Beijing Blog

The Final Curtain

2008-08-26T18:58:00.000-07:00

Well, The XXIX Olympiad is finally over. It was one of the greatest Olympic Games ever. From the Opening Ceremonies to the final USA Gold these Olympics were nothing short of spectacular. Michael Phelps’s Gold rush and the Chinese athletic dominance are but some of the memorable moments. My schedule was very hectic during the games: preparing for the next opponent, strategizing with my manager Jim Lefebvre, and debriefing our games with our Chinese staff. We started off with 3 day games in a row and that was very taxing, not to mention the double overtime and the rain postponed games really threw a wrench into our plans.

It is hard to believe that after spending seven months with each other, day by day, I may never see any of them again. It was a very sobering thought as we said our goodbyes. After an emotional and tearfilled goodbye with the China Baseball Team it was now time to take a break and enjoy my time with my family. It will go down as one of the greatest experiences in my life.

Now that I have had time to reflect I will break down our performances at the Olympics. I have broken it down into three categories and they will follow in order after this post.
On a scale of one to ten, I would consider our performances a perfect ten. Let me explain.

SKILL LEVEL

2008-08-26T18:57:00.000-07:00

If you were to judge our record you would think that I had eaten some exotic mushrooms and I was seeing purple lizards on the wall. However, you cannot look at things the way we in America normally break games down. Let me set your expectation level first. This team should not and could not compete on any advanced level of baseball. Baseball in China is a very low level priority sport, period. We do not have any prospects to speak of, just a couple of token players in the minor leagues that teams can say that they have a Chinese player on their roster. Only one of those players may eventually get out of A Ball. The Major League Scouting Bureau (MLSB) has scouted this team for the last five years. I was not involved during that time so I can only relay information given to me by the MLSB. This team originally was at a LOW LEVEL HIGH SCHOOL JUNIOR VARSITY SKILLS LEVEL. They couldn’t hit, run, catch and pitch at the level we grow up seeing at our high schools. I had two pitchers on the final Olympic roster that would have been cut by our local high schools. It was said to me that we couldn’t catch a routine pop up; this I did witness with extreme astonishment. Our pitchers were afraid to throw the ball over the plate for fear that it would be hit out of the park…..and they were. When you throw 77-82 MPH I can understand their fear. Now that you understand where it is from which we started, you might be able to glimpse my assessment of a perfect ten.

ARIZONA PERFORMANCES

2008-08-26T18:56:00.000-07:00

When I first came on the scene and I met the pitching staff for the first time in China, I was both surprised and despondent. Surprised at the size of some of the pitchers and despondent at their skill level; I knew it was going to be a major project. I had lefthanders who didn’t know how to make the ball move; they threw only straight 80MPH fastballs. I had to teach them how to make the ball move, how to throw different pitches and when and why to throw them. I was basically doing what I do at Line Drives only I’m not working with 13-20 year olds I was working with 25-30 year olds. Our first four games in the Arizona league were very discouraging and only a portent of what could come. We were beaten 11-1, 10-0, 11-2, and 6-4 in our first four games. It was ugly as the combination of poor fielding, poor hitting and poor pitching led to those scores. As the season progressed our pitching progressed we were starting to understand the nuances of pitching and pitching with their level of pitches. We then went on a string of wins and you would think that we had one the World Series after each one. We had finished the season with a 22-9 record, the same season in which we had won three games the previous year. Our team ERA went from 11.7 in the fall to finish 3.54 during the Spring/Summer season. We had now started to believe.

OLYMPIC PERFORMANCES

2008-08-26T18:54:00.000-07:00

We felt we were prepared and ready to take on the Canada team. If we could play baseball at the same level we did in Arizona we would be able to stay close to them and then maybe sneak one out. I had the opportunity to view some scouting reports and I also was able to see them play so I had a pretty good idea of how to attack their lineup. We did exactly what we had prepared for the first three innings. It was 0-0 in the fourth when things got ugly. A three run home run deflated us (it was a MONSTER BLAST) and it was downhill from there. I was very surprised at how the bullpen performed all tournament. Our bullpen was our strength and if our starters could get the ball to them late in the game I felt good about our chances. I didn’t take in to consideration how nervous they would be. They significantly underachieved but yet we still competed in most of the games. As the games progressed and the nerves somewhat subsided, we played good baseball. We took the eventual Gold Medal Korean team to the limit and lost a close game 1-0 in 11 innings. Our next game we put together a miraculous comeback in 2 overtimes (12 innings) and beat China’s biggest rival, Chinese Taipei, 8-7. In our next game we lost a close game 6-4 with the bases loaded and a deep drive to right center that was caught 10 feet in front of the wall. We then took on the “mighty” USA baseball team in a dogfight until the 5th inning. USA had a 1-0 lead before the game was broken open. The next two games were the worst performances we had all year. We lost 10-0 and 17-1 to Japan and Cuba respectively. From the 5th inning of the USA game to the end of our last game I have never seen one man have such a huge impact on a team. Our catcher, Wang Wei, had severely hurt his leg in a clean, hard collision at home plate. He would never see action again. He was the field general for our team and had the confidence from our pitchers on how to call a game. Between the loss of their leader and the emotions of the “fight”, there was nothing left in the tank from our team. We fell haplessly to our next opponents. For a short time, China was the talk of the baseball community and we actually had caused concerns for our opponents. After the Korea suspended game and our victory over Taipei, we faced the number one pitcher from each team. When we resumed the suspended game we faced their opening day starter, we faced the Netherlands best pitcher, USA’s game one starter and Japan’s game one starter. Not too bad for the “Bad News Pandas”
Members of MLB and USA baseball had commented that this team had one of the biggest turnarounds that they had ever seen. We went from being a joke to a team that could beat them if taken lightly. There were serious concerns that we could beat them, and we nearly accomplished that. So, in light of the way we performed and the concerns that we had caused, I can go on record as saying that our performance in the XXIX Olympiad was a 10. We certainly gained the respect of the International baseball community.

"And That's All She Wrote"

2008-08-20T21:49:00.000-07:00

Well the Olympics are officially over for the China Baseball team. We lost to a Major League team today, Cuba: 17-1. They are impressive! Every hitter that walked up there reminded me of Manny Ramirez. Great athletic and strong bodies, great batting stances and even more impressive swings. They had 21 hits off of our pitchers and 20 of them were over the middle of the plate. I told our pitchers before the game that we have to live on the corners. If you miss, go right back to the corners. Never feel the urge to just throw it over for a strike. We will take or chances on them swinging at our pitches or we walk them.

