Game 6 – Giants 15, Marlins 12

Today’s game against the Giants was very much unlike our last game against them.  When we first played them early in the season, the defense was excellent and the pitching did just enough to keep us in the game.  The bats were silent for most of the game and we ended up coming back to within one run in the bottom of the sixth inning.

This game, the defense was spotty at best, the pitching was inconsistent, and that bats kept us in the game.  I have always told this team that I am not worried about the bats.  This team can hit.  They have always been able to hit and they have always been capable of scoring double-digit runs every time they take the field.  One of our batters hit our third homerun of the season today, another shot to deep left field.  It was another ball that was hit pretty much perfectly, clearing everything.  The batter hit the ball so far that he was able to make it all the way around the bases standing up.  That is quite an accomplishment for an eleven year old.  Still, the homerun came to lead off an inning, meaning that only one run was scored on it.

We did have an extended inning, however, in the fourth.  Our batters batted around and managed to tie the game, coming back from seven or eight runs down.  Under the old rules, we would have been able to go up by five runs before the inning ended, but those rules no longer apply.  What was remarkable, though, was that we got contributions from all parts of the batting order throughout the entire game.  The top of the order got on base, the middle of the order drove them in, and the bottom of the order managed to get on base and score runs as well  This what happens when a team is on and seeing the ball well.  I just wish our pitching had been a bit more consistently in the strike zone.

When I was watching the umpires in the first few innings, it seemed as if my pitchers were being squeezed whereas the Giants pitchers were being given a bit bigger strike zone.  I was not happy when I saw outside pitches that were being called balls for us called strikes for them.  Same with the inside pitches.  I certainly hope that when we reach Major League in the Fall that we will have paid umpires and not these volunteer high school kids.

I was disappointed that we lost this game considering how well we have played against the Giants this year in different aspects of the game.  Next week, we are playing the Reds again, which was our hardest game so far this season.  The Marlins need to be ready to face that challenge.

Practice Report – 5/30/2015

With practice on Wednesday being rained out, I had the team run their gauntlet drill that they owed me on Saturday instead of hitting.  The hitting has not been what has been hurting us for the last few weeks, the defense has.

The Marlins actually did very well with the drill this time around, better than they have in the past.  In fact, they came within one play of completing a round of outfield successfully and within two plays of completing a round of infield successfully.  Backups were where they needed to be, cutoff men were hit with good throws, the easy plays were made, and effort was put forth to make the hard plays.  Yes, there were also the easy plays that were missed, mostly on fielding ground balls off to the side instead of in front of them.  The consequences were that they started that round over again.

There are three games remaining in the season, all of which will be played against teams that we have previously played this season.  I think that if we are able to play defensively like we did the first game of the season that we have a chance to turn our season around and come away with a few wins.

Game 5 – Athletics 12, Marlins 10

My apologies for the lateness of this game recap.

The game started out well enough for us.  The story of this game was that, once again, the Marlins did not make a good showing in the field.  The defense was once again lacking especially in the fifth inning when the defense forced our pitcher to record six outs in the inning.

Recall how I explained errors in a previous entry.  Every time you make an error in the field, it is the same as giving the other team an extra out.  You force the pitcher to throw more pitches than he needs to in order to finish the inning.  If you make the easy plays when they come to you, then this does not happen.  From what I can recall, I do not remember the Marlins making a single easy play with the exception of the popups that they caught.  While I am happy that they are making the plays on popups, plays that might not have been made three seasons ago, not every play can be a popup.  I think my first pitcher had to strike out five batters for five of the six outs he needed to record in his two innings of work.  Pitchers cannot do this all by themselves, they need to be able to rely on the defense they have behind them  to record the outs.

Another disturbing trend I have noticed recently is that my batters are seeing a lot of called third strikes.  I explained to them after last week’s game that a called third strike is not the other team getting you out.  A called third strike is you getting yourself out and that does nothing to help the team.  On two strikes, you need to be looking for a pitch to hit.  Foul off the pitch and hope that the next one is better.  Make the pitcher work.

The one thing that I have noticed with my pitchers as well recently has been their struggles with putting batters away.  It is fairly common for my pitchers to quickly get strikes one and two but then have issues finding the plate for strike three.  More often than not, these batters end up becoming walks instead of outs.  The bottom of the Athletics’ batting order was not as strong as the top and had many batters that our pitchers absolutely had to get out.  These batters, however, ended up walking for most of their at bats because my pitchers could not manage to throw strike three.  Yes, the best pitch in baseball is strike one and you, as a pitcher, need to take advantage of that early hole that you are putting the batter in.  Get him thinking desperately that he needs to swing at strikes two and three.

