Hey Everyone,

Yup the subject should tell it all, we are in Mystic, Connecticut.  What a name for a town.  The hotel in New Britain didn’t have internet, so I have been out of the loop for the past few days.  They didn’t have internet, but they did have great beds, so I will take that. 

Ok so some good news to start this post off.  My mom and my sister are coming to see me on this leg of the trip.  I haven’t seen either of them in about four months, so it will be good to spend some time with them.  Also we are only fifteen minutes from the largest casino in the world if I am not mistaken.  So we might actually have something to do while they are here. 

So my last outing was a pretty decent one. The longest of the year so far, and I am pretty happy with the way I pitched.  I was also very happy with my mechanics and my arm slot because that is what has caused inconsistency this year.  I gave up 2 runs, one of them on the longest home run I think I have ever given up, and the other on a bloop single.  I was also getting alot more fly balls the other day, which is prety abnormal for me.  However, it was not indicative of the way the game was going.  Usually if I am giving up alot of fly ball outs its because I am up in the zone and probably getting hit hard.  These fly balls were more of the lazy variety and were a result of fastballs in on the hands, and change ups low and away. 

The last note for the the day, has anybody seen the movie the hangover yet.  I haven’t seen it, but everybody says its the funniest movie they have ever seen.  Anybody with some input feel free to let me know.  My next outing is back at home in Altoona on Tuesday.  I will be back around then as always. 

Moskie

Hey Everyone,

Well we are finally back home, and it is for only three days.  Surprise, surprise it is raining here in Altoona.  We did get our game in tonight, but it also reained the entire game.  Its getting to be pretty ridiculous how much it rains here. 

Tomorrow we have a double header against Akron, the first game features a match up of Brad Lincoln versus Jake Westbrook.  That should be a fun one to watch. 

We have also arrived at another favorite time of yearof mine in terms of sports.  College baseball playoffs.  The two teams I will be pulling for this year are the Clemson Tigers of course, and the Florida Gators.  My pitching coach from college is now the head coach there and so I wish him the best.  College baseball is played with so much passion and energy that it is hard not to love watching it. 

The last topic for today is going to be my last outing.  The best word I can think to describe it is erratic.  My stuff was pretty good for the most part, but my command just wasn’t very good.  This led to alot of strike outs and alot of walks.  The hits came too, but there weren’t that many of them that were hit well.  A couple ground balls with eyes, and a few bloop singles.  The hardest hit balls of the night both went for lineouts to the second baseman. 

One mroe final note, how bout Randy Johnson, still doing it.  He had to wait through a couple rain delays that lasted for several hours, but he did get win number 300.  At this point its just another notch on his belt of a hall of fame career, but good for him.

Well that is all for today guys, my next outing will be in New Brittain, and I will probably have another post sometime around then.  So until then, take care.

Moskie

Hey Everyone,

So we are here in Erie, Pa, we got in last night, or this morning at about 1 30 or 2. It was a 7 hour trip from Trenton.  We did not have any internet in Trenton so I am sorry about the delay in posting.  My most recent outing was probably my best of the season, and a very encouraging outing.

So in my last outing I got 17 ground ball outs, which is exactly what I try to do.  That is what is so encouraging.  There was only 1 ball hit in the air all night, and that was a foul out.  Even their hits were all groundballs.  I have to give some credit to my catcher Steve Lerud, we were on the same page for the duration of my outing.  The only thing I struggled with was my command in the first inning, there was a huge difference between the bullpen mound and the game mound. So it took a couple batters to make an adjustment.

Something funny that happened during the game was that I got hit with a bat.  While its not a funny issue, since I wasn’t seriously hurt, I found it to be pretty funny.  With Colin Curtis hitting, I threw him an inside fastball that broke his bat. It was also a ground ball to the right side, so I immediately ran to cover first base.  Out of the corner of my eye, I saw the barrel coming at me, and I tried to make a last second effort to dodge it. But it hit me in my right forearm.  Fortuantely I escaped with just a bruise and a minor laceration.  Definitely a new experience though.

Just a quick side note.  I have been getting alot of questions about strikeouts.  So in reference to them, I really don’t care about strikeouts, I am not a strikeout pitcher, and I don’t think that you have to strike hitters out to be a good pitcher.  The only time a strikeout is important is when a situation calls for it.  Like with a runner on third and 1 out, other than that I just try to get ground balls.  When I have a hitter in a 0-2 or 1-2 count, I don’t waste a pitch with a breaking ball in the dirt.  I go for weak contact, putting pressure on the hitter, that is our organizational philosophy, and that is what I have had success doing.  On or out in 3 pitches really allows you to pitch deeper into ball games, that’s what I am all about.

