Cubs game today, then what might be beyond that

Because people have been asking.....
If we beat the Cubs Thursday, we will play the Yankees Saturday at 10 a.m. (unless the Yankees beat the Dodgers, in which case we would play the Dodgers at that time). If we win both Thursday and Saturday, we will play Sunday at 2 p.m. (there's no way to predict against whom).
But first we need to win Thursday. We can't let our heads droop and shoulders sag if the Cubs take an early lead. We've had several come-from-behind victories this year because we didn't give up. We forgot that important lesson against the Rays Tuesday, and they trounced us.
Our season ends with our next loss, so let's get back to never-give-up Braves baseball against the Cubs!
Players, please report to Water Tower at 3 p.m.
See you there,
Dave

Updates: No practice Monday, be at Water Tower at 3 p.m. Tuesday

Braves,
No practice Monday. Atwater School's diamond will be in use at 4 p.m., as will the fields in Whitefish Bay. So rest up for our Big Game against the Rays Tuesday.
Tuesday's game begins at 4 p.m. Please be at Water Tower by 3 p.m. so that everyone can get in some solid pre-game batting practice. We will need to swing the bats very well to beat the Rays!
Dave

Beautiful Day for Baseball

Braves,
What a beautiful day for a ball game! Look forward to seeing everyone up at Water Tower by 4:15 p.m.
Sounds as if Chris and I missed a great game against the Phillies Thursday. They are an excellent team -- everyone should feel good about our two games against them.
Dave

Picture Day: Saturday June 13

Picture Day is Saturday, June 13. The Braves' slot is at 10:10 a.m. Guys should show up at 10 a.m. so that we can get organized.
I believe that everyone got the picture order forms in the envelope with the Brewers night forms. Picture Day can be kind of hectic, so it's easiest to fill out the form and write a check before you get to Water Tower that day.
If you don't want individual pictures, please have your player show up at 10 a.m. for the team picture. We have a game at 11 a.m. that day, so every would be at Water Tower anyway.
The rain date for Picture Day is Saturday, June 20.
Dave

Pitching practice Monday

Braves parents and players,

In an effort to strengthen our pitching corps, I’ll be holding a pitching practice 6pm Monday, June 1^st at Water Tower for any Brave that can make it. I realize this is short notice and there may be other obligations but if you can make it that would be great. Simply respond to this email with a “Yes” or “No” to let me know if your Brave can make it. This practice will finish by 7:00pm.

I look forward to hearing from you.

Ross

Game Day: Coach Dave's reminders

1. Our game against the undefeated Dodgers is at 5 p.m., not 3 p.m. as was listed in an early version of the schedule the league provided.
2. Players should be at Water Tower by 4:15 p.m.
3. It will be VERY COLD at Water Tower by game time. I recommend long-sleeved undershirts for the players as well as jackets or sweatshirts they can wear when they're not on the field. I will be wearing my winter jacket -- honest! -- and I recommend the same for fans. Some fans at Water Tower this evening were wearing mittens, and they were happy they'd brought them.
See you at the game,
Dave

Updates: Band-O-Rama, practice schedule

Braves,
Please let me (Dave) know ASAP whether your Brave will be at Thursday's game. We are already down two players for Thursday because of Liam's foot injury and the fact that Jack K. will miss the game because of a family event.
I am concerned about having enough players because I just learned that there is a conflict between our 6 p.m. game against the Cubs Thursday and the 7 p.m. Band O Rama at the high school, which features kids in WFB public schools who are in the 5th through 12th grade bands.
I know that at least a few Braves are members of bands that will be in Band O Rama. If they all opt to take part in Band O Rama, we will have to ask at least a couple of younger players from Minors to play in our game.
Meanwhile, we will not have a practice Monday or Tuesday. We would have had to practice over the dinner hour on a school night, and we've done too much of that. So let's rest up for Thursday's game.
We will practice Friday, May 15, from 4 to 5:30 p.m. to get ready for our game Sunday against the powerful Dodgers. Sunday's game will begin at 5 p.m.; we would like the players to be at Water Tower by 4:15 p.m.

