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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....

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.

Game time, WOO!!!!

Game times for this weekend are posted on this link:  http://usssabaseball.yuku.com/topic/1750

Waterfront Park - Martinez
Park phone number 925-372-3551

From 680, take the Marina Vista Exit. Stay on Marina Vista, Go right on Ferry St

Our first game is at 8am!!!! Please be there BY 7:15!!!

Puget Sound Shockers 14, Canes 7. (3/15)

Our Sunday afternoon game against the Shockers (who came all the way from Washington) was a little messy, but something to build on.

We jumped up early with 2 runs on 4 hits in the top of the 1st and showed some true grit and guts to battle hard throughout. With a score of 7-7 going into the bottom of the 5th, the Shockers proved to be a little much for us a they ran off 5 runs to seal our fate and send us packing. The Shockers looked imposing, but our Canes showed to be more physical as we hit the ball harder, ran faster and seemed to be more aware. In the end, it came down to throwing strikes and a few ill-timed errors. Overall, we hit well and ran bases well. 

The (offensive) stats tell the story:

Shockers= 11 singles + 6 walks + 4 Hurricanes errors... and only ONE strike out. 

Canes = 12 singles + 2 walks +  2 Shocker errors... and TWO strikeouts.

We OUT hit them! But the walks, errors and whiffs proved to be too much to overcome.

- Notice I said "singles"... Once we convert a few singles to doubles, triples and HRs, we will be golden.

Once again, this Shocker team was solid. All the teams we played this weekend were very good, well coached teams. Although we came up short in all but one game, there has been some wonderful improvement.

Vinnie Poole, Roman Reed and Jordan Barnum each had 2 hits.

CK Toribio was 1 for 1 with a walk.

Kaya Lacey was 1 for 1 with a walk.

Vinnie drove in 2 runs and scored twice.

I must say, Mr. Poole has been straight raking the ball! This reminds me...

Starting this week, We will have "Tournament MVP" balls to give out. They will be given out based on offensive and defensive play, awareness, leadership and the plain-old gut feeling of your fearless leader...

Also this week, I am awarding game tokens to anyone who gets an extra-base hit. It

 must be legitimate; a single and a throwing error that lands our batter on second base does not count!!!!

When we win our first tournament, Vinnie's dad J.R. has pledged to allow the boys to shave his head. 

PYB Crushers 7, Canes 1. (3/15)

Hit.... If you were to ask a thousand people what wins baseball games, 90% of fans, players and coaches would say pitching. The other half would say hitting. for those of you paying attention, that is a new twist on an old joke...

Our boys really have played well lately. We may not "hitting" on all cylinders, but much of the sloppiness has passed.  In this game against the Crushers our bats were quiet and we had trouble with finding the plate. Anytime we have trouble throwing strikes, we could have a long day... Well, we had a long day. To make things worse, the Crushers only walked  2 and spread 2 errors among 3 hits in 6 innings. We issued 4 walks and 7 hits and tried to hide them somewhere within TWO innings. It really doesn't work th

at way. 

I'm not sure if our boys knew, but the Crushers were actually coming up and trying to hit from the opposite side of the plate... But I knew. We will not say or do anything at this point, but we will remember it. We will remember it and use that memory as a tool. We knew coming in that we would get bounced for a bit.We just need to learn from it. We will.

We will get our walks down, attack the baseball, play smarter, be faster and show more all-out hustle. 

Luck = hard work +opportunity.

Please don't get me wrong, talking about the negative is not something that I try make a habit of. Remember the lean times and never let it leave your memory. Motivation comes from many different places. If ever in the future we need a little more motivation, we can draw from some of our tougher games. This, was one of them.

CK was 1 for 2 with a walk

Vinnie was 1 for 2 with a walk

Jack was 1 for 3 

Justin was 1 for 1 with a run scored.

Our boys are learning more and more baseball each day. Many of them are right where they should be at this point, and at this age. The wins will come over time.

It could be worse... We could be Cubs fans.

