First Game of the Year

First off, apologies to my loyal readers for not posting anything for quite a while. The last week and a half has been crazy busy.

Today was my first baseball game of the year... umpiring that it is. And boy did it feel great. And boy was it evident that I hadn't seen pitches in months.

Since it was my first game of the year, I really wanted to do the plate. I hate doing the bases in the first place, unless its 100 degrees outside, then I don't mind not wearing all the protective gear. Doing the plate, you have more control of the game. It allows you to establish a rhythm and it keeps you locked in the whole time. Even if its a blowout, you are locked in because the next pitch is just a few seconds away.

The game itself was terrible. It was a high school JV game between a team that can clearly play baseball and a team that doesn't care about playing baseball. After the first inning it was 10-0, 13-0 after 2, and 17-0 after 3. The game ended after 4 1/2 inning because of the 10-run rule. (Thank God...)

But for me it was good to finally strap on the mask and get back behind the plate again. I wasn't as sharp as I'd like to be. My strike zone wasn't as consistent as I had hoped it would be. I rung up a kid on strike three on a pitch that was about 4 inches below his knee. I knew it as soon I called it a strike that I shouldn't have. Other than that I thought I was pretty good, all things considered. Need a few more games behind the plate to get to where I want to be. I was a little jumpy back there with balls in the dirt, partly because I hadn't seen pitches in months and it's hard to trust a JV catcher to protect you.

It was great to get back out on the field again. I have two games tomorrow, two on Saturday, and one more on Monday. Should be a great weekend. I just hope that I have some more competitive games than I did today. Umpiring a close game behind the plate just takes you to a whole other level of focus and intensity. That probably won't happen until the summer but it's certainly something to hope for this weekend.

Needless to say, I wish I didn't have to go back down to school on Tuesday.