Logan's grandma offered us a post season party at her bowling alley, Carousel Lanes in Story City. I am truly thankful for such a nice offer. Players and immediate family are invited to come, with free bowling and shoes. If you want something to drink or eat (like those tasty bowling alley/bar frozen pizzas) you will have to buy that on your own, but I certainly don't expect that with the bowling offer. So anyway food/drink is dutch, but the rest is on the house.
I realize it is the vacation season, and I doubt we can get all 14 guys there. But we will make best effort. So I have chosen Wednesday July 15 at 7PM at Carousel Lanes, on the west side of Story City.
So please reply if you can or cannot make that, and a tentative head count if you can. If we can only get a couple people, I will pick another day. But I know all the coaches kids can make it that day, so for now, we will make it Wednesday.
So again, please reply, with a yeah or nay.
Saturday, July 11, 2009
finally some time
I actually made a post about our last game, but I don't know what happened to it. Been on the go a lot here lately. But the family left me for the weekend, and I have the run of the house, so I can get around to typing again.
So I will give an abbreviated commentary about the last game. Super fun night with the big crowd, and playing under the lights, and all that. I talked to the Ames coach afterward, and they had a good time as well, obviously more fun for them by winning.
The big difference in the game was their outfield play. They did a great job of hitting the cutoff man with solid throws. He said they practiced that, and executed as well as they ever had. Stinks for us I guess.
Our 5th inning was a goodie. All of our 5 runs came with two outs. Kudos to the guys for not giving up. Taylor had a good night with the bat going 3-4, Jerald went 2-4 with a double and a dong, and Alex went 3-3.
Mick had a rough pitching start, but did his job catching 2 flies in right, right after being taken from the mound. Jerald and Andy did a good job of keeping Ames off balance.
As for the gang as a whole, this was a super bunch to be around. You don't think of it with 12 year old boys, but this is a very quiet bunch for the most part. They got along well, but weren't running their mouths and annoying the coaches, which is good.
It was a different team to run, with 14 guys on the team. They are used to being on teams with 10 or 11 kids, and getting a lot of playing time. Obviously they want to play, but I didn't see anybody having a big black cloud about it, affecting the rest of the team. As I told the guys, their days of being on teams with one or two players above what is on the field are about over, as they move into Jr High, and HS.
Because I like stats, here are some. We had a .339 team batting average, which is pretty good. The stats look a lot different than my regular season team. The batters walked and struck out a lot less. I equate that to better opponent pitching, and better batters on our part.
Our pitching wasn't the greatest. We had some good efforts mixed in there, but a couple of bad innings really did us in. I am not even considering or worrying about Marshalltown tho.
I also want to thank those of you that volunteered for various jobs, be it in the concession stand, doing book or pitch counts, umpiring, being TD, or anything else that I have currently forgotten. There is a lot of stuff to make this all fly in the short amount of time, and I couldn't do it all myself. I also want to thank my assistants, Doug and Dan. It is a good experience to work with different coaches, and I learned some stuff from them as well, and they are good guys to boot.
Have a good rest of the summer!
So I will give an abbreviated commentary about the last game. Super fun night with the big crowd, and playing under the lights, and all that. I talked to the Ames coach afterward, and they had a good time as well, obviously more fun for them by winning.
The big difference in the game was their outfield play. They did a great job of hitting the cutoff man with solid throws. He said they practiced that, and executed as well as they ever had. Stinks for us I guess.
Our 5th inning was a goodie. All of our 5 runs came with two outs. Kudos to the guys for not giving up. Taylor had a good night with the bat going 3-4, Jerald went 2-4 with a double and a dong, and Alex went 3-3.
Mick had a rough pitching start, but did his job catching 2 flies in right, right after being taken from the mound. Jerald and Andy did a good job of keeping Ames off balance.
As for the gang as a whole, this was a super bunch to be around. You don't think of it with 12 year old boys, but this is a very quiet bunch for the most part. They got along well, but weren't running their mouths and annoying the coaches, which is good.
It was a different team to run, with 14 guys on the team. They are used to being on teams with 10 or 11 kids, and getting a lot of playing time. Obviously they want to play, but I didn't see anybody having a big black cloud about it, affecting the rest of the team. As I told the guys, their days of being on teams with one or two players above what is on the field are about over, as they move into Jr High, and HS.
Because I like stats, here are some. We had a .339 team batting average, which is pretty good. The stats look a lot different than my regular season team. The batters walked and struck out a lot less. I equate that to better opponent pitching, and better batters on our part.
Our pitching wasn't the greatest. We had some good efforts mixed in there, but a couple of bad innings really did us in. I am not even considering or worrying about Marshalltown tho.