Moms & Baseball

Q. What's does a baseball player usually say when a TV camera catches him by surprise during a game?
A. Hi, Mom.

Both the big boys of Major League Baseball and the little boys of Little League know that Moms make baseball possible. Mom gave us life, and Mom also took us to a million practices, celebrated victories with us and consoled us after losses. In many families, Mom gets out on the field and helps with the game. (I can't tell how proud I was to see Karen get out on the field and play in the season-ending Mother's Game at Water Tower Park.)

In Whitefish Bay, we honor this day for Moms by not having Little League! In recent years, Major League Baseball has collaborated with Susan G. Komen for the Cure on Mother's Day breast cancer awareness and fundraising. In 2006 cooperating MLB players started using special pink bats on Mother's Day; the game-used bats were auctioned off later on.

The Brewers' Bill Hall is both a leader and a star of this new tradition. In 2006, he swung a mighty pink bat in the 10th inning to beat the New York Mets. TV cameras showed his proud mother Vergie in the crowd. Here is a low-quality (but still enjoyable) fan video of that moment:



Hall hit another pink bat homer on Mother's Day, 2007. As has become his tradition, Hall is also making a $25,000 contribution to Komen this year.

---

"The Chicken Runs at Midnight"
On a day devoted to family, I commend to you a heartwarming, yet sad, story from the Palm Beach Post of a major-league coach and a player from another team (and country) who bonded over their lost children:

"They met for the first time on a cold morning in an empty baseball stadium — the 62-year-old coach from Steubenville, Ohio, and the 25-year-old pitcher from Maracay, Venezuela.

"Rich Donnelly and Anibal Sanchez had spoken once before over the phone.

"They knew enough about each other to understand they share a common bond that extends beyond baseball.

"Both are fathers who lost a child."

Continued

The special bonus in this story for us is that Whitefish Bay's Craig Counsell plays a key role in the middle of it.

Happy Mother's Day, Everyone

Jim Higgins

Game Story: Braves Make Practices Pay Off, Win 9-1

It's an axiom in sports that players learn skills in practice and show them in games. That's particularly true of baseball, which has so many little skills, plays and strategic decisions that can only be learned through repetition.
Clearly our Braves are paying attention in practice. Skills and situations they've worked on recently paid off in Friday night's 9-1 win over the Pirates at Water Tower Park.
Last Sunday, former Whitefish Bay High School Coach Dean Ledzian worked with the Braves on bunting. In last night's game, Coach Dave put the bunt sign on, and Matt laid a perfect bunt down the third-base line, beating it out for a hit.
That directly affected how the Pirates played Matt the next time up. Matt tried to bunt the first pitch in the same place, pulling the third baseman in. With the third baseman pulled in, Matt swung away at the next pitch. Had he connected, he had an excellent chance to drive the ball past the drawn-in infielder for a big hit.
Like all baseball coaches do, Dave, Rick, Ross and Stuart stress kids playing catch with each other, with siblings, with parents. Well, one reason the Braves have won their first two games is their outfielders can catch a fly ball. Chris made two fine catches of hard-hit balls to center field (one resulted in a double play). Matt made another excellent catch in center. At this level of competition, the outfield is a not a daisy-plucking position. Outfielders who can catch the ball and hit the relay man make the difference between winning and losing.
I can't say enough about Jason's good fielding. I watched him in practice this week Hoover up everything hit his way. Then, in last night's game, he charged off the mound to field a Pirates bunt and fired a strike to Nick at first to get a hard-charging runner. With the confidence and precision he showed on that play, Jason looked like a high school player.
When a player puts the bat on the ball, good things can happen, even if the result is not a hit. We had a number of productive outs in this game. Evan moved Connor to third in the 2nd inning with a groundout to the right side; Connor later scored. Connor later drove in a run with a groundout himself. And this is a good place to note that hustle also matters: Connor legged out two infield hits in this game.
This was not an easy game. The Pirates are a decent team. Nick subbed a game for them last year, and I was impressed with their coaches, who are quality guys with a teaching, encouraging approach to Little League, similar to the approach our Braves coaches take. Their shortstop made some outstanding plays in this game. Their final pitcher, Jack Arnold, dominated on the mound. This could not have been a fun outcome for them, and I was impressed at the calm, classy way they handled it. If we are on the losing side of a game like this in the future, I hope we will handle it just as well.
More highlights from the game:
BATTING: Ryan, in his first at-bat of the season, battled back from an 0-2 count, fouling off several pitches and drawing a walk. He went on to steal a base and score. Scott doubled in two runners. Chris, on a 0-2 pitch, ripped a double to center field that bounced up against the fence. Alec followed by pounding a double to center that brought Chris home.
Forgive me if I'm biased here, but I must give a slack-jawed tip of the cap to Nick, who did something I have never seen before in a Little League game. In his second-inning at-bat, Nick ripped a line drive about chest high in the hole between the third baseman and the shortstop. Nick hit the ball so hard it tore the glove off the third baseman's hand. The ball landed in left-center field, the glove landed a few feet away from the player. I asked Nick about it after the game. He told me that when he saw what happened, he said to himself "Oh (bleep)," because he thought he had broken the third baseman's hand.
The third baseman was fine and stayed in the game.
PITCHING: High-quality outings from all three pitchers. Connor struck out 6 batters around 2 walks. In other words, no one hit the ball when he pitched. Jason was effective on the mound, aided by good defense, including his own. Chris was dominant again as our closer.

