Good Bye 2009

That's it. We've been done for a few days now. We lost game six to Xalapa. The little bit of time I have left out here I am going to take as vacation. I've been experiencing and seeing parts of this area that I haven't had the time to do before, hanging out with a family out here, running, eating, and hanging out with the fellas. We'll see what happens the next few days. We are supposed to get paid monday and hopefully I'll be back home before Thursday's big game. It was another awesome year of growth and opportunity down here in Mexico. My spanish got a little better, made some new friendships, and got better as a person and a player. I couldn't ask for more. Thanks for following and hopefully I'll be writing about my experiences down here in about a month or so, during the Mexican League. Who knows. Happy New Year and Much love to you all.

Full Tank

I feel like we are finally catching our breath. Before the start of yesterday's game we had practically 24 hours of rest which really allowed us to recharge our batteries. And it showed last night, easily winning the game 7-1, making the series 2-3. Going into yesterdays game we had to win three and Xalapa only needed one win to advance. It reminded me of the "Tiawanese Little League World Series".
This is the greatest game ever. I use to play it with my dad in the huge field next to our house when I was a kid. It went like this. My dad would hit me a ball, either a grounder or a pop up. Sometimes he would hit it hard. Sometimes he would hit it soft. Sometimes to my left and sometimes to my right. He would even occasionally hit it over my head. As soon as he hit it, he would start counting down from 10. "10, 9, 8 ,7, 6, 5, 4, 3, 2, 1," and if I made the play and threw it back to him in time it was considered an out. It took me three outs to score one run. Now the tricky part was if I made a mistake and didn't make it back to him in time the other team would score. So, it took me three correct plays to score a run and only one mistake for them to score. This is the same game I'm having to play with Xalapa. Thanks for preparing me so well Pop. haha.
We have off today, which will allow us to be even fresher going into tomorrow's game. It's do or die right now and I can feel us really digging deep to stay around. We are the better team in this series, but haven't had the juice to play like we can. I have good feelings about the next two games. We leave tonight for Xalapa and play tomorrow night. We'll be playing with a full tank tomorrow, it should be exciting.

A Much Needed Breather

It's been a while since I've had a chance to write about life or baseball. We finished off Mendoza and have advanced to the quarter finals against Xalapa. We started the series on Wednesday in Xalapa and lost 15-4. Then we turned around today and played a two o'clock game and lost 8-6. After playing Mendoza so hard and not getting a day off we had limited energy in these two games. Our pitching staff was shot and our hitters were tired. The good news is we have a day off tomorrow which will hopefull allow us to catch our breath and recover. This series is the best of seven with the next two here in Cordoba. When I get more energy I'll share more. Have a Merry Chirstmas and enjoy each other.

Rain Out!

We've been rained out the last three games and it's not looking too good today. Last night we watched AVATAR at the cine. It was a good time. Hopefully we'll get these playoffs going again. I hear everyone is out of school. Enjoy the holidays.

Playoff Dinner

Man! We just finished up an awesome pump up dinner before the start of the playoffs. The owners, manager, coaches, players and everyone involved in the team was present. After grubbin' on some ribs, chicken, lasagana, vegetables, fruit, and drinks we passed the mic around the table and everyone stood up and said a little something about themselves. It was a good experience. I felt like the team came together tonight, different than it has been in the past. Everyone had a little something special to add and afterwards we all celebrated when they told us each round we advance the salary goes up. If we win the championship we get a whole months extra pay. We'll see how well it works. We play Mendoza starting tomorrow. The series is best of five. I'll keep yall posted.

Can't Give Up

We got swept last series and won the first game last night against Veracruz. The series in San Andres was rough, we really didn't have much going for us, but last night we played much better. I figure the only way to go about the last part of this season is to play hard and give it all I got. I've really been trying to pick the team up. I just can't give up and I'm doing my best to help the team get up and play hard. The good thing about the playoffs is you never know what can happen. It's a whole new ball game. I was talking to Felix Jose yesterday and he said that it was better to be cold now than in the playoffs. He's so right. We're gonna keep fighting.
The playoffs are going to be interesting because of the six team bracket. Out of the six teams entering the playoffs, three will advance because they won their series and one one team will lose the first round and still advance to the next round. Haha! CRazY! As much as I would love to enjoy the holidays with everyone I gotta let everyone know I'm gonna give it my all and probably won't be seeing you guys for the holidays. Gotta go finish up these last two with Veracruz.

Christmas Miracle?

Mendoza. They always play us extra hard and dirty. The first two days, freezing. The third day, scorching. Always a challenging series.
Game one we tested out the new players and ended up coming back in the ninth down by four to win it 7-6. After the game I was thinking this was the push we needed.
Game two was hideous. Errors, injuries, bad pitching, and not much offense. I got smoked in the head with a grounder right above my temple and had to come out of the game. Both seasons down here I've gotten hurt when playing in Mendoza. Last year it was the ankle. I came out of the game and just took it easy.
Game three I didn't go to because of the blow to the head. Instead I went to probably the weakest doctor's visit of my life. He asked a few questions, took my blood pressure, weight, listened to my heart, then pushed on my head where I got hit, sat back down and started writing a prescription. No tests and I was out the door. I was expecting that kind of treatment. I got the prescription and rested in my room the rest of the day. When the team got back they told me a little about the game, it didn't sound too pretty.
So another series lost to Mendoza , putting us in third place for the second half. We have one more week of the regular season. We start with San Andres tomorrow, the best team in the league, and finish with Veracruz, probably the worst team in the league. Hopefully we can have a good week and build some momentum heading into the playoffs.
I am usually very optimistic about playoffs and championships, but through the years I have learned to be more realistic. As of now I don't see the team having that urge to fight for a championship. We don't seem very close, because of late additions and roster changes. We've been treated poorly by the ownership. And the holiday season is around the corner.
On one hand I am excited to think of being home for the holidays and ending another challenging season. On the other, I think of the awesome playoff spirit and atmosphere. Who knows what the playoffs will bring, maybe a Christmas with the family or maybe a Christmas Miracle.