Bumps in the Road

For rookie Kimbrell to become an elite reliever, he’s going to encounter a few bumps in the road. Too early to panic.

Could’ve gone to the game last night with the nice company seats, but we’ve been so busy lately I turned them down. Ceil’s parents arrive on Friday, so we’re in cleaning mode.

I don’t see the Hawks winning the series. Last week “young” owner Gearon was on 680 with Buck and Kincaide, and did a good job. He reminded Kincaide that the Hawks, Lakers, and Celtics are the only 3 teams who’ve advanced into the second round three straight years.

Co-worker Damon may be a friend of Kincaide.

Will’s getting more info on his summer Camp Highland job. Looks like fun, though a huge time commitment.

ORB

This may be saying the same thing as other statistics, but here’s a metric of how often a player makes it on base when he doesn’t get a hit.

PL/ORB/OPA/ORBAVG

WM…23..37....622

NS…16...35…457

MM…26..58…448

BL….20..53…377

JB…20…56…357

NJ…..9….28…321

PD…10...37…270

TS…15…64…234

AN…..5…39…128

ORB = times reaching base other than by a hit (error, BB, HBP, FC)

OPA = plate appearances minus hits

ORB AVG = ORB / OPA

EA

Scorekeeping is certainly an objective art, since it’s each individual scorekeeper’s decision whether a play is ruled a hit or error. I’ve poured over the rules for scorekeeping on MLB.com, though I know I am far from perfect.

At games this spring scorekeeping was a lively topic of discussion. Sometimes we had as many as five men keeping score, along with several other seasoned baseball authorities weighing in with their opinions.

The guy who scored the games on line sometimes made rulings contrary to mine, though our hit/error decisions probably evened out over the course of the season. When he missed a game, a coach would update the on-line statistics off the scorebook he kept.

I’ve discovered a batter’s “Error Average” to be an interesting statistic. That’s the times a player reached base on a fielder’s error, divided by the number of at-bats. Had these errors been ruled hits, the player’s batting average would’ve risen by this amount.

PL….EA…ROE

PD….000…0

AN….035…2

TS….048…4

MM…068…4

NJ….083…3

BL….104…8

NS…116…5

JB….119…8

WM…145...8

EA…error average
ROE…times reaching base on an opposing fielder’s error.

Of course the more times a player bats, puts the ball in play, and hits the ball hard, the more opportunity the other team has to make an error.

I suppose it’s obvious how I stumbled across this discovery!

Lincecum in a Throwback

Note beltloop centered directly over the zipper.

April-May-June Reading List

The Last Jihad, by Joel C Rosenberg. His first book

The Last Days, by Joel C Rosenberg. His second book. Both are from the library, so I’ve got to get reading.

Epicenter, by Joel C Rosenberg. Hopefully I will like this guy. So far so good. Found in a thrift store

Assassination Vacation, by Sarah Vowell. Paperback from thrift store, I may wait and take to the beach in July.

Deception Point, by Dan Brown…his first book, I’ve already finished.

The Lost Symbol, by Dan Brown (his most recent book)

No Compromise: the Life Story of Keith Green

Bo Stories, by The Sporting News. Ceil was giving these last two away, so I pulled them out to read first.

Quote: Roy Oswalt

“Baseball is a gift, that you’re given to play, but this comes third or fourth on my list.

I could walk away from the game today and be happy. As long as you have your family, they’re going to be there a lot longer than the game will be.

A lot of people don’t look at it that way. A lot of people think this is who you are as a person.

It’s not. It’s something that you’re blessed to do.”

Anna's Baptism

Anna was baptized yesterday at North Point. It had been scheduled a couple of months ago, and it slipped my mind until my parents said something about it on Saturday.

The middle-schoolers have baptisms where they assemble for Sunday School, in “The Attic.” So instead of going to the 9 am service, we went in with her.