I have never seen so many balls hit hard even though they were down the middle. A lot of times the hitter gets anxious to hit a home run and pulls off of the ball and hits a pop up or a ground ball. Not today, it was literally batting practice. Every time but one when we made a good pitch we got them out. Good pitches always gets good hitters out. A mantra that I have been preaching to the boys since my insertion as pitching coach. For most of the year and most of the Olympics they took hold of that mantra and executed their pitches.

I am extremely proud of what our boys did in the Olympics. We played good hard baseball and ended up winning one game and scaring two and a half teams of defeat.

I will recap our accomplishments and put them into perspective in a future post but now I am going to the museum. My wife asked me to take her and Eve to the museum. See the photo below to view my reaction.

Dog Day Afternoon

2008-08-20T21:34:00.000-07:00

It was a tough day for the Chinese baseball team the day following the USA game. There were a lot of spent emotions left on the field after that game. It was difficult to sleep that night. We were not prepared to play a game today. I have never seen us so flat and unemotional. there really is not a whole lot to say about the game other than we did not come to play. We mustered only 2 hits for the game and our pitchers left too many balls over the plate that were well hit. I still had many communication issues with my young catcher as I tried to take command of calling the game. Still only about a 50% success rate on him calling the right pitch. We lost 10-0 in seven innings and never threatened the whole game. Their pitcher was very impressive as he moved the ball around very well and made us chase bad pitches, which we obliged. Their hitters did not impress me even though the score was impressive. They did what they had to do to get the barrel on the ball but it was not much of a task as out starter was throwing 76-79 MPH. Yes that was his fastball. If you have any velocity on your fastball you could pitch them inside quite easily. They don't have much power, just guys who make contact and have good speed. We would have had a bettter match up for them but we had to use our pitcher for the Korea rain game. The game got out of hand early so we pitched our second tier pitchers to make sure they got to play in the Olympics.
I have never seen our team play as poorly as I did today. There may have been many contributing factors: We lost our leader, catcher Wang Wei, to a knee injury that will require surgery, We lost our close who has been suspended for 4 games due to hitting the batter in the head the previous night and one of our starting pitchers hurt his ankle in the Chinese Taipei game and could not perform. The biggest loss by far was our catcher. He was the stanilizing force for our pitching staff and did a wonderful job calling the game. Let's hope the next game against Cuba brings us better fortune.

Message to Anonymous (Is that Greek?)

2008-08-20T17:26:00.000-07:00

Thank you for responding to one of the posts of my blog. It is very brave of you to list your real name. Is that your first or last name? In China the first name is last and last is first. Or, it could be that you just go by a single name such as Madonna, Prince, Ichiro, ...etc.
I will gladly try and help you understand baseball, I thought I was pretty clear in my post of how the game is to be played.
In your reply to the post (in bold) you mentioned:

"Steve, although the hits to your catchers were hard and the second one may have been a little over the top, that is part of the game. although you may not teach it to your young athletes it is how the game is played at this level. and if your team was not ready to compete at this level of play you should not have competed."

Maybe this will help shine light on the Olympic situation. I made reference to this in my first post "A bad day at the office. We are not very good, the kids experience level of baseball is about High School Jr. Varsity level. They play only 30 games a year in a very poor baseball league. We did not win any qualifiers to be able to play in the Olympics. We would have lost if we did. We were allowed to compete in the Olympics for the simple fact that their country was hosting the Olympics. It is a courtesy that is extended to all of the hosting countries of the Olympics. For example, when they were in Athens, they didn't have to qualify and the next Olympics in London, they won't have to qualify either. Do you see how that works? That is why when I said in my "Oh...." post that they don't understand that part of the game , the dark side, it meant that they wouldn't know when, how, or why to hit someone in that instance. Aren't you curious why our catcher didn't get up and exact his revenge? It is because he didn't know how to act, the cheap shot was foreign to him. So, again you made mention to that is how the game is played, I remind you again to reread the post. If this was the real "game" Schierholtz would have had to fend off around 25 players and he would have to do this for about 2 years. If the umpires cannot handle the situation, the players will conduct their own court with their own rules to get their justice. That is not good baseball it is bad baseball at any level.

"your statements lead me to believe that you teach your players to watch where the ball is when tagging???? cuz thats what your telling me.... as a college athlete i have always been taught to not watch the ball while attempting to steal/tag up. By saying that Schierholtz was wrong to hit your catcher is wrong. your catcher was 1. blocking the plate and 2 the ball was not cut off but relayed. "

Huh? Bong resin kicking in? It would be easier to reply when the sentences reflect more concise content and intent. What are you doing again? Tagging up and watching the ball? I won't waste any more time trying to decipher your incoherent remarks on this one.
In reference to your 2 points:
1. Blocking the plate. Blocking the plate would mean that the catcher would be in between the runner and home plate thus blocking access to the plate. He would therefore have to straddle the third base line and move toward the foul side to stop the runner from sliding in "the back door" That means that he would slide away from the catcher, avoiding him, in hopes of catching a finger on the back side of the plate. Unfortunately that does not exist in this situation. In an article in the USA TODAY there is an Olympic picture gallery on the same page of their article on this game. It shows that our catcher's left foot was a foot inside
the foul line in fair territory. Exactly where it should be when he won't be involved in the play, conceding that the runner will score. Another picture on the NBC site has your favorite player, Schierholtz, leaving the path home to make a left turn toward our catcher and his body is diagonal to the horizon when he made contact. Maybe he was trying to slide on the inside of the plate instead of the back side of the plate away from a possible tag. Sure sound like he's avoiding a tag there. So if you were to go to another game look at the foul line. When they meet the plate you will see that there is about 90% of the plate exposed. Look a foot to the inside of the baseline and you will see that the runner has 100% of the plate. In fact even better, when you are playing baseball on your playstation, switch to an aerial view and you can see the line intersect the plate better. So don't tell me or anyone else on this blog that he was blocking the plate. You lose Mattlock.
Here are couple of questions for you:
1. If you were truly trying to retaliate who would you choose as your target?
a. Matt Laporta who is currently hitting .067 and struggling badly?
b. The perpatrator of the whole incident Nate Schierholtz. Nate was due up the next inning and there would be an opportunity to exact our revenge.
(Here's a hint b.) With the score still close in hand why would we put someone on base especially with an 0-2 count on a struggling hitter?

