Oakland Park Baseball

Ew. That live-pitch game was sad, long, and boring.

Just like I though, the game was dominated by walks and passed balls. Let me make something clear: THAT WAS THE MOST UN-REALISTIC BASEBALL EXPERIANCE!

For example, I believe Nick threw 6 walks in one inning! I'm not trying to harp down on Nick, but I just remember that one inning in particular. I reached base four times without a hit! (2 walks, a hit-by-pitch, and a dropped 3rd strike). Four times without a hit! And I’m no Barry Bonds!!!

OK, I will admit that it was fun running the bases, with leads and steals. But the execution was so poor on both teams by so many of the players that it was at times painful to watch. Anthony go a stolen base! (Again, not tying to knock Anthony, but look at his career triples.)

I heard some people say "We'll improve." Well, maybe. But let's say we get 50% better. That would be a huge jump, would it not? But we'd still have a ridiculous number of walks, and bad attempts to pick runners, and all of that.

In short, I'm not gonna be joining in on these games again. Its a waste of time. So I’ll miss a game a month!

Hey... even David Ortiz has 4 CAREER stolen bases

My point! (U know 3 of those were on fucked up hit 'n' runs!)

retep wrote: In short, I'm not gonna be joining in on these games again. Its a waste of time. So I’ll miss a game a month!

Ok, Ken, whoops I mean Peter.

I had fun. I liked that it brought up new aspects of the game, like at one point I was considering stealing home straight up. And coming in as a pitcher, stopping the comeback and getting the save, that was fun too.

I hear you on excessive walks, etc. But give it a chance, hang in there to see whether it improves. It was a first attempt.

Im surprized that there hasnt been a ton of responses to this...So I'' be the second...

In short I agree with Peter. As for myself, while Im glad I played (and had the opportuninty to play), and had fun, I have alot more fun with the regular games, and hope they continue to be the focus.

On the other hand....There were also some positives to be said about the 1st "live" game. They are;
1. It gave us all a chance to at least attempt to play a game like this. I know there are many of us who wanted to see how thier pitching would measure up, or, if thier batting skills were up to a real baseball game, and probably a whole lot more including base running, defensing playes, etc...

2. We got a whole different perspective and challenge in playing the game that most of the guys have become very comfortable with.

3. As for myself, the prospect of playing this game motivated me to spend more time in a batting cage, as well as to get a firend to throw a bunch of pitches to me (at the approximatle speed we saw today) until I could consitstly hit most of them. Also, I got a whole new exposure to base running, which is very different from what Ive been doing for the last couple of years.

4. It gave us, as a group, an indication of how prepared we are for the challenge.


Its certainly appearant to me, and I suspect to many others, that in order to be adequately prepared for the challenge, the team will need some serious work. Specifically, I'd suggest that a daily/frequent structured practice be conducted, focusing on pitching accuracy (hitting the strike zone). Once that can be achived , batting, base running, defense, and the other aspects of the game can be evaluated and worked on as well.

And Peter, I'd encourage you to keep coming anyway , since these "live" games can probably only get better (if they're contiunued). And at least there will also be the regular games to play in.

I had a blast!
I got a PO at the plate, I stole some bases and I cought someone stealing (and came pretty damn close to catching two more!)

The only problem was the lack of consistancy in the pitching. I want to give major props to Rich, Paul and Scott. They really came out to the mound with the right mindset --> you don't pitch for the strike out unless you have two strikes (and fewer than 3 balls). Like Scott kept saying, even when we're lobbing the ball in there, most of us get onbase less than half the time... so we need to be confident enough in our defense to take a little off of our pitches and be sure to throw strikes.

I don't feel like passed balls were a problem, but stolen bases were do mostly to an inexperienced pitching staff and a lack of communication on defense. The pitcher needs to keep the baserunner honest if the catcher is going to have any shot of throwing him out. Rich (besides the balks) and Andrew did a good job of this.

Personally, I think having an umpire (not the catcher) is important for a couple of reasons...

a) the catcher can't consistantly call corner strikes. There were a lot of times that I wanted to call a borderline pitch a strike but didn't want to get flack about it. This definately led to more walks.

b) when the runner takes off, I stop thinking about whether or not the pitch was a ball or a strike... so I have to think back after the play at second or third and try to remember where the pitch was

We can only get better from here.

In terms of the challenge.

I think Rob was absolutely correct about practicing. There's a lot we need to work on. I think practices at least once and preferably twice or even three times a week would be a lot of help for us.

