Thirdly

Tonight is the first time that I have the chance to post about my pitching performance. To sum it up from the beginning, it was frustrating. It was a frustrating performance because I believe the end of the game box score doesn’t do justice for the way I threw the ball tonight. From the moment I stepped on the field to warm up I felt as if it was going to be a good night. Honestly, by the way my arm felt, I thought I was going to dominate. If you look at the stat line, it wasn’t much of a dominating performance, but more of an average outing for my standards.
The first two innings went by fast but I ran into a little bit of trouble in the third. I gave up a leadoff base hit to left field on the first pitch. I then fell behind the next hitter, and he hit a 1-0 inside fastball that broke his bat over the left field fence. This is a perfect example of how the last three weeks have gone for our team. I made a good pitch and the hitter got enough of it to drive it out of the ball park. After that, I was able to settle down and get into a groove.
In a baseball game there are usually one or two moments which decide the outcome of the game. The first of those moments was in the 5th inning when the bases were loaded with one out and I was able to get out of the jam unharmed. The second occurred when I went out for the 6th inning, I told myself that I needed to get through this inning because I hadn’t been able to in my last four starts, but yet again I was unable to get out of the 6th. Instead I had to walk back to the dugout after giving up two more runs, albeit unearned runs. In the end I went a very frustrating 5 2/3 innings, 4 runs, 2 earned, 3 walks, and 8 strikeouts.
Although this was a frustrating outing for me, it was also a good one for my confidence. Usually this is the time of year where a pitcher’s arm starts to get fatigued, but my arm and body still feel strong and ready for the home stretch of our season. From every performance, good our bad, a pitcher has to take the positives, and be ready for the next one. Frankly, I cant wait for my next outing, which will be against Beloit again next week.

At the end of every post, I will try to relate the post to the grind of minor league baseball. Frustration is something a minor league baseball player has to deal with but for a starting pitcher it is even more difficult because I wont get the chance to pitch again for five days. I don’t like it but it is one of those things that I have to get through, and continue to work hard for the next four days until it’s my turn to throw again. Grinding out these next five days will be tough, but it comes with the job title.