As per Brian's comment, I will walk you through my at bats of the first game. We ended up losing 19-10, the majority reason being that everyone on the field committed at least one error each. It was a good effort all around and despite the score there were definitely some good things to take away from the game.
I read once that really good MLB hitters could recount not only all their at bats of the day, but each pitch thrown to them. It will be easy to do that for this game as I only saw a handful. I'm going into this season with an attitude of aggressiveness at the plate, as too many of my strikeouts came from trying to work the count. The result of that was not swinging at many pitches that I should of. So far, it seems to be working.
1st AB First pitch I saw was a fastball right down the middle, so I swung accordingly. With a solid crack of the bat I shot it into right field -- right at the fielder. One and done.
2nd AB New pitcher on the hill, a real fireballer. I was leading off the inning so it would be wise for me to take a few pitches for my teammates to see what he threw. Luckily the first two were fastballs outside the zone (one low, one high and outside). I showed bunt on the 2-0 pitch to try and distract him, and it may or may not have worked as I had to back away from a tight fastball for ball 3. Taking 3-0, I let the fastball go right through the zone before getting yet another fastball for ball four, slightly inside -- walk. I was left stranded on first base when the next three batters proceeded to strike out.
3rd AB Another new pitcher, this one of a slightly lower speed (we were down 17-4 at this point). The first pitch was a fastball right down the middle which I fouled off into the net protecting the fans behind the first base dugout. The next pitch was a curveball which I wasn't planning on swinging at until I saw it break to the outside part of the plate. I served it into right field, dropping it right between the center and right fielders. As I rounded first base I noticed that neither of them had picked the ball up, so I continued running into second, beating the throw back into the infield.
4th AB The batter ahead of me had just reached on an error, when the third baseman dropped an infield popup. Same pitcher, and I noticed that the right fielder was shaded slightly toward center, and the center fielder was shaded slightly toward right -- they were on to me. First pitch I saw was a fastball slightly outside/middle of the plate, and I cut into it. I saw the ball go screaming over the first baseman's head, fair down the right field line. With the right fielder shaded slightly towards center, I thought that I had a sure triple. Sprinting right out of the batter's box, I rounded first and second and was about to start slowing up towards third base when the third base coach starting waving his arms in a circular motion -- he wanted me to go home. I dug into my reserve energy and rounded third base -- except I missed the bag completely. I contemplated about stopping, but at that point I thought, "screw it; when else was I going to have a chance for a home run? Hopefully nobody saw it." I looked towards the field to try and pick up where the ball was to see if I would need to slide or not, and saw it trickling towards the third baseman. I crossed home plate for my first career home run. There was no throw over to third for an appeal.
Shout outs go to Brian and G, who came out and showed some support. Despite it also being his birthday I'm going to take half of G's credit away though, as he left moments before my HR because he was "getting cold".
Next game: Sun. June 14th, 9AM @ Chief Sealth H.S.
HR: D Shin (1); 2B: M Piper (1); D Shin (1);
I read once that really good MLB hitters could recount not only all their at bats of the day, but each pitch thrown to them. It will be easy to do that for this game as I only saw a handful. I'm going into this season with an attitude of aggressiveness at the plate, as too many of my strikeouts came from trying to work the count. The result of that was not swinging at many pitches that I should of. So far, it seems to be working.
1st AB First pitch I saw was a fastball right down the middle, so I swung accordingly. With a solid crack of the bat I shot it into right field -- right at the fielder. One and done.
2nd AB New pitcher on the hill, a real fireballer. I was leading off the inning so it would be wise for me to take a few pitches for my teammates to see what he threw. Luckily the first two were fastballs outside the zone (one low, one high and outside). I showed bunt on the 2-0 pitch to try and distract him, and it may or may not have worked as I had to back away from a tight fastball for ball 3. Taking 3-0, I let the fastball go right through the zone before getting yet another fastball for ball four, slightly inside -- walk. I was left stranded on first base when the next three batters proceeded to strike out.
3rd AB Another new pitcher, this one of a slightly lower speed (we were down 17-4 at this point). The first pitch was a fastball right down the middle which I fouled off into the net protecting the fans behind the first base dugout. The next pitch was a curveball which I wasn't planning on swinging at until I saw it break to the outside part of the plate. I served it into right field, dropping it right between the center and right fielders. As I rounded first base I noticed that neither of them had picked the ball up, so I continued running into second, beating the throw back into the infield.
4th AB The batter ahead of me had just reached on an error, when the third baseman dropped an infield popup. Same pitcher, and I noticed that the right fielder was shaded slightly toward center, and the center fielder was shaded slightly toward right -- they were on to me. First pitch I saw was a fastball slightly outside/middle of the plate, and I cut into it. I saw the ball go screaming over the first baseman's head, fair down the right field line. With the right fielder shaded slightly towards center, I thought that I had a sure triple. Sprinting right out of the batter's box, I rounded first and second and was about to start slowing up towards third base when the third base coach starting waving his arms in a circular motion -- he wanted me to go home. I dug into my reserve energy and rounded third base -- except I missed the bag completely. I contemplated about stopping, but at that point I thought, "screw it; when else was I going to have a chance for a home run? Hopefully nobody saw it." I looked towards the field to try and pick up where the ball was to see if I would need to slide or not, and saw it trickling towards the third baseman. I crossed home plate for my first career home run. There was no throw over to third for an appeal.
Shout outs go to Brian and G, who came out and showed some support. Despite it also being his birthday I'm going to take half of G's credit away though, as he left moments before my HR because he was "getting cold".
Next game: Sun. June 14th, 9AM @ Chief Sealth H.S.
| Batters | AB | R | H | RBI | BB | K | AVG |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| M. Piper | 5 | 1 | 3 | 1 | 0 | 1 | 0.600 |
| I. Hoyos | 4 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 1 | 0.000 |
| R. Davidson | 3 | 0 | 1 | 2 | 0 | 1 | 0.333 |
| S. Adams | 3 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 0 | 0.000 |
| E. Meyer | 4 | 1 | 2 | 2 | 0 | 1 | 0.500 |
| C. Ortiz | 4 | 2 | 2 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0.500 |
| D. Shin | 3 | 2 | 2 | 2 | 1 | 0 | 0.667 |
| K. Jones | 4 | 1 | 1 | 1 | 0 | 2 | 0.250 |
| D. Mertens | 4 | 1 | 2 | 2 | 0 | 1 | 0.500 |
| J. Osnaya | 2 | 0 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 0.500 |
| K. Bentzoni | 3 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 1 | 0.000 |
| Totals | 39 | 10 | 14 | 10 | 4 | 9 |
HR: D Shin (1); 2B: M Piper (1); D Shin (1);
| Pitchers | IP | H | R | ER | BB | K | ERA |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| J. Osnaya | 5.0 | 0 | 17 | 0 | 6 | 3 | 0.00 |
| C. Ortiz | 2.0 | 0 | 2 | 0 | 3 | 1 | 0.00 |
| Totals | 7.0 | 0 | 19 | 0 | 9 | 4 |
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