we can compete. Next we need to prove we can win.

Practice game lessons learned

We had a practice game against the Braves Friday night that went for three innings, and here are my observations:

• The Braves have more pitching depth than we do right now. I'll do what I can to develop the 3-4 promising arms on our team.
• The Braves don't have more hitting depth than we do. If our pitchers throw strikes we should be competitive in games.
• We need to improve on throwing the ball. This includes our fielders' throwing fielded grounders to first, our outfielders throwing the ball into the infield and our catchers throwing the ball back to the pitcher, as well as to the bases.
  I've suspected this to be the case, and this is why I have worked on throwing, just throwing, so much in practice. This is why we have throwing contests almost every practice, why we have incorporated throwing into almost every practice activity. With the weather expected to warm up, I expect our Monday practices to feature a lot of throwing.
• We have made progress on knowing what to do with the ball when it's hit to us, now we need to work on that, as a team, so it's automatic. Really good baseball players know what they are going to do with the ball if it's hit to them. Our guys did that sometimes/

Today's the first regular game. Our best pitcher will start the game. The Red Sox have been talked up to the point that some might wonder if we are playing the big Red Sox from Boston instead of the little Red Sox from Granger. I guess we'll see.

Lots of talk

There seems to be lots of talk this season.

I've been told the Braves were 18-2 last season and think they are better.

I've been told the Red Sox think they are great, and aren't shy about it.

But I've also been told that the teams are perceived as being fairly even, and nobody can expect to do what the Yankees did last season in this league, witch was to go winless.

I've seen our guys practice hard and improve their throwing (some), catching (quite a bit) and hitting (A LOT). I'm very optimistic that our guys will play hard, keep improving their skills, and have fun.

Friday -- Practice game and Parents meeting

Friday evening we're going to play a practice game against the Braves.

We'll meet at 5:45 and they have said they'll be there at 6, so I'll agree to play them for 3-4 innings, but no later than 7 pm.

After the game, we'll have a parents meeting to discuss uniform distribution. I gave each of the kids a flyer to take home announcing the meeting. On the flyer I said I had been told there were opening ceremonies Saturday at 8. That has turned out to not be the case, and I'm relieved. I'll still need to pick up the uniforms at 7 am, but instead of the fire drill that might have been necessitated
by the opening ceremony, we'll have extra time to get the uniforms to parents, and parents get them to the kids.

Also, the fact that we have an early game Saturday means that I'll not want to stay very late Friday evening.

Friday I've told a couple of our kids that says they want to pitch that they'll get the chance. I expect to use two pitchers Friday, and have a couple kids in mind to try catching in the practice game. I want to see who can play the demanding positions, and this sounds like a good opportunity.

And the weather is supposed to be little warmer Friday than it was this evening.

Cold weather blues

I suspect nobody is more frustrated by the continued cold weather than I am.

When it's as cold as it was Monday, everybody is pretty chilled after being out in the wind for the hour to 1:05 that we were out there. Brrrrrr.

What would we be doing if it were warmer?

• I think we have 4-5 kids that can pitch, and I would really like to work with these kids on their throwing motion, pitching footwork, grip, arm angle and follow-through. It would be very easy for a pitcher to ruin his arm throwing too hard in the cold.
• I'm pretty sure we have 3-4 kids that can catch, and I'd love to work with them on how to set a target, set their feet, block pitches in the dirt, hold runners at third, throw to the pitcher covering on a play at the plate, and make throws.
• Also, there are 1-2 players that can use special attention throwing, hitting and catching (the skills that must precede all others).

Nobody needs a kid to get sick from being out in high-30s and low-40s too long. I already hear coughing and sneezing.

So, needless to say, I'm really hoping tomorrow (Thursday) is warmer than the weather guy on TV said it would be.

Friday will be a short practice, with the game early Saturday morning.

Game Days

Our games this season will be on Wednesdays, Fridays and Saturdays.

While my first reaction is to be less than excited about the quick turn from Friday evening games to a Saturday morning game, this should give us a good opportunity to practice on Monday evenings, and work on shortcomings that we see in game circumstances.

The more I think about it, the more I like it.

Also, a question: So far I've tried to keep practice to between 1 hour and 1:15. Many teams seem to practice longer than we do. I know of teams that are going anywhere from 1:45 to over 2 hours. Are we cutting it too short? My recent coaching experience comes from youth hockey, where the ice time is strictly limited to 1 hour, and the coach has to be prepared to use that time usefully. I admit that I'm trying to emulate the hockey model, that seems to have a quick pace and constant involvement for each player. Does anybody have any thoughts about this? I'd like to know what people think. (Opinions here are not just limited to parents.)

My bloggin' guidelines

I will use a couple guidelines for this blog, and hope commenters do the same.

• If I refer to a certain player, I will use only that players' first name. The internet can be a cesspool, and I'm not going to use full names for 9-and-10 year-old kids.
• I'm not going to "call-out" any players in the blog. If a certain player makes a bad play I may refer to it, but will probably say that we, as a team, need to work to improve our performance in the given situation.
• I will not be critical of parents on the blog. We have a wonderful group of parents, and they all deserve to hear any concerns I may have personally.
  

First games scheduled

Our first three games are scheduled and on the league website. We play:

• Sat. April 12 vs. Red Sox, 9 am
• Wed. April 16 vs. Astros, 6:30 pm
• Fri. April 18 vs. Red Sox, 6:30 pm

Bloggin' the White Sox

I've created this weblog to give some insight and communicate about the Granger Little League Baseball Minor White Sox.

I'm the coach, Scott Berg. Since I didn't draft the team, I'd like to thank Troy Kohutek for drafting what I think should be a pretty decent team.

We've practiced twice, and had an optional batting practice session this week. I'm very encouraged at the effort and attitude the players are displaying.

I know we have one player who's a very good pitcher right now and 3-4 others who can develop into good pitchers.

In drills everybody has been able to field grounders, catch pop-ups, make throws and make contact in the batter's box.

I have a definite outlook on what I think is appropriate and inappropriate in youth sports. Some of what I think is appropriate is:

• Kids should have fun playing ball. After practice and games I'll try to ask our team if they had fun that day. So far, they seem to be having fun.
  
• Practices need to be organized and keep all the players involved. This week's practices have been focused on basic skills in as a group, possibly at the expense of more one-on-one instruction. I'm looking for opportunities to teach proper technique to the players as need becomes apparent. I'll have more to say on this subject in subsequent posts.
  
• Parents should be positive. I hope all the parents are encouraging to their kids. I know several parents from last season, and have heard nothing so far but encouraging comments and optimism. I think our group of parents are great, and I appreciate their support.

I have told our players that I have three objectives for this season:

1. That all our players improve their baseball skills this season. The basic skills are throwing, catching and hitting. I want them all to better at each of these at season's end.
   
2. I want the players to have fun.
   
3. I want to win some ballgames. (After all, winning is more fun than losing.)

Well, I think that's enough for now. Please check back often, as I'll try to post to the blog with thoughts and viewpoints.