Ft. Worth

We are in Fort Worth right now and have been for our last 3 games.  We are up 2-1 in the series and looking for the series win tonight.  For those of you that look up the box scores you may have noticed I didn't play yesterday and it may be that way for a few more games.  I twisted my wrist hitting a couple games ago and tried to keep playing with it but I just wasn't able to swing the bat good enough to try to keep playing so I am resting for a couple days until it gets better.  There is no point it trying to push through a wrist injury because hitting is pretty important!  I am pretty mad about this happening to me now since I have been swinging the bat so well over the past 2 weeks.  I want to get back in there playing everyday and feeling good!  I'll keep you guys updated on how I'm doing.  I hope to miss no more than 2 or 3 games while I let this wrist get back to 100%. 

Game of Adjustments

It has been a few days since I have written an update on the season.  Since my last post I have been doing pretty good.  Been having some great at bats and catching really well.  Tonight was the first night I didn't get a hit in a while but I had 1 good at bat and 2 great out of 4 plate appearances and I might a slight adjustment mid game to helped me have those two great at bats.  I noticed my first two at bats that I didn't quite feel right up at the plate.  I wasn't seeing the ball as well and I didn't have that same feel with my swing I had been feeling for over a week.  I realized after my second AB that I was slightly open with my front shoulder in my stance so I fixed that my next trip to the plate and walked.  My last at bat I got a fastball down the middle that I was right on but flew out to deep left field.  If I wasn't so much under the ball it would have gone way out.  But I was right on it, squared it up perfectly, just hit it up a little too high.  I think I also threw out 1 or 2 baserunners today along with 1 or 2 yesterday.  Yesterday I hit my 5th homer of the year too.  It was a line drive to left center and felt great, especially getting my homerun money.  I made like 180 buck off of it! It was awesome.  I don't know if I have described the homerun tradition here but after you hit one at our field you run to the backstop and people give you money!!!!  It is awesome!  I would like to hit a few more homers this season and keep raking in the cash.  We are on a pretty good run lately as a team.  We have one something like 11 of 14 I believe.  We play at home again tomorrow before going on a trip to Fort Worth.  We will be on the road for 6 games after tomorrow.  I will not have internet at Fort Worth so I won't be able to update unless I somehow find some internet.  If I do I will update while I'm there. 

Hope everyone is still having a wonderful summer!

Homerun Central

My first two homer night of the year came last night in El Paso.  I had 6 at bats yesterday in our 14-4 win.  Out of those 6 at bats I had 4 great at bats and two not so great.  My first at bat was probably my best of the night and maybe my best of the year.  I had a 3-2 count on me in the first inning with two men on and I got a change up, up and away, and I drilled it over the right field fence.  This was the first opposite field homer for me since college.  That was pretty neat for me hitting it oppo.  My second at bat they were once again pitching me away and I had a 2-2 count and I drilled a ball right down the right field line that the first baseman jumped for and made a great snag.  I wasn't a step out of the box when he caught it.  My third at bad was a bad one as I swung at a low pitch and was early on it and hit a little grounder to first.  Fourth at bat- We had men on 1st and 3rd with one out and the infield was playing in so I'm looking for something to lift to the outfield.  I didn't get much to swing at so I had 2 strikes again and I drilled a shot to the left of the third baseman about 2 feet off the ground.  He dove and made a nice catch on that ball.  I once again wasn't a step out of the box and I was out!  So far 3 very hard hit balls on the night so I'm happy with that.  My fifth at bat was in the 8th inning with the bases empty.  1-0 fastball right down broadway that I unloaded on and hit a line drive homer over the left center wall.  The wall here in El Paso is about 20 feet high and the ball I hit probably cleared it by about 3 feet.  My buddy plays first for El Paso and he said it looked like a golf ball that rises and keeps rising.  That was pretty neat.  My sixth at bat was a bad at bat.  I don't think I was completely focused like I needed to be.  That is something I can improve on though.  Keeping my focus even if it is my 6th at bat and the 9th inning up by 10 runs.  I struck out swinging at a pitch off the plate that I normally wouldn't even swing at.  But all in all it was a great night at the plate for me with 4 great at bats.  On the catching side of the game I called a great game, and blocked the ball very well.  I kept everything in front of me.  We will see what tonight has in store! Hopefully another win!

