Day 3 in Germany

After arriving in Germany Saturday at 5 pm local time, we came home and I met the rest of the host family. we ate and talked about america and things like that. Then it was off to the clubhouse to meet the rest of the team and have a few beers to celebrate the beginning of the season and the arrival of the new coach. its a good thing they all speak english because i would have been completely lost and to be honest a bit bored. after drinking 4 beers, i was told i had to try the german whiskey...and we all know i cant deny whiskey. the conversation soon turned to women and Hamburg's Keets district and the prostitues that frequent the bars and strip clubs there. I was told that i would have to make a trip before i leave. they all told me about their trips to america and what they had seen and where they had been. Since this was my first time out of the country, i could only speak of the airport in Copenhagen and the few hours i had been in germany. at 1230 there was 4 of us left drinking at the clubhouse and since we needed to get up in 7 hours to play baseball, we decided to go home. the ride home in the milk truck...one of the guys on the team is the local pig farmer and milkman...is a bit hazy, but i woke up in my bedroom, a small room tucked back in the basement with a table, chair, closet, and queensized bed. there are also about 250 books in a set of bookshelves next to my bed. At first glance I thought it would be fun to start at one end of the bookcase and work my way to the other before I leave, but then i remembered how much i dont like reading...and they are all german texts so there went that idea. Sunday morning came around a lot ealier than desired and rolling out of bed reminded me of quite a few Spring weekends at DePauw. head spinning, trying to catch my balance, i put together my things and headed upstairs to the kitchen. Breakfast was waiting...sausage, eggs, rolls; a standard american breakfast by most standards, but i was in no shape to eat that much. I had half a roll with strawberry jelly and made a sausage biscuit for the road. I was also given 2 hardboiled eggs to take as well. SInce we are putting up a new backstop at our field, we had to travel to a neighboring town for our first preseason games. the pregame warm up was like most others id seen or been apart of, running at first, stretching, batting practice, then throwing while the other team is hitting. I was to start in right field, a familiar spot, though it felt a bit foreign due to the fact that i was so close to the infield. the fence is about 300 ft down the lines and there was a wind blowing in at the start of the game. that coupled with the fact the hitters are using wood calls for shallow play by the outfielders. not one bal was hit my direction all day but at the plate, in my first plate appreances since high school, I was 2-4 with a triple and 3 RBIs. we won the first game by a wide margin though an exact score was not kept since it was a "friendly" match. the 2nd team we played was exponentially better, though still nothing overpowering by any means. again i started in Right and hit 3rd in the lineup. the wind had changed direction, now blowing out to left at about 10 mph. the overconfident athlete part of me took over at that point and told me to drop and drive and put one into the VW on the other side of the leftfield fence. I ended this game 0-4 with 3 "just missed it"s on the infield and a swinging bunt back to the pitcher. I think its way to early in my comeback to even be thinking about hitting homeruns. From now on its hard the otherway...that is unless the wind is blowing out to left again, in which case i cant help myself. i also threw the last two innings of the day. 4Ks no hits, no walks. the gaolfing score would not have been good at all, threw way too many pitches in the 2nd inning- lots of deep counts. the arm felt decent, it took a long time to warm up and even then it was a bit tender. it was not until about 5 pitches into the 1st inning that i actually felt good. i realy thing i have messed somehting up, its hard for me to believe its still just sore from getting back in shape. oh well, in our league, a pitcher can only throw 3 innings per game. the most inings i could throw would be 6 (the last 3 innings of the first and the first 3 of the last) and if this first outting was any indication, i think i will dominate. time will tell though.

today, in about an hour (3:30) will be my first practice with the younger kids. its going to be a marathon day...330 to 9. i just hope i dont have to throw that much, i dont htink my arm can take it.

that is enough for today, we are watching married with children before practice. even in german this show awful.


A-ron