Game 12 - Angels - Coach's Birthday

A combination of good pitching and some key outs led to a successful game 12 for the Red Sox last Thursday. Teddy has worked with Roberto on his delivery and the practice has payed off. Roberto pitched very well in the first two innings of the game, keeping the ball around the strike zone the entire time and striking out 4. Trevor returned to the lineup after nursing an injured knee for the past 3 games. Trevor was able to work one and a half innings striking out 3. Joe and Caio did a good job cleaning up the last inning and a half. Joe and Ben did a nice job catching and Ben came very close to throwing out a runner at second base. Keep trying guys, we will make an out on a catcher throwdown before the season is up.

Our hitting wasn't super, but Ian had another nice game at the plate with two hits and two RBI. Sean chipped in with a nice hit to drive in a run. The good statistic for our team was that we struck out only 5 times in 30 at-bats. The combination of the low number of hits and the low number of strikeouts indicates that there wasn't as much to hit in this game as in the previous game with the A's. As a result, we had a lot of walks. I don't think we let too many opportunities to hit the ball go by, but it is important that we stress to our kids to swing at balls near the strike zone. If it is between the shoulders and the knees and within two baseballs on either side of the plate we should be swinging.

It was nice to be with the kids coaching the team on my birthday. I really do enjoy being with our team and it was great way to spend my birthday. Thanks for the card and the ice-cream.

Game 11 - A's

Game 11 was our first game of 100 percent kid pitching (ie, no coaches). As expected there were quite a number of walks given up by each team (see stats below). Most kids at this level will struggle with accuracy from 43 feet. With pitch counts for each age group on the team, we quickly found out that it is possible to burn through one pitcher per inning. Last night we used Joe, Grant, William and Sean. Each of our kids showed great determination on the mound and progressively improved through their respective inning (more strikes than balls).

With a short line-up of only eight players most of those that showed up got to hit at least 3 times and everyone played every inning. I thought our kids seemed really excited to play last night and that was very fun to watch. I think the newness of the "walk" peaked their interest and the fact that it extended our rallys in some innings helped.

The thing I'm most proud of is our hitting in this game. For the first game all season the Red Sox outhit the opposing team. Although we did not outscore the A's we almost doubled their hit count. In addition our last at-bat was cut short by the time-limit ruling (see more on this later). Also, we only had 2 strikeouts the whole game, by far our lowest total of the season. We were really doing a nice job of putting the ball in play and hustling around the bases. Several people had hits, but Ian and Ben really hammered a couple that led to runs for our team. Good job guys.

Due to timing the A's were allowed to bat in the 4th inning until they reached the 5-run limit for the half inning. We did not get this luxury because time expired on the game just as we started to mount a rally. This rule seems unfair to the home team. To clarify this rule for the parents, because I did not understand the rule myself, here it is. "No inning shall start after 2 hours, and no pitch shall be thrown after 2 hours and 15 minutes". Also, a complete game consists of 4 innings and all attempts must be made to start the 4th inning to make a complete game as long as the inning starts before 2-hours has elapsed. What this means is that even if we finish the 3rd inning at 1:59, we must start the 4th inning and play for 1 minute. It also means that there is a hard stop at 2 hours and 15 minutes, regardless of the score of the game. I hope to be able to discuss this rule with the commissioner when I see her tomorrow night.

Next up is our game on Thursday against the Angels.We also have our RCLL Day at the Rivercats game on Sunday 5/4. We get to walk as a team on to the field as part of a pre-game parade. I'm really looking forward to spending some time at the game with the kids and their families. See you tomorrow night at 5:00 pm.