After a brief writing hiatus, I am reporting live from a vehicle heading due west that will not stop until it reaches the water.  A few teammates are taking advantage of our second to last off day of the young season by going to the beach.  This off day comes at the conclusion of a nine-game home stand that has us one game behind the divisional leader and in the thick of the playoff race.

The last week has brought a lot of activity to Quakesville.  Last week’s off day was spent at Angels Stadium for Quakes Day.  This publicity stunt had us signing autographs outside the stadium for about 40 minutes, getting announced on the field prior to game time, and watching the Angels beat the Tampa Bay Rays from a left field suite.  This was my first time to Angels Stadium and it was an interesting experience.

Joining the team during the home stand was Torii Hunter, the Angels centerfielder rehabbing an adductor strain prior to his return to the Big League club in Baltimore.  Hunter is very personable and could always be found talking to players, discussing the finer points of our craft.  He had a lot of enthusiasm and knowledge to offer the team and everyone benefited from his time with us.  After arriving on Wednesday, he played centerfield that night, was the designated hitter on Thursday, and player centerfield again on Saturday.

Hunter’s absence on Friday was attributed to discomfort felt from a stomach virus that has been plaguing several players (myself included), coaches, and rovers.  Four players, two coaches, and two rovers got sick Thursday night, with some others getting pulled down over the past few days.  In what was first thought to be food poisoning, this bug has left everyone extremely uncomfortable and made eating undesirable.  I was scratched from my start on Saturday after feeling lightheaded and dizzy, but was felt well enough to grit it out during Sunday’s finale against Lake Elsinore.

Apparently after my performance on Sunday, I might want to consider getting sick more often as it seems to boost my power numbers.  In what is a rare feat for me, I hit my first homerun in two years to give us a 3-2 lead in the bottom of the seventh inning.  This was my third professional homerun (which was erroneously reported by the Quakes as my first–I know the two I previously hit were two years ago in Orem, but they still count), and ironically, the second one I hit feeling under the weather.  During the game of my first homerun, our entire team was dealing with food poisoning from a tainted postgame meal the previous night.  Somehow, I got my first that day (on a hit and run, good thing I protected the runner). 

I know that it is said when you are sick you are not trying to do as much because you are not feeling up to it, and there may be some truth in that.  However, I would rather figure out how to do this when I am feeling healthy because only hitting homeruns when sick is a little absurd.  Regardless of my offensive output, the most important thing is that we pulled out a 5-2 victory and my work behind the plate aided the pitching staff overcome nine walks by scattering four hits and limiting the Storm to only one hit in 13 runners-in-scoring-position opportunities.  This was definitely not the best performance of the season, but it was a win nonetheless.  And this late in the season, you will take wins any way you can get them.

Well not quite that far north.  We just wrapped up a three-game set in San Jose against the San Francisco Giants’ affiliate and are set to head home.  A trip that started at 6:00am Friday morning will end around the same time three days later.  Fortunately, we have our second off-day of the second half tomorrow, an off-day nearly three weeks since our last.

We had a tough series with the first-half Northern Division Champions and current second-half leaders, dropping the first two games 3-1 and 2-0.  However, we were able to salvage game three, winning an extended affair 5-3 in 11 innings (extra innings always seem to be a feature of getaway days).

This was only our second overnight road trip of the season, since most of the season is played within our division and all of those games are commuters.  Some players like the lack of overnighters that are common in most of the other minor leagues; I, on the other hand, do not like this format.  I see commuters as a lot of time wasted on buses, and I find the changes in scenery from overnight trips to be good from time to time.

You can learn about your teammates during road trips.  You find out who has the least patience while waiting 15 minutes for your dinner check when the server has to split it into eleven separate tabs.  You find out who insists on eating toast with grape jelly, and being appalled when the only choices are strawberry and blackberry jam, and orange marmalade.  But, aside from these nuances, you also find out who has your back and who will pick you up when you are down.