Well, just to add my view, I liked a lot about the live game. Sure, it was a little boring out in the outfield. But as the pitchers develop better accuracy there will be lots more hits and more fielding action. Remember Ken ("I hate playing at DeFremery"), er I mean James ("I'm playing short stop!") er I mean Peter this was just the first time for this approach. Also, I really liked Scott's umpiring. He called 'em out loud and clear so even the outfielders felt more a part of the game. And I especially like being stampeded by soccar players. That added a very interesting dimension to the game! I say we continue the live game on some regular basis.

When I started playing in DPL (defremery park league) a few months ago, I posted that defensive team pitching was needed to bring the game up a level. I'd rather stand in the field and watch walks, than stand there and watch a batter look at a dozen pitches go by.

One thing we could do though, until our pitchers improve, is to have five balls. We did this in our Berkeley pick-up games last year. It worked fine. I don't think any other adjustments are needed.

Nice job to all of the pitchers who gave a great effort Sunday.

I actually had a blast. I started playing with DPB because I hadn't faced live pitching in a while and just wanted the affirmation of hitting lobs. However, I see this as a natural progression. I actually didn't feel the pitching was THAT bad. I heard Ken and the other umpires bellow out a fair number of CALLED strikes. I saw plenty of decent pitches during my at bats. I see the problem being bat timing. For the most part we've been hitting lobs, some have been playing softball. Just about everyone (me too) at bat (with the exception of most notably Lincoln) was behind on their swings or swinging off balance. This will change as we get used to seeing the ball a little quicker. As more people began to hit we'll start seeing those doubles and homeruns over the fences as the added velocity (such that it is) will allow the ball to go further... again harking back to Lincoln's hit that went farther than I've seen a ball hit to center and the Arbor's (?) hit almost to the right field fence.

The pitching will also improve. The pitchers early on were all actually pretty good. Most only began to falter as they threw more pitches. Remember most of our arms are not "ready" for full on pitching that will change. Andrew had some movement on a couple of pitches and Rich effectively varied his speed in his pitches. I look forward to more of these live games and lobby for the stats to count

Communication and execution of baseball basics will reduce wanton base stealing. There is no way I should be able to steal a base. Keeping the runner honest at first by effective pick off moves or even looks over will keep. Many times, no one hollered out that the runner was on the move and the catcher had no one to throw to.

I look forward to more of theses games and I lobby for the stats to count.

The stats do count, but in a different way. There is no way that we could argue that we could have the batting average be fair if we included both styles of pitching. By avoiding the live games, someone’s batting average would easily rise far higher than normal. The equivalent would be in the if in the MLB, a player in rehab in AAA ball could get those stats to count in his major league totals (ok, not the best example, but you get the point.

There were 37 walks yesterday. 30-fuckin-7! And 21 stolen bases? My favorite stat is that Dan’s team and ONE earned run. And they were the loosing team.

I was expecting this to remind me of my time plating high school ball, and sadly this came true. Sophomore year, I hit .183, with 2 hits, but had 21 stolen bases. I did this because of all of the walks and hit by pitchers that year (I think I had like 7 HBPs that year). While a couple of our games at Defemery have gotten a bit wild, for the most part, there nothing more than what you will see at Coors Field on a given day. 37 walks and 21 stolen bases (plus those that did not count as SBs because they were passed balls). Yuck.

As far a me pulling a Ken, I will come and play these games if I see that they are getting better. This also has more to do about time. If you recall, when we first started talking about weekly games, I personally wanted to, but worried about the amount of time it would take up. I could use this one Sunday a month for other things, and its an easy out for me. But like I said, I’ll sure play these games if they tighten up.

On “live” days, should we start later, like around 1pm, so we have less issues with the World Cup in left field?

As far as Lincoln’s concern, I agree that we take maybe too man pitches with our own-team-pitch rules (and, yes, I am guilty of that). Maybe we could agree with a 6 pitch rule? (of course if the 6th pitch is over your head, you get another). What do people think of that? I’ll start another topic on that one…

I know after about the third inning I didn't call a single borderline pitch a strike. I'm sure this increased the BB count.

I've already mentioned the problems with the catcher calling balls and strikes, but I want to also bring up the point that in MLB arguing balls and strikes in an automatic ejection. We should all respect the fact that the strike zone is a judgement call and that arguing calls is completely unacceptable.

I stopped calling borderline strikes because EVERYTIME I called one I had the entire batting team jumping down my throat. This meant our pitchers had to throw it down the pipe to get a strike call and obviously led to more walks.

Hey Ken, I didn't realize we were pressuring you like that. I think what Paul said (when playing 1st base) was absolutely correct "we aren't supposed to argue judgment calls". Hilariously, and this shows Paul's a true baseball player now, Paul forgot his own point when he was on the mound later in the game. It's funny how perspective can change, for any of us!

