Tally up another month.

God, I've only been here for 3 months?! I feel like i've done so much and its not even half over yet. I've played hockey for the first time in my life, i've driven on the world famous Autobahns, I've seen an unmarried German man turn 30...this is one i recommend to everyone, I've seen the biggest bonefire of my life, I watched 80, 000 Germans sing in perfect english to every song of AC/DC, all this scattered between practicing and playing baseball. The people I have met have been nothing short of amazing. Everyone I've met has been awesome and I hope to keep in contact with them after this dream is over.

Saturday morning we left the sporthouse at 8:30 heading for Paderborn, a team we split with in our first weekend of the season. It was a 2 hour drive in which i slept most of the way. Hasi was explaining traffic signs while i was awake so i will be prepared if i ever need to take his car. and there are a ton of them. it seems like every 100 meters there is a new sign or the same sign that i saw just 100 meters ago. its a little excessive i think, but driving is easy, i've done it twice already, flying through traffic at 160 kmph (thats 100 mph). the only real difference is that you CAN'T pass on the right, its forbidden here. but other than that, you point the car in the direction you want to go and hit the gas.

The 1st game started with Thies on the mound for us against a kid named Dennis for them. Laser wasnt there that day so pitching was a bit thin and the game plan was to take Thies out in the 5th and let Tony close it out so Thies could pitch in the 2nd game too. Jan got hurt in our last double header, while sliding into 3rd a guy jumped to get the ball and landed on his hand, so we're werent sure how well he could pitch either. This is a risky strategy at best and one that relies on everything else going perfectly...which is hardly ever the case in baseball. looking back, always easier to do, i should have left Thies in. He was rolling, and in order to sweep, you have to win the first one first. its really one of those decisions that a coach will be 2nd guessed for if it doesnt work, and look at as a genius if it does work. lets just say we came out on the wrong side of this one. we lost on a walk off hit in the bottom of the 7th. 8-7

the 2nd game started out about the same, we jumped out to a lead, then they came back, we scored another and they rebuttled. the wind was out of our sails when they got up by 2. that is until the 6th inning when we got a walk, strung a few hits together and were able to tie it up at 7. we were suddenly back in the game, but it was too little too late as they scored 2 in their half of the 6th. we werent able to pull it out in the top of the 7th and lost by a score of 9-7.

this is what we in the Biz like to call a slump, a skid. we've lost our last 4 games and have dropped to 4th in the league at 8-6. now any knowledgable baseball mind knows that hard practices and building the team morale is a reasonable option to get this train back on track, but the more astute and superstitious of the group knows that the ONLY way to right the ship is a Slump Buster. (in order keep my PG-13 rating on this blog I will leave it at that, but just know that this is the option that seems to work the best in these situations, and it takes a real team player to get the job done)

After getting back to Dohren, everyone was in better spirits, no pun intended, because in Germany it is legal to drink in the car. and Saturday night was Caribbean Night in Heidenau. this is a big festival/carnival night with a huge tent with music and drinks and dancing - the works. there were 1 euro well drinks, 2 euro beers and 4 euro long drinks...quite the deals to say the least. we danced and sang the night away...right next to the huge speakers...my ears are still ringing actually. we rode our bikes home at 5:30 only to wake up at 10 for our 2nd man's games against the Berlin Roadrunners.

the RoadRunners are a team we played earlier in the year, the big black spanish speaking men swinging metal bats, who swept us at their place. the first game went about the same way as the last two times we played them. well kind of, it was 8-4 going into the 7th and with 2 men on and 2 outs, the Russian kid who was pitching for them hung a 2-2 slider right on the inner half of the plate and the batter tattooed it down the left field line. He knew it 2 steps out of the box and began the slow trot around the bases. that batter is now the GUY from the Democratic Republic of the Congo. and that makes 5 HRs on the season. I'm closing in on doubling my lifetime total. but we were unable to keep the rally alive and lost 8-7.

in the 3rd inning of the 2nd game, the clouds rolled in and the thunder and lightening caused the game to be called on account of weather. which is a good thing because the score at that point was 8-5. i'm not sure if the game will start from the 4th inning or if we sill start it from scratch but regardless they have to drive 4 hours just to play 1 game later in the year.

i threw 1 inning on sunday against the Roadrunners, and as i was warming up, i felt great, pumping strikes with all my pitches and looking like the A-Ron of old...that is until the 1st batter stepping in the box. My first pitch made it to the backstop...in the air. the 2nd was a 56' fastball in the dirt of the lefty batter's box. it was not a good outting for me to say the least. the only pitch i could throw for a strike was a curveball. now earlier in the season i was struggling to find my arm slot and now the problem seems to be a 4 inch gap between my ears. I dont know what it was about coming to Germany that made me tense up and become a puss about throwing a strike, but for some reason i just have a mental block about doing it. Its really starting to piss me off to be honest because i know thats the reason i was brought over here, and i'm doing a pretty shitty job of it. and having a guy that can come in and close out a game is exactly what this team needs. Basically i'm the rick ankiel of the 2nd Bundesliga in Germany.

A-Ron

as soon as i got home and sat down after sunday's games, i was out like a light and didnt wake up until noon on monday.