This weekend in Kentucky we were 1-2. We did some good things, made some first time outdoor mistakes, and found out what we needed to get better at.
Our pitchers threw well only giving up 3 hits in the first two games. Our bats came out a little cold and then picked up in game two, and even more in game three. Defensively and on the bases we made some mistakes that hurt us and cost us would be runners, and gave the other team a few too many extra outs. We competed in all three games and played hard all three games, but like all teams we have to get better and we have to get better at the little things. Too many base running mistakes, popped up a bunt, and made some errant throws. Details win championships and those are big details when it comes to baseball.
I expect the base running will get better the more we get outside and get in those situations because it is hard to practice live reads indoors.
We also did some great things like turning 4 double plays in a double header one being a diving catch by our 1st baseman on a bunt who threw to 1st base from his butt for the double play. One of our pitchers came off the mound, made a bare hand play and cut down the lead runner on a bunt, and our catcher was a wall all weekend long. We covered bunts well and we were very strong holding runners on and even picking off two guys.
Besides the one bunt our situational hitting was good as we executed two hit and runs and did get the job done on the other SAC attempt. We were 1-1 stealing 3rd and took extra bases on throws that missed the cutoff man.
It is hard to tell too much from the opening weekend but I think the initial shock is out and our hitters timing was better in game three than it was in game 1. We are off to Florida for a week starting Saturday and if our pitching is as good as it was we should be fine. Although we did walk a few too many hitters the pitchers competed and we got out of some potential big innings with double plays and strikeouts with the bases loaded. I am looking forward to our trip as I think the consistency of playing outside everyday will be huge and I expect big things from the guys once we get rolling.
Things we will work to improve before the next game:
Base running, Finishing plays, Having quality at bats, and getting ahead of more hitters. If we can improve on those things we will put pressure on the defense, and put up more runs, while limiting the amount of hitters counts we allow them to get into.
Looking back on the trip I am happy because our guys made no excuses for mistakes, picked each other up, played hard, and competed every inning we played, If we continue to do that we will continue to get better and the more games we play the better our team will get.
Great teams learn from mistakes and work hard to get ready for each game. We already do the latter and this week we will work on correcting our mistakes.