At practice this coming Wednesday, the Marlins are running the gauntlet.  The purpose of this drill is to simply illustrate how the mistakes they make in the field adversely affect their team.  Once we start, they do not stop until they go once around the infield and outfield without making a single error.  No bad throws, no missed catches, no misplayed ground balls, and everyone being where they need to be when the ball is hit.  If anyone misses, then the entire team starts over from the beginning.  Perfect baseball is expected.  If you touch the ball, you catch the ball.  That is the rule.  If you allow an easy popup to drop in front of you, then the team starts over.  That is a play that needs to be made (and has been made by the other teams we have played this year).  I have done this exercise with them in the past and they have never been able to complete it successfully.  The Senior Leaguers managed to complete it each time I had them do it.  This may sound like I have set the expectations too high for the team, but this is the level at which they must play as they move up in rank.

I hope that the team realizes that they must improve defensively if they want to remain competitive with their peers when they move up to Major League in the Fall.  The other teams will be ready on the field.  We need to be ready as well.

Practice Report – 5/13/2015

Because of our defensive lapses during our last game, I decided to break the practice up into two sections this week.  While the team worked on defense and situations on the field, I would take one of them aside at a time to work with the glove pad.

A glove pad is simply a leather pad that a fielder can put on their glove hand that acts as a glove.  The difference is that the player cannot close the glove pad as they would a glove.  So, it is essentially a tool that the player can use to stop a ground ball or popup.  The purpose of this tool is to teach muscle memory.  While the player uses the pad to stop a ball, they must also used their throwing hand to trap the ball as it hits against the rubber pad, forcing them to use two hands to field the ball.  Therefore, they are in the habit of fielding the baseball with two hands and coming up in a position where they are ready to make a throw.  I practiced both ground balls and popups with the players and almost all of them seemed to get the idea of using two hands.  As much as I have emphasized using two hands in the past, now I think they finally have a tool where they are forced to have proper form if they wish to succeed.

Perhaps this is also why I like tools such as the batting tee so much.  It forces the players to have a level swing where they do not drop their hands if they want to hit the ball.  If they drop their hands to swing, then they go right into the tee instead of the ball.

Sunday is our coming rivalry game.  If we win no other game this season, I want to win this one.

Game 4 – Nationals 7, Marlins 6

This one was an especially tough game to lose considering how we played.  I know what the mistakes that I made as manager were and how I need to correct them as we move forward.

In this game, the Marlins did something that they had not been able to do all season: score early runs and put the other team in a hole.  We entered the fifth inning of the game leading 6-2 courtesy of some timely hitting as well as taking advantage of some of the defensive mistakes that the other team was making.  I think I have an example now of how important backing up bases is when a player is not in the immediate play.  One of the hits we had on Sunday was a double down the right field line.  Our runner slid into second base safely, but the throw to the base went into left field.  My runner got up and immediately ran towards third base as the throw was coming back into the infield and the pitcher.  Once the pitcher had the ball, he threw to third base in order to make a play on my runner.  The throw sailed over the third baseman’s head and went out of play.  Therefore, my runner was awarded home plate.

What makes this an interesting scenario is that the field we play our games on is also the field where we practice on Wednesdays (making it for all intents and purposes our “home” field in a way).  The Marlins are very familiar with the field and how it plays, especially where the out of play borders are in relation to the field.  Now, granted, the ball was not out of play by much, but there was enough power behind the throw to send it sailing out of play.  With no one backing up the base, this was helpful for us.  I hope it serves as a lesson for the Marlins, however.  Giving up a free run because you are not backing up a base hurts more and more as you rise through the ranks of Major and then Senior League.

What also happened in this game that has not happened this season is that our pitchers had the other team’s batters under control.  Two runs over the first four innings is pretty good.  We had not had that kind of dominant pitching so far this season that we had had last year.  I was glad to see and hear our pitchers striking out batters and throwing hard strikes.  One of my pitchers even told me that he threw his changeup for a strike three.  I do not remember which batter he threw it to, but I had always told him to throw changeups to the batters who are looking for a fastball and who have the batspeed to catch up with a faster pitch.  This way, the batter is out on his front foot and off balance.  Once he realizes that the pitch is heading straight down, he has already started his swing and cannot hold back.

So we hit, we pitched, but the defense is where we came up short once again.  In the fifth inning, our defense was not what it had been in previous innings.  Now, it helped that our pitchers were striking out a lot of batters (one pitcher struck out five batters of his six outs, actually), but the pitchers cannot do it all by themselves.  As I have said before, pitchers need to be able to rely on the defense that is behind them in order to be successful.  Pitching is a hard job, and a defense that is making errors only forces the pitcher to work harder.  The Nationals came around to score five runs in the fifth inning and held on on the top of the sixth to win the game.

