I will miss you

I originally made this blog spot to tell people about my baseball progress and adventures, but at this point, I'd like to talk a lil about someone very special to me. My baby, Rachel! I just spent the weekend with her and had an absolute blast with her. I miss her so much already! I flew in on valentine's day, she had dinner for me, then the next day she made breakfast for me, and we basically spent the whole weekend together. i never left her side! Unfortunately, time had come for me to depart San Diego and go back to Hawaii to work and try to provide for myself. When will I see my love again? Hopefully for my birthday - in BELGIUM!!!!!!!!!! Rachel, when you read this, I know you are going to try your best to visit me, and i just want you to know that I will be waiting for you and i can't wait to see you again! I can't wait till I hold you in my arms again, look into your eyes, see you smile, and hear that laugh of yours. I love you Rachel and I miss you.

this pitching position is called the stretch. There are a few more mechanical things wrong in this one. I use my body to start the movement which is evident by the rock in my body before I lift my leg. It won't affect my pitching a whole lot but base runners can use that as a timing device when trying to steal. More evident than the other clip, when I lift my right leg, i lean forward a lot. I won't be able to pick a runner off at first, also, I am taking away power from my legs and hips. need to come straight up and start off straight down before moving forward. Need to get a little rock in my back leg (left leg). Bend it slightly and use the built up energy to extend the leg and push off, which will give me more velocity. same thing here with right arm and keeping it in front of me though I think I did a little better job on this one than the last one.

On a good note though: SUNS OUT GUNS OUT!!!

This is a clip of me shot on Wednesday Feb. 13. The good things about this, my tempo (speed) is good as I'm gaining momentum up until I'm releasing the ball.

Lets look at some things to fix, when I raise my right leg, i am leaning into my throw already. Ideally I'd like to stay back a little more as I am taking about from my legs by leaning towards the plate this early. My right arm (glove arm) is flying open. This is ok from the outfield as it helps you pull with you body, but from a pitching stand point, this isn't good. When you open up early, you are not able to release the ball in front of you as is desired. This way, you release it behind your head thus enabling the hitter to pick up the ball earlier. Also, it often makes you release the ball higher, throwing more high pitches. if you keep the arm out in front of you, you will be able to get on top of throw thus throwing the ball down hill/at a downward angle. A downward angle ball has more deception and is harder to hit.

In other news, SUNS OUT, GUNS OUT!!!!!

frustration

Lately I've been getting frustrated with my training. After a pitching session with one of my coaches, we basically revamped my mechanics and changed the way I throw all of my pitches. Problem is, one day isn't good enough to build Muscle Memory. I was banking on pitching for my AJA team however, the past two games....one got canceled, and this past game they didn't use me at all. Its hard also because my throwing partner has his own life that he has to tend to so finding time to work out has been a struggle lately. This means that i have to go back and re-evaluate my schedule. From work to finding time to throw and lift and run. We'll see what happens.

In other news, Barry Bonds was quoted as taking a substance that he thought was flax seed oil, which in reality, ended up being steroids. Well, news to everyone, I am going the same route as Barry. I am taking Flax Seed Oil! However, like Barry, as far as I know it is Flax Seed Oil. It says so on the bottle and on the ingredients. It really is an amazing supplement which can be recommended for many different uses. Hopefully hitting home runs like Barry is one of those uses.

Training

Sad to say that I've been training so hard with baseball since I moved back to hawaii in mid november. However now, because of financial situations, i have to back off on training and try to make some bills! I will attempt to pay my loans while I am off to belgium, however because of lack of stead work with teaching, I had to pick up a second job at DHL...a job which is worked in the afternoon when i usually train. I am now no longer able to throw everyday which is what I just love to do, and can no longer work on my pitching which I really should be focusing on. I will still play AJA which will give me two days a week to throw and pitch and hit, but without that everyday workout, I cannot see myself progressing. That causes me to really worry about my performance in Belgium. As of now, I work, and work, then late at night I go to 24hr and lift and run. I will no doubt be in shape, I just hope I don't lose to much arm strength that I've gained since November, also my release points for my curveball and splitty. As always though, I am confident in my abilities to adjust and rectify situations so i know when i get over there that I will once again take up throwing everyday thus strengthening my arm and regaining my control. We'll see what happens.

Intro

Thank you to the best girlfriend in the world I have this blog to communicate with friends and family like you! I had mentioned to her that i wanted to create a website where I could post pictures and write about how I've been doing, and she mentioned that her friend (Anna Hamilton) had a website with blogspot and was using that to communicate with friends and family about whats going on in her life....or actually, whats going on with her dogs! hahaha! So today, February 2, 2008, instead of going on a hike with my cousins, I stayed in for the majority of the day and created this thing. No I didn't ditch my cousins, God has just been having bladder problems for the past week and has been making it hard for everyone! Well, check back every once in a while and see if I actually post things up on here!