WilcoxZone

So we’ve managed to go entirely too long without an update on our site. Post mid-year / start of school resolution is to start blogging again. It’s insane that I’ve not done a better job posting stuff on here. Why bother having a web-site if you don’t post? Rhetorical question… Grayson finished out the regular baseball season a little after school let out. It was my third season to coach but I’m still feeling a little new at it all… especially since this is the third set of rules to play under. This season was machine pitch. Basically, we finished at right around .500, which was pretty respectable. Obviously, everyone would like to win it all, get the big championship trophy, but we had some amazing games nonetheless and it was great to see kids really begin to “get it”. After Grayson managed to secure his spot on the 2nd all-star team from our town, we left for a quick vacation before we joined in with the all-star practices and tournaments. First, we headed to Dauphin Island, where Becky’s parents totally hooked us up for a week at a great condo that was large enough for our neighbor’s, the Fox’s, to join us. A week at the beach and out on the boat was seriously much needed to shake off the final hints of pneumonia that I was still struggling with. I think the kids and the adults all had a great time as we really got to kick back and deal with only a few simple questions like which movie we would watch that night or how many packages of peanut M&M’s the adults would eat or how long we’d stay out in the sun that day. Grayson’s blood sugar’s were amazingly good considering the chaotic conditions (swimming and salt water and strange eating schedules) and we only had one difficult high Bg episode to deal with. Once we left the beach we headed over to Gainesville to see my parents for a few days. While we were there, we took the trek down to St. Pete to see a Tampa Bay Rays game. This was Grayson’s first MLB game plus his first time to see the inside of a domed baseball stadium. At the end of the game, all the kids were able to run the bases so again, he’s done something I’ve never done… run the bases on a MLB field. At the end of the visit, Becky and I celebrated our 13th anniversary. Once we were all back, it was time for all-star team baseball (or travel baseball). Fortunately, our first tournament (for Grayson at least) was in Bethesda (just a few miles from here). Our basic schedule was the same throughout the summer — 2 - 3 hours of practice every night of the week with a few days off here and there and then essentially one tournament a month. The July and August tournaments for us were both in Kentucky. Unfortunately, our team never won a tournament game, but there certainly some nice highlights. And as a whole, Grayson did well. He really wanted to play and he tried extremely hard. He was one of the youngest on the team (and smallest) so it was just hard because he had plenty of work to do to try to play at the higher level of travel baseball. And while I’d say his hitting somewhat declined over the summer, his throwing and catching have continued to improve. And the best part is that he’s still excited about playing more baseball coming up in a few weeks when we start our Fall rec league season. For that, he’s going to be one of the older, more experienced players and I think he’s anxious to get to step up and help lead the team. Mixed in with all this baseball stuff, Grayson’s managed to make trips to at least 3 different water parks in the area where he managed to prove just how daring he was willing to be on some of the slides that in past years he’d have never been able to do both because of swimming skill and also height. This only partly makes up for the lack of the “slide pool” back in Georgia that he so dearly loved. Fortunately, his memory of that is fading. But speaking of memories, we managed a quick trip to Georgia as well where we were able to meet up with the Maxwell’s, or almost all of them. I think we were all shocked to see how much Julia and Lauren had grown up. It had been too long since we’d last seen them. We’re sure hoping it won’t be that long again before seeing them next. Also while in the ATL, we went to a Brave’s game where I managed to get us some seriously vertigo inducing seats. We were so high up that I couldn’t judge a homer from an infield popup and worse was that I did experience about 5 minutes where I was completely dizzy and couldn’t have left the place unless someone had carried me out. Fortunately, that passed and we had a good enough time that Grayson asked if we could go to a Brave’s game again someday. I said “yes” but also reminded him that there were 28 other MLB parks left to go to. At a rate of 2 per year, we’re only(wink) 14 years away from seeing them all. After our last tournament in Kentucky, Becky’s parents and our nephew, Nick, came to visit and to celebrate Becky’s birthday. We all had a nice time and it really was a great way to cap off the summer or at least the end of the summer-break. I say that because the severe heat will likely come back for a few more weeks this year. Fortunately, this has been rather mild compared to last summer. Whew! That was a mini-newletter. From now on, I’ve got to do better about posting regularly!

It was bound to happen sometime, and for my intrepid team, it was last night amid the sleet, cutting wind, and unusually cold temperatures. I was unusually effective in my pre-game speech as well, invoking the challenge of the weather and the game as a defining moment kind of question, “Are you tough enough? Do you have what it takes?” Okay, so I’ve read too much John Eldredge… but the kids responded and played some exceptional defense to really help secure the win, 2 to 1.

