club ball

Let's see if I can compose a short blog post this morning. It's been way too long. The other day, Rylee and I were reading some of the past entries because he had to write about events in his life for school, and I wished I was still keeping it up. There's a lot to catch up on.

Jackson is in his second year at the Academy. He's doing well. He's working again with the drama group in their fall production, but since he did not think to try out for a role at the start of the year, he's been happy to volunteer for the technical crew. He told me a few weeks ago he still liked the acting side and will try out for a role for the next production. He's getting very tall and very mature. He spends most of his time on the computer. He's taking a religious education class, which he's really not enamored with, and plays soccer on the weekends. He's actually very good. I wish he wanted to develop that. He has quick speed now and I love to watch him run. He has very long strides and quick acceleration.

We're in initial planning stages to backpack in Colorado next summer with Ariel and Chris. Cyndi bought a new car, her pride and joy.

Rylee just finished his first club ball season with the Albuquerque Baseball Academy, 10 and under, Sluggers. I just got an email from one of the parents saying what a complete player he has become. It's true. I've talked in the past how Ry studies the game, the players, the plays, and the rules. There are several MLB players he emulates for each position. He'll break down their moves and practice them endlessly at home in the backyard against the pitch-back net. He listens to the coaches carefully and practices their drills on his own. He talks to me all the time about some new skill and describes each component in detail, sometimes even counting out each distinct part. We used to talk a lot about muscle memory.

Then when he is on the field, whether in a game or at a practice, all of a sudden you'll see him perform something quite extraordinary, and the parents, who attend all the practices and all the games, will react loudly and later tell me, excitedly, did you see that play Rylee made?

I often find myself replaying his moves in my mind. In the last doubleheader this past weekend, he started by pitching four innings. He will tell you now that his favorite position is catcher, then short stop, then first, then maybe center field, since he loves to shag down flies, and last pitching. When he first told me that I was surprised, since he is so good and has developed several different pitches. When he is on the mound, he leans forward for the catcher's sign. I saw him shake a few off. Then he gets into a set upright position and checks the runners. He'll try to  pick them off. His throws are smooth, a beautiful trajectory from his arm over the plate. His first inning turned into a tough battle, but his next innings were quick as several of the batters he faced sent fast line drives, one-hops or grounders back toward him and he just reacted quick and snagged them for what looked like easy outs at first.

He has played catcher often and loves to make the throw to second at the inside of the bag. (He had to get new catcher's gear at the start of the season, against my objection. He was right to do that since it fits so well; we figure it's his fourth set of catcher's gear. And even after getting a good catcher's mitt last spring, there's a better one he now wants.) There are a couple of other boys who catch well, however, and the coach needs Ry at shortstop. His glovework is flawless. (His infielder's glove is also new, again with money he's saved from birthdays and Christmas, and he's spent lots of time breaking it in just right, with just the right flair.) One of the reasons is his quickness. He's practiced endless catching and throwing on the run. Another reason is his footwork. He practices his approach to the ball, gauging angles, circling around to get better angles. He practices off balance plays and jump plays. He never waits; he never hesitates. He seems always to know where the play is. He and his second base teammate practice double plays all the time, and he's even turned the time the infield warms up at the start of their inning of defense by practicing double plays.

When the regular first baseman, a lefty, is pitching, Rylee plays first. He played a lot of first this past weekend. Quite remarkable to see him stretch and scoop up the throws in the dirt from third and short. He and the pitcher made a pretty play when he had to move to his right to field a hard grounder. The pitcher charged to cover first and Ry, seeing him, made a nice underhanded pass to the pitcher in perfect time for the out. Just as it's supposed to be.

At the plate, Ry has become a switch hitter. We've had endless debates when to bat right-handed and when to bat left-handed. He knows when. He's usually batting left. He has a lot of confidence batting left and his swing is smooth. For most of the season he's batted in the first position. I've only offered advice twice: the first, was to insist he threw overhand whenever we played catch; the second, was that his job as the lead-off hitter was to get on base. Once he is on base, his quickness allows him to steal. He takes a good lead off the base and watches the pitcher's steps. He'll steal second, then third, and often home, all with beautiful slides. He had three at-bats the last game and scored each time, filling in three diamonds on the score sheet. I also watched him lay down the prettiest of bunts. He was batting right. A runner was on third. He turned and crouched low, holding the bat the way he learned from watching the major league players. The ball went down the third base line a couple of yards. He beat the throw to first, and the runner scored. Another at-bat, he beat out the throw again and saw that the ball got past the first baseman, so he rounded first and slid into second.

