"That's why the old guys beat the younger teams."

"That's why the old guys beat the younger teams."
-Coach Joe addressing the team on Sunday morning.

This quote really addresses the fact that playing a smart game is just as important (if not more important) as being athletic. Here are the notes from practice on Sunday. It was a productive session and we will give a refresher course to the folks that were not there. My favorite part was playing soft toss with the rain and lightning (see picture). I will send out the videos later today. Joe is copied on this email. I traded emails with Joe this morning and he wishes us luck on Tuesday and we need to let him know how it went.

Hitting:
· weight back, push off the back leg
· arms back in your stance
· get the arms extended in the swing
· keep the head steady like the Golden Bear
· look at the defense and see what they're giving you
· with 2 strikes go with the pitch and an 80 percent swing, don't try to pull it
· if you can't hit a high arching pitch "tomahawk" it
· if you like a low pitch stand back in the box, higher upfront in the box
· step toward where you want to hit it
· when going to the right side, a) wait till the ball is passed you, really wait, and then wait some more, b) don't break the wrists (you will on the follow through, but don't try to), 3) step toward right field
· productive outs to move the runners is ok and hit the ball to the right side with runners on 1st and 2nd

Bats:
· swing the heaviest bat you can as long as you don't sacrifice bat speed
· a lighter bat will give you more control, which is important when going to right

Pitching:
· if the guy is trying to pull the ball, step toward 1st base and pitch him outside
· if he's going to right step toward 3rd and try to jam him
· crossover step off the rubber
· potty shot style pitch

Defense:
· on high infield spinners try to "alligator clamp" the ball right hand on top of left hand.

Joe wrote me this morning and gave us another tip. "One more thing that could make the difference between winning and losing. On defense, just because a ball is not hit to you, you still have a job to do, and that is to back up a base in case of an overthrow. I have seen teams lose just because of one bad play like this where nobody backed up the base and the ball got away and the winning run scored."

Attitude:
· play the game a little angry
· bust chops after the game
· "kangaroo court" - charge fines for bad plays