Welcome To The Grind

Week two is now over but its just the beginning of the daily grind that is called extended spring training. Monday was a pretty uneventful day because I was staying back while the players whom were playing that day traveled to the Pirates. Don't tell management but these are my favorite days. Staying back and getting my work done avoiding the long bus ride. I'm probably putting a jinx on myself because we are traveling to the Pirates tomorrow, but I digress. Monday was a easy day. I showed up early to the complex around seven to run workout and eat. It was two days before my appearance so my workout was a light lower body. Stretched is usually around 9:30 a.m. where we stretch, run agility, throw, previous game meetings, team defense, batting practice, and finally conditioning. That is pretty much the everyday schedule. The only thing that changes is my workouts, bullpen days, and conditioning.

Tuesday was a busy day for me. Of course I had the usual schedule of practice. However, we were home that day against the Pirates so I watched the game. The way our game(s) schedule works is that when we play home, the next game will be away against the same team and vice verse. Though we only play three teams: Yankees, Phillies, and Pirates. So you can kind of see why its called a grind. Things can get repetitious at times but I'm here to improve my game and work on my curve ball and slider, which has improved drastically. So back to why Tuesday was a big day. Kristina (@missflorida11) had invited me to Mr. and Miss USF in Tampa. We were leaving immediately after the Pirates game was over. She picked me up from the complex and we drove to USF to meet up with her friends who had competed against her or were still competing for Miss Florida. The winner of Miss USF would be able to compete in the 2012 Miss Florida in St Petersburg on July 8. There were some good contestants but there could only be one winner. The winners name was Bionqua  and she sang, "my heart will go on," and it was legit. It was probably why she won the event. After the event was over Kristina, her friend and I went to Applebees for dinner because it was the only thing open so late. After dinner we all called it a night and I went back to Dunedin because I had practice bright and early in the morning and then away game against the Yankees at one.

Kristina and I at University of South Florida

Nothing really happened Wednesday because that is just the life I life right now so I'm going to fast forward to my two innings on Thursday against the Yankees. This was the most chill day we had because of a wildfire on the Florida/Georgia border. We got "smoked" out of practice that morning and our home game against the Yankees. There was a lot of smoke outside, so much I could hardly breathe just cleaning my shoes outside the clubhouse. We couldn't play at home so we traveled to Tampa. I was not scheduled to start. I was third in line and I would get my two innings of work, condition and I was done for the day. When it was my turn to start warming up I headed down to the bullpen. I stretched and started light tossing until our guy went out for his last inning. I headed out to the mound for the bottom of the fourth (we were still home though we were in Tampa). The first batter laid a bunt down the third base line so I quickly ran over, caught the ball on its second bounce then planted and fired to first base getting the runner by a step. One pitch one out, so far so good. The second batter I was ahead right away with a zero balls two strike count. Despite being ahead I then threw four balls in a row walking the batter. Now I am in the stretch for the first time in 2012. Ball one, ball two. Damn I think to myself as I quickly fall behind.

Next pitch was a fastball for a strike on outside corner. I got the batter to ground out on a sinker down and in, but it was only a fielders choice as the batter was safe at first. However, the runner would quickly head back to dugout because I picked him off. For all you non baseball lingo people, getting picked off means the pitcher throws the ball to the base being occupied but the runner can not get back in time and is tagged out. My second and final inning went well. I got two ground outs and a fly out. My final line was 2 innings, 0 hits, 0 runs, 1 walk, and 0 strikeouts. That was pretty much the right up of my week. Friday I ran and practiced. Saturday I threw a bullpen. I did however get assigned ball boy for the Phillies game Friday so that was pretty exciting! My next appearance is Wednesday in which I will pitch three innings. I will probably write next on Sunday to give my weekly update so stay tuned! Sorry I can't right everyday. There is only so much I can write and a lot of the same thing happens everyday so I wouldn't want to bore you. I will try and get some baseball pictures or some uniform pictures up if I can. Can't really carry your phone outside to a game.