So Much Has Happened, And So Little Time

When I last logged into my blog, we were just finishing my first season here in Germany. We ended up coming in second and I would consider it a successful season. Well last season, we started off like crap again, but got super hot and ended up wining the Regionaliga Championship. It was a season of ups and downs. We hosted the European Championship which meant I got to meet and end up talking to one of my lifelong favorites, Mike Piazza and it also meant we had to take a month off in the middle of the season. Not exactly ideal for a team trying to compete. On top of that, we couldn't practice on our field for about 2 months because of renovations for the championship. Overall a cool experience. Italy won the thing and for a short time, we got to see what 6,000 people looked like at our home stadium. Add in a hurricane for 5 days straight and you've got yourself a crazy tiring event. Also got to make friends with Dennis Cook (2 Time World Series Champion Pitcher). In all, the season was one I'll never forget and I'm regretful I didn't track it with the blog.

For me personally, I went through some very tough struggles with my arm. My shoulder by the time I got half way through was hanging by a tread and my elbow was still hurt from a ball that hit me right on the end. Have a feeling that isn't going to go away. Had some great battles and ended up giving up 3 earned runs in my last four games and with a crew of youngin's, we ended up bringing home the gold! I'll refer to things from the 2010 season as we go along in the 2011 season.

So where are we now? So many things, players and situations have changed. Moving to the 2.Bundesliga has changed everything for the Reds. We have a successful program and a nice facility and so that means players now want to play for us. We have had some real quality guys come over to us and in the winter, I already had the feeling we would be pretty good. I figured I needed to push hard to get us ready and that mean tough workouts, lots of spring training games and a little psychology. A 7-1 start seems to be pretty good. So where did that one loss come from?

It goes something like this... We're up 6-1 in the bottom of the seventh inning and I wanted to get our starter, Marcel Hering, some rest. So my new role on the Reds is late inning reliever and let's say I'm not super comforatable with it yet. Coaching, standing around for hours and concentrating on the game doesn't exactly put you in the zone when it comes to pitching. Enter foreshadow here. It went from sunny beautiful day to cloudy and cold in an instant (not really).

As I jogged to the mound, I remember thinking "when was the last time I pitched in a game?" Oh well, will just work off the rust. A walk on a tight strike zone (or as we will find out later, non existant) to start wasn't good, but made quality pitches. Got a quick strike out. Next batter hits a routine double play ball, except we didn't turn it or get one. Hmmm, that might come back to haunt us, but I still have to do my job. If I remember correctly, the next ball gets hit off the thrid base bag (even though our third baseman was all over it and would have gotten an out or two) ricochet's into left field and they score two. Hmmm... Things don't seem to be going my way. A few more missed strikes by the ump who later said "Sorry, I had a really bad game" and I managed to blow a five run lead!! Haven't done that in a while, but I really wasn't pitching well and it's was all on me. We we battled the next couple innings and ended up going ten innings. I was still in pitching and just ran out of gas. A three run homer later and we were down. Micha (my assistant coach) makes a gesture to take me out, but I told him to stay. "Don't waste the pitching. I'll just take my lumps!" A couple runs later and that was all she wrote. Kind of embarrassing to be the manager that puts himself in and blows the game!!! Either I need to figure some things out, or I'll be out of a job!

Next episode: Spring Training in Italy! Great pasta! Bad drivers!

"Aren't You Worried My Pitcher Got Hit In The Head"?

Our final two games of the season would be played at the friendly confines of Stuttgart Reds Stadium at TVC. It was a welcome change as we last played against Grobenzell in Munich! For us, that is a 3 hour drive and could be more if you get stuck in traffic on the Autobahn. If you want to know my thoughts about the Autobahn, read my thread entitled "Heartbreaker in Heidelberg". Playing at home has really been nice. You don't have to get up as early, we have the nicest facilities in the league and of course we have the home town crowd. After a slow start to the season, our club turned red-hot and we ended up beating the number one team three out of four times. We always got up for the tough games. It was the bottom feeders we had trouble with. All we needed was one win to guarantee that we had a share of second place and if we won both, we would have sole possession. It is a nice achievement considering we started so poorly and last season the club had a loosing record. Of course, we were playing a bottom feeder, so I thought the games would get interesting.

I was pretty much finished pitching for the season. At this point, where the games don't mean too much, it is a good time to give some of the prospects a chance to show their stuff and see how they might be able to help the club next season. Last week, I threw one of my "project" pitchers, Nico Woditsch. Nico is the classic coach able goofy kid. He's all heart and I'm pretty sure if I told him to, he would run head first into a brick wall if he thought he would pitch better after it. A week ago was Nico's first start of the season. He had an appearance in relief earlier in the season, but had lots of mechanical problems and we've been working in the Bullpen ever since. I'll be honest. I lost sleep the night before because I really wanted this kid to succeed, but I also knew it was possible for him to give up 15 runs in the first inning. So what does Nico do? He goes out and throws five innings of no hit ball and we win the game 13-1. In Germany, they have a 10 run rule, so we only ended up playing five. Kid just threw a no hitter. It wasn't mob scene on the mound because no one realized it until after the game. Why you ask? Because he walked eight batters!

Back to our final series. Nico earned another start and I wanted to see how he would react, if their hitters would adjust and if lightning would strike twice! It did. The kid threw five solid innings, giving up one run, allowing three hits on his way to another victory. He was smiling the whole way!