We also experienced our first injury of the season when my third pitcher was hit by a hard line drive on the wrist.  I had to take him out of the game and remove him from the lineup due to the injury and I hope that he will be OK in time for our next game.  His bat has started to come around for us this season (he had 2 RBIs on Sunday) and he has become a contributor in the middle of the order.

Next week, we are playing another team who we have played in the past (last season actually).  That game was a close one, but we came out on top in the bottom of the sixth for our team’s only walk off win to date.  They were a good team last year, I can only assume that they are still a good team this year.

Practice Report – 5/6/2015

Because I was unsatisfied with the defense of Sunday’s game, practice consisted of nothing but me hitting balls to the team at various positions.  I put them in different scenarios, hitting the ball all over the field, combining the lessons of the last two weeks.

Practice had to be cut short due to lightning, however.  I will hopefully be able to get my full practice in on Saturday.

Game 3 – Marlins 17, Dodgers 17

Defense was at a premium in Game 3, the game ending in a tie.  Our pitchers got off to a slow start, giving up nine runs in the first two innings.  We came back over the course of the next few innings, but our defense never really tightened up to where I want it to be.  Many easy plays were not made and that is unacceptable.

Something that we did have in this game that we have not yet had in previous games was that our bats were alive early.  Our batters were very prolific this game (obviously if they scored seventeen runs).  We had two homeruns hit as well, the second of which came in the extra inning that we played.  The three and four hitters hit them, which was encouraging.  My three hitter has been slumping as of late.  My four hitter is the kind of hitter that is either going to make good contact and send the ball a long way or strike out.  He has been hitting infield singles up until now and last Sunday was the first time that he has made truly good contact.  The ball was hit a long way and was easily a homerun.  Our bats kept us in this game.  We would fall behind in the top of the inning and manage to come back in the bottom.  We could never seem to break that tie, though.  I am happy, however, that the Marlins once again did not give up and played their hardest until they could play no longer.

I was under the impression that if a game remained tied after the seventh inning was played that the game would need to be made up.  After I raised this item to the other team’s coach, he did not take the news well.  The gist of his message was that he possessed neither the time nor the desire to make the game up and that I was taking things too seriously for Rec League.  I nearly laughed in his face at his comment.  While I do take my responsibilities to my players a bit more seriously than most coaches, I felt that I had to give my team every chance I could to set them up to win the game.  They were motivated heading into extra innings and they wanted to finish the game.  I think they could have played an eighth if they were permitted to do so.  As it turns out, though, I was wrong and they do not need to make up the game.  So, the game is officially recorded as a tie.

I was playing this game without my normal number one and two hitters as well.  So, we did not have our usual table setters to get on base.  While our substitutes did well in their batting positions, we are a better team when we have these players in the lineup.

Next week, we are playing the team that may be the best team in our division.  We will simply need to prepare better for next week’s game.

Practice Report – 5/2/2015

Nothing much to report here.  The team pitched and hit, as they do each Saturday.

We did, however, have a special guest hitter show up at practice.  As I have mentioned before, one of the players who had previously played for the Marlins (who made Select) came early for his practice and was sitting around the dugout.  I put him to work and had him participate in our practice.  He came up to bat a few times and hit a very, very long fly ball that eventually went into the bushes at the other side of our field.  He has become such a tremendous hitter and his bat is sorely missed this season.

Practice Report – 4/29/2015

Something that I have had to contend with in the past are field conflicts with high school teams.  Yesterday, for the first time since Senior League, I arrived at our practice field to find the girl’s JV softball team of the local high school practicing.  Apparently, a game was being hosted at the high school, which relegated the girls to using our field in the local park.  It is something that often occurs with their girls teams as I have arrived at practice before to find the field hockey or lacrosse teams practicing in our outfield.  Our permits overlapped and I had to defer the field until the girls were finished with their practice.

The convenient thing was, however, that the girls were doing the exact same drill that I wanted to do with the Marlins once the field became available.  For those who arrived at practice early, I told them to watch the girls and to see how they reacted to how the ball was hit with runners on base.  I emphasized to the Marlins that everyone has a responsibility now, especially when it comes to backing up bases.  Balls that are not caught are going to be more and more costly as they move up in leagues and baserunners are going to be taking advantage of misplayed balls.  For the first half of practice, we did the baseball instincts drill to hone everyone’s situational awareness.  What am I going to do if the ball is hit to me?  How many runners are on base?  Are they forced?  How many outs are there?  Baseball is a thinking man’s game.  You need to be aware of what your responsibilities are before the ball is hit.  Depending on the situation, that may change.

