Sunday, January 28, 2007

Final Day at Camp

Following the conclusion of the competition yesterday, we had a formal awards dinner where the MVP, Cy Young and other awards were presented. Two of the Ravens were deservingly acknowledged. Kicked on after the dinner and managed to find my way to bed at 5am, with the alarm set for 5:40am to get to the stretching class. Ouch!!

After breakfast picked up my final stats that will go on my baseball card:
Batting - BA 0.365; 4 hits; 2B; 2 RBI; 6 Runs
Pitching - 20 IP; 15 K; 6 BB; 8 Runs; 8 ER; ERA 4.40

Headed over to Bright House Networks Field for the game against the pros. Each of the 10 teams had a 3 inning game, with the pros limited to scoring 2 runs per inning and all of the camp participants had to complete at least one at bat in the game. As you can imagine, many of the games required up to 8 outs in the 3rd inning to close out the game.

The games were based on final position, so we had the second game.




We ended up losing 3-1 (no surprises there). I caught in the first inning and fielded in left for the remainder. This enabled many of the other guys to have a shot at pitching to the pros.

In my at bat I faced Mitch Williams. Even though he's been out of the game, he is still scary form 60 feet away. Only had one chance so I came out swinging. My sequence was:


Pitch 1 - slider on the outside of the plate - FOUL - Strike 1
Pitch 2 - fast ball down the pipe - SWING AND MISS - Strike 2 (this was easily the fastest pitch I have ever faced
Pitch 3 - fast ball high and away - Ball 1
Pitch 4 - slider on the outside of the plate - HIGH FLY TO CENTRE FIELD - Out

Despite not getting on base, it was a great experience. After the game, Kruk pulled me aside and said, "Doc, you hit that one hard - pity you sent it straight down Ricky's (Jordan) throat." Good times.

After the game I hung around at the complex and watched the remaining 8 games. The pros were undefeated but did give up a few hits and runs. Over a 6 hour period they played 50 innings and faced 140 batters. Considering they were all retired from the game, that's a hell of an effort.

Sadly, this portion of the trip has ended. It was an amazing experience and one that I am sure I'll do again. Might even take a few other Aussies with me.

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