Since it was the last series of the season, I called up a young 16 year old kid named Thomas Bach. I love this kid. Very smart, always says "OK coach" and just goes about his business. He's not a big kid, but he has great natural talent. I wanted to get him in the game when we had a nice lead since he had never pitched at a level this high before. The time was right. Nico just pitched five nice innings (although I think he walked five!) and I could come in if things got bad. I took him down to the bullpen to warm up and I told him to get on the BP mound. He said "Me!" I could tell he was scared shitless. I gave him about 10 pitches to get loose and the inning ended. I said, "You're in next game". I'm pretty sure I heard a "Gulp!". I had Mark Perea warm him up since he would be catching for him next inning. Later, Mark told me that Thomas confided in him and said "I'm pretty nervous".

Watching eagerly (as was everyone), the kid pitched like he had been doing it every week. I rolled through two innings, gave up two hits, struck out three and walked one. What an awesome experience. He couldn't stop smiling. All was good. We had just cliched a share of second, so really no pressure now. Game two fireworks begin in 3,2,1.....

As a coach, you really try not to have favorites, but there are some guys you just can't help but liking. Germaine Brunswick is one of those guys. He's a tall 21 year old kid that has great natural talent and will do anything I ask. Plus he has a great sense of humor mixed with a little bit of tough guy. Good combination for a pitcher. "Jonsey", as we call him, is one of two ways. He is lights out with a good fastball in the high 80's or he completely implodes in 3 seconds flat!

Last week against Grobenzell, he started the second game and proceeded to hit the lead off batter. If there were a statistic for most lead off batters hit, I'm pretty sure Jonsey would be a runaway. Before we knew it, it was 4-0 with only one out. We were a little short on players and it just wasn't going Jonsey's way, so I pulled him for Ruben. Ruben did a great job and we ended up coming back to win the game.

This week, Jonsey just didn't have it. He proceeded to hit the first batter again. Incidentaly, Nico also hit that same batter. Before Jonsey was done, he hit that guy twice! If you are counting, the same guy got hit four times in the last three games! And we aren't done yet.

Jonsey managed to hit four batters in two innings and I could see the other team starting to get pissed. The opposing pitcher was one of the guys and took it upon himself to retaliate and hit Jonsey in the head. As he starred down Jonsey going to first, I yelled "What the hell are you looking at? Just pitch the fucking game!" I don't usually do that as a coach, but this guy thought he was in the bigs. After the inning, I said to the umpire "Are you worried my pitcher just got hit in the head?" The ump says "No, he ducked, so it was really at his chest!" When the opposing pitcher got hit by Jonsey, he spit at him as he was going to first. This guy obviously has watched one to many baseball movies.

I guess I'm not going to finish the season on the bench. I grab my glove and hustle to the bullpen to warm up. Three warm-up pitches later and Mark Perea (now playing right field) yells to me "He just hit another one". Normally I would just stay in the pen until I was ready, but I was pretty sure a riot was going to break out. I ran in from right field and threw eight warm up pitches way to quickly. Not ready yet, I proceed to plunk the first guy up. Who was it? The opposing pitcher! Mr. Tough-guy decides to try to stare me down as he goes to first base. Sorry buddy. I'm not rookie! I shout "What the hell are you looking at? You think I did that on purpose? You're an idiot". Mr. Tough-guy paused as if he was going to do something, but of course there was nothing behind it.

So for you score-keepers at home, that is a total of 6 Grobenzell Bandits plunked and 3 Stuttgart Reds plunked! Not exactly a great game. I ended up giving up a run and allowed two of Jonseys runners to score. The next inning was no better. I ended up plunking the lead off hitter with a curveball that didn't break. He just happened to be the same guy that Jonsey and Nico plunked! That is a grand total of 5 times in the last 3 games. Needless to say, I think he now leads the league in Hit By Pitches. Another four runs score on hits and walks and I had just finished the second inning of my worst performance in possibly the last few years!

As we were down 9-3 going into the fifth, I pretty much thought it was done. Early in the season, our team would have just folded, but we were different now. We had been through battles, close one run games and these guys didn't give up anymore. We scratched our way back to a 9-9 tie and then took the lead in the sixth. Up two runs, I had found my groove (it only took two innings!) and was able to throw two scoreless innings to get the win. Sometimes you pitch well and don't win (see Baldham vs Stuttgart) and sometimes you pitch like an idiot and win. It's a crazy game. Somehow, there was no brawl, although I thought there would be. Thoughts like "Would I get deported if I ended up in jail for ramming a bat down some kids throat?". Luckily we did not find out.

The off season is welcomed!

The First International Tournament

Oldenzaal, The Netherlands - Two of the Stuttgart Reds players joined the Northern German Baseball Alliance for an international wood bat tournament in Oldenzaal, Holland. Bret Helenius and Mark Perea joined players from the Paderborn Untouchables, HSV Stealers, Bunde Berserker and Munster Cardinals.

In 5 games as cathcer and 3rd baseman, Mark Perea went 8-12 with 3 walks, 2 doubles and 5 RBI. Perea was also selected as the MVP for the week by coach Hans Ricter. In game 5 of the week, Perea blocked an astonishing 30 pitches in the dirt to avoid any passed balls by pitcher Mike Reed of the Paderborn Untouchables.

Bret Helenius pitched game four against the reigning tournament champion and host team, Run 71 from Oldenzaal. On three days rest, Helenius got the win pitching 5 innings, giving up 2 earned runs with 4 strikeouts and 2 walks. This marked the first time the NGBA beat the Run 71 team since the NGBA started attending the tournament four years ago. Helenius also went 2-4 with 2 runs, 2 walks and a double for the tournament.

Mark Perea also participated in the Home Run Derby, making it to the finals.

It should also be noted that the beer isn't quite as good in Holland, although the more you drink of it, the better it tastes. I would also have to say that the woman are definitely a beautiful (although no comparison to my wife!). Isn't that right Adamac?