As players, we spend half the year away from our friends and family (for those that still reside around their families) to pursue our profession and chase a dream.  When we take the field every night, we are a family and we are all each other has that given night.  When we battle the other team, the umpires, and the fans, we can only turn to each other for guidance and support.  This long season is starting to near its homestretch, and we are banding together to grind our way through the completion of another season.

We enter another weekend in this long season where you can be at least guaranteed one thing: the home Sunday game with a 5:00 p.m. start.  During the first-half of the season, the Quakes home games on Sundays are at 2:00 (as are most teams’).  Once the All-Star break is reached, these game times shift to 5:00.  This change is said to be of the player’s benefit, so that we do not have to play during the hottest part of the day during the summer months.

While this is a good thought in theory, there are more drawbacks for the players of playing at 5:00 than 2:00, and it seems to me that this is being primarily done to keep the fans out of the heat.  For a 2:00 game, pitchers and catchers do the bullpens and drills around noon, and batting practice does not usually consist of anything more than hitting in the cage.  Assuming a three-hour game, that puts us outside for five hours, from noon to 5:00.  For a 5:00 game, bullpens will usually be around 3:00, with pre-game hitting, again, being done in the cages (Sundays are generally considered “fundays”: pitchers do not have their daily running, and position players do not go through early work and batting practice).  Again, assuming a three-hour game, we are outside for five hours, from 3:00 to 8:00.

So, it seems that we are outside during the “cooler” part of the day.  For those of you who have frequented Southern California, you know that the summer temperature at 5:00 is not much different than the temperature at 2:00.  The sun does not leave the field until close to 7:00 anyway; if this is the case, then maybe the last hour of the 5:00 game starts to cool down a bit.

The sun setting poses, perhaps, the most aggravating thing about playing an early evening game: shadows.  Squaring up a round ball with a round bat is already the toughest sport in the world, having to hit a ball that “flashes” from light to dark (and sometimes back to light depending on the stadium), or hit a dark ball off a bright batter’s eye only makes things more challenging.  These ill-lighting effects make it very difficult to pick up rotation, and makes not only hitting more difficult, but catching as well.  The worst situation is when the pitcher is in the sun and home plate is in the shadows, with the next bad situation occurring when the field and batter’s eye is bright, with the pitcher and home plate in the shadows.

For the usual 7:00 start, shadows have covered the mound and home plate, eliminating the worst shadows, with the sun getting off the field by 8:00, at the latest.  During the 5:00 games, the shadows start creeping onto the field a little after 6:00 (but cover a good portion of the fans in the stands from the start, hence why I feel that saying the later start time is a benefit to the players is a copout).

Another drawback of the later Sunday games is the loss of the “mini-off days” that the early Sunday games provide.  Finishing a Sunday game by 5:00 gives us the entire evening to ourselves, giving us the chance to catch a blow, especially during long streaks of consecutive games.  The Sunday games that end closer to 8:00 do not give us much more time off than regular 7:00 games that end at 10:00 do.

These later start times were not done on Sundays in the Midwest League, and the humidity there during the summer can make it feel just as hot as anywhere in Southern California.  I find it rare that things are ever done for the players’ best interests.  While there are those that will say we have no right to complain because we are playing a game for a profession, there are plenty of injustices that go on to highlight the importance of some small positives we achieve along the way.  But, the professional athlete’s livelihood ultimately lies with the support of fans.  For this reason, we must be willing to make sacrifices to cater to their wishes, for without their attendance, there are no professional sports. 

Over the past three days, I have taken four flights, spanning three states and two time zones, a journey not uncommon for a Minor League baseball player.  On Monday, I was called up to our Triple-A affiliate in Salt Lake City to provide support to a team riddled with injuries.  Ironically, this was a year and one day after I was called up to Rancho last season.

