Mr. Baseball is the Star

The pressure is rising thanks to a fantastic article written in the local paper. Not only am i making headlines here in Dohren for my display of american drunken stupidity, I'm front page news (no joke) for my work with the Nenndorf students. The Saturday morning headline reads, "Mr. Baseball ist der Star" above a photo of me signing a tshirt for a group of girls. there is another picture on page 12, with the rest of the article, of me with a group of 4th graders. the article talks about me coming to Germany to play baseball and spotlights my work with the schools and how the kids "love having me there." I'm getting the article scanned so i can email it out and you can see for yourself how much of a stud I am--granted it wont be translated. Mom, dont worry, im sending an actual copy home. Maybe Dad can finally replace the stupid picture in the office of me striking out. I hate that damn picture.

yesterday we finally got the backstop completely put up and now Dohren Field is ready to host the home opener on April 19th. it was a long day of manuevering the tracker, raising and lowering the bucket, and Burger King Big King XXLs. I was tired despite the fact that i was the foreman of the job. I had no idea how the tracker worked anyway, so i stuck to something a little more up my alley, I made and maintained the fire. when we decided to call it a day, i rode home only to discover that i had forgotten my king that morning and no one was home. I checked the logical places like under the matt, potted plants, and i picked up and shook every rock looking for a key...nothing. So i decided to post up on the bench and take a nap. An hour passed before Antje and Hans Georg came home so i was well rested but my back hurt. Steak and sausage were on the menu last night and what a fine feast of meat it was. Germans know their meat, I cant deny that one.

when the cab came to take us to the bar, I couldnt help but be reminded of our cab ride in Indy on our way home from Hooters when we played Cash Cab except WE were asking our African driver all kinds of crazy questions. (he wasnt very good, we should have kicked him out but he was the only one in the car sober enough to drive) walking up to the bar i could see cowboy hats and boots sprinkled throughout the crowd outside. I know American Country Music isnt big in Germany so i was a bit confused about what was going on. Apparently someone was having a theme night inside which also explained the mechanical bull in the middle of the dancefloor. I thought seriously about trying it but decided that the last thing i need to do is get hurt 2 weeks before the season starts...or at least thats what i told everybody when they asked me why i wasnt doing it. (but that didnt stop me from critiquing everyones impression of Chris Ledoux-- a famous bareback bull rider turned country singer) As with Reipe, (the bar from last weekend) the Wild Farmers have a reputation at Kempen of being a bunch of guys that like to drink and stand next to the bar instead playing nicely with the other boys and girls. the drink of choice on last night was Korn and Coke, (korn is like vodka only not as strong) but the bartenders were making them so weak that I was just feeling hopped up on caffine and not drunk at all. looking back, that was probably for the best since we had games today. and despite the attire of many there, there was no country music to be heard, it was a mix of pop, hiphop and classic rock but that seemed to suit everyone just fine. All night i was bombarded with stares and long glances, and i couldnt figure out why, i just figured I stuck out like a sore thumb since i am American...either that or because im so damn good looking. (I think most people can tell right away that I'm not from around these parts and I cant figure out what it is about my appearance that makes it so easy to pick me out.) But on the car ride home, someone said something about me being Mr Baseball and a girl turned to me and goes, "thats why you look so familiar, I read your article today." so im guessing that is why everyone at the bar was staring at me. Granted, I was wearing a DePauw baseball jacket (from junior year) over a baseball shirt and a DPU baseball game hat, covered in dirt.

after a week off of games, we got back to friendly competition today against Elmshorn Alligators and the Seahawks of Seattle...ok actually i dont know where they are from but they did have a guy with long hair that looked a bit like TJ Whosyourmomma. I penciled in the lineup like this:
1 tiger SS
2 Sthulle 3B
3 Aaron CF
4 Rene DH
5 Igl 1B
6 Laser LF
7 Martin RF
8 Mikey 2B
9 Hasi C
P Thies