Well I have to wrap this up so I can get to the field, but the last thing I will say is that the Trenton Yankees have a great stadium and a great field.  Also, they do a really good job drawing fans.  The game that I pitched had several thousand fans at it, and it was a great atmosphere.  Well I pitch again on Thursday, barring any weather delays, which is always a possibility in the northeast.  So everyone take care.

Moskie

Hey Everyone,

I am back with a new post.  I took my girlfriend to the airport last night, unfortunately, but it was good to have her here.  And as my post indicates, we were rained out, again.  It seems like every homestand we have at least 1 game rained out, and sometimes several games.  Now I lived in Hawaii, which is supposed to recieve the most precipitation each year, but I have never seen it rain like it does here in Altoona.

Anyways, so my last outing was pretty bad.  The only thing I really did well was battled through 6 innings, and did a decent job of some damage control.  Had to be one of my worst outings this year, and you are going to have outings like this throughout the season.  I will make sure that I am better next time out. 

On a lighter note, I did see Angels and Demons, and I thought that it was pretty amazing. I really liked the movie, and it was pretty much as well as you could have made a movie out of that book.  The next movies that I would like to see are the Hangover and Land of the Lost.  Those both look pretty funny, and I am a big fan of comedy movies. 

Well I am gonna wrap this up so that I can go watch the Buccos game, or the Penguins game if they get rained out.  Maybe both if I can figure out how to get PIP (picture in picture) to work on my tv. 

Take care

Moskie

Hey everyone,

Well I am back with another post, the second game of our scheduled double header was rained out.  It seems like it rains everyday in Altoona.  We won the first game 8-0 to snap the 2 game losing skid.  We have really been playing well lately, but the Akron Aeros seem to have our number.  I guess they have only 8 games on the year, so they might have everyones number. 

So my last outing went ok, I kinda struggled with my command, but was able to make some pitches when I needed to in order to get out of some jams.  My final line looked a little better than the way I threw, 6 innings pitched and only 1 earned run.  Again we had a really good bullpen session this week.  So I am not too worried about it. I have to keep working hard in those bullpen sessions, they are very important for me.  On the hitting side of things, I put my first ball into play, and actually barreled it up and hit it pretty hard.  It was a groundout, but the shortstop had to make a really good play.

The next time I pitch is the first game in Bowie, that will be on Tuesday, as we have a day off on Monday.  Also, my girlfriend is in town for the next week or so, so my posts might not bee that frequent, but I will respond to comments and stuff.

Last topic for this post, has anybody seen Angels and Demons yet, I was a huge fan of the book when I read it, and will definitely go see the movie.  Please feel free to post your reviews. Well thats all for today ladies and gentlemen.  Hope everybody has, or is having a great weekend.

Moskie

Hey Everyone,

A couple of topics for this post.  First of all, there is a Royal’s blog done by Chris “Disco” Hayes, and his blog is pretty much amazing. I reccomend everyone to go check it out.  I recently checked it out, and there is some really good stuff on his blog, he is really funny and quite the character.

The second topic is my most recent outing.  It was by far the best of the season, and probably the most comfortable that I have felt on the mound.  The mechanical changes that we worked on in between starts really paid off.  I was through 6 innings in 74 pitches, and ready to go back out for the 7th, but I was pinch hit for because it was a 1-1 game, and we had a scoring opportunity.  Which brings me to my next point, hitting.  Its really tough, and I have a lot of work to do.  I looked terrrible at the plate, if I had looked a little better, they might have let me hit for myself.  Either way, it was a very good outing, and a very encouraging step in my career.  The fact that I was able to fix my mechanics in one outing gives me a boatload of confidence.

Ok so on to the real topic of this post. The movie A League of Their Own, a true story about war-time America where they created a women’s baseball league to replace major league baseball.  In the movie there is a character by the name of Betty Spaghetti.  Well today after our afternoon game in Reading, I was fortunate enough to meet the real life person that portrayed in the movie.  While we were sitting on the bus waiting to leave for Harrisburg, she walked onto the bus and introduced herself.  It was very cool, and a really exciting experience.

Well thats all I have for today guys and girls.

