Just back from an organized social event at a cigar and wine bar where Luis Tiant put his hand on my ass. Our van driver also described Venezuelan minor league players as more intelligent than Dominican players, who were "savages." Good times.
This morning, Adam and I waited an interminable amount of time to get into the hot tub at the training facility to warm up our aching muscles, which caused us to abandon our plan of taking extra batting practice in the cages. The morning meeting went well, especially when our manager referred to my hitting as similar to Ted Williams'. I'm fairly certain he was exaggerating.
We won the morning game, and I went 2-for-3 with a run scored, but the one out I made was the best contact I made the entire camp. Hit it right on the screws to right-center, but the center fielder made a nice catch. I had never experienced this before, but the feeling of hitting a ball "perfectly" is when you don't even feel the ball hit the bat. It just makes a beautiful hollow sound as it jumps off the bat. I didn't even care that it wasn't a base hit. UL Washington still can't get over me hitting from the left side of plate after my abysmal start as a righty. After one of my hits this morning, he high-fived me at first base and yelled "You could've been somebody!"
We lost the second game, but not before rallying for two runs in the bottom of the 7th (last) inning to tie it and force extra innings. I was able to make an aggressive base-running play to make it to second on a hit with a runner on first, and then scored the tying run on a single. Unfortunately, we lost 9-8 in nine innings. Our record is now 2-4, but spirits are high. I'm now batting a fairly respectable .312 for the camp, with decent enough fielding, not that I've had many non-routine chances to handle.
Other highlights from today include another Youkilis sighting (with a signed bat), as well as seeing Jon Lester and Manny Delcarmen warm up while we were stretching in the morning. Mike Greenwell was the featured guest during lunch today and was very nice and chatty with people while signing autographs.
I'm pitching tomorrow, which is bound to be disastrous since I haven't pitched in 20 years, so I better get some rest.
Jackie Robinson's Fenway Tryout
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2 comments:
Wow, what a day! You get compared to Ted Williams, hear the hollow sound of a bat effortlessly sending a ball into perfect flight, and get felt up by Louis Tiant!!! And you could have been somebody! Sorry about the waits for the ice tubs but otherwise, sounds like a banner day. Love the photo of you and YOOOOUK!
"I had never experienced this before, but the feeling of hitting a ball 'perfectly' is when you don't even feel the ball hit the bat."
Best feeling in the world, my friend. Best feeling in the world.
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