This Day in WFBLL Braves History

First successful bunt hit: Matt
First double play: Chris (CF) made a running catch of a fly ball, threw to Nick (2B) to double up baserunner who had left early.
First steal of home: Jack

Jack's steal made me think immediately of Jackie Robinson, who famously stole home in the 1955 World Series against the Yankees. Robinson's steal was even more remarkable because it was a straight steal - no passed ball or wild pitch involved. The catcher was ready for him, and it was a close play, as you can see by the video excerpt below:



Disclaimer: All opinions are my own. Any mistakes are my own, too, and have nothing to do with the coaches. If you think I got something wrong, please tell me.

Game Day: 6 p.m. vs. Pirates; Practice post-mortem (as in Dave's ERA)

A spirited practice Thursday, with about two-thirds of the team plus four dads (me, Rick R., Stuart B., and Jim H.) at the high-school softball field.
As usual, our guys had a pretty sloppy practice until we separated into two teams for a scrimmage. Then they got their game faces on and made some great plays. Jason, Nick, and Matt were especially impressive in the field.
I pitched for both teams. A 20 mph wind was blowing straight in from center field and I had full command of my pitches. So I told the guys that I'd buy ice cream for everyone if anyone hit a home run over the fence, which is roughly the same distance as the fence at the Majors field at Water Tower.
As you have probably guessed, I learned the lesson that so many have learned before me: "Pride goeth before destruction, and an haughty spirit before a fall." Chris blasted my best fastball into the teeth of the wind. It landed 15-20 feet on the ice-cream side of the fence in left-center field, and the players erupted in celebration. A bit later Nick hit one just as hard, but on a lower trajectory. It reached the fence on a couple of bounces.
Everyone had a good time at Culver's.
We play the mighty Pirates Friday at 6 p.m. Please have your Brave at Water Tower by 5:15 p.m. I am expecting everyone except Tyler (on extended spring training in Florida) and Liam (on the DL for another week and a half). Please let me know if any other Braves will NOT be at the game.
Thanks,
Dave

Practice Wednesday (April 29); Game Thursday (April 30)

Braves,
The weather gods willing, we will have a practice Wednesday at the softball field on the east side of the high-school grounds as soon as the high-school varsity team completes its game against Grafton.
The varsity game begins at 4:15 p.m. I would like to have members of the Braves at the field no later than 5:45 p.m. The varsity game will end around 6 p.m. (but possibly earlier), and we'll need to be ready to take the field right away. Practice will end at 7:30 p.m.
The guys on the team are getting excited about our first game of the season, which will be Thursday at 6 p.m. Braves should be at Water Tower by 5:15 p.m. for pre-game warm-ups.
Dave, Ross, Rick

Opening Game Saturday

Everyone,
We have our season opener tomorrow (Saturday) at 1 p.m. against the powerful Phillies.
The coaching staff would like the players to be at Water Tower by noon, if possible, so that we can give everyone some time in the batting cage before the game, so that everyone can warm up, and so that we have time to get our team mentally ready for its first game in the Majors.
Thanks,
Dave

Weather note for Thurs April 23 practice

Braves,
Dress warm for today's practice! The wind chill at Water Tower on days like today is nothing to be trifled with.
Coach Dave