Joel Norman had said he was coming, so I went down the hall to look, and ran into Becky, Willis, and him. Willis is going to be a youth minister intern this summer at a church in Clarkston.

The Hurts came as well. Anna’s small group Sunday School class was there, as well as three of her new friends from her acting class.

Will snuck out of the class he was teaching to watch. In his class they’d been busy applying “Mother” tattoos to all the little first-grader’s biceps. He got one for himself.

After a game and some singing they showed each teenager’s pre-taped video testimony, then they were baptized. Anna’s video was pretty short. Don’t know if we’ll get a copy of the DVD or not.Ceil had me take flash pictures…we’ll see how they turn out.

There were two other girls, and one Hawaiian boy with a big afro. After he was baptized, he shook the water out of his head…spraying water on all the kids sitting nearby.

Matthew has applied for baptism, so hopefully we can get him and Will baptized by the end of the summer.

Weekend

Ceil wanted to wait til Sunday to go out, after Will returned from Florida. Anna and I got home from the show around five, so the 6:30 reservations at PFChang worked out well. It was crowded, but we were escorted around back to the captain’s table, which was fun. Everyone had a good, relaxed time together.

The last time we hit PFChang we saw the Ellis family, so I thought of them when we arrived. Five minutes later my Expedition buddy David walked in, trying to get some takeout. Another group escorted their mother in the door, making her keep her eyes shut. I quickly shouted “Welcome to Moes!” They turned out to go to youth group with Anna at East Cobb Presbyterian.

Anna’s show is going well. Like youth baseball team, the cast has to concentrate every time. Sarah and Christy, two of Will’s classmates, attended Friday’s show. I greeted them, telling them I’d be in the back helping with microphones. The first song is sung by Aunt Em, and there was a mic glitch. I’ll keep quiet from here on out. During the second song a camera lens fell from the lighting balcony, narrowly missing a dancer.

Saturday I watched from the seats, with Matthew, my parents, Nancy, and Mary Lee. Seemed to go well, except the music sometimes drowned out the singer. Sunday the energy level was down, and Dorothy and the Scarecrow each forgot a line, almost messing up a scene.

After losing their first round tourney game to Dallas, the eventual champion, Will’s team won the consolation bracket with wins on Friday and Saturday, earning them fifth place. Crown’s only other loss was also to Dallas. Will played well, and was voted to the all-tournament team. He said the beard he sported all week made him one of the most recognizable players at the tourney. His Living Science buddy Holt, the tallest player on the much feared / past champion Barons, also received a lot of attention.

I picked up Will Saturday night around midnight. Friday night Anna and I were also out past midnight, at the opening night after party at Fuddruckers.

Good Braves series in Philly. Fun to see the rookie’s debut, under such circumstances. After going 3 for 4, I guess Freeman will have to wear those pink shoes in every game.

Good that the Hawks had that late run. Not sure they can win this series, but it’s been a good run.

Mother

Will celebrated Mother's Day by getting a new tattoo.

Friday Second Round Playoff Game

Crown’s Friday playoff game was a thriller, going down to the final pitch.

Since the Knights had been eliminated from the championship round the pressure was off, and the coaches inserted players into the lineup who hadn’t seen much action. Senior Tanner got the starting nod, and Will got to catch.

While the catcher is in on every pitch, there are some games where they’re not involved in many plays on the field. This was one of those games for Will. He allowed no passed balls, wild pitches, or stolen bases.

Will was once again the most productive offensive player. He homered in his first at bat, giving Crown an early lead. After they fell behind 2-1, Will put the Knights back ahead in the 3rd, with a bases-loaded single to center, driving in two runs. He took second on the throw home, and later scored the 5th run of the game.

Montgomery scored two runs in the fourth. Tanner was undoubtedly tiring, and was relieved after allowing a bases-loaded RBI single. Michael came in and walked in another run, cutting the lead to one.

