Manteca 4/18-19

Our games for the weekend in Manteca were solid. We played three very solid teams as I went away thinking that any one of the teams we played could have won that tourney. In the end The Stanislaus Sting won the final game as they surprised an incredibly tough Iron Pigs baseball club. Although we won one game and lost two, we are playing tough baseball and are right where we should be at this point. Each of the past three tournaments we have made great improvements. It is only a matter of time until we bring it all together and leave with iron from the Ship...

Our two tourney balls for the weekend went out to Devin Hurtado and Brandon Peterson. Big Dev was relentless at the plate while Brandon took the hill in his first game as a Hurricane and sliced up Tabu while looking like he has been with us for years.

I gotta mention Todd Porter! Our props go out to Todd as his hard work is paying off. He was outstanding on the mound AND at the plate.

Manteca Heat...

Our tourney times for the weekend along with brackets for Sunday have been posted. Our first game is at 10:10 am at Wrigley field. Please be sure to be there and be there on time. For our first game, we will only have 9 players ( a 10th will be there for only part of the game). If you have any idea that you may not be able to make it or you will be late, please let me know SOON. We will be thin on Sunday as well! (We have a few out of town)

Our schedule for the weekend?   http://www.mantecaheat.com/11u_Baseball_Classic.html

Our first game is against the Tabu 11 year old team. They pitch extremely well and hit well. They have speed. Their win/loss record does not do them justice. I had many of these boys on my squad last year, and they are solid. Depending on the day they having, they are beatable- but should play tough knowing it's me they are after (I don't care if someone tells you it doesn't matter, because it does). Many of the parents and coaches I consider family, therefore I would want our boys to show well by playing with grit, guts and class.  After we play them, I will be routing for them. That is, until we play them again.

Practice tomorrow at 5:30. BP and a review of all plays... ground balls/fly balls. If you wish to wear shorts tomorrow, you may! (Just be sure to wear your warm-up top)

42

Jackie Robinson day...

http://www.nydailynews.com/sports/baseball/mets/2009/04/15/2009-04-15_citi_field_rotunda_no_42_jerseys_honor_jackie_robinson_milestone.html

Three and out.

Something strange happened in baseball on Sunday... It happened with the Dodgers and D-Backs. The four -out rule was in effect. If a player, ANY player comes to practice Wednesday and can explain this rule and what happened in Sunday's game, he will be free from any running and/or push-ups for the day!

Gators 8, Canes 2. (Sunday, 4/5/09)

Sunday morning and for once we didn't have to be at the field at 7... 

As I mention in my last post, we left runners on. We had a few strike outs. The Gators played well and pitched out of crucial situations. Yada yada yada.. 

Our headline shows we went down 8-2, but really... we played pretty well. We had more purpose...  Although we lost by 6, this game was much closer than the score. Each inning we found ways to reach base and get in scoring position. We saw many pitches, crowded the plate when we should have and put tremendous pressure on the Gators.  In the dougout, our boys were "up" and in the game...

Vince Leon took the hill once more and did a pretty solid job of keeping the Gators in check. Vince ran into trouble in the 3rd, but overall, he is what kept us close. Although we managed to land many runners on base, The Gator's pitching never gave us the chance to breathe. We were only able to scatter 5 hits in 6 innings...

This tourney was the first tourney that we truly played to win. That being said, I was pretty happy with our squad. We now have had good defensive games- so we know we can play defense. We have pitched well-We know we can do that. We have had games where we have hit well- We can do that too. We now know that we can get through a game and be good team-mates. If there is anything missing, it is two things: base-running and a complete all-around game... These will come. When it happens once, it will be contagious.

Albany Gators 3, Canes 2 (Saturday, 4/4009)

Game two was against a pretty solid Albany Gators team that proved you don't have to be real physical, you just have to play WELL... They did just that. 

After two games against these guys, we must give them props. They didn't light us up with the bat. They just hit when they needed to. They were not tremendously fast. They just had the skill and the know how to run bases well. On the hill, they did not overpower us. They just threw strikes. Defensively, they made very few mistakes and forced us to leave 23 runners on base in two games. Can I say that again? 23 RUNNERS LEFT ON BASE. Now I cannot give them ALL for credit for that stat as we did help by striking out 13 times in 2 games, 9 times with runners in scoring position. Even knowing that, Their pitchers STILL had to pitch in pressure situations, and for the Gators, they came through. 

Enough about them...

Our first game against the Gators was well played. After starting a little slow, Devin Hurtado took control and relied on a solid defense to keep the game close, with us down 1-0 going into the 5th. In that 5th, Jelani Davis reached with a walk, then sole 2nd and third. After two strikeouts, Jelani was still on 3rd when CK Toribio drove him in with a single to left center (a 3-0 pitch). Vinnie Poole then crushed an 0-2 fastball about 300 feet to right for an easy triple. trouble was, his third base coach thought the double cut somehow would get screwed up and sent the poor kid home (he was exhausted) well, let's just say I still owe him a "fence-and-back". Unfortunately, that was the third out of the inning, and it was crucial. We were up 2-1. 