showing that the Jet may have lost a step or two but there are still some fireworks in these legs, I dropped a perfect bunt-for-a-hit down the third baseline in my first AB. 1 for 1. I laughed when they asked if i use sunglasses in the outfield, which must have upset the baseball gods because in the 2nd inning a pop fly was hit right at me and it went right in the sun...E8. I got glasses after that. in my 2nd at bat, i flew out to my counterpart in center, who too had trouble with the sun but managed to pluck the ball out of the sky for a not so easy out. 1-2. My 3rd trip to the dish was a successful one, i hit the first pitch i saw through the hole on the left side for an easy single. 2-3. I would come around to score our first run by going 1st to 3rd on a bloop hit by Rene and a sac by Laser. since these games dont count and we want to keep them moving, there is a 2 hour and one inning time limit. when our two hours were up, the game was tied at 2. Thies, who had thrown a gem of a game thus far...minus the 3rd inning when the Seahawks scored their 2 runs, was getting a bit tired and leaving the ball up a bit. After he let the leadoff man get on, I ran in from center, took the ball, shook his hand, and traded places with him. Time to put out the fire! Keep in mind I havent come straight from the outfield to the mound since high school and even then Rice at least told me an inning before to get loose and ready just in case. This was my first time on a mound all day and i was praying that my shoulder would hold up and that i wouldnt give up a bunch of runs because I wasnt ready and i was trying to be the hero. after quickly throwing 12 pitches to get a feel for the mound, i called time-in and held my breath. surprisingly enough, I struck out the first guy on 4 fastballs, the 2nd guy hit a slow comebacker and we werent able to turn it up the middle, and the 3rd batter i faced battled to a full count before striking out to end the threat. 8-9-1 was who we had up in our half of the last inning. The bottom of our lineup had faired pretty well today so i was optomistic that we could scratch a run across. Mike managed to get on, followed by Hasi who was the 1st out. Tiger drew a walk moving Mike into scoring position and Sthulle K'ed bringing up the 3rd man in the line-up. Coaching 3rd, i wasnt able to get in any practice swings or even put on my gloves before it was my turn at the plate. they were still using the same starting pitcher and I hadnt seen anything but fastballs all day...or maybe those were curveballs...either way i was confident digging in. Scanning the outfield, looking at the defensive alignment, i glanced at the 279 ft sign on the left field fence. I really wanted to end this in dramatic fashion and a bomb would pretty much solidify my new moniker. But thinking back to every other time i've TRIED to hit a HR and the dismal .000 batting avg that accompanies that effort, I refocused on hitting it hard to the right center gap that was wide open...with 2 outs and in scoring position, Mikey would be off with the crack of the bat anyway, all we needed was a base hit. the first pitch sailed high for ball one. the second was an overcompensation low and away for ball two. The third pitch came in thigh high on the inner half...not the pitch for my approach of taking it the other way, but thats MY pitch. Every homerun ive ever hit (7 lifetime) has been thigh high on the inner half... I cant let MY pitch go by, Im running out of opportunities to add to my HR total as it is. muscles pulling and firing on all cyliders, like i've done so many times throughout my life, i throw the bat head through the zone....and pull my back out because my hands just arent as fast as they used to be and i failed miserably at hitting MY pitch...haha just kidding! Do you really think Mr. Baseball misses HIS pitch?! the answer is no. I connected and sent the ball soaring. out of the box, i watched as the leather-wrapped twine grew smaller and smaller towards left center; i watched as the centerfielder turned and gave chase; and i watched as the ball i crushed landed 20 ft short of the the 360 ft sign...what the hell??? I hit a ball like that and it only goes 340 ft to the power alley. yeah yeah Mike scored and we won the game but I was astounded. that same hit with a metal bat flies out of the park, and i know it from the moment it leaves the bat. thats about as solidly as i could have hit it and i cant even put it on the warning track? looks like ill be hitting for avg and not power this season. i was 3-4 for the game and i felt damn good at the plate. i'm comfortable up there again, im seeing the ball well and jumping on good pitches when i get them. this strategy of going hard the other way is paying off and i wish i would have discovered it and stuck to it in high school. but hindsight is 20/20 and chicks dug the long ball in high school, I mean i guess they still do, but i've come to learn they also like the guy that gets his uniform dirty because he plays every day.

during the season, I will be closing the first game and starting the 2nd game of a double header since i can only throw 3 innings per game. So today was my test to see how my arm responds to a 30 minute break between innings. coming back on the mound for the 2nd game, i felt a bit tired. my pitches werent as sharp as in the 1st game but i figured it was just because i hadnt really gotten completely loose throwing in the outfield. the 2 innings i threw were shakey at best, lots of deep counts and a couple walks. I'm really going to have to work on this in the next 2 weeks at practice if its going to be my role during the season. I took myself out after my pitching performance, so i only got one at bat and it was a sac so i was 0-0 with an RBI.

on the way home from the field we stopped at Subway...they dont have my beloved seafood here. I was a little disappointed but I went with the Italian BMT as a substitute. I also found out (since this is my first time out of America) that Sam L Jackson wasnt bullshitting..they really do call it a Royale with cheese.


Mr. Baseball