2. How many catchers that you know will block the plate without the ball? (Here's a hint...0.) Don't let your patriotism cloud your judgement. The ball was cutoff at the pitchers mound while your boy could moonwalk and sing Karaoke all the way home.

"you made yourself and your team look bad when Laporta was hit. his colision was perfectly legal as was shown when he was not ejected."

Apparently I went too fast as I mentioned exactly that in my post. Go to the "Oh what a night" post and this time read more slowly. I know that can be confusing if you try and speed read.

"However when your nobody of a pitcher decided to thrown at him ,at his head no less, that was wrong."

Only nobody I see is you. He's out there competing in the Olympics while your wiping the ketchup off of the side of your mouth spewing inane comments. I will state again, they don't know what retaliation is, we don't teach them any part of the "dark side" of baseball. They are not ready for that. It is a large enough challenge just to get them to throw a quality strike let alone teach them how to throw a ball on purpose.

"You failed to mention in either of your posts that this clear act of retaliation put Matt LaPorta (the key player in the trade that sent CC Sabathia to the Brewers) in the hospital with a concussion"

I wasn't aware at the time of the post that he was in the hospital or that he had a concussion. Apparently you must have insider information. Yes that was very tragic and I am very relieved that he is not injured. Matt is a great ball player and nobody wants to see him get hurt. He is a class act, bar none. After the game he heard that our catcher had to be escorted out of the game. He is actually undergoing surgery today to repair a torn ligament and his career will in all likelihood be over. Matt sent over a signed bat and batting gloves with a personal note to Wang Wei our catcher. Now that is baseball! It is truly irrelevant who the batter is, whether he is a superstar like Laporta or you, no one should ever get hit in the head.

"Also it did not appear that you were too disappointed with your pitcher as you appeared to congratulate him on your way to the clubhouse."

Disappointment wasn't even on my mind at the time. Disappointed? Boy you are high. When he came to the dugout all I wanted to do was find out what happened. I was calling pitches and I called for a curve ball. Why did he throw a fastball? the next thing on my agenda was damage control. This kid is clearly shaken up having to pitch in the Olympics. He is our best reliever and we need him to perform at the level he is capable of. I was trying to calm him down and keep him from turning into Steve Blass or more recently Rick Ankiel. He didn't understand why he had to leave the game. He kept saying he didn't try to hit him in his broken English. I tried to explain to him why he was taken out and it didn't make sense to him. AS a coach you can't always beat the kid with a rod. Not everybody kicks the dog for not bringing the stick back fast enough like you do. The kid was nervous, it was a very unnerving game. The USA delegates were nervous and so were the Chinese. It was a tense game. Let me see if I can help you relate.
It's like when you are playing in an Internet Playstation baseball tournament and it is a close game. You accidentally push the wrong button and you miss the ball. Or when it is your time to make a play and your thumb slips off of the joystick, causing you to err. Your mind wanted your body to do something but your body did something entirely different. Only in this case it was REAL. It's called nervousness and the moisture on your hand while on the joystick is sweat, a natural secretion of the body when there is unnatural stress involved.

the olympics are supposed to put nation vs nation. the chinese should have hired a national to coach their team and not two washed up nobodys from Arizona. "

Are you coherent? So you're telling me that our table tennis coach and our gymnastics coach and all other foreign coaches should quit the USA team and go back to their native land? Oh that's just beautiful, thank you for that one.
It sure is nice to be given recognition, thank you. It feels good to be washed up nobodies like Jim and I who collectively made 2 ALL STAR teams, won the rookie of the year, won the American League ERA title, managed 3 Major League teams and were on 6 World Series teams. It sure is good to be washed up nobodies. As they say, it is much better to be a "has been" than a "never was."

About the Game

2008-08-18T19:53:00.000-07:00

Well, let's talk baseball because there was some good baseball played last night. Our starting pitcher Li Chenhao has done a marvelous job in these Olympics. He has played on the biggest stage in his sport and has accepted its challenges and pressures head on. He pitched 6 strong scoreless innings in the Korea game before the rains came and he was pitching well last night. The pressure was intense as we were playing USA Baseball, the birth place of the sport. It appeared more like we were playing against the uniform and history rather than playing the game. The players were apprehensive at every position and the pitcher was working very slowly, calculating every pitch. It was actually a great game until the incident overshadowed the performances. We had men in scoring position in the first two innings but could not push a runner across. Their pitcher did a great job of challenging our hitters and staying on his game plan. USA scored one run in the first and left a couple of runners on when the inning was over. That was it for the scoring until the bottom of the fifth. Our pitcher was pitching in and out of jams all night. His pitch count was escalating and they were grueling innings. He was grinding on every pitch as it seemed the game hinged on every one. He came to us after the fourth inning and said he was tiring, he was already at 78 pitches and it was beginning to show. We asked him to give us one more inning and to really focus on hitting his location rather than concern himself with how hard he was throwing. He induced a ground ball out of the first hitter for an out and the next hitter hit a high change up into the left center gap for a double. We then replaced him with a reliever and he got the first man out. There were two outs in the inning when things unravelled. The batter battled the count on multiple foul balls until he hit a high soft fly ball down the right field line. The second baseman was shading the middle of the field so he had a long way to run. He closed the gap quickly and was on pace to intersect the ball. As the ball descended he actually overran it and it fell to the ground, foul. Unfortunately, again I was told the replay showed it was a foot foul, the umpire called it fair and the second run scored. The next hitter then hit a double down the right field line, this time it was fair, and that is when there was going to be a play at the plate. The ball was thrown to the relay man and he made a perfect throw home, beating the runner. The runner then charged into the catcher in hopes of dislodging the ball. The catcher held onto the ball and the umpire called him safe. He said he missed the tag and the replay didn't put the umpire in a good light.
On a side rant, way, it was the same umpire that called our runner out for leaving the bag too soon in the overtime game against Korea. A play that didn't even draw a throw home. There is another unwritten rule in all of sports. Let the players decide the game on the field and don't make calls that change that. Even if he left early, you don't make that call. If there was a throw to the plate and he was safe, then yes. It's like a basketball player takes the final buzzer beater shot and the off guard made contact with his defender on the other side of the court. If that ref makes the call he will be stalked for the rest of his life.
Three runs scored that inning and made it a 4-0 deficit heading into the 6th. That is when the game was out of control and we had lost our opportunity to stay close with USA. After the ejections we brought in a reliever and he ended up giving up four runs and the game was essentially over.
How about this; I made my managerial debut last night after our manager was ejected and that lasted a total of about 15 pitches. Boy can I manage. I was thrown out of the game after our pitcher hit their hitter, in the head no less, and we were both gone as well we should have. We were warned that if any hitter gets hit we would be tossed. The crazy thing about it is that I called for a curve ball on that pitch and the catcher called for and inside fastball. In that situation you had better be careful going inside because if you lose it inside you stand a good chance of getting thrown out. Our catcher replaced our starter and he has little to no experience. The game was going 100 mph in his head as he missed 4 out of the 6 pitches I called.
One last positive note was that the catcher who was run over ended up hitting a monster home run in the last inning. It was his first Olympic hit and he ran around the bases with his hand above his head and his finger pointing tho the sky and stomped on home plate. That is not typically the way you would run around the bases and certainly nothing that we would condone, but under the circumstances, who would fault him. USA baseball maybe.