I had a GREAT time doing the umpiring that I did. I actually would've been down to do much more. Next live game we have (scheduled May 8th, time to be determined), if we have 2 catcher's masks, I'll definitely umpire as much as possible (but still play when not ump'ing). There's a few dynamics that umps should use to make the game more fun for everyone. 1) Don't forget that you're the Man! You're in charge! Take control! 2) Be loud! They need to hear what's going on in Center Field! 3) Use uniform hand signals. 4) be slightly flexible on borderline strike/ball calls---specifically, open up the strike zone a small bit if neither team can pitch strikes---just make sure you remain consistent with both teams.

If these four things are done, it keeps everyone in the game, and keeps the game moving.

Advice for pitchers (this bears repeating) :

TheLegend wrote:Like Scott kept saying, even when we're lobbing the ball in there, most of us get onbase less than half the time... so we need to be confident enough in our defense to take a little off of our pitches and be sure to throw strikes.

As for what to expect in the future live games, I think Anthony is right that we'll adjust our swings to the increased speed of the pitches. Also, I agree our pitchers will build stamina to be more accurate when they are deeper into their pitch counts. I think Dave's right that we'll see more accuracy and thus more fielding opportunities. I think pitchers will hold the runners on more, and a brief conference between the catcher, shortstop, and second baseman prior to an inning is all that's needed to be prepared to handle a stolen base attempt. One guy shouts "he's going", the catcher throws down, and the other (pre-determined) guy covers the bag to catch the ball and put down the tag. A brief discussion beforehand can get all people on the same page for this. Good call Peter on tracking the stats separately, and good metaphor with AAA vs MLB.

And props to you Peter for staying with it and giving it a chance. Your participation is appreciated, he with the most webgems. Just give me some more time in the OF, however, and I'll catch up and surpass you Peter!

Hey, there was one issue that came up repeatedly. Almost all the pitchers balked. Actually, I couldn't see Pat, Dan, or Nick since I was in CF. I've taught 4th graders how to avoid balking, so I'm confident I can give a brief chat to all the pitchers so we can reduce the balks. Doing so goes hand-in-hand with holding the runners closer to the bags.

retep wrote:There were 37 walks yesterday. 30-fuckin-7! And 21 stolen bases? My favorite stat is that Dan’s team and ONE earned run. And they were the loosing team.

Peter, I usually don't have a problem understanding what you're trying to say. But, it's gone too far. You NEED to at least preview what you've written before submitting, just on the basis of legibility. Please!

Moving on, the only real problem I had during the first 2 innings was making sure to keep an eye on the runners. If anyone saw the scoresheet, I had 2 hits, 2 walks, and 3 strikeouts during the first two with only one earned run. Now, during the third inning I lost control and was throwing everything outside. But I didn't feel I was having much of a problem until a pitch I was sure was right down the heart of the plate was called ball 1. After that, I wasn't able to keep track of the count, nor could I hear it from the catcher no matter how many times I asked. I then gave up 5 (not 6, Peter) walks and realized I had nothing left and at least had the sense to get off the mound before any more serious damage occured. (Although 4 unearned runs don't really qualify as anything other than serious damage.) So, in short:

• More chances to play like this will only ensure better pitching. It will get pitchers into the habit of keeping runners honest. It will also train the defense to speak up when a runner is trying to steal.

• Umpires are needed. Unless catchers can keep Scott's 4 points in mind, it's the only way to keep both teams happy. Personally, I expected the strike zone to stay consistent. Although, even MLB umps can't always do that.

• If you feel fine with some Sonoma County punks calling you a little bitch, don't show up during "live" games. If you only want to "pick flowers and hold hands after games" that's okay. Just don't expect to be Manny Ramirez when it comes time to prove your stuff (or even Terrence Long). I for one am looking forward to getting another chance to go live. Don't get me wrong. I like the lazy Sunday DPB games we have. It's lots of fun and low impact, but I don't expect us to be playing by those rules when game time comes. And I want to be ready.

Dude, Nick...... Peter does have some hard-to-undertand posts sometimes, and holmes could preview his shit, like you said, but that stuff by Peter that you quoted I found rather easy to interpret!

He meant "my favorite was that Dan's team HAD one earned run"

Spend your time getting the stattracker software created, and less time harassing our stattracker about his syntax and lack of proofreading, beotch!!!!

Sorry Nick. I know its annoying. At least I am using spell check now. But it just so happens that I am dyslexic, and I now have over 280 posts, and I don’t have the time to proofread each post that I make.

For the most part people seem to understand what I am saying, though not all of it. But if you have a question about what I’ve written, then fuckin' ask me. Don't use the public forum to call me out like that. Damn…

You can PM me if you want to continue this. Otherwise, this forum is not for the two of us.