Out in The West Texas Town of El Paso

We are back in El Paso after a nice day off in Amarillo.  We left Amarillo at midnight last night to come to El Paso for our three game series here.  The bus ride was once again pretty rough.  I think they just give us the crappy bus everytime we go to El Paso.  And the roads coming here must be terrible too because it is one bumpy ride.  I didnt' get much sleep so when we got to the hotel I went to sleep for a few hours before going over to the Denny's next to the hotel for some lunch.  We are about to head to the field to take BP so I need to cut this post off now.  Hoping for another good game tonight at the plate filled with some good at bats!

New Update

Hey guys...it has been a while since I have updated ya'll.  Tonight we lost by two runs.  A former Braves big leaguer hit a two run homer in the top of the 9th to take a two run lead and we lost 8-6.  I had 4 great at bats tonight.  Hit my first at bat on a slider, I broke my bat but it was a good hit because I keep my bat in the plane of the pitch for a long time and still had enough to get it over the short stop's head.  My second at bat I hit a deep liner to center field that was caught.  Third at bat I hit a hard grounder in the six whole that the short stop slid and stopped and couldn't throw me out.  My final at bat I got a sac bunt.  I was really happy about my bunt.  That is the only time I have been asked to bunt this year and I got the fist pitch down off of a pretty tough pitcher.  He was throwing submarine so that made it harder to bunt.  Over the span of about 5 games I have been having a lot of good at bats.  I think I have had something like 15 good at bats out of 18.  That is why I have been doing so much better.  My focus has been shifted towards my approach more than the result.  It is funny how the results you want are there when you focus on the approach instead of the outcome.  I heard from a few of my students today and it sounds like everyone is still doing awesome.  Please feel free to email me with questions, video, telling me how you're doing or anything you would like!  I love hearing from ya'll.  It really makes me happy to hear when ya'll are having fun and doing well.

Ouch

So I didn't play yesterday.  I got a weird little injury in the weight room and I couldn't move my head hardly at all.  I wasn't going to do much in the gym yesterday.  Just wanted to get moving around and get the blood flowing some.  I did two sets on the ab roller and my back decided to cramp or something.  Right in between my shoulder blades.  Whenever I turn my head I get the shooting pain right down from my neck to the middle of my back and it is not fun.  Instead of having a crick in my neck I feel like I have a crick in my upper back!  Needless to say I couldn't play yesterday and I am not feeling much better today.  Being a baseball player sure does make it easy for freak injuries.  I have heard of more crazy injuries from MLB players than any other athletes.  One time Sammy Sosa sneezed his back out and missed a few games one time.  There have been plenty of others too.  Hopefully I will loosen up a little bit more before the game tonight so I can play.  I really don't like sitting out!

Benji Johnson is Back

Tonight was my best game of the year.  Yes, even better than the game I almost hit for the cycle.  No, I didn't get 4, 3, or even 2 hits.  Yes, I did have 4 of the best at bats I have had all year and if you include my last at bat from my previous game then you could say 5 of my best at bats..  Today was the first game I didn't hit a ball on the ground.  Big deal for me because I do not like ground balls.  I usually get thrown out!  I like getting a little air under the ball. My first at bat I saw the ball great, spit on bad pitches, swung hard and good ones.  I got to two strikes and he threw me a curve ball and I took the best swing I have taken on a curve all year and almost hit a bomb.  I flew out against the wall in left.  If I would have hit about a millimeter higher on the ball it would have been a bomb but thats ok.  Great AB.  Second AB: I hit a missile to right field.  Usually when you hit the best is when you are using the whole field.  Gives you the most chances for hits!  I had two strikes again and the pitcher threw me a change up outside that I smoked to right for a single.  Thrid AB:  This at bat I walked on four straight pitches.  Fourth AB:  I had a 3-1 count and he threw me a fastball on the outer half of the plate and I hit a really deep ball to right field that got caught right at the wall.  Just missed hitting a homerun on that ball too but I had a great swing and hit it hard to right so I was pleased. 