After returning home from our Sunday night game in Lake Elsinore, I packed up some things to make a 7:40am flight on Monday.  This flight to Salt Lake City was via San Jose and Reno, making a two-hour trip an all-morning adventure.  After arriving in Salt Lake around 1:00pm, I took a taxi to the stadium.  From here, I went about a typical day at the field, with the usual early work, bullpens, batting practice, and game against the Tacoma Rainiers (Seattle Mariners affiliate).  The next two days were business as usual, with the series finale against Tacoma Tuesday night, and the series opener against the Colorado Springs Sky Sox (Colorado Rockies affiliate) Wednesday.

 While I did not play in any of the games, it was a good experience to see the level of competition at the Triple-A level.  Players are always being told that on a given play, we could play at any level, including the Major Leagues.  However, the separating factor between the upper and lower levels is consistency.  This improved consistency was the biggest difference I noticed between Rancho and Salt Lake from a baseball perspective; games were cleaner and more strikes were thrown.  Then again, this is not to say that the teams were perfect.  I still saw a pitcher cut a ball off from the outfield on a throw home and redirect it to third (when he should have been backing up the catcher), as well as an outfield misplay a fly ball that led to a triple and a subsequent throwing error that allowed the runner to score.  Management is more hands-off at this level, with instruction being done subtly as the situation calls for it.

From a non-baseball perspective, I noticed that things ran a lot more smoothly in Salt Lake, from pre-game activities to in-between inning entertainment to clubhouse administration.  However, this is to be expected from a Triple-A organization that has a lot more support staff and additional resources compared to its Single-A counterparts.  There are some additional perks to being in Salt Lake, aside from the increased efficiencies:  salary is increased (which is still nothing to live off of), spikes are cleaned each night, and a wider variety of food is available (including a catered post-game spread).  The trade-off is higher clubhouse dues ($12 per day versus the $4 per day in Rancho).

Overall, this call-up, while short, was beneficial and has given me another perspective on the journey through the minor leagues.  It was finally nice to be one of the younger guys on the team instead of one of the oldest.  In fact, I warmed up Rudy Seanez last night, a relief pitcher who was drafted when I was two-years-old and has played for nine Major League teams spanning 17 seasons (a call-up to the Angels would make this his tenth team in 18 seasons).  If he pitches next season, his professional career will have spanned four decades (there’s a feat in itself).  Talking with Rudy offered me a unique glimpse into what playing is like for someone has been doing it for that long.  It turns out that he has many of the same concerns as the younger players do: staying healthy and concerns about job security.

I wrap this up prior to landing in Ontario (bordering city of Rancho; fortunately this was a direct flight) with some final thoughts.  This brief reprieve provided me with valuable insight into what makes players successful at the upper levels and has given me the chance to work alongside players a step away from the Big Leagues.  The randomness of this opportunity is further support that you never know where this game will take you and what opportunities will present themselves.  All you can do is complete the preparation so that when the opportunity strikes, you are ready to seize the moment and succeed.

After the opening series against Lancaster and amid the Manny Ramirez fiasco in Inland Empire, we are now underway in the second half of the season.  During the first-half of the season, we were 30-40, and finished fourth place in the southern division.  High Desert won the division and clinched the first of three divisional playoff spots, with the two remaining spots up for grabs in the second half.

The two-half playoff system is used in the Minor Leagues until the Triple-A level, where it is the traditional full-season divisional and wild card winners that make the postseason.  The two-half systems grants the divisional winner of each half a playoff spot, with the best overall record for both halves of the remaining three teams getting the wild card spot.  In the event that one team wins both halves, the second place team for the second half would get the spot reserved for the second half winner.

This playoff system is a fair system, and gives teams the opportunity to “right the ship” if they suffered a dismal first-half of the season.  The rewards presented by this system are twofold.  First, teams that may have suffered from the challenge of dealing with very fluid rosters have a fresh chance during the second-half to make a playoff push.  Second, the wild card entrant rewards the team that was not able to win a half, but played consistently well enough throughout the entire season to make the playoffs.

The quirk this system presents in the 10-team California League is that six teams qualify for the playoffs, an odd number for playoff matchups.  To combat this issue, the first-half winner is given a “bye” in the first round, with the other two teams squaring off to play them in the divisional championship series.

