The Ceremonial First Pitch

The 2013 season is underway. The Indians are 0-2 and my streak of home games attended ended after opening night. (A graduation party last night cut the streak short...) A 6-4 loss to Everett on Friday was followed up by a 6-4 loss to Everett on Saturday and today the series will end with a 100-0 win by the Indians. Trust me, you are NOT going to want to miss today's historic run producing game. Since you're now planning on attending the game this afternoon at 3:30 I'd recommend showing up a few minutes early. Why??? Well we'll get to the reason I've spent all morning watching YouTube videos in just a few.

First and foremost I need to say a congrats to my blog partner Andy for showing up to the opening night game with his girlfriend fiance sporting a brand new ring on her ring finger. Engaged on opening day!?!? What a bold move by the Ryan Gosling look-a-like.

It was the icing on the cake to a very fun first night at the ballpark for the summer.

Yeah, the Indians lost the game but it didn't stop us from enjoying opening night. First of all we sat in the right field bleachers right next to the Indians bullpen (a bullpen I'm going to love) thanks to firstbaseman Cam Schiller. Besides being a super cool guy for giving us his tickets, and besides the fact that he is 0-6 on the season but will break out of that today during the Indians 100-0 record setting win, Cam has one of the coolest looks on the field. (3 quarter length sleeves, long pants that perfectly hit the back heel of his cleats, and a sweet head of hair that almost looks like a mullet when his hat is on) Cam's seats were perfect for an opening night. I feel like starting the season out on the metal bleachers is the perfect way to start a summer as an Indians fan. The bleachers scream "We're here to cheer on the Indians!!!" and not "We're here to be comfortable and take in the atmosphere of opening night with a baseball game going on in the background" that the seats behind the dugouts and home plate say. (The previous sentence was simply typed in jealousy)

We had the privilege of sitting next to a P.O.W. that liked three things:
1) America! I've never seen someone love the National Anthem more than this man and for great reasons.
2) Stats. He was keeping score on the back of his "K Card" and would lean over to me and tell me what each batter had done in his previous at bat just in case I couldn't read the scoreboard.
3) Talking whether you wanted to listen or not. It didn't matter if I was in deep discussion, on my phone, or staring off in the distance or heckling right fielder Alfredo Morales. (Morales had a pop fly hit off his glove for a terribly embarrassing error that I took upon myself to remind him of for a couple innings before he hit one of the longest home runs I've ever seen at Avista over "The Depot". Sweet sweet revenge. I even think I saw him tip his hat towards me as he hit first base during his home run trot) My new old friend had a story about everything that happened in the game and he wasn't going to wait to tell it.

The other great takeaway from opening night was the fact that the concessions stands now ACCEPT DEBIT/CREDIT CARDS!!!!!

Ok, on to the reason I woke up in a sweat at 5am this morning. Today the Indians play a 3:30 game and right around 3:15 I'll be trotting on the field in my Navegantes de Magallenes jersey (I have two Venezuelan baseball jerseys and this is the one that the Indians bullpen told me I should wear today) to throw out the ceremonial first pitch. Now I've thrown a baseball plenty in my life and know in my heart of hearts that I can get the ball from the front of the mound to home plate. In fact I know that I can throw a strike with ease. But for some reason when all you get is one throw and everyone is watching, your nerves can get the best of you. Don't believe me??? Well then here is exhibit A:

I have no interest in showing up on one of these YouTube clips.

In fact I want the opposite. I want to be in one that is titled "Top 10 most impressive ceremonial first pitches in which the person throwing the ball impersonated a MLB pitcher perfectly". Long title I know, but I'd still watch that video.

The smart thing to do today is to walk onto the field, take the ball, throw it, smile, shake the catchers hand, walk off the field without tripping, and then give the ball to a kid in the crowd because it will make his day. But I'm currently being tempted. I love pitchers and I love pitching deliveries. So all morning I've been watching YouTube videos of my favorite pitchers in hopes to find a pitch I'd like to impersonate. Here are my top 3 that I'm working on in my living room right now:

FELIX HERNANDEZ:

The key to Felix's delivery is the follow through. It's all about the cool leg sweep. The good part about this is that I don't have to get lost in the pre-pitch mechanics. It's a simple throw and then sweep the leg with a really cool long stride.

BARRY ZITO:

Zito has one of the highest leg kicks going on and it looks amazing. The problem is that while simply practicing in my living room I'm having a hard time with balancing... I'm focusing a lot more on lifting my leg and a lot less on thinking about the pitch. This could lead to me being #11 on that previously posted "Top 10 terrible..." video.

DENNIS ECKERSLEY:

Eckersley's windup is decent. It's really really fluid and incorporates a nice leg kick and semi-unique release angle but the reason I'm considering Eckersley is because I currently have a matching mustache...

It's going to be a game time decision. I'd recommend a quick lunch with the family and then dad's, pack up the gang and get to Avista for an afternoon baseball game (that will hopefully be done before the NBA Finals game 5) and you just might witness the greatest or worst ceremonial first pitch ever. My guess is that I'll chicken out, throw a looping ball that the catcher has to reach for and then I'll trot off the field as quickly as possible. See you this afternoon.



Quick look at Andy and my "Drafted Teams"

- The only one of our players with a hit is my SS Alberto Triunfel who is 1-6 in the first two games with an RBI.
- Andy's first overall pick, Chi-Chi Gonzalez, lasted an inning and two thirds, gave up 5 hits and 3 earned runs leading to a loss and a 16.20 ERA. He'll rally. I promise.
- My main man Yohander Mendez started last night and went 3 innings, let up only 3 hits and had 5 strikeouts but unfortunately let up 1 earned run and because of that got the loss... He's the man though, suck it Andy.