We had a day game this afternoon, which is over. 7-5 victory. My gym session has come and gone and now I've got a couple hours before my bedtime comes so why not over-saturate the internet with a super long blog post.. actually I'm not sure how long this will be.. Here we go!
The Good
I made a few goals for myself before coming to Ohio for the summer: One was to get better at baseball, another was to get a killer tan, another one was to eat a lot, go to Cedar Point (I dare you to check out the website, let alone ride some of the rides http://www.cedarpoint.com/), and resister a 10 out of 10 on the fun scale. Not necessarily in that order. A couple of those goals I may or may not have just made up on the spot, but regardless, its roughly 65% of the way through the season so I figure its time for some mid-season evaluation.
Have I gotten better at baseball? Good question. I don't know. Let's go to the next one.
Do I have a killer tan? No.
One of the many blessings of playing baseball is developing the most exquisite of farmer tans. I for one am not a fan of the farmers tan. While it does suit some very well, I am not one of them. So I decided to take action. Instead of sleeping until 2pm everyday, reporting to the field for baseball activities around 3pm, games at 7pm, and ventures to Anytime Fitness around 1 or 2am, I now set my alarm to arise around the modest hour of 9am (which means I eventually roll out of bed around 9:30 - sometimes later). After a nice breakfast and brief stay on the outdoor patio I head out for the gym and usually make it back by noon. This leaves me 3 hours for premium outdoor relaxation. Fear not, I have a plethora of SPF products that offer both UVA and UVB protection. So my tan is coming, just very slowly.
Have I eaten a lot? Yes!
After staying with my Uncle Terry and Aunt Monica in nearby Amherst, OH through the first 3 weeks of June I have made the arranged move to my Uncle Ray and Aunt Sharon's home in Lorain. Quick side note - all of my relatives, cousins, aunts, and uncles have been incredibly hospitable to me throughout this whole extravaganza so in case any of them had the endurance to read this far into this post, let be known that I am VERY appreciative.
Anyways Uncle Ray and Aunt Sharon's compound features a luxurious basement bedroom featuring the most comfortable futon in North America. Outdoor amenities include an above-ground swimming pool, all-weather wooden deck with multiple seating arrangements and shielding sun umbrellas, hammock, grill, covered open air cabana equipped with all-weather patio furniture, multiple wind chimes, and television set.
97.6% of that 12-3pm window is spent outside in the backyard.
On top of all this, Uncle Ray is an expert grill master. Which is good because I've been known to do some damage on refrigerators. Pork, chicken, corn, potatoes, beans, and watermelon - can't forget the watermelon - ribs - can't forget the ribs either - burgers, bratwurst.. you name it, he's made it. He runs a golf club fitting business out of his shop. I told him he needs to stop and create his own show on the food network.
Have I gone to Cedar Point? Yes!
2 in a row we're on a roll here. Two weeks ago we had an off day on a Monday so a couple teammates and I ventured to Sandusky (40 minute drive) and took on some fierce roller coasters. I'm not sure if I would go on some of those rides again.
Does the fun scale read 10 out of 10? Almost.
Pretty close as a matter of fact. Selfishly the only thing keeping the fun scale from a 10 is probably my own performance in baseball. I've said before all the kids and coaches on the team are fantastic and were winning a lot of games so overall the whole experience has been a great one, but it could be upgraded to ultra-great if I contributed a little more.
And I actually have done a little better as of late. After collecting just 9 hits in my first 63 at-bats I've had 10 in my last 26. I think we have 17 games left. If we win our division over the second half of the season we make the playoffs. We're currently tied for first with 5 wins and 3 losses for the second half.
Everybody is playing pretty well for the most part. We had a league-high 8 players make the all-star game that was played last week in West Virginia. Shockingly I didn't make it with my .150 average. We all have our eyes set on the playoffs so we can parade down Meister road in the backs of pick-up trucks hoisting the Prospect League trophy. Its not clear if such a trophy even exists.. but that's not important.
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In other news, my mother and my sister are here for a visit. My mom's sister lives in nearby Lyndhurst, OH, her brother is also in town visiting from Florida. It’s practically a Draper/Tomaszewski family reunion up here.
Mom is close to 3/4's of the way through her chemotherapy treatments and still handling everything like a BOSS. When things are going bad for me I always think to myself that things can always be worse. It’s humbling. So among other things, her cancer has been a great lesson for appreciating the things you do have and not taking anything for granted.
The Bad
BLANK!
The Ugly
A few games ago I had a rough game. I'd had a string of good games leading up to this one so this game was exceptionally frustrating because I thought I had turned the corner.
Anyways, after my second strikeout of the night I was furious. That humbling thought I just mentioned in the last paragraph that often comes to mind during bad times.. that thought didn't come this time.
So I steam into the dugout absolutely fuming but I try to keep myself under control. I gently slide my helmet into the helmet cubby thing, take my batting gloves off rather cordially, but then I can't help it anymore and figure that releasing stress is better than keeping it bottled up inside.
I look to my left and see the bat rack. It’s made of wood and nailed at about hip level on the concrete wall. A perfect target. I take my bat, which is still in hand, and slide it into the one of the vertically fitting holes of the bat rack. Then I raise it up out of its hole and jackhammer it back down, breaking the bottom piece of wood that keeps the bats in place. I suggest you all try it sometime. Plus it was hilarious because I missed the first couple of tries.
At school, in case anyone is wondering, I am the LeTourneau University Baseball active leader in career ejections with 2.
I can't imagine Coach Harriss being anything other than thrilled with that statistic. I'm not sure what the all time career record is but if it's 3, then you better believe I'm going for it.
Semi-cool pics below..
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