I also want to thank those of you that volunteered for various jobs, be it in the concession stand, doing book or pitch counts, umpiring, being TD, or anything else that I have currently forgotten. There is a lot of stuff to make this all fly in the short amount of time, and I couldn't do it all myself. I also want to thank my assistants, Doug and Dan. It is a good experience to work with different coaches, and I learned some stuff from them as well, and they are good guys to boot.
Have a good rest of the summer!
Wednesday, July 8, 2009
No commentary tonite
With the late game, and I have to go to work now, I am not gonna have time to comment on the game right now. But come back, I will do so tomorrow some time, and offer a wrap.
Also, we are going to have a year end party at Carousel Lanes in Story City, thanks to Logan's grandma. Not sure of the date, and I know we probably can't get everybody there because of vacation time, so stand by on that.
Also, we are going to have a year end party at Carousel Lanes in Story City, thanks to Logan's grandma. Not sure of the date, and I know we probably can't get everybody there because of vacation time, so stand by on that.
Tuesday, July 7, 2009
Well, not tonite
Despite the loss, that may have been our best played game of the tourney so far. That first inning was ugly--just a lot of unfortunate stuff for us. I thought Taylor was throwing well. There weren't many solid hits--2 in right field, 30 ft past first and about a foot fair. Then these little bloops just past our pitcher. Such is life.
Really the only thing I had a problem with tonite was our outfield play. We missed some cutoffs, and couldn't hold the batters back at first. Ankeny's outfielders did a pretty good job with that.
We also left too many runners on base tonite. Unlike last night, our 3, 4, 5 batters did not come through when given the chance. We had the bases loaded in the top of 6, but left them there. But I'm not picking on them, because we win as a team, and we lose as a team.
We brought 32 batters to the plate and struck out 8 times, walked 4, so that means we put 20 balls in play, 7 of them base hits.
Ankeny brought 28 batters to the plate, struck out twice, we surrendered 6 walks/hbp. So they put 20 balls in play, with 9 base hits.
So very even on the offensive side, but we left 9 guys on. They didn't have as many left on, partially because we had good defense getting them out on the bases. Alex had a nice throw down to pick off a runner at 3rd. And actually we had a caught stealing down there too.
Ozzie caught a ball in CF without running his face into anything, so that is a plus. One thing I thought our outfield was better with tonite was backing stuff up. In particular Carter, Logan, and Caleb were all moving into position to back stuff up. And Taylor and Jason did a good job from the 2nd inning on, allowing no more runs.
So tomorrow will be our last game, win or lose. 8PM STORY CITY. Come early and watch the 11s at 6PM. But if you can't please have your son there by 7:15. I expect minimal screwing around if they are there earlier than that. They can watch some baseball, cheer on their buddies, and then get loosened up.
If you can work in the concession stand for a little bit of the 11 game, that would be nice. I already have 2 volunteers.
Really the only thing I had a problem with tonite was our outfield play. We missed some cutoffs, and couldn't hold the batters back at first. Ankeny's outfielders did a pretty good job with that.
We also left too many runners on base tonite. Unlike last night, our 3, 4, 5 batters did not come through when given the chance. We had the bases loaded in the top of 6, but left them there. But I'm not picking on them, because we win as a team, and we lose as a team.
We brought 32 batters to the plate and struck out 8 times, walked 4, so that means we put 20 balls in play, 7 of them base hits.
Ankeny brought 28 batters to the plate, struck out twice, we surrendered 6 walks/hbp. So they put 20 balls in play, with 9 base hits.
So very even on the offensive side, but we left 9 guys on. They didn't have as many left on, partially because we had good defense getting them out on the bases. Alex had a nice throw down to pick off a runner at 3rd. And actually we had a caught stealing down there too.
Ozzie caught a ball in CF without running his face into anything, so that is a plus. One thing I thought our outfield was better with tonite was backing stuff up. In particular Carter, Logan, and Caleb were all moving into position to back stuff up. And Taylor and Jason did a good job from the 2nd inning on, allowing no more runs.
So tomorrow will be our last game, win or lose. 8PM STORY CITY. Come early and watch the 11s at 6PM. But if you can't please have your son there by 7:15. I expect minimal screwing around if they are there earlier than that. They can watch some baseball, cheer on their buddies, and then get loosened up.
If you can work in the concession stand for a little bit of the 11 game, that would be nice. I already have 2 volunteers.