Oh What a Night

2008-08-18T18:58:00.000-07:00

Emotions ran high last night as the game turn from baseball to Ultimate Fighting as Nate Schierholtz blasted unsuspecting China catcher Yang Yang with a left shoulder to the neck area. The blow sent Yang flying backwards as my manager Jim Lefebvre and I bolted towards the plate. Jim Lefebvre argued the call, or lack of a call, by the home plate umpire. There was no play at the plate, the ball had been cut off at the pitchers mound and the plate was open for him to slide or score standing up. He elected to make a left turn and hurl his body, leaving his feet, into the catcher.
Interestingly enough, there was a collision at the plate earlier in the inning in which our starting catcher was taken out by their base runner. Our catcher had to leave the game and he is doubtful to return for any Olympic play. The play, however, was a good one. The throw came in from the outfield and it was going to be a close play. The ball had beaten the runner to home and the catcher slid in front of the plate to block the runner from scoring. The runner charged into the catcher in hopes of dislodging the ball. That is why you run the catcher over, to dislodge the ball. The umpire ruled that he missed the tag and called him safe. The replay showed otherwise, he had tagged him twice. That is good hard baseball in its purist form. It is terrible that you have to loose a player in the collision but that is part of the game and it is within the spirit of the competition.

"I wasn't trying to take him out," Schierholtz said. "That was the nature of the play. If the ball was right there, no one would have said anything. But they cut the ball off. It's baseball and if they can't accept that it's not my problem."

According to Schierholtz it normally is the nature of the play. He is absolutely correct, "if the ball was right there, no one would have said anything". The trouble with his logic is that the ball was not there, it had been cutoff and the plate was available to him. I was in the visitor dugout almost directly in line with the play. The image is still clear in my mind, he was racing down the line slightly to the foul side of the line and charging hard. I watched him intently and he never looked at the plate, his intention was to take him out from the start as he made a left turn into the catcher. He veered from his course of home plate and moved left, vaulting his body into his. The question is why would he do that. The answer is, he was his with a pitch earlier in the inning. And it was a doosie, a 76 MPH fork ball. Oh the humanity, call up the National Guard, he was hit with an off speed pitch and he took it upon himself to exact revenge for such an atrocity.
His last response gives you a glimpse into his personna, "It's baseball and if they can't accept that it's not my problem". Let me take a few minutes to tell you about "baseball" Mr. Schierholtz. If it were truly baseball (in the major leagues)two things would happen.

1. The catcher would have gotten up and pummeled you into oblivion. A huge 20 minute brawl would have taken place and there would have been at least 5 players and coaches ejected from both sides.
2. You would be wearing a target for the next two years right on your back. That is the type of infraction that bears grudges and players do not forget.

That is the "Dark" side of baseball. Unwritten rules and codes that players and coaches live by. Now is not the time to "play" major leaguer, not in international competition and certainly not in the Olympics.

Our Chinese players do not know those codes or unwritten rules. They are infants in the game. I liken in it to training our youth baseball teams at my Line Drives training center in AZ. You don't teach your 13 year olds to throw at hitters for retaliation. You don't teach your players to run the catcher over. You don't teach your players to take out the second baseman with a high slide. In fact there are rules against such infractions in youth baseball and those rules transfer into international competition as well. You should have been ejected and the umpire was overmatched with this level of pressure. He looked like a puppy in the middle of the freeway. He lost control of this game and let it escalate.
Members of USA baseball that we have tremendous relationshiops with, as you can imagine, were thouroughly embarrased by the behavior of Team USA. To a man, described what I have just written down. You have taken this great game of baseball, in one of the greatest venues and have given USA a black eye. Your reply to the incident says it all, it's the perception of America that the world sees. It is exactly why we are hated abroad. Cocky, arrogant and ungracious in one of the most gracious, and friendly spirited competition setting in the world......The Olympics. Nice job.

