A Rainy Day

Tonight was one of those nights where if I fell out of a boat, I wouldn't have been able to hit water. Yet again, my arm felt as good as it has all year, maybe in my life, but the end of the night's box score didn't justify how I threw the ball. Just to get it out of the way, the box score shows 4 innings, 6 runs, 5 earned, and 3 walks.
My goal as a pitcher is to go out there and give my team a chance to win every time I take the mound. I have been able to do that a lot this year, but tonight just wasn't one of those outings. It started with the first batter of the game, when he dropped a 0-1 change up in the dirt over the shortstop's head to lead the game off with a hit. After that, it felt like I was taking part in some sort of Chinese water torture. I kept giving up hit after hit on balls that were landing just in front of my outfielders. I was making good pitches but the Beloit squad found holes everywhere. To give Beloit credit, they had a good game plan coming into this game. I could tell right from the start that they were really working hard at staying back on my change up. I guess this is something that happens when pitching against the same team for the second time in six days. Tonight was frustrating, but I am not going to sit here and try to make excuses for myself. Sometimes in baseball, having my best stuff and not performing as well as I usually would with my worst is part of the grind.

On a lighter note, we got to experience some fun tonight even though we were getting shellacked. Dusty Napoleon (usually catcher/first basement) recorded his second professional appearance on the mound. Just as he did in his first outing, he sliced and diced the opposition. He kept Beloit off balance with a plethora of pitches, most notably his 'lob ball.' Maybe sometime soon, I will be asking Dusty for some advice.

Like I end every post, I try to relate it to being on the grind. my grind this week will be exactly like last week. I cannot wait to get back out on the mound and prove that I am better than what my box score shows, but I will have to wait five days. This week I will forget this outing and concentrate solely on my next one. Sometimes it is good to think back and learn from my mistakes, but I think this i just one of those nights to forget.