Sunday is a fun day for camp with some "group drills" and instructionals in the morning here are a few clips of the morning.
1) Bill "Soup"Campbell -- explaining some of the techniques used by outfielders
2) Frank Viola telling a story about Laudner
3) Laudner talking about the first time he caught a game in the big leagues
4) Blyleven talking about pitching with a good base (your legs....)
The rookies played in some scrimmages in the afternoon the Pro Staff can do some "scouting" so they can be prepared to draft a team in the afternoon. The afternoon was a nice warm one -- temps near the 80's and when the sun was out -- boy it felt warm. I ended up just watching and taking some pictures instead of playing (which I had done the previous 3 times as bed) -- the weather is supposed to be warm (hot) all week so I wanted to save the legs for the "real" games -- I got some BP (batting practice) and some throws in earlier in the day so I felt like I will be in good shape for tomorrow's first day.
The evening banquet starts out with the announcing of the teams (and the team managers) -- so here they are (in order of team numbers.....)
Team 1 - "Panama Stingers"- coached by Lee Stange & Juan "Senor Smoke" Berenguer
Team 2 - "Stay Thirsty My Friends" - coached by Erik Rasmussen, Milt Cuyler, and Gene Larkin
Team 3 - "The Warriors"- coached by Rick Aguilera & Phil Roof
Team 4 - "Dream Weavers" - coached by Bill "Soup" Campbell & John Wilkens
Team 5 - "Hrbek-ski's"- coached by Tom Brunansky, General Manager Kent Hrbek
Team 6 - "The Canterbury Clan"- coached by Ron Coomer & Julio Becquer
Team 7 - "Burnsville Bombers" - coached by Dick Stigman & Frank Quilici
Team 8 - "Battery Mates"- coached by Frank Viola & Tim Laudner
Mark and I are going to be playing on the "The Canterbury Clan"-- my early feelings is we have a decent team if our pitching can hold up -- if our pitching can be stronger than my first inclination -- we will be fine. I think our batting and fielding will be very good.....so we just need to make sure we have average to above average pitching! I would be disappointed if we are not a top 3 team (if we are....that is certainly ok....)
I am going to just predict a "top four" finish and "bottom four" finish -- it is too hard to "handicap" these because of 2 things - 1) the rookies (we have 39 of them this year, it hard to figure out which ones can play all week at a nice steady pace) 2) injuries -- if a few guys get hurt here and there can change the make up of the roster.
Last year if I had put my predictions up -- they would have been way off -- I was wrong about my team (we finished in the 5 seed) and also one other team which took the 7 seed (after which I thought they would be fighting for the top seed) -- so here I go to attempt a prediction:
Top Four Teams:
Panama Stingers, The Warriors, Canterbury Clan, & Hrbek-ski's
Bottom Four Teams:
Stay Thirsty My Friends, Dream Weavers, Burnsville Bombers, & Battery Mates
There you have it -- these predictions really don't mean anything but the top four teams definitely have a good combination of pitching and hitting (and younger legs) where I feel initially the bottom four teams might have a deficiency (or two) in other areas. One item to note is match-ups are a big deal -- I mean during the week we may only face "top" pitching 1 time (the first game) and get lucky and play against the number 2,3,4 starter (depending on health, etc), so it all factors in. Legs will be very important this week -- the heat will factor in and the younger teams will have an edge there. Our team is a plus when it comes to the age factor. We have a good group of young players, this should help us.
Two games tomorrow -- we will know more about the teams after those two games......or maybe not.
Signing off -- this camper is a bit tired -- need to stay rested and well hydrated!
"The great trouble with baseball today is that most of the players are in the game for the money and that's it, not for the love of it, the excitement of it, the thrill of it." Ty Cobb
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