Nail Biter III

2008-08-17T07:07:00.000-07:00

Wow, the baseball Gods have been cruel to the one team in the Olympics that could use a break. We are the only team to have been rained out and play 2 overtime games! While every other team is enjoying a day off we are forced to play a rain postponed game with Korea. We had played to a 0-0 tie when the rains fell in the 6th inning so the game was played tonight on the main field of Wukesong Stadium. The game continued with one out and a 3-2 count on the hitter in the bottom if the sixth. We used our game 1 starter, Bo Tao, to give us a good chance of winning. He is one of our most consistent starters and he was going to pitch against USA had we not had to mix up our line ups. He pitched awesome, trouble was, so did the Korean pitcher. We traded jabs and body blows over the next 4 innings and neither man fell to the canvas. We finished regulation play in a 0-0 deadlock with the team with the second best record behind the leader Cuba. Can you believe it, another overtime game! The tie breaking rules apply again as we are the first to take our shot at scoring. As the rule demands we start the inning with men on first and second. We have given the signal to sacrifice bunt but when the fielders charged in the hitter has the option to "slug" it through the infield. He made solid contact and hit it in the direction between first and second. The second baseman hustled over to snag the ball and quickly flipped it to first to just beat the runner. The next hitter quickly fell behind 0-2 and the same eerie feeling came upon us as in previous games........another strike out with men in scoring position. Our hitter battled the pitcher and fouled off two more pitches before he sent a deep fly ball into left field. Eureka, finally we scored a runner from third! I was busy hive fiveing everyone and when I turned around the Korean team was leaving the infield. What the heck was going on? Apparently our base runner left third base too soon and was called out at third for failing to tag up. He is the fastest player on the team, a deep fly ball and the fielder didn't even throw home and he gets called out at third. Are you kidding me? Well, you could just see the air get suck right out of our sails as we take the field.
Korea also is going to sacrifice the runner to third with a bunt. He lays down the bunt and the pitcher makes a quick turn to third and makes a throw. Our third baseman, who is verrrrry inexperienced, doesn't get back to third in time and the runner is safe. The play should have never went to third, we should have taken the out and then we walk the next guy and play for the double play. We now have to bring the infield and outfield in to make a play at home. After a couple of fouls balls the hitter hits a line drive over the third baseman and we go down in defeat 1-0. UUUUGGGGHHHHH.
We have been so close in the last two games. We are 1-3 and we could easily be 3-1 in 2nd place! The games have been that close. We were within two hits or a couple of feet from that scenario.
Who would have thought that we would play these powerful teams so close.....no one! We are showing the world that we have come to play. We may not have won in these games but we have certainly won the respect of our competitors. I'll take the wins.
Tomorrow, Team USA.

Nail Biter II

2008-08-17T07:00:00.000-07:00

Well we played another great game last night. We have had to juggle the starting pitching the last few days to regroup after the double overtime win vs. Taipei. We had used our game 4 starter to finish that game so we went to one of our relievers. Fortunately, we had worked him to swing as a reliever or starter and it paid off. He pitched four brilliant innings and his lone blemish was a solo home run in the fourth. The home run tied the game as we scratched a run across in the third inning. Our starter started to tire so we went to our side-arm right hander with a nasty, and I mean nasty, sinker. Trouble is ….he won’t throw it. Well, 2/3 of an inning later the score is 6-1. We made an error that would have given us 2 outs in the inning and a run scored and the next hitter hit a 3 run homer to put it out of reach, or so it seemed. He hit a 0-2 slider that was right down the middle of the plate. It is interesting to find out who can really handle the pressure and who can’t. It is very challenging to manage the uncertainty. We brought in left hander to finish the inning and another right hander followed and he absolutely slammed the door for the next 3+ innings. He gave us an opportunity to crawl back into the game. We scored a single run in the seventh inning to narrow the gap to 6-2. In the bottom of the eighth we plated another run with a couple of hits. We led off the inning with a single and then the next hitter hit a triple to right center. So with a runner on third and no outs it looked good that we would inch even closer. Not so as the next two hitters struck out and the third hit a soft liner to third. We have had our chances to score a runner from third in just about every game but we have had back to back strikeouts too many times to count. With the score now 6-3 we entered the ninth with little hope of a victory, a single run has been very difficult for us to manufacture let alone three to tie.
We led off the ninth with a double to right; this brought everyone to the front of the dugout with a ray of hope. The next hitter struck out on three pitches, something we have seen a lot of in our games. The crowd came to their feet as the next hitter singled in a run and we were back in the ball game. Another hit, an infield single by our leadoff hitter, has given us the feeling that we are going to do it again. With the hero from last night’s game due up I’m sure there were many people thinking that the same thing could happen again. The stage is set for the same result only this time our hitter battled the count and induced a walk. WoooHooo, a base hit ties it a double wins it and the place is rocking. The next hitter who has been struggling mightily (but did hit the triple) ended up striking out on four pitches. We are now down to our last at bat and our number 4 hitter had been thrown out of the game for throwing his bat in the previous inning. His replacement has also been struggling at the plate as well but he had a key hit in the win against Taipei. He also has some power so if he connects it could leave the yard. So the drama is at its peak and the pitcher challenges him with a fastball as the hitter fouls it off. The next two pitches miss their mark and then here comes the fastball. With a mighty swoosh the batter connects and sends the ball flying out to the right center gap. They are shading him a little to pull so it is going to be a long run for both outfielders. The ball continues to carry towards the wall as the runners are at full gallop, if it falls we will win! Time slows down once again as everything fades to a blur. This time the centerfielder has enough speed to track the ball down in the right center gap only 10 feet from the wall.
Game Over. One bad inning and we taste defeat. It was a great game and again another great comeback. Not bad for the “so called” version of China’s the bad news bears. Many people have written us off as the lame duck of the tournament and now they have to take us seriously. If you don’t come to play China can beat you. Those are great words to hear as our hard work has apparently paid off. One of our goals in this Olympiad is to compete and put a good product on the field. Mission accomplished. To think that we can challenge and beat teams like USA, Cuba, Korea and Japan are borderline psychotic. Either way you want to look at it, you better bring your “A” game or it just might happen.