Baseball is so much better when you forget about results and focus on the task at hand.  I also figured out a small flaw in my stance.  I had too much weight on my back leg.  Pretty simple huh?? HAHA.  I hope to continue my good at bats into the next game tomorrow and in the future.  Good at bats is my focus.  Hopefully with good at bats the results will come on their own!
  

I'm Back

Well I am back after a little break away from the blog.  We just got back from the road a couple days ago.  The road trip was not a very good one as we were 1-5 on that trip.  We did however win our first game back at home last night so hopefully the wins will continue today!  While we were on the road we had a lot of injuries and that set the stage for my first start at third base probably in my entire life.  I was a short stop my first 3 years of baseball when I was a kid then turned into a catcher at the age of 9.  Been doing just that for the last 15 years.  I think I played 3 innings at third in a scrimmage in college.  I hadnn't taken a ground ball probably in about 6 years!  Good thing nothing came my way other than a line shot that I dove for but was just out of my reach.  I kinda wanted to make at least one play just to throw the ball across the infield.  I think that would have been a lot of fun to let one fly.  It was fun playing a different position though.  Little change of pace from catching everyday. 

My hitting woes have continued a little bit.  There is a tape that I have had since I was a little kid and it is a sport psychologist talking to a hitting guy.  He is a well known baseball sports psychologist and listening to that tape has always reminded me of the correct way to approach hitting in practice and in games.  Here is a good piece of advice that I sometimes forget to do myself.  Take batting practice like it is the game.  Full concentration.  Make game situations.  Don't just hop in there and take swings and hop out.  Do it with a focused purpose.  When I do my hitting lessons a lot of times I will end the lessons with game situations.  i.e. hit and run, move the runner, man on third, infield in, infield back, counts, etc.  These are the types of things that get you mentally ready to hit in games.  This is something I forgot about so far this year until I listened to the tape.  I was kinda just swinging in bp and not really focusing like I would in a game.  So my goal is to focus more in bp like it is a game and make situations in my head during bp.  The other thing that the tape reminds me is to stick with my stance and such.  A lot of times when guys start going bad we tend to change our stance or something which just makes us think too much.  He talks about trusting your talents and letting them take over, something I did last year.  This is a big part of confidence.  If you believe you have talent and are able to trust that talent then you will be ok.  I noticed that I was making my goals more result oriented that behavior oriented.  Its not always about results because we can't control results.  We can control our behavior, our approach, and our response to the results.  Instead of saying, "I want to get 2 hits tonight," it's better to say, "I want to have 3 good at bats out of 4 tonight."  We can't control if we get a hit or not but we can control whether or not we have a good at bat.

I hope this is helpful for some of you guys.  The mental part of baseball is so important.  I was reading an article the other day about sports psychology and learned something I didn't know.  A-Rod, Roy Halladay, Greg Maddux, Jason Varitek and many other have used a sports psychologist.  The guy they used was the guy on my tape.  Pretty neat.

Time for a Break

Hey Guys!  So tonight was a bad night for me and my team.  We had a 5 run lead going into the 8th inning and ended up losing the game by 4 runs.  Pretty bad.  There were some things that didn't go our way that contributed to that and we made some bad plays too.  Oh well.  We still have one more game in the series and have a chance to win the series tomorrow if we can grab one more win. 