Monday, July 6, 2009
Not to bed yet
And another thing. We only gave up 1 walk tonite. Awesome. Amazing how a team can go from 17 walks to 1 walk in one game. Hmmmmm. We were walked/hit 4 times, so their pitchers did a good job. I thought Austin did a good job behind the plate as umpire. The zone was an appropriate size, and it made for a better ball game than the atrocity the other day.
Our batting was nice too. We had 33 plate appearances (to their 34) and put the ball in play 22 times. That is a pretty good night at the plate. We struck out 7 times, we struck them out 9 times (all by Alex)
Our batting was nice too. We had 33 plate appearances (to their 34) and put the ball in play 22 times. That is a pretty good night at the plate. We struck out 7 times, we struck them out 9 times (all by Alex)
Couple other things
What an at bat of Mickey vs their player. 13 foul balls in that at bat. Glad to see Mick smiling the whole time. I liked Jer's diving stop at first. Nice spear. Taylor had a nice catch out in right on a well hit ball. Off to bed.
Grey or Bald, let me choose
What hairs I have left, are quickly going grey. Aye carumba, what a game. Where do I start? Well, let's start with Alex. Very good job of pitching. Of course he started out by giving up the dong. And then Ozzie immediately heard the bells. He put a nice dent in the sign too. Glad to see he was able to come back and play later in the game.
Mickey did a good job pitching tonite too. I know he gave up the lead, but we had 3 or 4 errors in that last inning. Flat out, Mick did his job, and the guys didn't help him out. I don't like physical errors, but I'm not gonna get mad about it. They are 12 years old, they will make physical errors. We didn't really have too much in mental errors. We had a couple balls thrown to the plate, that someone should have called them off, but that comes with practice as a team, and we haven't had a lot of that.
So on to batting. I did have confidence in that last inning, despite being down by two. I told the guys, these are the situations that legends are made. I don't know if they believed me, but with the top of the order coming up, I thought we had a better than 50-50 chance. And Taylor, Andy, Alex, Jerald, and JD all played a role in making those 3 runs happen in the bottom of the 6th.
JD had a great night at the plate with 2 singles, a double, and a walk. I really liked Logan's double to drive in 2(I think) in the 3rd. We batted 10 in the 3rd inning. Cody started us off with that goofy looking 2 strike bunt. He is a good bunter, but I don't remember one going up in the air like that. But good hustle got him on base. And then we went hit batter, single, double(Mason's great at bat, after being down 1-2 in the count, worked it full, and then finished off with the hit), then double, double walk.
So in the end, it was ugly, but I'll take it. I'm proud of the boys for not giving up. Off to Ankeny tomorrow night. I might post a map here later. You can get to one off the league website tho. Reminder to take the Elkhart exit, it's faster than going down to 1st St and fighting all that traffic. Be there at 5:15 if you can.
Let me know if you didn't get pics tonite, we'll get some to you. Let me know if you haven't already, if you can work in the concession stand for some of the 11 year old game on Wednesday. And again, we are now playing at Story City at 8PM on Wednesday.
Mickey did a good job pitching tonite too. I know he gave up the lead, but we had 3 or 4 errors in that last inning. Flat out, Mick did his job, and the guys didn't help him out. I don't like physical errors, but I'm not gonna get mad about it. They are 12 years old, they will make physical errors. We didn't really have too much in mental errors. We had a couple balls thrown to the plate, that someone should have called them off, but that comes with practice as a team, and we haven't had a lot of that.
So on to batting. I did have confidence in that last inning, despite being down by two. I told the guys, these are the situations that legends are made. I don't know if they believed me, but with the top of the order coming up, I thought we had a better than 50-50 chance. And Taylor, Andy, Alex, Jerald, and JD all played a role in making those 3 runs happen in the bottom of the 6th.
JD had a great night at the plate with 2 singles, a double, and a walk. I really liked Logan's double to drive in 2(I think) in the 3rd. We batted 10 in the 3rd inning. Cody started us off with that goofy looking 2 strike bunt. He is a good bunter, but I don't remember one going up in the air like that. But good hustle got him on base. And then we went hit batter, single, double(Mason's great at bat, after being down 1-2 in the count, worked it full, and then finished off with the hit), then double, double walk.
So in the end, it was ugly, but I'll take it. I'm proud of the boys for not giving up. Off to Ankeny tomorrow night. I might post a map here later. You can get to one off the league website tho. Reminder to take the Elkhart exit, it's faster than going down to 1st St and fighting all that traffic. Be there at 5:15 if you can.
Let me know if you didn't get pics tonite, we'll get some to you. Let me know if you haven't already, if you can work in the concession stand for some of the 11 year old game on Wednesday. And again, we are now playing at Story City at 8PM on Wednesday.
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