1. 0/0 Fast ball 75% of the time- Trying to get ahead, establish dominance
2. 1/0 Fast ball 85% of the time – Still trying to get ahead, trusting his defense
3. 2/0 Fast ball 95% of the time – trying to battle back into the count
4. 3/0 Fast Ball 100% of the time – Trying to establish something to build on
5. 0/1 Fastball/Curveball , 65% FB, 35% Off Speed –aim is to disrupt hitters timing
6. 1/1 Fastball/Slider 50/50 this pitch decides who is winning the battle (runner on-FB, no runner: off speed)
7. 2/1 Fastball/slider 50/50 if you’ve seen the fastball, expect offspeed (runner on-FB, no runner: off speed)
8. 3/1 Fastball 93% FB hitters count thinking fastball all the way
9. 0/2 Fastball 50/50 pitcher is looking for a cheap out, fastball low/away, or curveball/CU
10. 1/2 Fastball/Slider/Curveball 60/40 percentages are too close to call, protect outside
11. 2/2 Fastball/Slider/Curveball 30/70, no reason to throw you a FB unless you are way behind, if you haven’t fouled off a FB yet, expect one, if you have, think off speed
12. 3/2 Fastball 95% – he doesn’t want to walk you, so expect his best FB for a strike, the 2/2 pitch was a setup pitch for his FB if he showed you off speed at 2/2

As a youth league coach, it’s important to remember that your players shouldn’t have this in their head while at-bat. That’s just too much thinking. Instead, you should be aware of what an opposing pitcher is going to try to do to your hitters and have them generally prepared for what may be coming.

The ballpark is a three hour drive for us. My wife usually drives to the ballpark and I handle the late night / early morning drive back home. We grab a drink and snack at the half-way point, but don’t fill up. On Opening Day, hot dogs at the ballpark are the dinner of choice!

This year, our Astros played the Chicago Cubs. Apparently, Houston has a huge contigent of displaced Chicagians (?). For a group that has enjoyed very little success over the last 100 years, Cubs fans are a raucous bunch. You can take the Cubs fan out of Wrigley, but you can’t take Wrigley out of the Cubs fan. This trip was no exception and the Cubs fans surrounding us were in rare form. Who can blame them? They’ve got one of the best pitchers in the National League on the mound (Zambrano) and the first day of baseball is more exciting than holding hands with your best girl.

In the end, our team lost, but you would never have guessed it by the reaction from our kids!

I know what you’re thinking, “How in the hell can early Fall be the worst time of year?” In a way, you’re totally justified. There are a lot of great things about this time of year.

• The weather is just beginning to change in the Texas Hill Country. Cool breezes rustle the leaves and it’s finally OK to come out of the air conditioning.
• Halloween is in October, and it is, by far, my favorite holiday. I love candy, and what’s better than a bunch of kids dressed up and collecting as much as they can?
• New TV shows are on the air. Certain shows are beginning to have new episodes around this time. How fun!

None of those wonderful things outweighs the dread I feel for the end of the baseball season. Beginning in February, baseball is always in the background of my family’s life. We read about it together, we watch it together, and we listen to it on the radio.

We live and die with the Houston Astros. How important is baseball in our lives?

• When my oldest son was three years old, he recognized three people automatically when he saw them: President Bush, Craig Biggio, and Jeff Bagwell.
• At this same time, he could name every Astro and their number. He could go both ways with it, too. If you asked him a number, he could give you the player’s name and vice versa.
• When Billy Wagner was traded to the Philadelphia Phillies, I woke my then four year old son up to give him the news. He looked at me and said, “But Dad, he’s my favorite player!”
• My youngest son can perform similar tricks with the players and numbers of the Houston AAA farm club, the Round Rock Express.

So as the Astros play their final game of the 2008 season today, don’t ask me how I’m doing. I’m great today, but tomorrow is the beginning of the longest five months of the year.

Last night, Express third baseman Mark Saccomanno homered off the first pitch he saw in the Major Leagues!

How incredible is that? I saw this guy bat more than 50 times this year in AAA. Yelled, “Atta boy, Mark!” and passed him cash every time he hit a dinger at the Dell Diamond. Now he’s batting 1.000 in the big leagues!

There are so many feel-good parts to this story:

• Mark is a Houston native. He lives in Austin at the moment, but he grew up in Houston and went to Klein Forest High School before moving on to Baylor.
• Mark was originally passed over by the Astros as a call-up this September. In fact, until yesterday, he wasn’t even on the 40-man roster. Wiggy’s groin strain led to his call-up.
• Mark, 28, has been toiling in the Astros farm system for 6 years, including 2 at Round Rock.
• Mark’s travel itinerary got him to the ballpark too late for batting practice. As JD said, “proof that BP is overrated.”
• Express manager Dave Clark is also with the ballclub. He went down to the cages with Mark to help him loosen up. He told him to jump on the first fastball he saw. Boom!

Mark is the fourth Astro to homer in his first Major League plate appearance.

Way to go, Mark!

