Friday, April 2, 2010

Back in Enschede


http://textowntigers.nl/new-site/evenementen/toernooien/mastenbroek/2010/playbyplay/hb/confstat.htm

It’s always strange to come back here to this small town on the Dutch-German border, 2 hours east of Almere. I played here in 2008, and really was the starting point for my Dutch experience for the last few years. Pitched a ton of innings as the starter, got to DH and led the league in batting average as well. Had some pretty bad injuries to my shoulder and rotator cuff. Learned a lot of Dutch. Had a serious Dutch girlfriend. And pitched so well against the competition, namely Almere, that I was brought back to Holland by them. Last year we played in Enschede twice, for the annual tournament one week before the season begins and again in June in the regular competition. This year we are back in Enschede for the Tex Town Tigers Mastoenbroek tournament as Almere comes every year but because of our promotion to the Head Class we won’t be facing them in the regular season. This is positive. Things didn’t end well particularly with TTT. At first, they asked me, practically begged me to come back for the 2009 season and also take on a more leadership-coaching position (I was pitching coach in 2008). Then after a month of being back in Detroit at law school, they cut-off communication and right before the end of the transfer period they wrote to me that they could get a better import. I wanted to come back, aside from having a girl there, most of the folks at TTT were great people, very open and much like a family. I enjoyed the guys on the team, we had success, and I really enjoyed training the youth players. Almere found out I was available and got in touch with me. When I went to transfer the management at TTT really bad mouthed me. Almere took me anyways, and much to the chagrin of TTT when their import coach and players didn’t end up turning up in February. They made one last ditch attempt to get me back then, but I was already signed, sealed delivered with Almere, so they asked my father, - an old school, American baseball coach to come over and help. His time there was short and not pleasant. The team was not ready to be be coached in a serious-disciplined manner and his demeanor is old-school and did not sit well with a lot of guys. They really didn’t take care of him well either… He has diabetes and he was not fed properly and they put a 55 year old man with two student age kids in a terrible house. I wasn’t happy about it. Last year everything was still fresh, and it was not going well when I came to town for the tournament. They ended up letting my dad go the day before and I really didn’t want to see or talk to anyone there. When we played them, I wanted to shove it up their --- yeah, that… I really was not happy with them and I took out my anger on the field both times I pitched. We won the pre-season tourney and swept the season series. I got a win against them, we promoted to the head class, I put a lot of that stuff behind me as a person and a player. Being back here, with the animosity sometimes still lingering it’s a bit strange no doubt. The field is small, the tournament is small, the town is small, everything is close together…everybody knows or has seen everybody here and it’s hard to avoid things-people-the past in Enschede. Mostly I can’t wait for this weekend to end. I hate exhibition games. I understand their necessity, but at 26, playing baseball all year ‘round, I’ve had enough game experience to not want to waste any more pitches on something that doesn’t count for anything. I understand the philosophy of practice like you play, but I think at a certain age you reach a point where you’ve practice enough to know what to expect. That doesn’t mean you stop learning new things in baseball or getting better, but in terms of how often you practice and the repetitions incurred, is not going to have some great effect. The way you get better at this age is mostly through mental and then if there needs to be a mechanical adjustment it’s just understanding how to implement it. Baseball is a game of adjustments, and the players that adjust the best and the quickest are the most successful. Now that this rant is almost over, it should be said we beat UVV, our nemesis from last year who finished in 2nd, I started and went 3 innings, threw 60 pitches, and only gave up an earned or two. My off speed was good and my fastball was located, I also hit a batter in the head with a slider who ducked into the strike zone. We won 11-5 or something to that effect. The second game we played TTT, it was good I didn’t pitch because I would have overextended myself, and with nothing left to prove to them, it’s not important. We started all our reserves pretty much and played a tough game against their import American pitcher. In the 2nd to last inning we gave up a 2-spot on a misjudged fly ball that was hit to the fence in center (which maybe stands a mere 340 feet away from home plate?) and 2 runs scored. TTT held on to the lead 4-2. Somewhere in the middle innings it seemed like our philosophy changed from just getting some guys different reps and looks to actually trying to go for the win. I think in these games you either go with one philosophy or the other, otherwise guys aren’t really sure… guys can get hurt or lose confidence depending on how they’re judged or treated. You play hard no matter what, but there’s a little extra in the tank that you hold off until it means something. Maybe that’s the wrong way to approach things, especially with younger teammates but I would rather be a 7:00 PM hitter than a 5:00 O’Clock.

Strange Dutch Experience of the Day:
While it was raining after the completion of the first day of games, the organizers of the tournament dropped a cow on the softball field and let it wander around the grass until it pooped on a piece of paper. The papers were bought throughout the day as a raffle, in which you wrote your name on it. You don’t see these kind of things everyday.

No comments: