(#108)
In all of sports, when you see an outstanding performance, you can be sure there are a “pair” of things helping to make that happen.
I used to scout a team we were playing during their first time around in the batting order. We would pretty much know who to pitch to and who not pitch to after that.
The winds of early spring sure have turned some games into high scoring affairs. It will soon be hot and muggy with no wind at all. Enjoy the HR derbys while they last.
Sometimes when things are not going too well in Game 1 of a doubleheader, you might have to run the white flag up the pole just under Old Glory and the MS flag and go for the split. Splits will keep you alive when 9 out of 15 teams qualify for the playoffs. Just keep getting better each day.
There seems to be an overdose of rap tunes on the PA systems around the league. Not that there’s anything wrong with that, but I miss the traditional ballpark music from years gone by.
You have to continue to compete on each pitch of the game regardless of whether you’re winning big or losing big. It seems hard to do, but it shouldn’t be if playing hard is in your DNA.
You must continue to play with the body language you have when you are winning, even when you are not. It’s call toughness.
Ground balls don’t go over fences no matter how hard the wind is blowing out. But now that I think about it, on the Forest Hill High School baseball field back in the 1970’s, the field sloped towards right field. When they filled it up with dirt, it came to the top of the right field fence, so ground balls could actually roll over that fence. But just that one. True story. 🙂
I saw a 5 to Slip-down to Sit-up to 4 to 3 double play. The third baseman caught a ground ball, slipped down, sat up, threw a strike to the second baseman who relayed it to first for the DP. Impressive.
The leadoff walk and the 2-out walk cause more damage than a tornado.
Many left-handed hitters don’t like to face left-handed pitchers and you can tell who they are. But those lefties who can handle the lefties are special.
The key to getting to post season play is to sweep as often as you can and avoid getting swept as often as you can. Splits are not necessarily a bad thing. Nobody remembers March. It is a hunt for the post-season and the possibilities of what might happen when you get there.
I remember my 1999 team getting whipped 25-5 by East Central, giving up 20 runs in the bottom of the third inning, came back to win the second game of the doubleheader 8-0, and eventually finished 4th in the Division II World Series in Millington, Tennessee, beating the Number 1 team in the Division II polls three times along the way. It’s a long season. All kinds of things happen.
Until Volume 5.
Rick Clarke's Diary of a Mad Baseball Coach 