Autumn showed up with something new in tow: a Giant Halfwheeler ST. This is the craziest contraption I’ve ever seen, but our youngest son loves it. Basically, this thing attaches to my seat post and let’s me drag him behind while he pedals along and “helps.”

Here are some notes about the device:

• In our house, it only works on my bike. Autumn’s bike is designed in such a way that the bottom of the seat post is fairly low compared to the back tire. This causes the connecting post from the halfwheeler to drag on the rear tire.
• The halfwheeler attaches in such a way that there is a lot of left and right lean possible. Hopefully this is helping our son learn to balance on his own.
• The pedals on this actually work. It’s possible for the kid on the back to move the bike on his own.
• I now have a turn signal on my bike. Our son takes care of that for me.
• Apparently, our youngest son plans to race bikes or motorcycles. He throws himself into every turn with his knee down. This probably surprises no one that knows him.
• If your child has any size, expect to be thrown about a bit. I’m a fairly large man, but when 50+ pounds worth of son and halfwheeler shift left or right, I can feel it.

I would sincerely recommend this to anyone that is interested in doing a lot of biking with their kids. Our youngest son is too small to do much more than a mile in a day, but with the halfwheeler, we’ve easily done 15 miles on 3 separate trips.

What do you need to know?

• The guy has 20 home runs and is leading all National League outfielders in RBIs.
• He’s willing to participate in the Home Run Derby if he makes the team.
• He’s really funny.

So, I ask again, why are you poking around on my web site rather than voting for Carlos Lee? Get!

When I pulled it out, the back tire was flat. I filled it up and took off, but after the first mile it was flat once again. Luckily, I was able to get back to the house without any trouble.

This photo by JR Goleno pretty much sums up my feelings on the matter.

As of the 2008 season, Phil Garner was the 58th winningest manager in the game’s 140 year history. Although he has had more wins than 601 other managers, Phil Garner cannot really be considered a successful baseball manager. His .483 winning percentage means that he has lost more games than he has won (Sports Reference, 2008c). Despite his lack of long-term success, Garner managed the Houston Astros during the 2004 season when they won 36 of their last 46 games; an accomplishment unmatched since the New York Giants finished the 1951 season by going 35-8 (Ortiz, 2006, p. 89). This string of wins came shortly after Garner took over the club from the previous manager. After this fabulous run, Garner experienced only mediocre success and was relieved of his duties as the Houston Astros manager less than three seasons later (Sports Reference, 2008c).

Other managers experience on-going success throughout their career. Few managers exemplify this like Tony La Russa. Writing about La Russa’s explosive temper in his early days as a manager, George Will (1990) says that “the best balm is winning” (p. 30). And winning is exactly what Tony La Russa has done. He is the third winningest manager of all time, behind Connie Mack and John McGraw (Sports Reference, 2008a). Now in his 31st season, La Russa has only had to endure nine losing seasons (Sports Reference, 2008d). La Russa humbly claims that for him, “good fortune has been a constant teammate” (Bissinger, 2005, p. xxi). Despite La Russa’s self-effacement, it is difficult to believe that success over 4,475 games is merely the product of fate (Sports Reference, 2008d).

The job of a baseball field manager is to win games. Short-term success does not necessarily translate into long-term productivity. Even the most successful long-term managers, must deal with short-term failure. After all, even Tony La Russa has had nine losing seasons (Sports Reference, 2008d).

Bissinger, H. (2005). Three Nights in August. New York: Houghton Mifflin.

Ortiz, J., Jr. (2006). Houston Astros: Armed and Dangerous. Champaign, IL: Sports Publishing.

Sports Reference. (2008a). Manager Index. Retrieved April 29, 2008, from http://www.baseball-reference.com/managers/

Sports Reference. (2008b). Managerial Register. Retrieved April 29, 2008, from http://www.baseball-reference.com/managers/register.shtml

Sports Reference. (2008c). Phil Garner Manager Record. Retrieved April 29, 2008 from http://www.baseball-reference.com/managers/garneph01.shtml

Sports Reference. (2008d). Tony La Russa Manager Record. Retrieved April 29, 2008 from http://www.baseball-reference.com/managers/larusto01.shtml

Will, G. (1990). Men at Work: The Craft of Baseball. New York: Macmillan.

“hunter pence” world of warcraft

I don’t rank terribly high for that particular combination of keywords (second page as of 2007-12-02), but I’m cool with that.

This has me wondering something, though. Is there some rumor floating around that Houston Astros outfielder Hunter Pence plays World of Warcraft? The only MLB player I know of that was also an MMORPGer is Todd Pratt (Ultima Online). It goes without saying, I certainly hope he does.

Here’s another question — if Pence does play WoW, what class does he play? The obvious answer is Hunter, but I think he’s got a little Rogue in him.

If you know, please leave a comment!

If you’re just looking for great WoW Hunter blogs, try Big Red Kitty, Hynjoku, and Mania’s Arcanium.

By the way, the Hunter Pence photo above is by AP photographer Kathy Willens. I’m hoping to not get sued for using it.