Despite Will's offensive heroics, it was his lone defensive play that saved the game. Still up by one in the seventh, Montgomery loaded the bases with one out. With the tying run on third, and the go-ahead run on second, the batter grounded back to Nathan, who threw to Will to force the runner at home. Will then fired to first, completing the game-ending double play.

Crown Falls to Dallas Again

Will’s team lost to the Dallas Angels for the second time Thursday, by a score of 7-1. Crown led 1-0 after 5 innings, thanks to freshman Adam’s five shutout innings. Tiring, he gave up two runs in the 6th and five in the 7th, throwing 118 pitches in the process.

Again the Knights bats were quiet, managing only three hits in seven innings. They had only 7 “quality at-bats” in 25 plate appearances. Of those seven, Will had two. Seven of the ten Crown batters who struck out came from the top four batters in the order. The batting order was again juggled, without success.

1. Nathan…0-3, 3 strikeouts

2. Michael…0-2, 2 strikeouts

3. Will…1-3

4. Tanner…0-3, 2 strikeouts

5. Braeden…1-3, double

6. Patrick…1-3, RBI double, strikeout

7. Jordan…0-2, walk

8. Adam…0-2

9. Sam…0-2, 2 strikeouts

Crown does have one more effective starting pitcher who has yet to throw. The coaches had discussed pitching Will and Tanner early in the week, intending on bringing them back later in the week.

My concern over playing a schedule of inferior opponents proved valid. I’m not sure what can be done to play a tougher schedule, since they’re a home-school team playing similar teams around north Georgia. Perhaps they could play larger private schools like Fellowship, Blessed Trinity, Kings Ridge, and North Cobb Christian, all less than 15 miles away. Not sure if this would’ve helped this young team this week. With only three seniors and one junior on the 20 man roster, a 5th or 6th place finish actually isn’t too bad.

Crown Wins Thursday AM Game

Crown edged Huntsville 4-0 today. Will was again Crown’s most productive offensive player. He led off the 6th with a double, and scored the fourth run of the game.

Playing errorless ball at shortstop, Will got at least one batter out in the field.

Senior Jordan pitched a complete game shutout, striking out ten in 7 innings, against only 2 hits and one walk.

Crown only managed four hits on offense. They were helped by Huntsville’s 4 errors, 2 walks, and 2 hit batters. After loading the bases with one out in the 4th, the Knights only managed one run, off a wild pitch.

Thursday afternoon they lost again to Dallas, the team that beat them Monday.

Will…1-2, double, run, BB…4 points

Nathan…0-2, 2 SB, run…3 points

Michael…1-4, run, SB…3 points

Jordan…1-3, run…2 points

Tanner…1-2, BB…2 points

Ray…HBP…point

Ian…HBP…point

Patrick…0-3, RBI…point

Adam…0-3, RBI, sacrifice…point

Braeden…0-2

Franklin…0-2

Let's Play Two

On a beautiful day for baseball, Will takes a cut in the batter's box. This was a foul ball: note the ball near the upper left-hand corner.

Quote of the Day

My secret is a very simple one: I pray. Mother Teresa

Backstage Crew

Friday M and I ate at Willy's while C shopped at Trader Joes.

I worked at the theater from 8:00 - 10:30 am Saturday, 1:00 - 5:15 Sunday, and from 5:00 - 10:15 Monday and Tuesday. Anna rehearsed from 9-5 Saturday, 3-5 Sunday, and 6-10 Monday and Tuesday. We'll both be there every night this week. There’s a lot to learn…who gets which mic, and when. Anna is in six dances. Sometimes she’s easier to spot, sometimes not. Sunday I got to see several scenes, but last night I was backstage, and hardly saw anything.

Kelly Lintz, the girl who often hosts “The Ten Before” is also working backstage. Performances are in downtown Alpharetta, this coming weekend and next.

Took Will to meet his ride to Florida Sunday morning at 8:15. We wound up eating at Cracker Barrel with three coaches and three players, so I missed church.

Nice win by the Hawks. Based on his tweets, Lang was pumped.