For me, I had a horrible night at the plate going 0-6 with 2 ks.  I am living proof that thinking too much can mess you up at the plate.  Right now I am pressing a little too much up there and it is hurting my production.  Last year one of the main reasons I had so much success was because I was mentally relaxed almost every at bat.  For you guys that are reading this remember, it is only a game and whenever you fail, it isn't the end of the world and do your best to relax.  Parents, do your best to instill this into your little ball players.  You can help your little guys from pressing by reassuring their talent and reminding them of how good they are and to go out there and play the game and have fun.  The other night I got an email from my mom and it just took a weight off my shoulders and made me feel more relaxed.  I don't know why but it just felt good to have my mom tell me to relax and have fun!  I'm 24 years old and it still helps to hear a loved one tell me to relax and have fun.  Too bad I only took her advice last night and didn't apply that tonight! HaHa!  I will need to apply that every night so I can begin having the success I am capable of having.  Look at Carl Crawford this season.  He was putting so much pressure on himself to do well up in Boston that he started out the year doing horribly.  His first month was probably his worst ever.  A former teammate of mine, Dustin Ackley, started out in double a last year doing kinda bad for his first month or so and he was quoted saying he found himself trying too hard to impress and put too much pressure on himself.  You have to relax your mind to hit well.  Even the best.  Jorge Posada has had a rough year at the plate this year and I don't know if anyone heard what happened in NY, he asked for a day off to clear his head and the next day he did well. 

Right now, that is exactly what I need.  I need to clear my head. Start over.  Tomorrow is the "start of the season" for me.  I need to act like tomorrow is the first day of the year and just erase all the bad games and bad at bats I have had so far.  One thing I never like to know is how my stats look.  I like to base how I'm doing off how I feel in the game and solid contact.  Stats don't always show the truth so I don't like to look.  To help me clear my head I plan to get away from my blog for a few days.  Not sure how long I will stay off the blog but I need to stop thinking about baseball, when I do good or bad.  So for now, I am just gonna play the game and just see the ball and hit it.  Clear Mind!!

Finally

Finally, I have started to get my timing down and get a better approach up at the plate.  The last two nights I have been 3-7 with 2 rbi, a double and two walks.  My double I hit all the way to the wall in left field and my last at bat last night I hit a ball about 400+ feet but it went foul.  Still it was good to see the ball get up in the air as high as it did and go as far as it did since I recently had been hitting so many balls on the ground.  I am not a fan of ground balls.  Those get fielded and I get thrown out!!  You can't drive the ball on the ground so I like to get a little air under my hits. 

Yesterday was a pretty long day for me.  I woke up at 8:30.  8:30 during the season is really early considering that I usually don't get to sleep until at least 1.  Guess what woke me up....barking dogs!  I live with 4 little chiuahuahs and yesterday morning one of them decided to bark at the air for about 10 minutes straight which woke me up.  When I went in the room to see what he was barking at there was absolutely nothing there!  Maybe he saw a ghost or something.  Since I was up I just decided to cook some breakfast, two egg and cheese sandwich with OJ and coffee.  After breakfast I headed off to the gym at 10:30 and stayed there for about 2 hours lifting weights and shooting a little basketball.  By the time I finished at the gym I had just enough time to eat some lunch and sit around for an hour before going to the field for the game. 

About 2 weeks ago I ordered some new bats.  They were due to get here yesterday.  I was sitting in the clubhouse playing playstation against our trainer when our clubbie came in the room and told me that my bats were in my locker and I said, "ok, thanks man."  He stood there for a second then said, "they told me to tell you they are in your locker." So I was like...."ok, cool, thanks."  HaHa, I didn't think anything of it, just thought he was being kinda awkward.  When I finished my game I went to my locker and found my bats there and began to cut the tape of the box to open it up and check out these new sticks.  When I got the box open I quickly noticed that the bats in the box were not the bats I ordered.  I was almost in shock at first.  I thought louisville had sent me the wrong bats!  Then I pulled out a bat and noticed it was a different company (these bats were also really old and crappy by the way).  So my next thought was, ok, they put the wrong box in my locker these must be someone else's bats.  So, I started searching for the label on the box to see the name on the box.  Before I could even find the lable it hit me, the guys on my team had opened my box up, took out my bats and but 4 old crappy bats in there to trick me!  I had seen that trick done when I was with the Braves but it took me a little while to realize that was what was going on.  I started looking around and all the guys were just looking at me and laughing.  It was the funniest thing ever.  HaHa! They said the look on my face when I first looked in the box and saw those old bats was priceless.  Can't believe I fell for that one.