He came to the plate the last inning of the last game. The team was behind by three runs. The bases were loaded. He was batting left. Rylee usually doesn't let many pitches go by. The first pitch was at his feet and he danced to avoid getting hit. The coach in the dugout wanted him to take the pitch ("wear one") and get awarded the base. Before the second pitch, I saw the third base coach  motion to drive the ball into the gap between third and second. Rylee swung and drove the ball into the gap into left field. Two runners scored; Rylee could have tried for a triple as the ball continued to the fence but the runner ahead of him was slower. That runner scored during the next at-bat. Rylee was at third, and he was the winning run. With Leon at bat, easily the two fastest runners were now on the field. Leon also layed down a pretty bunt, and Rylee slid into home. His teammates were jubilant and started running onto the field. They beat the best team in the league for their last game of the fall season.

I remember when Rylee started practice back in the summer. His teammates largely ignored him. But now it's apparent he is a leader. He's certainly one of the most spirited. His teammates like him immensely, and often I will see him gently direct them where to play and what the play is. I love his style. It's all about the team and good sportsmanship. He's always giving knuckles to his teammates, and I've even seen him give them hugs. He laughs. He loves to play.

The team often has a bad inning that demoralizes them and they can't recover. We've talked about one of his idols, the Yankee's Derek Jeter, who just retired, and how he keeps his team in the game and is always standing at the rail at the dugout, intent on the game at hand. I don't know if Rylee has gotten to that level of leadership, but he's learning something of the role.

The team is off for a few weeks. They'll start training again in December and start another season for the spring. They've come together as a team. That's been great fun to see. I didn't want to think about it earlier, but it's possible Rylee will play both club ball and Altamont Little League in the spring. Whenever the two conflict, the club ball trumps, but the little league welcomes it. Afterall, at Rylee's level, the little league is looking forward to minor and major all star teams. A couple of parents have remarked about imagining Rylee playing little league in the spring.

Yesterday, we were talking about a discussion he had at school about different kinds of smarts. He determined he had word smarts (his love of language and logic) and physical smarts (his love of sports). That was why, he said, he wanted to play baseball in college and study engineering. Pretty good goals, I think. Another fun part of that is that he's interested in colleges in California.

Well, I managed to get this drafted. I know I have some catching up to do with Jackson and Ariel and Cyndi, maybe even  myself. Jackson has had a busy year, and, of course, the new car isn't the only thing happening with Cyndi. It's just a fun, recent highlight. And there's a few more pictures to post.

I like writing and I like to keep this journal. I think it's something good for the family to have.

slide show through early 2014

last game

Ry had his last baseball game on Saturday. A grandfather of a player on his team last fall came up to me to tell me how good Rylee was at catcher the first inning, and after the game several people came up to Ry to tell him how fun he was to watch this season. He also played shortstop and first, where he made several outs, including one where he had to stretch his arm and body almost horizontally near the ground to make the catch while keeping one foot firmly anchored on the bag. He stole several bases, including one where he dared the pitcher to throw on a large lead off and slid into third head first. He pitched two innings, too, striking out all three batters in the first one.

He finished his Wimpy book and his pumpkin book report last night.

Meanwhile, Jackson's soccer league seems to be teetering on closing. The league cancelled another Saturday of games. It's such a shame, because he's so good at it and I'd like to see him continue in that sport. His homework is getting tougher. Math problems last night took him over an hour. He practiced some geography tests online and aced his test in class. There's lots of reading assignments, which he has to annotate and take notes on. The Spanish written tests may be the hardest thing he is doing now. But all in all, he is doing very well.

Cyndi says he worries about our family's well-being, since we are living on a very austere budget right now, but I had some interviews last week and got a very nice offer from a firm I liked immensely. I start on Monday. Jack's computer parts can't be too far away.

We had family over Sunday for our traditional Halloween potato soup and homemade croutons, with Cyndi's apple crisp for dessert. The clock goes back this weekend. Ry and I have been following the World Series. He's rooting for the American league team, even though it's the arch rival of his favorite team. I talked with Ariel briefly and she is doing well, enjoying her dishes finally. She managed to take some with her on her return flight from her visit here. Mild temperatures, cool at night. The cottonwood is changing.

a slideshow & update

Here's some promised photos. It's missing action shots of the boys' games. I recently wrote about Ry's election and his town hall meeting. He said he got lots of good comments when he asked for additional input, but the meeting was cut short because there were cupcakes that afternoon. He's getting perfect marks on his school work. Jackson had a soccer game. He is amazing to watch. He runs fast and there's a determination in him when he plays. Rylee finishes fall ball this weekend.