Despite our first-half struggles, we are still in a position with three other teams to get one of the two playoff spots up for grabs this half.  With better consistency and improved effort, we can get back to an even keel and make our playoff run.

The weather in southern California has been seemingly off lately, with the sun appearing today for what seems like the first time in two weeks, and the evenings holding a chill in the air.  Tonight’s game at High Desert brought more of the same weather oddities, with rain forcing the early completion of the game in the sixth inning.

We entered the bottom of the sixth clinging to a 1-0 lead when it started drizzling.  After a lead-off single, the rain started falling harder, and a blooper fell into left field.  After a few pitches to the third batter of the inning, it was pouring by this point and the players were pulled off the field.  A tarp was put on the mound, but that was the only area covered since there is no tarp at High Desert.  About ten minutes into the delay, some groundskeepers were bringing out what looked like a tarp for home plate.  However, this cover was merely amounted to some old, vinyl advertisement banners.  Rain is so infrequent there is no need for one.  However, the tarp’s absence tonight made a 20-minute rainstorm the demise of the field and sealed High Desert’s loss.

What made tonight comical was that we were delayed an hour and ten minutes before the game was called.  There was a copious amount of water left on the field from the 20 minute downpour, and we thought that it was going to be called almost immediately.  Standing water was prominent all over the infield, especially in the home plate area, which was not “covered” until ten minutes after it had been pouring. 

While the umpires and managers discussed the prospects of completing the game, some groundskeepers had started pushing the water around the dirt with squeegees.  Needless to say, this was about as effective as throwing deck chairs off the Titanic.  Some rakes finally showed up, and with the enlisted help of some fans, efforts were made to try raking some dry, sandy dirt in with the soaked infield.  In these situations, a substance called Turface is generally used to mix in with wet dirt to make it more playable.  Turface is known for its highly absorbent properties, and can quickly dry out a field.  Unfortunately, High Desert did not have any of this either.  After about a half hour of watching these futile efforts, the game was called and we were victorious with the 1-0 win.

When young kids are involved, you can never be too sure of what is going to happen.  Last night, during signing of the National Anthem, a young boy, about six or seven years of age, made it one of the most comic anthems anyone has ever seen.

This was a typical firework night National Anthem production, which involves the well-timed firing of red flares to depict the “rocket’s red glare,” and has fireworks exploding for “the bombs bursting in air.”  Players from local youth leagues usually accompany the starters onto the field and stand with them for the performance of The Anthem. 

During the performance, the red flares went off on cue, followed by the explosive fireworks, which tend to be very loud.  Apparently, the young boy with our shortstop was caught off-guard and got spooked, because he promptly started screaming, crying, and ran off the field.  When this happened, the players on the field and those in the stands fought hard to keep it together through the rest of The Anthem.  At the conclusion of The Anthem, there was a loud wave of laughter that came over the stadium, everyone trying to comprehend what just happened.

It is understandable that a young boy could have been frightened by these loud fireworks, but for him to run off the field screaming can only be described as comical.  Kids are resilient and can brush off a lot.  Hopefully, he will look back on this one day and do what an entire stadium did at his expense: laugh.

Today is the fourth off day of the season and the last before the conclusion of the first-half.  I have no extravagant plans for the day besides laundry and catching up on emails and phone calls.  We finish up with 13 games going into the All-Star break, hopefully accomplishing the task of building some positive momentum going into the second-half.

