8 Crazy Nights

WARNING: This post is littered with pictures that don't necessarily go along with the actual post.  Don't be confused, there is no abstract, artsy meaning to any of them, I just figured I'd throw some pictures from home at you.
 

This is part of my office, with all my
new Victus bats lined up nicely.

Having knocked off the Vancouver Canadians in game one of our three game series we were feeling pretty good about ourselves considering we had won six straight.  We arrived at the ballpark early for defensive work with Jonesy (he travels to all the minor league clubs to work with infielders) and were ready to continue our quest to win every game the rest of the year.  When you've won six straight losing just doesn't seem real, it isn't tangible.  It's very easy to fall into the "we haven't played our best baseball, but we're winning" trap. It's a killer because for however long the team is caught in it, there is a passive sort of "it will happen" mentality.  We knew we weren't hitting the ball our best.  We knew our pitching and defense could be a little better.  But winning games can create a sense of entitlement and that's never a good thing.  I don't think we fell into it, but the middle game would not be so kind to us, as we lost it late snapping our streak. We just didn't have it that night.  When we hit balls hard they were right at guys. When we didn't, they made plays.

We finished the series up with a victory, as five Ems pitchers combined to shut down the Canadians offense, allowing just one run on six hits.  This game was also the first time I got to face my former teammate Marcus Stroman. Stro, as everyone calls him, was the Jays 1st round pick, and with good reason.  He's small, but he pitches in the mid to upper 90's with a slider that apparently appears out of mid air.  That's at least how it looked to me, as he sawed me off on a good slider down in the zone.  It appeared as if the ball came out of nowhere and just started breaking down and it toward my foot. 

A failed attempt at getting the "Ems Win" sign on the video board.
After every Emeralds win the logo flashes on the board until the
ballpark closes.

From the first base concourse fans can see Autzen Stadium,
the home of Oregon Ducks football.  Its also in view from
my spot on the field at second base.

I had officially had my first series without a hit.  0 for 10.  This is normally the beginning of the end for me, when I get into double digits without a hit I normally lose my mind.  "Why can't I hit, will I ever get another hit, why am I here, what am I doing wrong, am I doing anything right?"  My mind usually questions itself at about a thousand miles an hour, but this time it was different.  We had won two out of three, and I felt good about my swing, my at bats and my approach.  I really felt okay about it.  Not that I was satisfied walking out of that series hitting .185 but I knew I was going to be okay.

On the concourse is the Starting Line Up so fans keeping
score and can access to the lineup.  Murph dropped me to
the 4 hole for the Boise series. Guess it worked?

As if on cue the Boise Hawks (Cubs) rolled in to town for a five game series.  I decided (not really, it actually just happened) to get the "0fer" bug out of me.  I went 3 for 4 with an rbi bumping the ol average up to a respectable .258.  Spring, if you happen to read this part I know, batting average is Satan, but it's nice to get some hits after an 0 for 10 when you have 8 hard contacts for outs.  I bought in to the couple of adjustments our hitting coach Chris Prieto showed me, and I began using a new mental approach that Murph suggested.  "Just be boring, your going to be a guy who bores people to death by hitting a thousand line drives over the SS and 2B heads.  Just be boring!"  Well, I certainly was boring, knocking 3 line drives between the two middle infielders and having a good start to the series.

We were winning again, and as has become the tradition we let Genison Reyes one of our Dominican born pitchers man the Ipod station post game.  Reyes is known for his Latin flair and we all have a great time eating dinner, playing cards and occasionally dancing, in spite of the fact that the only word any of us have picked up in any of the songs he plays is "problema," it also happens to be the only word in that particular song.

I guess our home park is pretty nice?

In the next three games we've managed to start playing really good baseball.  We hit when we need to, we've thrown strikes and we've made plays.  I've really enjoyed the fact that much like my Seawolves teams at Stony Brook, we don't lose very often here.  It's a hell of a lot more fun winning every night than it is to lose ever, even just one game.  So as we head out to the ballpark for team pictures today at 2:30 p.m. we'll be preparing to put the finishing touches on what could be another 5 game sweep, and 6 game winning streak. I can only hope that this time the team can keep it going in Vancouver.