First Win!!!
Hey everyone,
I am back, sorry it has been a while. My charger for my laptop broke while we were on the road, and I just got a new one. So we are officially back in action. Big news tonight, we got our first win, and it couldn’t have come sooner. It is an awesome feeling, and a huge relief. Our record, which is 1-8 does not indicate what kind of baseball we have been playing. All of our losses have been within 3 runs or less. Alot of tough losses, and we have really been in every game. Now that we got our first win, I would not be surprised if we got on a roll.
As everybody probably saw in the box score, I did not throw well in my first start of the season. To put it simply, I couldn’t throw a strike. I actually made a few pitches when I had to because it could have been worse. The good news is that we had a rain out which gave me an extra day, and an extra bullpen session. The bullpen sessions were really good, I got a lot accomplished. I make my second start of the season tomorrow against the Erie Sea Wolves. Game time is 3:05.
Until Later,
Moskie
Moskie Madness 
Congrats on the win and good luck tomorrow! Here’s hoping we’ll be hearing about a win!
Julia
http://werbiefitz.mlblogs.com/
good luck tomorrow. We look forward to hearing good things.
Are you scheduled to pitch next weekend in Akron? My five year daughter and I will be coming down to see a game or two and hope we hit your turn in the rotation
The record in the minors isn’t a big concern, it’s what the individual player does that matters. That said, how’s Tabata act when he struggles, and is Lincoln looking back to normal after TJ?
HEY… 1-0, nice work Dan. (And as I look through the box score, I see a man named Josh Rainwater… THAT’S THE BEST NAME EVER!)
Nice line- keep up the good work
Congrats on the W for you and the team. Hopefully this will keep the Curve on a roll. Good luck against Reading this week and hope the weather cooperates.
Congrats on your win yesterday!
Thank you Julia, fortuanately I do have another win to tell you about. the Curve won again yesterday, making it 2 in a row.
Jevans- Thanks for the good luck. I am scheduled to pitch next weekend in Akron. I should pitch on Friday, as long as there are no rainouts or anything like that.
Gjs- Once you get to AA the records start to matter a little more than they do in A ball, also nobody likes losing. It sucks to be honest. That being said Tabata is a very good teammate, and doesn’t act any differently than anybody else. And I thought that Lincoln looked pretty much back to form last year. He looks really good so far this year, and hopefully just continues to get better. Yes, rainwater is a great last name.
Thanks Ojs, I hope we can keep the streak going as well. Winning is alot more fun than losing. It is raining right now, but hopefully it clears up in time for the game.
Brian- Thank you very much. And thanks again for the nice things you said in your post. I am glad that this blog is working out. It is all about having fans, and I am glad you were able to come out to the game in Akron. Even if the weather was terrible.
Hey Daniel. Good job on the win! Keep ’em comin! You gonna throw on your birthday? Do they broadcast your games anywhere on the internet that you know of?
Hey Moskie anything you were disappointed in with your start yesterday? I know you are your biggest critic so I find it interesting to see what you think about yesterday. The line looked good and I noticed 4 k’s were on swings and misses, always nice to see a pitcher who can miss bats.
Great win! Hopefully plenty more to come.
Daniel,
Congrats on the win, but more importantly on succeeding at some of the things you were working on. They say that pitchers have to have short memories and that sounds like a perfect example. Keep up the good work, and if you have another tough day, just remember you rebounded quite nicely once.
Anyway, maybe you guys can have an 8-game winning streak! Keep up the good work.
Kathie-
I’m pretty sure this is the link for the Altoona Curve internet broadcasts:
http://www.edge-radio.com/curve/
Hi Daniel,
I’m glad to see that your start on Sunday went well.
Right now, I’m actually working on a reporting project for one of my college courses…an analysis of MLB draft trends over the past 7 years.
If possible, I’d love to ask you a few short questions about your experiences with youth baseball and the draft. It would be about 5 questions, and nothing too crazy. I promise.
If you think this would be possible, please let me know (my email is below). If not, thanks anyway and good luck this season!
-Stacey
scp723@aol.com
We will be sitting right on top of your dugout on Friday. We look forward to seeing you pitch .
Jeff, Lynn, Mari and Kiera ( who was also born in Greenville when I was teaching in Piedmont) Evans
hey kath- Thank you for the kind words. I might actually end up throwing on my birthday with the way the weather has been going. I know that they actually have video footage for all the home games on the altoon curve website.
Aso- Thanks for the congrats. I actually threw a pretty good game. 2 of the 3 hits in the second inning were broken bat hits. The only thing that I was disappointed in was my first pitch strikes. I fell behind a few too many hitters. Other than that, I made a few mistakes here and there, but alot better than the previous start.
Thank you shamtown, hopefully plenty more indeed.
Falseaccount- Thank you very much. You are so correct, you have to learn from the bad outing, but you also have to be able to flush it. That is why I was good as a closer, if I blew a save, I was ready to go back out there the next night.
Stacey- It would be no problem for me to do that. My email is dmoskos@gmail.com. just send me the questions. I would be glad to help you out.