Home School "World Series"

Crown had to win Tuesday, but all one-loss teams will be ranked by the number of runs they scored per inning. Crown only scored 5 runs in 13 innings. I think there are no games Wednesday, for some crazy reason. Then there will be one game on Thursday, Friday, and Saturday...if they keep winning.

Talked to Nathan's dad after Monday night's game. He thought the boys looked nervous.

Will reached base all three times he batted, going 2-2 and was HBP. Mr. Shetler said at least one of the hits was a line drive single. Crown only managed five other hits in the 7 inning game. The Dallas pitcher went the distance, striking out 5 and walking none.

Playing third, Will made a diving stop of a ground ball. He quickly got to his feet and forced the runner at second.

Tanner, a senior, pitched the first 3 innings, but appeared nervous. He allowed an earned run off 3 hits and 3 walks. Will relieved him and pitched the last 3 innings, throwing 68% strikes, striking out 7, without allowing an earned run.

As I had feared, the Crown defense continued their shaky ways. Three errors (two by the catcher) led to 3 unearned runs. With two runners one base, Will struck a batter out with a nasty curve. The catcher dropped the pitch, then threw wildly to first.

Tuesday Crown had to win to qualify for the weekend tourney. Even winning by a close score might not be enough to qualify. After the Tuesday shutout a low runs per inning average could still keep them out.

They easily beat Wakeusha 5-1, emptying the bench so everyone could play. Will went 1-3 with an RBI double and a walk. He stole 2 bases and scored a run. Having thrown three of their best pitchers, Thursday Crown turns to their last reliable pitcher. Will and Tanner will be called upon to pitch on short rest.

Smoltz?

Will fires a pitch in the Thursday game at Holy Spirit Prep.

Day Five: BBQ Chips and Smoothies

Saturday morning we got up and packed. Thinking I was driving, I just threw my stuff in the back of the Zech Suburban. Had I thought it through, I could've easily figured out that fewer cars were needed for the return trip. Since Suzanne was coming down the second week, her car was the perfect choice to stay behind. Only when Mr. D handed out the return car list did the obvious finally hit me. I had to quickly get the Suburban unpacked. Bags went in the trailer, three backpacks distributed to my boys, and the rest of my stuff went in Mr. Taylor's truck. I'd been demoted from caravan driver to the trailer driver's co-pilot.

While I packed, inside the Servant Leaders were thanked for their hard work. Sorry I missed that. BTW, the cute electric golf cars at the hotel could be rented...only $95.00 for TWO HOURS!

Before we left Jekyll, Mickey and I delivered some goods to the Chuck Team house. Mrs. Taylor made us a delicious smoothie. Up to this point I'd gone through the entire Expedition with zero dirt on the Chuck Team. They'd worked hard and delivered delightful dining, with no funny business to report. Until I discovered the dry erase board.

The Chuck Team has a lot of work to do, without much time to do it. To help, they assigned various chores and posted them on the dry erase board in their rented house. They also assign who showers where, and when. Brilliant! I bet chap Joe could've used this idea in his double room of eight people.

Things were easier when meals were prepared on site, which is no longer the case. Chap drivers have to stay near the students, in case a last minute change of plans led to a change of locations. Seems like the most inexperienced chaps work the expeditions. Many are new, and don't know what help is needed when. This means more work for the Chuck Team, preparing most of the food in their house. It was even tougher for Mickey, the lone male in the roost.

Co-piloting was easy work. The trailer was light and we made great time. Mickey had been so busy during the week that I hadn't had time to catch up with him. A lot had transpired with his family since the last LS trip we chaperoned together, so it was a joy to hear all the news. As LS fathers, there are many similar things we're going through. We chatted non-stop the entire trip, making the miles go by quite fast, in my opinion.

We passed on the LS sandwiches (shhh!) and hit the Macon Chickfila. Later we did down all the BBQ chips.