History Was Made

2008-08-15T21:07:00.000-07:00

We made history today-
the complete story(Here is the USA Today version...mine's better! )http://www.usatoday.com/sports/olympics/beijing/team/2008-08-15-chinabase_N.htm?csp=34&POE=click-referHistory was made when the lowly Chinese Olympic baseball team beat its largest rival, Chinese Taipei, in their only meeting in the 2008 Olympics. Chinese Taipei has long adopted America’s pastime and has become a major power in baseball over the last few decades. China has never beaten them until one of the most thrilling games I have been in occurred at the Wukesong Olympic Baseball venue.Before I begin about the game I must prep everyone on the importance of this game. As most of you know I am an alumnus of the University of Michigan. I must tell you that the Michigan/Ohio State rivalry is unmatched in all of sports. There is dislike on both camps for each other at equaling degrees. We just don’t like each other, never have, never will. It is truly a rivalry for the ages. The China/Taipei rivalry is on par with M/OSU. They are fierce rivals in every sport and they make no attempt to hide it. As one resident of Taipei put it….”They should all go jump in the sea, this is the end of the team…..” Baseball is one of their few medal hopes and to lose to China is an embarrassing defeat; to make it worse it was CHINA! Many of the same feelings have been spoken through the hallowed halls of Michigandom..”..Anybody except Ohio State. I hope you can understand the magnitude of this game. It has been on their calendar the day Taipei qualified for the Olympics.What a ThrillerThe day came very early for us as we have played three day games in a row. This one was one hour earlier than the other two games. The bus left for the stadium at 7:00 and it wasn’t but 10 minutes later when the grounds crew called and told us we were not going to take batting practice as a result of a late night rain. This is information that would have been better received before we had left for the stadium. One more hours sleep wouldn’t have hurt. Our team leader Madame Shen was incensed at this last minute change and she searched for anyone that she could share her “feelings” with. It was at this time I used some discretion and avoided any contact with her.Once the game had begun it was a feeling out period. We had a very good scouting report on them and put together a game plan to counter them. Our pitcher held them at bay without any damage for 4 innings. Taipei took an early lead with a solo home run in the fifth to take a 1-0 lead. We replaced him with a reliever in the top of the sixth and they scored another run on a couple of really bad plays. With a runner on third the pitcher induced a ground ball back to him. He fielded it cleanly and then pursued the runner who advanced to home once the ball was hit. He cut the runner off and started to get him in a rundown, that’s when everything went blurry. The pitcher all of a sudden stopped from chasing the runner and turned around and threw to first base. He fortunately got the runner out at first and then the first baseman panicked and threw the ball to third, or more appropriately, the stands, and the runner jogged home for a score. You could see the look on the pitcher’s face from the dugout that he completely was utterly confused as that play developed. It was one of those moments when things went in slow motion as you yelled out nnnnn….ooooooo.The score remained 2-0 through the top of the eighth. In the last half of the inning we put together a rally. We had strung together 3 hits mixed in with a couple of walks and scored 3 runs. The last two runs that scored, with two outs, came on a play where our hitter blooped a ball in front of the centerfielder and he ran in and tried to make a diving play. He couldn’t get to the ball and the ball caromed behind him enough to score our runner from first base. The place went nuts, finally after 21 innings we had scored. The fans from Taipei were very boisterous and the Chinese had been silent up until now. They sure made up for lost time as the stands were literally shaking, it was a great moment. By the way, all three hits that inning were all bloop hits, not exactly tearing the cover off. We had put our closer in the previous inning so he went out for the ninth to secure our victory. He started the inning off by walking the leadoff hitter, not exactly how we would have wanted to start the inning. However our pitcher induced a ground ball for a tailor made double play to second base. Unfortunately the tailor was out to lunch as our shortstop lost the ball transferring it from the glove to the hand. Taipei advanced the runner into scoring position with a stolen base as our infielders failed to cover second base and the ball sailed into centerfield. Oh brother the pressure was intense. He struck out the next batter on three great pitches and it looked liked we would pull it off. A weak hitting left hander who slaps the ball to the opposite side of the field was due up. He had worked a 1-1 count when he lifted a ball down the left field line slicing away from our left fielder. The ball hit the warning track and bounced over the fence. He had not hit a ball that far in the three games they had played. The nest hitter then smashed line drive into the pitcher, yes into the pitcher. If it would have hit his belly button it would have stayed in there. It actually hit a part of the body men have nightmares about. Amazingly he got up, raced to the ball, and threw the runner out by a matter of inches, saving at least a tie for now.We played another 2 innings without a score which led to the new tie breaking rules that were put in place for the first time in the history of the Olympics. Rather than continuing on and extending the game in the normal fashion we would start off by placing 2 runners on 1st base and second base to start the inning with no outs. This was brought in to speed up the games and make sure there would be no 25 inning games. It also adds a lot more excitement and let me tell you it certainly added a whole new element of excitement and pressure to the game. They started the inning by sacrificing the runners with a bunt. With one out we had intentionally walked the next hitter to load the bases. The guy we walked had good at bats all day so it was good that we didn’t pitch to him. The next hitter then swung at the first pitch, a curve ball, and grounded into a double play. The place went nuts including our dugout. Our strategy paid off and we were in the driver’s seat. Our pitcher came off of the mound leaping and screaming as if we had just won the World Series. The whole team gathered in front of the dugout and were hugging and screaming. It was actually comical at one point when they had gathered they wanted to start a chant so they got together and let out two bursts of something in Chinese and then as if someone had forgotten the words they stopped. They haven’t been in too many of these situations so they really didn’t know what to do, they just looked at one another and then dispersed. You could tell they wanted to just go nuts but they didn’t know how to.Now it was our turn, the inning was laid out just like theirs and we attempted a bunt. Our hitter laid down a bunt but he bunted it hard towards first base and he charged hard and threw the runner out at third. A base hit will win the game but all we could muster were two pop ups in the infield. What a huge letdown and you could sense defeat as they took the field. It is so difficult to keep the team from scoring in the tie break situations and you could just feel that we knew we had dodged a bullet the first time. Well, they bunted again and advanced the runners so we walked the next hitter again, hopefully to get the double play again. Not so this time as the pitcher walked the hitter on 5 pitches. Our pitcher was definitely distraught and I tried to encourage him to forget it and focus on the hitter for another double play. With a full count and the runners moving our pitcher made a great pitch and jammed the hitter. He had made a quality pitch and the batter hit a soft liner just in front of our left fielder to plate another run. It was now looking like an impossible number to overcome for our offense. The next hitter wasn’t a strong hitter so we felt we could get a double play out of him. Unfortunately he hit a soft fly ball down the third base line and it found it’s resting place in the soft grass on the fair side of the field. Our outfielder was shifted toward the gap so there was no way he was going to catch it, just a well placed ball. We then were able to get out of the inning without any more runs being scored.Down four runs for our last inning and now what seemed impossible before the last two runs was now definitely impossible in our minds. (guilty) We had scored in just 1 out of a possible 25 innings how were we going to overcome 4 runs?! That’s why this game is the greatest game ever invented, you have to play the game to the end. We led off the 12th with a walk on four pitches, definitely an encouragement but not our savior. Our next hitter, Wang Chao, got behind 0-2 right away and looked horrible doing so. He fouled off a couple of fastballs with one little grain of wood on his bat and then the pitcher hung a forkball and he hit it into left field for a hit. Only one run scored but we were a bit closer. The next guy struck out on three pitches and he missed them all by at least a foot, no exaggeration. The next hitter also struck out within four pitches and it looked pretty dim at this point. The top of the lineup was due and there is little hope for an extra base hit because they are small, fast runners who use their speed to get on. Well Sun Lingfeng worked the count to 2-2 when the pitcher just threw a beautiful fastball on the outside corner and the catcher started to run towards the mound. From our view the umpire started to call it a strike as he backed up and started to stand up but for some reason he didn’t call it. We all knew it was a strike. The pitcher tried to repeat the pitch but threw wide of the plate for ball four, one more run. The next hitter, Hou Fenglian our diminutive designated hitter was due up. He quickly got behind the count as the pitcher blazed a fastball in to glove, strike one. The next pitch was a forkball and the hitter looked so bad as he checked his swing, strike two. Down 0-2 and after the last swing he took it looked like it was curtains for us. All that was left to do was throw another one of those nasty forkballs and its to the showers. He didn’t throw it, he instead threw a fastball down the middle of the plate and Hou crushed it just past a diving first baseman. We were definitely going to score two runs on the hit but the right fielder charged hard on the ball and came up throwing. He fired a laser in the direction of home plate. The cutoff man was apparently out of position because there were two fielders within 10 feet of each other. This created confusion between the two and the ball caromed off of one of their legs and rolled slowly away from them. The next 3 seconds were a total blur as everything went into slo-mo. Our runner from first never broke his stride. He is our fastest runner who was a track star before being banished to the sport of baseball. As the ball kept slowly rolling he kept gaining ground towards home and by the time they got to the ball and made the throw he was already into his slide. PANDA-monium, as they say, broke out. A celebration larger than the opening celebrations broke out. The players rushed to home plate and crushed the poor little guy. It was amazing! One of the greatest thrills of my career. For 10 minutes we hugged, screamed, hugged some more and finally wept for joy as the players celebrated with the Chinese fans. We just beat Ohio State with insurmountable odds and their fans hooting at us all during the game. It was all of a sudden, Charles Woodson breaking the game open, Desmond Howard striking the Heisman pose in the end zone. Our biggest rival fall to the hands of the lowly China baseball team with a story book finish. Hollywood, eat your heart out, you couldn’t have beaten our script.