Moskie

Hey everyone,

So as you could tell by the box score from my last outing it was a struggle.  I gave up four runs in the first inning and threw 31 pitches in the process.  I then went 5 innings throwing only 54 pitches after that.  The most upsetting part about the outing was that I was informed that I had reverted back to old mechanics.  That is something that is unacceptable to me, and something that I will make sure to fix.  Today I had a very good bullpen session in which we corrected those problems.  Hopefully I can take them from the bullpen out to the mound.  A few encouraging things from the outing were that I broke like 8 bats, unfortuanately a few of them were hits. And I also got better as the outing went on, which led my pitching coach to the idea that I need to do a better job before the game, in order to make sure that I am ready to pitch from the first inning.

So that is it for baseball talk for this post.  One thing that I would like to talk about is reading.  I am pretty sure we talked about favorite authors earlier this year. However, I just started reading this book that is awesome.  One of the best reads so far.  So without judging me, it is entitled The Electric Koolaid Acid Test and is written by Tom Wolfe.  If anybody has any must read books please feel free to let me know.

Ok last topic before I take off, is the NBA playoffs, and more specifically the Celtics and Bulls.  How insane was that series?  I mean every game except for the one blowout was a great game.  This is coming from someone who very rarely watches pro basketball and couldn’t even tell you every team’s starting line ups that are still left in the playoffs.  But so far these games have ignited an interest in pro basketball.  Anybody else that has an opinion feel free to reply.

Well thats all for now  so until later,

Moskie

Hey everyone,

We are done with the first half of our road trip, and currently enjoying a day off.  We got back from Akron last night after going 2-3 on the first half.  Not something to get too excited about, but it is a huge improvement from the 0-6 that we went on our first road trip.  We played some really close and hard fought games, two of which went extra innings.

I threw on Saturday, and for those of you that didn’t catch the box score the line was 6.1 IP 6 H 4 ER 2 BB 1 K.  The line seems a little odd, so I will explain some of it. Akron is a very disciplined team at the plate.  They lead the league in walks as a team, as well as leading the league in not striking out.  One of my walks was intentional, we pitched around their catcher Santana.  I also gave up 2 solo home runs, which were my two big mistakes of the game, other than that I threw the ball pretty well.  I did a good job of getting ahead of their hitters, which is what allowed me to pitch deeper into the game.  Their leadoff hitter really hurt me, he was 3-3.  Although he had an infield single on a chopper that was just out of my reach, and a broken bat flare for a double.  The kid can absolutely fly though, he is someone that you would like to keep off the bases.  The final comment about the outing is that it was important for me to pitch deeper into the game because we were a little short in the bullpen due to the double header the day before.

So after the off day today, we head to Reading for a 3 game set with the Phillies to finish out the road trip tomorrow.  Thanks for all of the support from fans on here, the fact that everyone is going out of their way to come out to see some baseball games is awesome.  I will try to do a better job of letting everyone know when I am pitching.  So I pitch the first day that we get back from Reading. 

Last thing before I close out this post, how bout them Buccos? They are looking really good right now.  Pitching and defense will take you a long way in this game.  Well thats all for today.

Until later,

Moskie

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

Hey everyone,

Sorry for the lack of posting lately, it has been a little tough to find internet lately. We just got internet in our appartment the day before we left for our road trip.

Before I get into the post topic, I feel that it is necessary to mention Nick Adenhart.  I didn’t know him personally, but he is part of the baseball family. This situation has really upset me, and the coverage that ESPN has done has really choked me up.  It really could have been any player in that car.  I have actually been through that intersection before. It was a really sad day.  I think that his family should be kept in everybody’s prayers.

Ok, so on to the topic of this post.  The season has officially begun, unfortunately we are 0-2.  However, the games have been very competitive and could have won both of them.  I threw in relief last night, just one inning.  It was sort of a tune up outing so that I didn’t have an 8 or 9 day lay off without facing hitters.  I got 2 quick outs via a strike out and a 5-3 groundout. Then I made a bad pitch, and a guy hit a triple.  The next guy broke his bat, but got just enough of the ball to get it through the infield.  The next guy grounded into a force out.  The final line was 1 IP 2 H 1 ER 0 BB 1 K.  Really only made that one bad pitch.  It was good to get out there and face hitters though, see how the adrenaline and nerves are gonna react. 

I will start on Monday in Akron, and I am really excited about it. I can’t wait to get back out there.  I wanted to go back out for another inning last night, really good to feel those competitive juices flowing again.  Well that’s all I have for now, I will probably post after my outing on Monday.

Until Later,

Moskie