{"id":3605,"date":"2009-08-19T23:46:56","date_gmt":"2009-08-20T06:46:56","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/fastpitchwest.com\/morningbrief\/?p=3605"},"modified":"2009-08-19T23:46:56","modified_gmt":"2009-08-20T06:46:56","slug":"diamond-dirt-musings","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"http:\/\/www.fastpitchwest.com\/morningbrief\/?p=3605","title":{"rendered":"DIAMOND DIRT – MUSINGS"},"content":{"rendered":"

By John Thompson <\/em><\/p>\n

ISC 2009 Hall of Famer Mike Piechnik acknowledged Canadian pitching great Rob Guenther as his mentor- \u00e2\u20ac\u0153Rob prepared me for my success \u00e2\u20ac\u201c he taught me to have a good work effort and dedication.\u00e2\u20ac\u009d <\/p>\n

\u00e2\u20ac\u0153The way to catch a knuckleball is to wait until it stops rolling, and then pick it up.\u00e2\u20ac\u009d \u00e2\u20ac\u201c Bob Uecker , MLB player and humorist <\/p>\n

Yogism – \u00e2\u20ac\u0153Baseball is ninety percent mental. The other half is physical.\u00e2\u20ac\u009d <\/p>\n

Saskatoon Aspen pitcher Lucas Mata, core member of the Argentina National Softball Team, struck out 14 batters from Madison Farm Tavern. That in itself, is an accomplishment, but not that unusual. However, half of those Ks were batters \u00e2\u20ac\u0153caught looking\u00e2\u20ac\u009d as Mata was at his best in baffling Farm batters in moving his Aspen squad to the final four. <\/p>\n

Yogism – \u00e2\u20ac\u0153He hits from both sides of the plate. He\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s amphibious.\u00e2\u20ac\u009d <\/p>\n

Observation \u00e2\u20ac\u201c Bruce Bierman\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s \u00e2\u20ac\u0153Blue Crew\u00e2\u20ac\u009d, hand-picked for the 2009 Championships, has NOT been the topic of most conversations. That\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s good news \u00e2\u20ac\u201c the arbiters of balls\/strikes and outs are competently doing their job \u00e2\u20ac\u201c very professionally – through 40 games of play. Way to go umps!<\/p>\n

\u00e2\u20ac\u0153Whoever wants to know the heart and mind of America had better learn baseball.\u00e2\u20ac\u009d \u00e2\u20ac\u201c Jacques Barzun, French diplomat. <\/p>\n

\u00e2\u20ac\u0153My song should be \u00e2\u20ac\u02dcI\u00e2\u20ac\u2122ve been everywhere\u00e2\u20ac\u2122 by Johnny Cash\u00e2\u20ac\u009d \u00e2\u20ac\u201c ISC 2009 HoF member Mike Piechnik when describing his career of journeys among softball clubs. (Note \u00e2\u20ac\u201c Mike \u00e2\u20ac\u201c this song was also recorded by Hank Snow.) <\/p>\n

\u00e2\u20ac\u0153I\u00e2\u20ac\u2122d walk through hell in a gasoline suit to play baseball\u00e2\u20ac\u009d \u00e2\u20ac\u201c Pete Rose <\/p>\n

A tip of the ball cap to the BallPark Radio\/TV crew who are sharing ISC excitement<\/p>\n

throughout the world \u00e2\u20ac\u201c kudos to Jim Flanagan, Kyle Smith, producer Dave Blackburn and others, plus the camera crew. The product has come a long way over the past few years, and with so many international players, family members from \u00e2\u20ac\u02dcround the globe are tuning in.<\/p>\n

Yogism – \u00e2\u20ac\u0153How can you hit and think at the same time?\u00e2\u20ac\u009d <\/p>\n

Are any teams more prepared than the hard-working and ever-ready grounds crews at Green Valley (Moline) and Campbell Complex (Rock Island). The inclement weather \u00e2\u20ac\u201c a mixture of humidity giving way to intermittent showers \u00e2\u20ac\u201c at times heavy \u00e2\u20ac\u201c has played havoc with the scheduling. Two thumbs up \u00e2\u20ac\u201c make that four thumbs for the two ground crews \u00e2\u20ac\u201c who are providing the best of service to the ISC tournaments to ensure appropriate (and safe) playing conditions for the 64 teams. <\/p>\n

In the modern age of fastball (fast-pitch softball), pitchers going the distance are the exception, rather than the rule. The axiom of \u00e2\u20ac\u0153five and two\u00e2\u20ac\u009d describing the number of innings for a starter (5 innings) and the closer (2 innings \u00e2\u20ac\u201c following twice through the batting order), has become a field management standard. Brings to mind the quote from New York Mets\u00e2\u20ac\u2122 closer John Franco \u00e2\u20ac\u201c \u00e2\u20ac\u0153Closing games is a lot like landing airplanes. A successful effort rarely warrants notice, and a failure is considered a full-scale disaster.\u00e2\u20ac\u009d <\/p>\n

Our thoughts are with Kitchener Hallman Rivershark Twins field manager, Denny Bruckert (ISC HoF 2008), who was rushed to the hospital from the Isle of Capri Casino on Wednesday afternoon. <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

By John Thompson ISC 2009 Hall of Famer Mike Piechnik acknowledged Canadian pitching great Rob Guenther as his mentor- \u00e2\u20ac\u0153Rob prepared me for my success \u00e2\u20ac\u201c he taught me to have a good work effort and dedication.\u00e2\u20ac\u009d \u00e2\u20ac\u0153The way to catch a knuckleball is to wait until it stops rolling, and then pick it up.\u00e2\u20ac\u009d […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":[],"categories":[1],"tags":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.fastpitchwest.com\/morningbrief\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3605"}],"collection":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.fastpitchwest.com\/morningbrief\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.fastpitchwest.com\/morningbrief\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.fastpitchwest.com\/morningbrief\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.fastpitchwest.com\/morningbrief\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=3605"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"http:\/\/www.fastpitchwest.com\/morningbrief\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3605\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.fastpitchwest.com\/morningbrief\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=3605"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.fastpitchwest.com\/morningbrief\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=3605"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.fastpitchwest.com\/morningbrief\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=3605"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}