A Brand New Day

2008-08-14T05:11:00.000-07:00

What a difference a day makes. The beautiful thing about baseball is that there is usually another day to regroup. Today was that day. We played Korea, fresh off of their upset of Team USA, and it was a great game. Unfortunately we had a lot of rain run through Beijing and it played havoc on our game. The game was suspended once and then again a second time, once and for all. They suspended the game and it will be started where it was left off on our off day, 8/17. The game was deadlocked in a 0-0 tie with one out and a full count on the hitter. It really is a shame because our starter Li Chenhao was really locked in. He pitched a masterful game, adhering to the game plan of mixing speeds and locations. His cutter was really effective as well as was his changeup. We really wanted to have him go deeper into the game, as we used up some pitching the day before, but the rains had other ideas. We will have to start the game later and we will have to use another pitcher to start that game.
Our hitters are not hitting like they are capable of. We faced some good arms this year in Arizona and we really hit well. The team had a .292 batting average and we averaged nearly seven runs a game. The pitching that we have seen thus far has not been all that different than what we saw in AZ. I hope they get locked in again because we could give teams a good run for their money.
I am having a difficult time finding time to convert the videos that I have taken so far and I was hoping to get caught up on our off day. As it has turned out, we will be playing on our off day. Bummmer. Looks like I’ll have to find another time to do it. I apologize for that because I’ve got some cool stuff from our arrival through opening ceremonies. Please be patient, it should be worth the wait.

A Bad Day at the Office

2008-08-14T04:50:00.000-07:00

Well the honeymoon is now over and reality has set in. We really took a beating today against Team Canada. We lost 10-0 in 8 innings. It was a 0-0 game entering the 4th inning when all of the lug nuts came off of the wheels. Our players were absolutely nervous and it affected our play. I went out to talk to our best left hander and he was white as a sheet. He then threw a pick off into centerfield, we had the base runner dead has he made a move to third during the pick off. All we had to do was catch the ball. That would have been the second out and then he struck out the next hitter. He had the next guy 0-2 and then threw 4 really bad curve balls. The first went behind the hitter enabling the runner from third to score and then hit him 2 pitches later. It got worse from then on. It was a close game that turned to a laugher in a hurry. We misplayed a couple of crucial balls (routine for a little leaguer) and the game was out of reach. It really was a shame, they had worked so hard on their game and they were actually not bad.
The crowd was really excited. They have never played a game in the Olympics and they were cheering at everything, balls, strikes, foul balls….basically anything that moved. It would be helpful to understand the mindset of these athletes. Their normal crowd to watch them play in the China Baseball League is about 10 people. Playing in front of 10,000 people cheering for you is quite overwhelming. The game is going about 100 mph in their heads. This environment is very foreign to them. It would be like you were the first person to land on the moon and then be asked to remember what you had for dinner last week. Things just do not process normally in those extreme environments. So having said that, I was certainly not surprised by the actions of our players, I can understand where they are at. It was just disappointing to watch them play like that when they are sooooo much better than the way they played.

Our Last Game of “Friendlies”

2008-08-11T17:17:00.000-07:00

Our last game of “Friendlies”
Well the last practice game was played today before we begin our competition. We play Canada in 2 day on Aug. 13. It was a typical day in Beijing as we prepared to take on Team USA. We took the field and started with a stretch, played some catch, met President Bush, took infield, met President Bush, and started the game. It was a close game all the way until the ninth. The score was 3-2 in the eighth (3 unearned runs) and then the game got away from us. We put in our lower level pitchers and they gave up 3 runs in the ninth. Did I mention that I met President Bush? It was awesome! We had some photo ops with the team before the game and he spoke with the coaches individually and with the team as a whole. What a thrill, my daughter was able to get a photo with him as well. What a very engaging person. He was well informed about our team and gave them some words of encouragement as we try to develop baseball in China. All in all it was a typical day in Beijing………..

