Beekeepers and Blowouts

Along with three friends, I am coaching a Little League team of seven, eight, and nine year olds. All four of us are in our early twenties. Needless to say, we are the only coaches in the league without kids of our own. Our goal? Utter domination. Throughout the season I will keep Pitchers & Poets readers updated on the goings on surrounding the team.

My previous Killer Bees update was more philosophical. The following is quite simply, a recap of our last few games:

We have played three games now. The first was an exhibition for the league’s Jamboree. The Jamboree was supposed to be a big party and a double-header, but gray skies and frigid weather cut things to one game. The weather also forced the league to do without the pomp and circumstance of roster introductions, and the Mariner Moose to cancel his appearance at the field, much to the chagrin of the Killer Bees roster.

For our Jamboree game, we faced a team that will heretofore be known as the Beekeepers for three reasons: 1. They are much larger than the Killer Bees. 2. They easily control the Killer Bees. 3. They are very mean to the Killer Bees. The game went fine defensively and on the mound. But we were beaten soundly (I don’t really pay close attention to the score). Our Zach Greinke struggled with his control, but our Roy Oswalt impressed. The game was never a major blowout, but our batters (including our Frank Thomas) struck out looking an alarming number of times. The Beekepers also ---portentiously-- ran wild on the base paths.

Two great interactions from before this game:

Young John Kruk screaming to friends on another team (not the Beekeepers): “MUFFINS MUFFINS MUFFINS MUFFINS”
Coach (and author): “Hey John Kruk, why are you yelling muffins?”
Young John Kruk: “Because it’s annoying them.”
Coach: “It’s annoying me, too.”
Young John Kruk: (Silence)

Young Corie Koskie: “Drop and give me 10 pushups!”
Young Eric Bruntlett: “No, you drop and give me 20 pushups”
Young Corie Koskie: “No, you drop and give INFINITY PUSHUPS”
Young Eric Bruntlett*: “Infinity is not a number, it’s an idea. You can’t even do infinity pushups.”

Due to spring break, our regular season opener was against a patchwork team that included a few callups from AAA (a younger coach pitch division). Young Brad Radke started for us and was lights out in his two innings. The bats woke up too, possibly due to pregame wiffle ball batting practice. Another highlight from young John Kruk, spoken before the game: “Hey coach, doesn’t that cloud look like Yoda?” We went on to win easily, with strong hitting and pitching performances from players about whom we had some doubts.

At one point in the 5th inning of this game, a player on our team who I’ll call Young Craig Biggio was taking his defensive turn on the bench. We had just allowed the opposing team its first run of the game. At this, Young Biggio rose to the front of the dugout and screamed out to his teammates – showing a remarkable sense of perspective – “Hey guys, don’t worry, it’s only 17-1. We can still win!”

Game two of the regular season was a rematch with the dreaded Beekeepers. We lost by a score in the double digits. Here is how the Beekeepers scored their runs: base on balls, steal of second, steal of third, overthrow by our catcher to third, run comes home. This was a fine strategy until the lead opened to be about ten to nothing. Aside from hitting and pitching very well, which the Beekeepers players certainly deserve credit for, they piled on by taking bases on every wild pitch. There was even a delayed steal at one point.

They just kept running. And it became absurd. At one point, the father of young Eric Bruntlett ours came over to the coaches and thanked us for not “tainting the souls of these children” like the opposing coaches. Finally, late in the game, we were able to get a few base runners on and apply some pressure of our own, scoring our only two runs this way.

The game, however, was slightly revelatory. It marked the return of a player I’ll call Junior Joe Mauer. Junior Mauer is not a catcher because he is a lefty. However, much like The Joe Mauer, he is America. He pitches. He hits. He has a good attitude. He just turned nine. Junior  Mauer’s return from vacation on the East Coast could very well mark a turning point in the Killer Bees’ season.

More importantly, by watching some opposing coaches run up the score, we learned something about who we did not want to be as a coaching staff. We do not want to make this primarily about winning – not at this age at least. It’s important the kids know that there are consequences. It’s important that they are competitive. But at this age, it’s far more important that they improve, that they swing the bat hard, and get in front of the ball, and play fundamentally aggressive baseball.

We’ve been in two of them, but we are definitely not here to teach the kids about blowouts.

*Stanford graduate.

Radio, Radio is a Sound Salvation

This was originally posted over at Every Day Ichiro, which chronicles my new turn as a Mariners fan, and as an AL fan in general.

SPORTS TALK RADIO AND A CITY'S IDENTITY

Part of being a fan is listening to local sports radio. I am even right now listening to 710 AM KIRO Seattle.

I love sports talk radio (it being a subset of talk radio, which I also love, in the way that you love something that remained a part of your life as you moved from child to adult). In Chicago and in New England, a better part of those regions' broad character came through in the personae of the sports talk radio hosts. The pride and the humor from 670AM in Chicago's Boers and Bernstein--still the funniest radio I've ever heard--and the acerbic self-flagellation of the pre-World Series Boston guys whoever they were. I link these indelibly with my experience living in these places. Deep truths emerge from hours, days and weeks of listening.

Here in the Pacific Northwest, I am still collecting this metaphysical data. I don't yet have a bead on the psyche of this place. What I think I know so far is that Mariners fans have been through years of hard times and inept management under Bill Bavasi. Now, with Jack Z and his flurry of handyman-style moves and his several big moves, they are optimistic bunch.