Canes 7, Muckdogs 3 (3/14)

 Game two on Saturday and we looked like a completely different team. We won the toss and unconventionally, we chose to be visitors. Why? I don't know. I guess it just felt good. When we are hitting, I love to hit first to intimidate the other squad by starting the game with a whole gang of runs. So don't ask what I was thinking as we had exactly ONE HIT in the morning game...

But it worked.

Jordan Barnum led off with a single. Todd Porter dropped a bunt for a hit, then CK Toribio grounded to short and scored Jordan. Vinnie Poole drilled a base hit down the left field line to score Todd. Nice. Up two runs before the Muckdogs even warm up.  On Dee, Todd pitched extremely well to hold back the dogs as when he left in the fourth, we were up 3-2 as he scattered 4 hits and two walks in front of a very sound defense that played the entire game with ZERO errors. Jack Brydon closed out the final two innings on the hill striking out 2.

In the end, The Canes led the whole game and played solid through out. On offense, we swung at good pitches to hit and drove the ball. We ran bases well, never missed a sign and executed a few very nice bunts.  Defensively,  we made plays. In the first inning Jelani laid out for a ball down the line, picked it up, fired to Jordan who fired to Torin who then laid a quick tag on the runner trying to squeeze a double for the second out of the game. Our boys may not know how big this was- No other runners even attempted to try for two for the rest of this game... We only walked 2 runners. 

This was our best all around game as a squad.

Jack was 3 for 3 with a double and two runs scored.

Daniel Gates was 2 for 3 with a triple, an RBI and a run scored.

Vinnie went 2 for 3 with 2 RBIs

Todd was 2 for 3 with a run scored and and RBI

Jordan went 2 for 4 with two runs scored.

Justin was 1 for 3 with a run scored.

Slammers 9, Canes 0 (Saturday, 3/14)

Saturday's opener seemed to be a typical opener for us as of late. It took us until the 6th inning to come out of a deep sleep. Too bad the game didn't go 6 innings. Our Canes went down without much of a fight to a good Slammers team, 9-0. 

 Our boys really didn't play all that bad - We just didn't hit and gave up a few too many hits and walks on defense.

Roman had our only hit as we only managed to get 2 runners on board with nobody even reaching second base.

Bee's 5, Canes 4 (Sunday, 3/8/09)

     Our final game on Sunday was solid. Although we lost to a good Bees team 5-4, the game was well played and came down to the wire.

     Vince Leon took the hill for us and pitched his heart out. All day long the Bees were off balance as Vince mixed up his change up with a strong fastball to keep us in the game. Vince scattered 7 hits and 5 walks among 3 strikeouts to give up 4 runs in 5 innings pitched. Although the Bee's got a few runners on, Vince was quick to pick them off as he was able to use that nasty move to first to catch 5 runners sleeping... Devin came in to finish off the 6th and recorded another strikeout.

      On offense, our base running was key as we swiped many bases and took advantage of 1st and 3rd situations every chance we could. As a team, we scored 4 runs on 6 hits and 3 walks while striking out 4 times. (Goal is only 2 per game, and soon to be ONE)

      Vinnie Poole continued to terrorize pitchers as he went 2 for 3 with a double, RBI and a run scored.

Hitting:

Hits: 2- Vinnie; 1 - Jordan Barnum, Todd Porter, CK Toribio and Devin Hurtado.

Doubles: 1 - Vinnie Poole

Runs: 1 - Jordan Barnum, Todd Porter, Ck Toribio and Vinnie Poole

RBI: 1 - Vinnie Poole

Walks: 2 - Justin Watts; 1 - Roman Reed.

Jordan recorded 4 outs and 3 assists on defense...

Practice Friday at 5:30 at American.

Our schedule for the weekend is posted and below...

http://www.nations-baseball.com/index.cfm?event=general.gameSchedule&eid=15389

Hurricanes 11, Die Hard 9. (Sunday, 3/8)

Our boys came out early and started Sunday off with a win as they took The DieHards 11-9 in 4 innings.

