Feb. 13, 2008

The community night last Wednesday at Brookside Country Club was an awesome event for our program and for our fans in the Stockton community. Everything ran smoothly and the evening was capped off by an amazing speech by former big league star pitcher Jim Abbott and the auctioning off of a couple Yankees jerseys and a life sized poster signed by him on the spot.

It was a true pleasure to meet Mr. Abbott especially to see what a genuine, down to earth person he is. His speech highlighted some of his favorite stories growing up in Flint, Michigan, winning an Olympic Gold Medal with Coach Sprague and he walked us through his thoughts and emotions the day he made history throwing a no-hitter for the Yankees on September 4, 1993 against the Cleveland Indians. He talked about how he had faced the Indians just a week before and they crushed him that outing. He gave up seven earned runs and 10 hits in just three and two-thirds innings. The Indians had a very tough lineup with guys such as Kenny Lofton, Albert Belle and Manny Ramirez.

A week later, he threw the first pitch of his perfect game all the way to the backstop thinking to himself "Here we go again," but slowly his trust came back to him and he started making pitches/believing in himself again. Before he knew it, he had thrown a masterpiece. Remember, he did all of this without the use of his right hand!! Believing in yourself became the main lesson he wanted us players to learn form him and how your belief/confidence in your own abilities is what sets people apart from being good vs. being great players from the college level and beyond in baseball. I want to also mention how cool we seniors thought it was to have life size posters of us made that were hanging along the back wall of the room! We want to again thank everyone that came out to support us and enjoy the evening with us.

The scrimmages of last weekend were fairly offensive with a decent amount of runs scored. We're getting closer and closer to our first game in Houston (only nine days away) and we are getting used to the daily grind of the season. We still need some work in various areas to be ready for our first battle and we're working hard in practice this week to polish them up. The weather was amazing all week which really had us players excited because it is a lot nicer to play when the sun is out and shining brightly.

They began the next phase of Klein Family Field this week with the construction of the indoor suites on either side of the press box! We are looking forward to seeing the alumni on Saturday with the BP, Bullpen & BBQ event. The weather is supposed to be nice all week and throughout the weekend so the event should be a great day at the park. Feel free to come out and watch the activities of the day. There is another Q & A interview posted on the website, this time with Adam Ching, so be sure to check that out to get to know Ching Man a little better. We started a new tradition this week by starting up the Pacific Kangaroo Court. Those of you who don't know what a Kangaroo Court is, every time you catch someone doing something or saying something "stupid" (ex. forgetting the count/outs on a certain pitch or wearing your team issued hat around campus, etc..) you write it down on a piece of paper with a fine amount and drop it in the jar. At the end of the week we get together as a team and go over the slips to decide if the player should be held responsible to pay the specified fine or not. Fines can range from a quarter to a dollar. This is a fun way to bring more chemistry to the squad and it keeps you on your toes just a little more every day.

I have had some requests from readers to make this blog a little interactive, so if you have a question or would like me to mention something in future entries, please feel free to email me at b_manning@pacific.edu. Hope to you out there on Saturday.

Go Tigers!