Jevans- Can’t wait to see you there. Bring a ball and I will sign it for the kids
Does your pitching coach go over stats with you, and if so which kind? Of course we can get the basic ones like WHIP off the milb site, but detailed things arent available.
Just wondered what you guys focus on in between starts.
Thataboy Moskos! Solid start the other night in Altoona. Keep up the good work. ‘Burgh Blues will be following. Hope to talk to you soon.
http://theburghblues.mlblogs.com/
Longhorn- The two big stats that we focus on are first pitch strikes, and first 2 of 3 pitches for strikes. Other than that we don’t focus too much on stats. In between starts it is about mechanics and plans for attacking hitters. Hope that helps.
Thanks burgh, it was a good feeling to get a quality start under my belt. Good luck with the college search. talk to you soon bud
Yo Danny, just wondering if you have had any contact with the wizard Joe Kerrigan? It is amazing how different the staff has looked this year. Also, how is the two seamer been so far this year, after not throwing it all last year is there more work to be done with that pitch than the rest? Go get em this weekend, I have a feeling you and Snell’s seasons so far will mirror one another, under par first start, good second start, and a lights out third start.
Aso- Unfortunately I did not get to spend any time with him during spring training. Although I would have enjoyed the opportunity to get to to work with him. I did, however, live with Jimmy Barthmaier. So I was able to pick his brain about things Joe was teaching and preaching. I tell you what, from everything I have heard, the guy is really really good. I really like what I have heard about his philosophies, and he is very hands on. I can only hope to improve with every start. My first start was very uncharacteristic of how I pitch. I walked one guy in spring training, and then I walked 5 in my first start. Our pitching coach has worked very hard with me this year, and I think that it is really paying off. The 2 seamer is just fine, even though I rarely used it last year, I made sure that I got it back this offseason. It really helps me get a ground ball when I need one
Thanks, Daniel. I sent the questions over (from another one of my email accounts actually…I have about 8 different addresses..haha).
I’m sorry if it was too last minute. That’s totally my fault for not contacting you earlier.
I hope your trip to Akron is going well. I was actually in that area not too long ago. I think I was more in the cornfields though. But I’ve heard the stadium is pretty nice.
Dan,
Thanks for spending a couple of minutes with Mari last night. She has been a fan since you were drafted by the Pirates when we lived in Greenville. We used to drive over to Clemson’s Botanical Gardens and she liked the place. When you were drafted she overheard me mentioning to my wife that the Buccos had taken a Clemson pitcher and it stuck with her. She was disappointed you were not going last night and asked if we could come back today to see you pitch (and Orbit the Cat). That is saying something coming from a pre-schooler who had just sat through a LONG night the night before.
You looked pretty good today from up on top of the dugout. Your control looked really good for most the game. Those were a couple of nice double plays I thought. The hit that led to the first run seemed to get lost in that weird corner in left. I won’t talk about the homers or the excitement in the first inning. How hard is it to get over situations like that or do such things ( homers and the other) serve as motivation? I would be so fired up I would be trying to get three outs with each pitch.
What was up with that field? It looked like the fur of a mangy stray mongrel dog with all the holes! Did that interfere with play at all? It look worse than many of the fields I played on in D-3 college ball.
As I told you last night, I can see you guys getting hot soon. Your team was hitting some ropes today but they seemed to be right at people or into the deepest part of the park. That will change.
I have to go grade essays on Ancient Greece ( going to the game today meant that I got to delay that!)
Good luck with your next start.
Jeff and Mari
Dan,
Thanks for spending a couple of minutes with Mari last night. She has been a fan since you were drafted by the Pirates when we lived in Greenville. We used to drive over to Clemson’s Botanical Gardens and she liked the place. When you were drafted she overheard me mentioning to my wife that the Buccos had taken a Clemson pitcher and it stuck with her. She was disappointed you were not going last night and asked if we could come back today to see you pitch (and Orbit the Cat). That is saying something coming from a pre-schooler who had just sat through a LONG night the night before.
You looked pretty good today from up on top of the dugout. Your control looked really good for most the game. Those were a couple of nice double plays I thought. The hit that led to the first run seemed to get lost in that weird corner in left. I won’t talk about the homers or the excitement in the first inning. How hard is it to get over situations like that or do such things ( homers and the other) serve as motivation? I would be so fired up I would be trying to get three outs with each pitch.
What was up with that field? It looked like the fur of a mangy stray mongrel dog with all the holes! Did that interfere with play at all? It looked worse than many of the fields I played on in D-3 college ball.
As I told you last night, I can see you guys getting hot soon. Your team was hitting some ropes today but they seemed to be right at people or into the deepest part of the park. That will change.
I have to go grade essays on Ancient Greece ( going to the game today meant that I got to delay that!)
Good luck with your next start.
Jeff and Mari
Jeff- Thank you for the very nice things that you said. Your daughter was adorable. And it is awesome that she is a fan. I am glad that you got to come back to see the second game, and orbit the cat. Anyways it is good to have fans like yourself, and hopefully we will see you at some more games throughout the year. Take care