MANDEL NGAN/AFP/Getty Images

MANDEL NGAN/AFP/Getty Images

President Bush on the field talking to Jim Lefebvre

President Bush meets Team China and poses for pictures

President Bush meets Team USA

Team China and Team USA with President Bush
The President throws the first pitch
Team China's catcher Yang Yang, Team USA's catcher Lou Marson, and President Bush
President Bush and Bryce Lefebvre

President Bush and Eve Ontiveros

President Bush and Team China strenth and conditioning coach, Ed Yong

(Pictures courtesy of Eve Ontiveros)

The Day After

2008-08-11T16:55:00.000-07:00

What a tremendous thrill it was to be in the Opening Ceremonies. Breathtaking! It was quite an evening. We left the Olympic Village at 7:20 and arrived at the staging area (Gymnastics Center). We were the last country to leave the area and left at 10:30. We started our march to the Birds nest and it took us about 30 minutes to finally enter the field. Words cannot describe the electricity that was in that arena when we first walked in. I had my video out and filmed the journey into the Birds nest. I plan on publishing it when I get it converted. It was an absolute sauna in the middle of the field. The worst I have ever experienced. I was actually shocked that nobody went down due to the heat. By the time it was over, we didn’t get back to the village until 2:00 a.m. One of the highlights was that I got a little prime time on the television as we were walking around the track.
The following morning we had a practice so I got up and went to the cafeteria to get some coffee. Every athlete looked like death warmed over. Drooping eyelids, bloodshot eyes and disheveled hair…..and those were the women athletes. We cut the practice short and headed back to the village for some rest.
Some of the athletes that had to perform the next day did not attend the ceremonies. Their coaches had ordered them to stay in and get some rest, which turned out to be a great plan. I can’t see any athlete performing at their best after being in that sauna for 4-5 hours.

New England Trip June 15-30 2008

2008-08-09T00:37:00.000-07:00

Here are some pictures from the New England trip with the team in June

http://happyonlygirl.blogspot.com/2008/07/new-england-trip-june-15-30-2008.html

Sights in China

2008-08-09T00:16:00.000-07:00

Now that I am here there are a number of things that I wish to do. I am not generally a tourist or a sightseer but while I am here I figure that this is the time to start. Some of the venues that I would like to visit will be Tiananmen Square, The Forbidden City, The Summer Palace, The Temple of Heaven and of course, the Great Wall of China. I have already visited the Great Wall while I was here in March but this time I will share the moment with my family when they arrive later in the week. It is an amazing sight to behold. It is unfathomable to think of the manpower that was used to create such feat. Over 3,000 miles of bricks covering some of the most extreme canyons and mountains as far as the eyes can see. Wow. I hope to share with all some of the sights that we visit as I will post small video segments on my blog. It is at this point that I will establish my disclaimer, “I am not a videographer nor do I play one on T.V.” I hope you enjoy reading about China and also seeing China through my viewfinder.

News from Beijing

2008-08-09T00:12:00.000-07:00

Well I am here, one of the fortunate few who can experience the Olympics from the inside out. We have been training hard daily in preparation for the Olympics. Our first game will be against Canada beginning on August 13. We will play four consecutive days, then a day off, and then three more consecutive games. The medal round will begin on the 20th and end on the 23rd of August. If you happen to see that we are playing in the medal round it will then have been one of the more historic upsets in all of the Olympics. It will fall into the category of the Miracle on Ice. We are without a doubt the biggest underdog in the Olympics to date. We will play against some of the strongest teams in the world. Cuba is the favorite followed by the USA and then Japan. Those are the top three that should fight it out.
I will say however, that after a strong spring and summer season, our China team has moved up a notch and are now seeded 7th. That in and of itself is a major accomplishment. China has been the doormat of international competition. The Chinese do not have the history of baseball as the other countries involved do. Major League Baseball (MLB) would like to help change that. They are the reason that I am here, to help develop baseball not only for the Olympic but also for China. I am very proud of what we MLB have accomplished. With all of the great coaching that has gone into this program it is no wonder that they have achieved beyond expectations. The credit for our successes to this point, fall heavily on the shoulders of my manager Jim Lefebvre. He has done an amazing job with very little talent. Other who have helped shoulder the load have been: Barry Larkin, Tom Lawless, (infield coaches) Bruce Hurst (pitching Coach…my predecessor), Dan O’Brien and Ed Yong (Strength coaches, Ed is the current coach and has done an amazing job) and Duffy Dyar, catching coach.

Opening Ceremony

2008-08-09T00:05:00.000-07:00

Well the moment of a lifetime has come. Today marks the day for the Opening Ceremonies for the XXIX Olympiad. We will begin our march down the track inside the “The Birds Nest” otherwise known as the Olympic Stadium at 8:00 P.M. tonight. Over 200 countries and over 11,000 athletes will be competing in this year’s Olympics. Now that is amazing. As the moment draws near I reflect to all of the major celebrations that have occurred on this earth since the inception of time. You imagine what ceremonies must have taken place during the reign of Solomon, Nebuchadnezzar, or even the Egyptian Pharaohs. Cleopatra, I’m sure, threw herself some pretty impressive parties. Well today marks one of those times in the history of man. There have been no expenses spared for this event. All of Beijing is in her glory. The architecture, the venues and the rich history of China is on display. It is her coming out party to the world for all to see, and it is magnificent. The aforementioned Birds Nest, the Water Cube, the Tennis Arena, the Field Hockey Stadium, The Cycling Arena and the 3 Baseball Stadiums are some of the most impressive sights to see.
I will be walking down the track with my camera in hand marking down this historic event. I will film all that my batteries and film will allow me to film to log my stay here in China. These are cherished moments that I can share with my family and my future grandchildren. It is unfortunate that my family is still back in the states, they will be arriving in China in a few days. I can’t wait to see them as I have been away from them for nearly a month. It will be a time that we can share together as a family, an Olympic Moment.
Our attire for the evening is nothing short of spectacular. I will be wearing white loafers, white pants, white belt and a white tie. This will blend in with the yellow shirt that I will be wearing alongside the red suit jacket that will be draped over my body. To top this off I will be wearing my white “Gilligan’s Island” hat. Now this sounds quite comical on paper but it represents the colors of the Chinese Republic and after putting it on…….it looks quite good. I don’t’ know how but it works. So as the night draws near be sure to scour the sea of red, yellow and white to find the only non Asian wearing a goatee. I will be the one with a camera in hand, waving and wearing an ear to ear grin.

2008-08-07T17:08:00.000-07:00

MARCH 18, 2008
China taking a swing at baseball as MLB arrives
BEIJING — Pity the neighbors of 12-year-old Liu Yuan, a baseball fan in Beijing.
"They complain a lot because he's always throwing his ball against the wall and floor," says his mother, Sun Zhiyun, who regularly heads downstairs to keep the peace.
Read the article at USA Today