Mid Season Status Report

We have played eight league games and three non league games. We are 3-5 in league and 6-5 overall. And do not forget we started 0-3. Since then we are 3-2 in league and 6-2 overall. Not bad. But we still have a long way to go.

Overall I am seeing progress in each and everyone of you guys. We are playing better defense, I am seeing more "heart and guts" on display, and we are beginning to swing the bats a little bit.

But as we sit here mid season I would like to air what I would call my two biggest disappointments and see if we can begin to correct them.

Parents, I am not sure your boys even read this blog, but this is a good one to print out and have them read.

1. SWING THE BAT!
FYI the reason I played this game, and the reason this game got such a hold on me was hitting. There is nothing in the world like that two-second feeling one gets after great contact. That bliss you feel when you swing and make sweet spot contact and the ball just takes off. Nothing like it in the world. For this to happen, ya gotta swing!!!!

Here is the deal, guys, NO ONE COMES OUT TO SEE YOU GET A WALK. A walk is a poor consolation prize. I used to get sooooo mad when the pitcher walked me, and believe me he had to really try, because I was up there to hit. I will grant you that strategically walks have their place. But I will say it again, there is no prize for winning these games, and these games are much more fun when you hit the ball hard. Your future high school coach is not going to ask you how many times you walked at 13, and years from now you are certainly NOT going to remember that close pitch you took with a full count to "get that walk" You are going to remember the ball you hit over the center fielders head. Lastly, Jack Cust is never going to be anyone's favorite Mariner because he has such a great eye. A walk at this level is a consolation prize, GO FOR THE REAL PRIZE, a hit.

No one on this team is swinging too much at bad pitchers, trust me, I will reign you in if this starts to happen, but for the love of Pete (that's my son), stop taking SO MANY FASTBALL STRIKES.

2.For crying out loud will SOMEBODY TRY TO STEAL THIRD BASE!!!!!

Sometimes the other team just camps there and there is nothing we can do. Most of the time, the other team just leaves us alone and we DO NOTHING. Please get some courage up and start being aggressive at second base. When I tell you it is clear, please try to get your three secondary steps in, and when the pitcher lifts his foot, turn you hips and steal third. THIS IS THE YEAR to learn this valuable skill. Learning this turns you into a dangerous baserunner for the rest of you career. Please try it, please get thrown out a couple times and soon you will have it down.

If you watched the Mariner game against the Yankees the other night you may have seen Adam Kennedy get picked off first. It was a GREAT play on his part. He is older now and just an average runner. He took a chance to get a walking lead, in a close game with one out. If he had been successful, he would have been in scoring position, but he had the bad luck to run into a move to first just as he was taking a very good risk. It happens, but I loved the desire it displayed.