It was one of those rare moments where position assignments and placement all seemed to work together really well. Of course, I could continue on about how perfect it was. It wasn’t. There were some flaws, some coaching mistakes, some kids not listening, all that, but as a whole, they really played well, I am really proud of them as a team because that’s what it looked like — a team. I’ll admit, I’m a little less stressed now that I have the one win out of the way. I’d also be lying if I didn’t tell you that I’d like to have a winning record. I don’t think that’s going to happen without more hits. If we can start hitting, I think we’ll stay in games, otherwise, our defense is only going to get us so far.

The new season is about to kick off with our first game either Saturday or Monday (depending on the weather), speaking of weather, just back in early March, we had a real treat as you can you see from the picture. It was the first time in my life (especially growing up in Florida) that I’ve had a baseball practice snowed out. Oddly enough, we were able to practice on that once snow-covered field a little over a day later because it melted so fast.

The updates have been, well, obviously long overdue. Work has been absolutely crazy lately, and we’ve all just stayed so busy. I’ve just been dreading writing this first post for the longest time. It’s pretty sad. So I’ve got a list of things to blog about. Now it’s up to me to get them written and posted. For now, I’ve got an email to send out to parents about today’s baseball practice getting cancelled tonight (this time due to rain).

We really did have a Merry Christmas. Santa did great… bringing Grayson his beloved Nintendo DS and we had a house full of family to share the holiday with as Becky’s parents, our niece and nephew and Becky’s brother all joined in for the fun and much feasting on some seriously good food. I mention the food, because Becky’s dad (Dee) grilled us a Turkey as one of many excellent dishes.

As for the New Year, it would have been a lot better had the Gators managed to win their bowl game, but I’ll just have to live with that. Other than that, it’s been awesome spending time with our neighbors again, and getting so off schedule that it’s been hard to go to work again this week. Keep watching for more updates soon. Until then, you can enjoy our entire Christmas Photo Album. Thanks to David Hobby at Strobist.com for the Christmas Day gameplan for my strobe setup for taking pictures. The pictures from the morning are with the popup flash (yuck) but most of the others are with the dual strobe setup recommended by David. Again, lovin’ the strobes.

Okay, I’ve now got the site a bit more updated.  There are pictures in the pictures section and the docs section now has every Christmas newsletter (except 1997’s until I manage to find it).  Eventually, I’ll get the official picture(s) that went with each year’s letter on there as well.  And of course the other news is the seriously updated theme/style that is nearing the point of being complete.  I still have the “about” stuff to get filled back in but that will come in the next week or so.

So the posts have been far and few between.  I have a list of things to post about and I continue to not post.  The only thing I can point out is that I did manage to tweak the look and feel of the site just a bit to make it a little more personal.

Thanksgiving was great.  Becky’s parents and our nephew Nicholas came up for the week.  And while we didn’t do a ton of stuff, I think everyone had a good time along with the normal “feast” activities.  Grayson was thrilled to have Nicholas around and once again we’re so thankful that Nick isn’t too bummed to spend time with his 6-year old cousin.  There’s almost exactly 6 and half years difference so right now it’s a pretty big difference.  It’s awesome that for a few weeks a year, Grayson gets a big-brother who really treats him even better than a brother probably would.

I’m totally slammed at work right now because it’s the holidays and I’m specifically responsible for software that runs in our retail stores.  Once work calms down a bit and I get some things straightened out, I need to post about the end of Grayson’s fall league baseball, Halloween, photography, Vandy’s Diabetes Family Day event and a few other odds and ends.

This past Saturday our team executed a play that I wasn’t too sure that our group of 6 year olds (and one or two 7’s) would manage to pull off — a thrown put out at 1st base. But it happened. A sharp ground ball to Grayson at short (6) and he threw the ball almost perfectly to our 1st basement (3). And for that one moment, it was real baseball and it was beautiful. The stands went wild, I jumped about 10 feet in the air and the parents from the other team even laughed and cheered a little because they could appreciate what had happened. Once I calmed down a bit, I quickly wrote a 6-3 in my score book.

Funny thing is that while I felt like doing that would make my season, I suddenly find myself wanting more, which is good, because I want the kids to keep improving, but it’s interesting how reaching a goal quickly turns in to more goals. Some how I don’t think a 4-6-3 double play is going to happen though. But ya never know.

I’ve decided, after much deliberation to switch to using WordPress to power the site. It’ll give me more options for editing and maintaining. So for a few weeks, until I get the theme straightened out, you’ll have to excuse the construction going on. Hopefully all permalinks and the main feed should still work. Please let me know if you have a problem with anything.