What I also think I know is that these fans are analytical. On 710 this morning, I already heard one caller who discussed the manner in which the team is meant to win. They aren't meant to hit, he said, they're meant to have great pitching and great defense. In other words, the problem isn't that the Ms aren't scoring enough runs, it's that they're aren't preventing enough runs. That's heavy, and it shows a lot of a) patience and b) smarts on the part of the fans. There's a method, here, and Ms fans are willing to give over the fate of their fandom to that method.

In the meantime, worry is setting in on the radio. Brock and Salk are wondering if it's too soon, or if it's too late, or if it's up or it's down. Don Wakamatsu has let loose a couple of sound clips, saying things like "feeding off of one another" and "guys are pressing right now." These are the misgivings of a tortured fan base that is afraid of its own optimism. "Let's not everybody freak out yet," the blogs are saying. The more calls for calm, the more unnerved the hoi polloi becomes, I think.

BILL JAMES DISEASE

The new modern problem with sports talk radio is what I might call Bill James disease, in which one must second guess every assertion by the mainstream media members who are speaking for the most part off the top of their heads. To wit: Salk said something like "Ichiro will see a lot of pitches because of all of the foul balls." Now, this might be true, I don't know. I tried to check on Fangraphs without much success. But the point is, I don't really believe it when Mike Salk says it. Not because I don't trust the guy, but because I don't think he's committed his life to having command of these facts and figures. Hell, I wouldn't trust myself if I said that, no way.

Once I start to pay attention to these passing assertions, they appear everywhere in sports talk radio. Each remark--blinks of an eye in the hours and hours of radio talk time--could warrant ten spreadsheets and a panel of experts to suss it out. Do I need to know if it's true or not? Why can't I treat the radio like it's a conversation with a friend, meaning imbued with trust, forgiveness and merriment? Because I've got Bill James Disease, that's why.

Seeing Things New

Is it a cliche that every time you watch a baseball game you will see something that you've never seen before? I am putting this old rhubarb to the test, in any event, as I have already watched more baseball more closely this year than any I can remember (playoff games excluded).

This is because I started a personal project called Every Day Ichiro, chronicling my year in being a new Mariner's fan. A tad specific for Pitchers and Poets, it involves watching a lot of Ms games, with specific focus on Ichiro's at bats and overall presence.

More importantly for PnP concerns, I see things. It turns out that when you watch just about every inning of a baseball game, strange things will happen. Rare things, things that will legitimately surprise you. I thought I'd run through a few of those, as well as some other notable moments from the young season:

• During yesterday's Mariners-A's game, Adam Moore scooped up a bunt with his mask. It was a most unremarkable gesture. He didn't catch a ball over the fence with his mask, or throw the mask up in the air to deflect an errant ball the way every Little Leaguer has done, only to have his catch buddy tell him that's illegal. He simply bumped an already stopped ball towards himself. Despite the insignificance of the mask-tip, the umpires after a quick meeting granted the baserunners a base apiece. Chad Pennington, who reached base on the bunt, ended the play with the rare infield double.
• Matt Tuiasosopo battled through a 13-pitch at bat in the same A's game. During that at bat, he popped two balls into Oakland's acreage of foul territory. Two different players muffed a foul ball apiece, each taking one off of the heel of the glove and granting Tui TWO free lives at the plate. He struck out swinging.
• Milton Bradley tipped his hat in a show of gentlemanly good cheer when Rajai Davis stole a home run from him.
• Moving away from the Mariners: Jason Heyward. I mean. Are there any superlatives left? I had the good fortune of catching Heyward's Homer live on TV on Opening Day, and felt that perhaps unjustified sense of the beginning of Something. It was chilling; I jumped up and did a lap around the living room, swelling with the urge to talk to somebody. I called my friend Seth in Atlanta, who had luckily taken a day off from work. I think I woke him up from a midday nap.
• In a game between the Dodgers and the Pirates, outfielder Reed Johnson came barreling home and executed a near-perfect hook slide as catcher Ryan Doumit caught the incoming ball and tried to apply the tag. Johnson looked safe. As he got up in a cloud of dust, though, he and Doumit both were looking to the umpire, who had yet to make a call. The ump was just standing there, without doing a thing. The Nation looked to him for guidance, and all he offered was your basic man-waiting-for-a-train stance. Suddenly, Doumit got it, and jumped at Johnson to tag him out. Johnson had never touched the plate, so the play was still live, and there had been no call for the umpire to make.
• Mark Buehrle Superstar.

Podcast 5: Surprisingly Modern

[caption id="" align="alignright" width="290" caption="Surprisingly Modern"][/caption]

Welcome to Podcast no. 5. In this edition:

-Eric gets the score of the Dodgers-Pirates Opener wrong. (Some fan).

-Ted defends Obama's White Sox/Nats Opening Day ensemble.

-Fantasy Baseball and what Ted refers to as "the sliding sports."

-More about facial hair than you ever want to hear.

-Everth, Alcides, Elvis, and Asdrubal

-Nolan Ryan: Surprisingly Modern for 65 Years.

-The Batting Stance Guy (and his co-author)'s new book.

-We read a Frank DeFord column out loud.

-Josh Wilker: The Opposite of Batting Stance Guy

-The Pitching Coach as Public Figure.

[podcast]http://roguesbaseballindex.com/pnp_podcasts/PnP_005.mp3[/podcast]

Chatting: Early Season Predictions from My Friend Ben