After the Gators responded with 2 runs of their own in the bottom of the 5th, We then got more runners on and in scoring position, but ran out of gas... We go down 3-2.

In the end, we seemed a little slow, a little tired and frankly, a little scared. I was disappointed with our team-mates in the last game as I felt we needed just a little bit more fire to win games like this. I told them to go home, get some sleep and come out Sunday with some purpose....

Canes 8, Solano Storm 2 (Saturday, 4/4/2009)

Against the Storm our Canes came out Bangin'... Game time was 8 am, and by 8:05 we were up 3-0. With Vince Leon on the hill and in control, we scored in each of the first four innings and never looked back. At the end of 6, our Hurricanes proved to be too much as we took home a solid 8-2 victory.

If there were two defensive keys to this game, it would be pitching and outfield. Our boys in the outfield have been challenged many times this year as teams have tried to stretch the extra bag only to get gunned by one of our tremendous arms. If you saw yesterday's post, I gave it the name "Martinez Madness" ...Well, it was madness alright. Yet another poor kid tried to take an extra base on one of our young-guns and another poor kid is sent back to the dugout. This time one of the opposing coaches was sent home as well. I overheard CK Toribio say: "Why get mad at the umpire and get tossed?"  "...Just stop trying to run on us."  Well said, Toribio.

On the hill, Vince was ON. In three innings of work he walked only ONE batter, gave up only ONE run on ONE hit. The only runner that scored got on base by error (on Vince). Leon did all this and kept his pitch count down to 27 pitches. 9 pitches an inning is AWESOME...

Not only did Vince pitch well, but our boy Jordan Barnum came in and was Dealin' as well-throwing only 27 pitches over 3 innings while only giving up 3 hits, 1 run and ZERO walks. Nice.

At the plate, CK Toribio, Kaya Lacey, Jack Brydon and Devin Hurtado all crushed the ball in this game. CK, Dev and Jack had 2 hits a piece while Devin scored twice. Kaya blasted a monster double...

Please check the calendar for the upcoming games. Next tourney is in Manteca. I will have June and July schedule soon. Please be sure to remind me of any weekends that do not work for you in those months. 

Helmets and bags should be in soon. Hopefully something shows up before the 18th!

See you tonight.

 

  

Martinez madness

Overall, our Canes had a solid outing in Martinez this past weekend. Without question, we wanted to finish the weekend with a trophy and our "gameness" in the last game was proof. 

We just ran into a team that made fewer mistakes...

We finished by winning one and losing two.

Game one started out strong as we came out swinging and put up three runs in the first inning against the Solano Storm. Todd Porter set the tone by leaving his breakfast at first base on his way to an extremely "Gutsy" performance for the day, and the weekend. Our boys made a number of nice plays as we had some great, breakout performances by many. For the weekend, Vinnie Poole, Vince Leon and Todd Porter all received Hurricane MVP baseballs.

Vinnie had an all-around fantastic tourney as he was solid behind the dish by throwing out runners and by taking command of our pitchers. On offense, he was just as solid going 3 for 7 with a triple, a double, 3 RBIs and a run scored. Once again, Vin lead by example, hustled and made sure that everyone knew that he was one of the top players around.

Vince Leon earned his ball with his stellar defense. Vince only gave up 6 hits and 3 walks in 6 innings pitched over 2 days. He picked off 3 runners with his sweet move to first (and one to third) - he actually had a runner picked at second for the "pick cycle" but sailed it to center... Once the boy was finished on the hill, he went onto Center field and was inches from gunning a runner at first base!!!! His pitching, work in center and hustle gave him a great weekend to build on. Great work, kid.

Todd Porter won our "great team-mate" ball this weekend as his toughness, pride and hustle cut a great path for the rest of us to follow. His first at-bat of the weekend was a single to center, followed by a brief barf session at first. Yeah, you read that right. He was not feeling well and tossed his cookies once he reached first base. Due to an odd, misinterpreted rule, he could not come out of the game... If he did, he was an out. So what did he do? What do THINK he did!!! He's a Hurricane! He wiped his mouth on his sleeve, put his helmet back on and scored on the next base hit. He then came out later in the day and pitched two solid innings for us. Unbelievable. his performance and leadership was outstanding. He never complained once. Thanks Todd. Or should I call you Ralph?

I will have more individual game info posted tomorrow. I'm out of time!!

I hear we may be rained out tomorrow. Hope not. If we are, I will see you Friday.