Well, the game back on Saturday the 8th was definitely a low point for me. I was sick, lost my voice, had the little issue at the game, just finished a rough week at work, etc… but this past Saturday was much better. Work has been just as bad or worse, my cold got worse, but my voice and the game went much better. The kids really seemed to try harder and they performed better. I had one of my assistant coaches set the fielding positions this time. Somewhat surprisingly he picked Grayson to play shortstop. I say surprisingly because Grayson doesn’t have a real strong arm, but he does field ground balls well. During the course of the game there were at least 5 balls hit to him. Not a single one got past him. He made 2 unassisted outs. And he nearly threw out 2 runners at first despite his slow throws. The highlight of all the plays for me was the hardest hit ball of the day. It bounced high, he stayed with it and bounced right off his chest. He immediately picked it up and held on to it as I yelled for him to do so. No outs… but it was played as perfectly as any 6 year old could. He had done it right.

But I guess that goes along with other highlight of the day and that’s the compliments I got on Grayson’s play. The most meaningful was from one of the coaches from the other team who commented after several plays, “looks like your shortstop there is a pretty good player.” I was probably glowing when I responded, “thanks, he happens to be my son.” And then later, one of our assistants recommended that Grayson be awarded a pin (I give out pins for good performance) for his play in the field.

Yep, it’s official, our baseball team is pretty bad. I wish I could say it nicer than that, but I can’t right now. We’re playing pretty bad. Hitting is absolutely horrible. Fielding is someone between non-existent at times to marginal at others. I don’t think I’ve ever felt so bad as a coach. It certainly didn’t help that I’d lost my voice a couple of days ago due to my annual Beginning of the Year Sinus Crud. But honestly, I truly felt what Buttermaker must have felt when he first started coaching the Bears. Of course, the rest of the roles don’t line up. I’m not an alcoholic ex-pro ballplayer and none of my players have foul mouths (at least that I am aware of). I will say a few of them have struggled with their attitudes, but nothing like the movie. The real point is we’ve got some serious work to do to get them playing better baseball.

It was only fitting, in Bears (our team is The Blues) tradition, that I would have a run-in with one of opposing team coaches today. So here’s how it went down (or at least the way I saw it): The other team had a runner on first, Grayson was playing first base. A ground ball was hit nearly straight at Grayson, but before he could even field it, the runner on first ran into Grayson, which prevented him from fielding the ball and both runners ended up being safe. I stared in dis-belief as Becky asked from behind the fence, “he can’t just run into Grayson like that, can he?” So, since we don’t have umpires in this league, I asked the other coach for an interference call.

Their head coach says, “what, have them do it over?”

“No, I was thinking more along the lines of the runner being out because he interfered.”

Suddenly, their assistant coach gets all fired up… “Interference? Yeah, if anything I should be asking for an extra base for my guys because your kid interfered. He was in the base path.” Here the other coach made several mistakes, none of which I was prepared to defend at the moment. I was just startled at how quickly he got defensive and snippy about it. So rather than argue with him I just shrugged, held my hands up and said “fine… ” but then in anger, I let a quick… “just can it.” Because frankly, I was mad that while his team was winning 12 to 1 that he was getting so defensive and being so wrong at the same time. I hated that I let that bit of anger slip out, but honestly, it was the best I could do at the time.

So to further complete the story, I both called my Dad (who confirmed I was right) and we looked up the official rules when we got home.

From the official rules of baseball (with regard to the runner) 7.08:

(b) He intentionally interferes with a thrown ball; or hinders a fielder attempting to make a play on a batted ball; Rule 7.08(b) Comment: A runner who is adjudged to have hindered a fielder who is attempting to make a play on a batted ball is out whether it was intentional or not.

Then to further solidify the baseline situation from section 7.08 (a):

…A runner’s baseline is established when the tag attempt occurs and is a straight line from the runner to the base he is attempting to reach safely…

This indicates that the baseline only exists when a tag attempt occurs. And since there was no tag attempt being made (Grayson was just trying field a batted ball), the baseline is irrelevant, it’s the runner’s responsibility to yield to the right of way of the fielder. The correct call, as it turns out, should have been for the runner to be out and since the ball would be dead at that point, supposedly, the batter-runner would be awarded first base. Also see, 7.09 (L).

Oh, and the final point on which the other coach was wrong, if I am remembering his comments correctly, is that there is no such thing as fielders interference — it’s called ‘obstruction’. I don’t recall him using that term correctly, but in the heat of the moment, I may be wrong on what words he used exactly. Point is, he was wrong. Completely. I do like it when I’m right. Since we have 10 games this season and since there are only a total of 3 teams, we have to play that team now 4 more times. If nothing else, I feel even more inspired to really try to help the kids get better.