Lately, in collaboration with fellow catcher Brian Walker, we have noticed some interesting trends in our games with regard to pitching and pitch calling.  It what we have dubbed the “Law of The League,” there seems to be a high preponderance of 1-1 off-speed pitches.  It what seems to be occurring about 60 or 70 percent of the time, whenever a count goes to one ball and one strike, a change-up or breaking ball is thrown.  Why does this happen?  1-1 is a neutral count, meaning that if the pitcher throws a strike on the next pitch, he will have the advantage in the 1-2 count; but, if he throws a ball, being behind with a 2-1 count is not a terrible place to be and still leaves some doubt in a hitter’s mind as to what the 2-1 pitch will be.  So, hitters being more apt to swing with one strike on them to avoid a two-strike count makes pitchers (and catchers) more likely to throw something off-speed, knowing that if they throw it for a ball, they are still in an okay position being behind 2-1.  This increased propensity to swing, however, makes the off-speed pitch the natural choice, with the goal of achieving a swing and miss, or even better, a weak ground ball or pop out.

The 1-1 off-speed pitch is almost a guarantee if the 1-1 count was reached with two fastballs.  The reasoning behind this is that showing a hitter the same pitch for a third time in a row is discouraged due to his enhanced timing and movement recognition having already seen the pitch twice.  This is why pitchers are always trying to change the hitter’s eye level and give them a different “look.”

There are some casual trends to mention that have been noticed this season and over the years of baseball observation:

3-0, 3-1 mystery.  Pitchers can seem to throw a 3-0 pitch down the middle, after wildly throwing three balls, but will then miss badly with the 3-1 pitch.  Perhaps pitchers are a little more relaxed 3-0, as many hitters are not comfortable swinging in this count and often take the pitch.  However, they get all worked up 3-1 and have the same problems they were having throwing the first three balls of the at-bat. 

2-out melt-downs.  After two quick outs in an inning, it seems that pitchers will often go 2-0 to the next batter, usually ending up in a walk or base hit.  Then, a few batters later, a multi-run inning has been created after the inning began with much promise.  Two quick outs can trigger too much of a relaxed feeling, and this little bit of let-up is enough to get behind hitters and lead to these dismal innings.

After two weeks of rehabbing, my shoulder has healed (enough) and I have been activated from the disabled list.  I was lucky to have escaped a more serious injury (again), and only missed 14 games during my time on the shelf.  I have done my best to maintain game shape conditioning through running and sprint workouts, and doing as many drills as I could these past few days of being allowed to perform full activity.

With my activation, C.J. Bressoud, who took my place on the roster, will be sent back to Arizona to clear room on the roster for me.  I played with C.J. last year in Cedar Rapids and he is a good guy.  His departure will be disappointing after getting reacquainted with him these past two weeks, but this game always leaves you wondering when someone will be making another appearance as your teammate.

Returning from the off day, we begin a crucial stretch of the first-half, which will most likely be an indicator of how we will fare in the overall playoff picture this season.  The two-half season system enables teams that struggled during the first half to have an opportunity to make the playoffs by winning the second-half, or earn the wild card spot by having the best overall record of divisional teams not yet in the playoffs.  So, if our efforts during these final 25 days of the half do not result in a first-half championship, it can set us up nicely for a playoff run in the second-half.

Whoever said aging has its perks might have been a baseball player.  In the top of the first inning tonight, Vladimir Guerrero was batting with a runner at first and one out.  On a one-two pitch, Guerrero tried to check his swing, an attempt that was an apparent failure to everyone in the ballpark, except the umpires.  After a moment of hesitation, the plate umpire appealed to the base umpire for help.  What happened next can only be described as comical.  The base umpire took a long pause, made a quick motion as if he was going to call him out on the swing, then smiled coyly and made the safe signal.  The subsequent chuckles in our dugout and the smiles on the faces of Guerrero and both coaching staffs all seemed to say “the young California League umpires couldn’t find it them to punch out a Major Leaguer.”

Sure, everyone wanted to see Guerrero take another swing, but it was still pretty obvious he swung.  The only defense for the umpires arose from the deficient two-umpire system (in place until the triple-A level), which makes any check swing appeals with any runners on base a tossup as far as correctness goes (due to the base umpire’s placement behind the pitcher’s mound).  Two pitches later, Guerrero dribbled a single through the right side, and we went on to score two runs in the first inning.  This is just another story to add to the growing list of conversational material to be used at future cocktail parties.