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Ron

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....