Something that is new this year is that I am giving responsibilities to the pitcher and the first baseman that I had not normally done in the past.  The pitcher is now responsible for backing up plays at home and third.  The first baseman is now responsible for backing up the play at second.  Again, the base that needs to be back up by the pitcher depends on what the field looks like.  If the runner is at second, then there is a good chance that the play will be coming home and the pitcher will need to back up the base as needed.  If the runner is at first, the pitcher is probably going to back up third base.  A few of them took better to the situational awareness than others, they just need more exposure to the exercise.  I have a feeling that this is what we will be doing moving forward at practice.  The Marlins need to realize that they have responsibilities even if the ball is not hit to them.

For the second half of practice, I took aside a few additional players who had expressed interest in pitching.  Two of them had told me that they wanted to pitch in the past and one of them got that opportunity last Fall.  The third would be completely new to pitching.  As we stand right now, we do not need any additional pitchers unless one of our regular pitchers gets hurt.  If these three players continue to practice and improve, though, they may get to see time in a blowout game.  None of them were truly game ready and were having difficulty finding the strike zone.  I re-emphasized to them that it is more important to throw strikes than to throw hard.  If you do not throw strikes, you do not pitch in games.  No questions asked.

Saturday’s weather looks discouraging, but then again, so did last Wednesday’s.  I hope we can practice this coming Saturday.

Game 2 – Reds 12, Marlins 4

Something that I am doing new this year is that I am watching the other teams that we are playing throughout the year to better prepare the Marlins for facing them.  Last week, I was watching the game prior to ours to see what kind of team we would be playing this week.  Apparently, I was watching the wrong game because we ended up not playing either of the teams I thought we would be playing.

Within BCC Baseball, there is a faction of baseball players known as “Kidball.”  Kidball is an organization very similar to BCC except without having a league of their own to play in.  The players take the game much more seriously and are essentially Select Teams playing at the recreational level.  The team we played on Sunday was a combination of players from third through fifth grade.  Despite the fact that the League rules dictate that no players may play above or below their League age (the third grader in this instance would be too young to normally play in Minor League), this Kidball team was able to play in our division.

Kidball teams are found throughout all levels of BCC Baseball.  I have never beaten a Kidball team when I played them, even in Senior League.  I am not sure how large their organization is, but I know that they have been floating around BCC for a number of years.  Maybe the Kidball teams take their practices a bit more seriously, or they have more opportunities to practice, or the parents shuttle their kids into Kidball because they want their kid to be immersed in baseball.  Whatever the reason is, this team was a very good team that we played.  They made all of the easy plays that came their way on Sunday.  The Marlins were no-hit until the fourth inning if I remember correctly.

Something that was very unique about this team was that each and every hitter on their team was a switch hitter (meaning that they are capable of batting from both sides of home plate).  They were being trained to switch hit from the first day of practice.  The rule for switch hitting, as I was taught, was that you needed to master batting with your natural hand first.  After you became a capable hitter with your natural hand, you learn to bat with the other as well.  In all my days of baseball, I have never seen a true switch hitter at any level of play.

The difference in the game was in the defense I feel.  The plays that stand out to me this week were on balls that were hit to the outfield.  Whenever the Marlins hit a ball to the outfield, their players fielded the ball cleanly and immediately threw it into the cutoff man to relay the ball into second base, back into the infield.  The Marlins had similar plays on balls hit to the outfield as well.  Whenever the fielder got to the ball however, more often than not, the player held the ball, confused as to where he needed to throw it in an attempt to make a play.  This is something that I had emphasized with them several times in the past at practice.  They cannot hesitate when the ball is in the outfield to get it back to the infield.  As soon as they get the ball, it needs to go to the cutoff man every single time.  As they get older, that hesitation in the outfield is going to get more and more costly as players advance on the bases and score more runs.

Therefore, on Wednesday, I am going to do a drill with them that I had previously done with the Senior League team whenever I felt their instincts were lacking.  There is a player at each position (or as many players as there are at practice) and then runners.  I put runners on base purposefully and see how the team reacts to each play.  I do not tell them where the play should go.  It is up to them to make that judgement for themselves.  The purpose of the exercise is to get them to think about the question “What am I going to do if the ball is hit to me?” and then the following question, “What do I do next?”

I will admit that perhaps I have not paid enough attention to the outfielding so far in my time with the Marlins, but the team is starting to see more balls hit into the outfield as the players improve and become stronger hitters.  This is a shortcoming on my part.  I have not adequately prepared them for outfield play so far.

Hopefully after fine tuning the outfielding play, we will perform better in this situation next time.