Engrossed in conversation, I neglected to post Expedition updates on Facebook. Parents were beginning to wonder what kind of progress the caravans were making. Eventually my phone started to ring, and I began relaying information to caravan cars. Mickey enjoyed this very much. Seemed the Renweb server was down, delaying Shirley's updates.

We arrived at the property and were welcomed by Shirley. It didn't take us long to unload the trailer. Parents picked up kids. Us Murphy’s actually stayed until everyone left, except for the hard-working Mrs. Gentry. Still in our Living Science T-shirts, we stopped by Willy's to eat. There we were greeted by DJ, David, Charles, and Jos. After chatting for several minutes, I told them they were neglecting their lady friends. Only then did I recognize Danielle and Kathleen. But I had an excuse.

I'd been harassed by bugs and squirrels for a week. And middle schoolers!

Rundown

Will finds himself in another rundown. Great picture by Ceil.

Expedition Extra: Alyssa's Adventures

During one of several delightful conversations I had with Alyssa on this Expedition, I told her I'd taken so many notes on the escapades she alone had engineered, that I was making her the sole subject of one of my recaps. She thought it was a capital idea. It wasn't hard, as she is a quite newsworthy senior. So here it goes, though I already published several tidbits on Alyssa in my first two episodes.

Alyssa started pestering me back in middle school, and we've been buddies ever since. I think she likes it best when I tell her to love on her mother. On many retreats and expeditions Mrs. Hanson and I have had fun swapping stories about the latest antics our children have performed, thought she's been kinda busy running things on the last few LS trips. I think Denise has been staying away from me on purpose, knowing I'm constantly taking notes to feed these recaps. On this entire first Expedition Denise did little of note, except selflessly serve Mr. & Mrs. D. Hopefully I was more help than hindrance.

But back to Alyssa.

After lunch on Cumberland the groups hiked to the boardwalk on the southeastern tip of the island. It was low tide, and not too far away in the marsh a brown raccoon ignored us, instead busily digging for crayfish. Ever the scientist, Alyssa hypothesized that perhaps this nocturnal creature was boldly out during mid-day because it was rabid. Then Alyssa reenacted the raccoon scene from Elf. You had to see it.

On the beach Mrs. D taught on the beached Right Whale we discovered. Alyssa told me how the Right Whale got it's name: Because of it's size and amount of whale fat that made it float, it made the "right" whale to hunt. I'm not sure Mrs. D's definition was exactly the same. Later I tried to mess up the definition, but did a poor job.

While many played games on the return trip to St Marys, Alyssa and I had a delightful chat. We spoke of college, hair-styles, and how bittersweet the upcoming summer will be as the seniors go their separate ways. With or without our busy family members, her dad and I plan on attending our third annual Braves game together.

During another chap meeting Alyssa interrupted yet again. She thought the door was locked, and her face turned red when she couldn't open it. But when someone easily opened the door for her, her face got even redder. As we all laughed, she stammered "You...didn't...see...anything!"

Young Caleb was talking to his mother: "There are these two girls in the skit. One is the Servant Leader on my team. Her name is Kara. And the not so smart one..."

During Friday rotations, Kevin's group was headed to the weighing & measuring shelter. Alyssa approached, walking with Bailey. I brightened, smiled, and waved a huge hello. Loudly I hollered "HELLO BAILEY!" As Alyssa GLARED for several long seconds, I explained. "Hey! You're graduating! I need new friends!" "NO!" Alyssa said, still glaring.

Good thing no one's reading these recaps. Everyone would want their own!

The first Expedition I chaperoned was in 2005, when Will was in seventh grade. Since then I've been on eight more LS trips, watching this group of seniors grow from timid little squirts into fine young men and beautiful young ladies...Will's beloved brothers and sisters in Christ. Each year's LS seniors have been great to work with, but I'd been looking forward to watching this bunch lead as seniors for a very long time. Great job, guys. Y'all will certainly be missed.