Porcaro is back for his second season of blogging, while King gets his first crack at it. Today is their fourth entry for the 2013 season.
***********************************************
Well, that weekend didn’t go as we planned. Obviously. But, we gotta learn from it and move on. We learned a lot about our team this weekend and what it’s going to take to get to the next level.
The first two games we simply didn’t execute at all. In game one, another sluggish start killed us and we weren’t able to get anything going on the offensive side. Game two was similar. We started off kind of slow and were forced to come from behind again. To be honest though, our at bats were pretty good in game two, we just couldn’t get a two-out hit. Miami, on the other hand, was able to put innings together and get timely hits. That was the difference.
Game three we finally got out to a good start. EK did a great job of coming out and setting the tone on the mound. We were playing really solid ball for five innings. Executing pitches, playing small ball, making plays. But in the sixth, we gave up a big inning and that ended up killing us. That’s the one thing we really emphasize is limiting the big innings. We've got to avoid crooked numbers. One thing I am happy about though, is that we didn’t just fold at the end of the game down three runs. We battled against their closer and got the tying run to third base.
It’s time to get back in the gym and prepare for a cold weekend in Evansville. Got to find a way to get better this week.
That’s enough baseball talk and now I can tell you guys about what we did in Miami while we weren’t on the field. The weather was nothing short of perfect. Low 80’s and sunny pretty much all day, doesn’t get much better than that. The majority of us found a way to get down to South Beach and check out the Atlantic Ocean. A lot of us enjoyed getting burnt in our short time at the beach. That didn’t feel too good the rest of the weekend.
Doesn’t that beach look so much better than the white stuff we’re getting???
On Saturday, I checked out Marlins Park with the Peake’s and Koenig’s. We ended up taking a tour and got a behind the scenes look at the stadium, if you want to call it that. From the outside it felt more like a museum than a baseball stadium. On the inside, there is a lot of distractions, almost too much going on to be honest. I see why during the game much of the seats aren’t full. It’s because there is so many other things you can do during the game. There are all these bars, nightclubs and other attractions. There are TV’s everywhere you walk, so it’s not like you’re missing the game. They even had them in the bathrooms.
Once again, thanks to all the family and friends that came down. You guys travel well! Thanks to everyone back home who followed along. Stay with us!
Paco thoughts… One of the funniest moments of the trip was on Thursday night at Chipotle. We finished eating and were lingering around a palm tree debating whether we could climb up it or not. Yea, we have conversations like that. Then we realized a gazillion ants were on the ground getting all over our shoes. Guys freaked out and were running away. Then here comes Mitch Ghelfi and in a high-pitched voice he yells at the ants “Scram, get outta here!” Ok, I guess you had to be there but it was hilarious and gave us a good laugh. Another funny moment was during the game on Saturday night. In between the first inning we ran out onto the field to warm up. Pat Wilson, our first baseman, was approaching first base where, at the cut of the grass, he tripped and fell right on his face. SNIPER!!! I saw the whole thing and couldn’t help but laugh. The best part about it was the whole Miami dugout saw and gave it to Patty. They’re lucky they didn’t learn who KO Pat was… Sitting in between two strangers on a plane is really uncomfortable… It gets even more awkward when you have the flinch of your life while your taking a nap.
Here’s a photo from last weekend. Looks like Scotty forgot what team he coaches…
Time to catch up on homework, sleep, laundry and a bunch of other things before this day ends… Here’s EK...
As every week, I would like to start out by thanking all the family and friends who made the trip to Miami to support us. We really do appreciate all the support we get when weekends don’t go our way.
This weekend didn’t go as planned, but we learned a lot. We didn’t execute at-bats or pitches when we really needed too, which resulted in us losing games. One of the biggest things our team should have learned this weekend is how good we really are. Our ability and talent truly is there and we just need to find that inner edge to ourselves to allow us to make that extra-effort play. We have all the tools to compete with any team out there. With a little more practice and trust in our teammates, weekends will be a little more fun and exciting because we will come out winning the series.
This upcoming weekend is going to be a test to see how we can overcome some adversity. For one, we will be coming off of a series where we really didn’t play to our level, and then to go to Indiana where the weather isn’t going to be inviting. Evansville is going to be in the mid 30’s all weekend and that isn’t always the best, but it’s something we need to look past. Conference is slowly approaching and we need to be settled into our roles in order to succeed.
On a better note, it was great to get out of the cold and get into the nice warm sun. With the games being a little spread out, many of the guys got to experience the beach while other just stayed back and hung out by the pool. One of the greatest times of this weekend was the bus trip to Midway Airport in Chicago. Seeing that the entire team made the trip, we decided it be fun to have the freshmen go to the front of the bus and do interviews over the microphone. Each guy had to say their full name, where they are from and something interesting about themselves. But, after those were answered the floor was open. Questions were flying in every direction and there wasn’t ever a dull moment.
Personally my favorite of the trip was redshirt freshman Jonathan Nick and, for that, he fell victim to the first player introduction/embarrassment. Jon is a redshirt freshman right-handed pitcher who came from West Bend West High school. He wears number 29 on the field and, I tell you one thing, the kids got jokes. If you want to get a good laugh just hang around Long Jon Silver or JNip. Just a couple of nicknames we have assigned him. While Jon was upfront of the bus he calmly answered the questions honestly, but we all had something we wanted him to do. One Christmas Eve, Jon performed a "Single Ladies" dancing performance with his family so we had him do so on the bus.
If you would like to view his performance go to this URL … things start to get really interesting around the 1:00 minute mark: YOUTUBE LINK
Each week from now on, Paco and I will be selecting a player to sit down and ask a couple questions. Some interviews may be pretty interesting, so stay updated if you want to find some deep secrets.
To keep you updated on Mrs. Blohowiak I was talking to Greg on the progress this weekend and the news keeps getting better. For those who didn’t read the blog last week, she is in the hospital with TENS. She is slowly recovering and getting stronger each day. With high hopes there is a chance that she could leave the hospital sometime this week and return home. Please keep her in your thoughts and prayers in hopes that she recovers fast and stays healthy. <3
Hope to see you all in Evansville and make sure to bring your winter gear. Go Panthers!
No comments:
Post a Comment