Game Time

It has been a while since I have updated my blog and there is a lot that has gone on since then!  I left Amarillo for home last Thursday, which was our opening day, for Michaela's college graduation.  I had a great time being back at home.  I love Pittsboro!  Michaela's graduation was good, long, but good.  I think everyone there was getting a little restless towards the end because it took almost 3 hours!  It was the largest graduating class ever from NC State so it took them 45 minutes just to seat all the students!  I thought that was kinda crazy.  It was held in the RBC center which was awesome because if it were outside I would have died from the humidity.  Being in Texas I am used to this dry air and when I came home the humidity got me a little bit.  After the graduation we headed over to my sister and her husband's house for a little graduation party.  It was a lot of fun and the rain held off for us, the sun even looked out of the clouds a little too.  It was a really nice day and we had lots of great food. 

Sunday funday.....This is what we call Sundays at the baseball field, sunday funday.  My fun day started at 4a.m. Eastern Time, 3a.m. central.  Amarillo is central time so we will go with 3.  I was up at 3 a.m. and heading to the airport for my early morning flight, 5:15 central time.  I think the night before I left I got about 5 hours of sleep, maybe.  I never really sleep well the night before I leave home especially if I have to leave really early.  I landed in Amarillo at 10:23.  So by this point I had already been up for 7 hours with about a 30 minute nap on the plane.  I drove straight to my host family's house for a little nap.  I'm not the best nap taker in the world so naps aren't really naps for me.  I was going to sleep for a couple hours when I got in but I ended up only sleeping about 45 minutes.  I got up and headed out for some lunch and to the mall.  I needed a black longsleeve shirt because it was chilly yesterday.  When I landed it was 53 degrees!  And windy!  So after I did all that I headed to the field to get ready for my first game.  I knew I was going to be playing that day so I needed to get in the cage a little bit.  We didn't take bp before the game so I just hit off the tee and a little bit in the cage with some front toss.  This was the first game I had played in about 9 months so I was having to keep my heart rate as low as possible because I could tell it was beating a little faster than it needed to be.  Gotta stay relaxed in this baseball.   When I got back there behind the plate it was just like riding a bike.  Like I had never been gone from the game.  I was blocking balls, catching them right, throwing well.  Everything was all good.  Then in the second inning it was time for my first at bat of the year.  I was a lot more comfortable in the box than I thought I would be which was great.  I got a hit on the second pitch I saw.  Line drive to right field and it was hit really hard.  That was a great feeling to get that first hit out of the way on my first at bat.  I didn't get a hit the rest of the game but that is ok.  I hit a really hard line drive right at the third baseman that he caught before I got out of the box and I had a walk so it was a good day. This is basically my spring training during the first week of games I play because I am still getting my timing and recognizing different pitches.  I saw a couple of offspeed pitches that I would have normally crushed but they were the first breaking balls I had seen in 9 months so I was a little late reading them.  After a couple mroe game I will be hitting them hard though.  Nobody attempted a steal on me in my first game so I didn't get to throw anyone out but maybe somebody will try me tonight!  Which reminds me, I am in El Paso right now.  Yep, I flew to Amarillo for one game and we promptly jumped on the bus and drove to El Paso when that game ended.  I was absolutely exhausted.  I was asleep as soon as I got on the bus.  It is a really nice sleeper bus so it has a bunch of bunks in there.  It think 29 beds.  That was a blessing when I walked in the bus.  It is so much better sleeping on a bunk than in a chair!  I am still a little tired as I write this but that is probably because I have been sitting in this hotel for about an hour doing nothing so I'm getting a little sleepy.  Today we do not have batting practice again so we aren't leaving for the field until 5:15.  I will have a lot of down time today!

Lets do something fun.  I want to hear back from some of the little guys on here.  Give me some ideas on what I can do during all my down time on the road.  Remember though, I'm in a hotel and I don't have a car or a video game system.  I have my laptop and some dvds and that's it!  Be creative guys give me something to do!