Behind some patience at the plate, some strong bats and solid base running, our Canes made sure this game was not as close as the score might show. After a 7 run first and 10 runs after 3, all our squad needed to do was make a few plays and run out the clock. They did just that. Roman pitched 2 1/3 innings while striking out 6 and giving up 4 hits. Jack pitched 1 full inning while getting a K and giving up only one hit. Vince closed the game giving up 2 hits and getting the final batter to pop-up to Todd in right. Vince also picked off another runner at 1st...

Devin led the Canes at the plate with 2 hits and two runs scored.

Hitting:

Devin Hurtado: 2-3, a double, 2 runs and 1 RBI

Todd Porter: 1-1 with a walk, 2 RBI and a run scored.

Vinnie Poole: 1-3 with 2 runs scored and 2 RBIs.

Jordan Barnum and CK Toribio both went 1-2 with walks and 2 runs scored each.

Kaya Lacey pulled 2 walks and scored once.

We only had 3 strikeouts... Our goal is TWO or less-

A brief reminder: Practice Thursdays, 5:30 at American.  Fridays 5:30 at American.

This weekend we play at Twin Creeks. First game is at 8 am. Please be there at 7. (Ouch)

We also Play Sunday at the same time.

Please remember to let me know if a player cannot make it to all games.

Delta dawgs 5, Canes 4.

Game two on Saturday against the Delta dawgs was a tough, well played and competitive ball game. Although we took the loss, it was something to build on. In the end, we went down 5-4 in a game that could have gone either way.

Devin pitched 4 solid innings, giving up 3 earned runs while allowing only 2 hits. He recorded 5 strikeouts. Daniel threw one inning allowing one hit and completed the inning by feeding a ground ball to Jack who turned a sweet 1-5-2 double play...

At the plate... Well, we have not been swinging- so we did not expect much...but don't tell Vin.

Vinnie was 2 for 2 with a walk, Jordan was 1 for 2 with a run scored.

Everyone else was 0-16 with 7 walks and 10 strikeouts... Glad we had some DEEE.

I have to send some love to Roman as he caught a solid game, was drilled in the face with a fastball and not only shook it off, but he took his base and stayed in the game. The next morning (his next at-bat) he drove the fourth pitch over the left fielder's head. I can't begin tell you how wonderful this is. If you don't know, if a kid gets hit in the face with a pitch- many times it will end any aspirations of playing baseball again; not because of the physical damage, but because of the psychological effect. Most kids would have a really tough time just getting back in the box....

Atta Boy, Rome.

Athletics 18, Canes 0. (Ouch)

I wondered if we would be a little rusty after rarely getting together for the past month... "Rusty" doesn't quite explain how we looked in the first game. In the end, It was ugly and we were sent home early. 

18-0.

Nuff said.

Rain out!

Due to rain, flooded and muddy fields, Our Tracy tournament has been cancelled. Enjoy your weekend.

See you Wednesday.

Ray Fosse

For those of you that might be in the Danville area Friday between 5 and 7pm (if we do not have practice), Ray Fosse will be at the Talkin' Baseball memorabilia dealership in Danville. My friend Ken Brison will have Ray as a guest as the former A's catcher will be signing autographs. Talkin' baseball will also be giving away a 12 ball set of autographed balls from the 2007 Oakland A's starting lineup and tickets to the A's - Giants exhibition game this year. Autographs are free with the purchase of a picture or baseball...

Outside of these parts, many fans remember Ray as the catcher that Pete Rose injured in a controversial collision at the plate in the 1970 All-Star game; but around here he is known for much, much more. Currently, Ray is a TV and radio announc

er for the Oakland A's. He was also a catcher for the 73' and 74' Oakland teams that won back to back to back World Championships. Mr. Fosse won a Gold Glove in 1970 and 1971. The link between the Ray and the Bay Area is deep in many ways. Not only did he play for the Oakland A's (as well as the Indians, the Mariners and

 Brewers) but he has a special tie to Fremont that he might not even know... He caught 

Dennis Eckersley's no-hitter on May 30th, 1977. As many of you know, Dennis Eckersley played his little league and high school ball in Fre

mont! Not only did the Washington High graduate Throw to Fosse in 77' as a member of the Cleveland Indians, but they were joined again when Fosse was the announcer and the "Eck" was the closer for the Athletics in the late 80's and 90's.