To keep moving forward with how the camp will look after the teams are announced on Sunday takes two words, "Play Ball!" The campers begin Monday which will embark them on playing 7 games in 4 days journey -- the 8 team format allows for a complete round robin which consist of playing doubleheaders (10am and 1pm -- a lunch break squeezed in there) on Monday & Tuesday -- a single morning game on Weds (the afternoon is reserved for a golf outing with the Pro Staff -- optional activity for campers) and then a doubleheader on Thursday. The weather forecast is suggesting upper 70's and lower 80's this week -- so this one will be a warm one -- if the forecast is about right, this will be the "warmest" camp I have attended. The heat will test the campers as dehydration (muscle cramping) could become an issue as the week wears on. The vital positions of pitcher & catcher will be tested as well. The more successful teams in camp have plenty of pitcher and catcher options (at least two catchers) to get them through the week. The big key to playing winning baseball is keeping the walks and errors to a minimum -- the team that does that more often than not will be in the left hand column for the standings.
Monday evening is set aside for teams to take their "coaches" out to dinner and to hang out with teammates - otherwise known as "team bonding". The evening after day one is interesting -- your team could be riding lots of confidence (by winning both games) by being 2-0 -- or could really be wondering if you will win a game during the week if you dropped both games and are eating dinner that evening 0-2. We all have fun, but let's face it - winning is ALOT more fun!!
Tuesday evening is a banquet night at the hotel where the coaches will give out game awards "MVP's" and of course Kangaroo Court will be in session. The campers will need to have their wallets ready as the Judge, Honorable Blyleven will be doling out fines for various "offenses" -- they really could be anything but the most common issues for campers are: taking a called third strike, going up to bat without a helmet, and (for some) losing/misplacing items which need to be repurchased (sunglasses, batting gloves, gloves, etc). The Judge generally has many more opportunities to find ways to "fine" the campers. The campers need to realize that they need to not put themselves into any spot where they could be punished for actions and behaviors. The Judge has plenty sets of eyes to find these items out.
Wednesday is considered the "off day" since we only play a morning game (first pitch at 9:45am) and then the golf outing is slated for the afternoon. I went out on the golf outing and played with Frank Viola when I was a rookie camper in 2010 -- he simply crushes the golf ball and is a great guy. Viola is very easy to talk to and just had a wonderful time out on the course with Sweet Music.
Thursday comes back to our normal doubleheader -- this is the final day of playing and teams are jockeying for "playoff" positioning. The teams will be seeded #1-#8 with the top four teams moving on to the "Blue" division (or as I like to call it -- the upper division) and the bottom four play in a "Red" division (lower bracket). It worked out well -- Friday is Semifinals and the winners play each other in the Championships on Saturday!! (of course, in Hammond Stadium -- Spring Training Home of the Minnesota Twins!)
We will make one more post about Friday and Saturday in the next edition -- I will get that up on the blog sometime tonight or tomorrow morning -- I am all packed and my flight leaves Minneapolis at 10:00am.....Fort Myers countdown is now 26 hours away......can't wait.
Paul
~~ "Playing baseball is not real life. It's a fantasy world...It's like a dream come true" - Dale Murphy ~~
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