and away we go

tomorrow is our last day in surprise, AZ...pretty soon we'll be getting heckled with 90% unoriginal material from the fans in Seattle...
some typical heckles from behind the chain link fence at the bullpen:

"hey nice glove! did you get it at Kmart?" yeah it's a T-ball glove bro.

"hey you stink, go back to A ball!" yeah nice one pal.

"you better start warming up!" sure thing!

Personally I look forward to the "whoop-woooooooo" from the oakland and twins fans, the actually funny detroit fans, and the guy in tampa bay who just screams at one player the entire game. We really enjoy the tasteful back and forth with certain fans, and love busting out lines like "have another one pal", or the Rick Bauer comeback- "sorry we don't speak idiot, go get a translator" haha.

A kid emailed me on myspace to ask about playing in "big games" and how to get settled in when there are lots of people, scouts, etc all watching. So the next day, a few of us were talking about the mental game, and what it's like to actually be on the mound in front of 20, 30, 40 or 50,000 fans. I really hate to blow the lid off of this, but when I'm out there, there's no voodoo "clear the mechanism" junk. When I'm warming up especially, I've found it's easier to keep it loose and just let the jeers and sounds kinda bounce around, and not give them too much weight. If you try and "block them out" then all you really do is focus on the noises. What works for me is to instead try and focus on the target, and try to narrow my vision to where I want the ball to go right before I throw the pitch. If you're nervous or agitated, then try to laugh about something funny just to relax and get back to your effective level of awareness.

After the pitch is released, then it all kinda slows down, and you really notice everything...you better be paying attention so you don't get smoked by a comebacker. Once the pitch is fouled off, missed, or hits the mitt, you've got a few seconds to replay what just happened and think about any clues to what the opponent is trying to do, or what he just did. Once you decide what to do, it's back on the mound for more.

Last year, whoever yelled "throw the gyrooooo!" in arlington always made me laugh inside. Just enough to keep me relaxed in the tense late innings.