The Week Worth Waiting For..... Continued

Travel has been on my mind as much as a second chance at playing baseball for the past four years! Coincidentally the two have presented themselves in one opportunity. Although, since the arrival to Germany I have spent most of my time playing baseball, attempting to get back in "baseball shape," spending time on Skype with Erin, Family, and friends, as well as exploring a bit of my surroundings on foot and bike.

Growing up with my Mom owning a travel business had all the benefits of going places I could only dream of. Her successful travel agency did not mean tons of money, it meant she was rewarded opportunities to travel with her family as though we had millions to spend. First class international flights, Five-Star Hotels, classy restaurants, and all the amenities that come with those types of things. Yet with all of that I always credit my Mom and Dad for teaching and sharing new cultures, places and faces.

As a young adult thrown into the real world, I soon realized what a rare and fortunate upbringing I had with not only my wonderful family, but the places they took my siblings and I. Places like Europe and Hawaii were normal places for the Kosach family to travel to.

After college was over, and full-time jobs and grad school on the horizon, I had almost forgot how important traveling was to me. It soon came back when I realized I could create my own freedom with work, I met someone who wanted to travel as much as I do, (Erin) and of course I could afford to do it. All in all, after creating a decent income, paying for grad school with no debt, and saving enough money I ended up in Thailand at the New Year with Erin and friends from Reno. Just like that, my passion returned with 20 days half way across the world and the desire to inherit more knowledge about foreign places!

Since I met Erin I accomplished a few different things. I finished my Master's degree at St. Mary's, started a fall baseball program, traveled all over North America, California, and South East Asia, and now the baseball gig in Germany...... All with her right by my side.

In a way I never would have gotten a second chance at playing baseball without her in my life. We were in Portland when I met and tried out for Red and the Untouchables because Erin was moving to the area and I wanted to help her get settled in. The Untouchables skipper, Red, just happened to be in the same place as me one day when I went to visit Sper Dogg and the rest of the Portland Baseball Crew. (Sperr Dogg is the nickname for our college head coach, Chris Sperry) The rest is history.

Part of the reason I came to Germany was the fact we don't play games everyday and I would be rewarded the opportunity to travel on days off. Now that Erin is in town for a week, travel is on the agenda.

First stop of the week was Köln (Cologne). Saturday was a beautiful day so Danny, Erin and I jumped in our roommates car and headed south on the autobahn. We did not have time to venture far from Paderborn because we had two games the next day. The two hour drive to the largest city in Northern Germany seemed like a good day trip, and as it turned out it was an AWESOME day trip!

We had so much fun and the highlight of our day was the Dom (Pictured on the left) and the gorgeous weather walking alongside the Rhine River. When we arrived in the city around noon, we parked the car and walked to the city center near the Dom and the train station. Trying to find good beer and food was not hard as we found the Fruh brewery and tried a couple of different Kolch style beers that were pretty amazing.

We learned a little bit of Cologne's history and during World War II, 95% of Cologne was destroyed due to bombing from allied Western forces. The Dom is one of the only remaining structures in the city and even though it was hit 70 times by bombs and different air raids it still stands with as much amazement as its gothic architecture. It is definitely a sight to see. The city itself is one of the oldest in Europe with history as early as 38 BC.

We had a great time sampling all the local food, beer, and culture. We couldn't help but notice that there was not a outdoor table or seat available at any place near the town center or near the river.

Like anyone from the Northwest, the Northern Germans realize how awesome and rare sunshine and warm weather is in early Spring, and like us, they made sure they put their Saturday to good use by enjoying the sun. Cologne was an awesome city, and I have no doubt that we will go back soon.

The Week Worth Waiting For!

Since I left Portland a month ago, Erin and I have been privileged to have technology on our side. With video chat (Skype, Gmail, and ichat) it makes the trip and time separation bearable. Although it is not her next to me, it is great to see her everyday and have conversations with video. I have seen and talked to my entire family through Skype and it is great to catch up with everyone each day or week.

So, here I am in Paderborn, playing again, patiently waiting with the thought of people visiting and seeing me play for the first time in Germany. Erin has already decided to come in July so we can travel during the European Baseball Cup. (The league takes a few weeks off each year so each countries previous champions can participate in the European Baseball Championships) What a long wait it seems like! Erin has been doing and having a great time in Portland. She loves it! She got into school, found a fantastic place to live, and has done a great job finding work as she has been offered a very lucrative job with a great company! Not to mention she has had friends and family visit. Although she starts soon, she had not yet been given a start date. The thought of her hanging out in Portland with nothing to do the next few weeks led to one thought. Get Erin over to Germany! With a few weeks to spare before she starts work, we called the worlds greatest travel agent (my mom) and found a good deal. Like that, our countdown went from 85 days to only a weeks wait with the click of a mouse.

The journey however, became much harder than we had originally planned. Within 24 hours of getting her a flight, the Iceland Volcano exploded dumping so much ash into the Atlantic sky that all flights to and from the U.S. and Europe were cancelled. One day, two days, three days, four days went by. All flights still cancelled into Northern Europe. By Sunday night I was very worried! Still no flights, and she was due to come out on Tuesday morning PST and arrive Wednesday morning in Germany.

With news circulating that flights would continue on Tuesday, Erin made the courageous voyage to Atlanta where her connecting flight was still "on-time" to Dusseldorf. When she left Portland we knew there was a very good possibility of it being cancelled when she was in the air, which would have stranded her in Atlanta with countless others trying to get overseas.

Fifteen minutes before she landed in Atlanta her flight to Germany was cancelled. At this time very few flights were leaving from the U.S. to Europe. Although there were a few, the problem became she was one of thousands stranded and trying to get over the Atlantic. Chances were very slim. However, with the bat of her pretty eyes, a contagious smile, luck of the irish, along with good advice from the worlds greatest travel agent, (my Mom) Erin managed to find a flight to Amsterdam with a Delta customer support agent in Atlanta. She got on the plane and headed to Amsterdam, about 350 Kilometers from Paderborn. She was getting over the Atlantic!

With Erin in the sky, my mom once again came through and helped us devise a plan to connect. I drove two hours northeast to Duisburg, Germany while Erin got on a train and headed south into the area. After blind faith on the autobahn and google maps, as well as frantically searching the large Duisburg train station for twenty minutes, she appeared out of nowhere with a smile and a kiss! What a great moment! She was finally here! It is funny, but we picked up right where we left off a month ago and it was as if nothing had changed, which it really had not.

Erin traveled for over 24 hours, wheeled and dealed in Atlanta with little hope, got to Amsterdam to find out she had no luggage, then jumped on a train in a place she had never been and had no real idea where she was going. After all of that, she still found me! Pretty cool!

The drive home was great and we soon started making plans for the week. Travel and quality time were in store for the two of us, and even though I had baseball everyday, we would still find a way.

We rode around Paderborn with the bikes the next morning, got her some clothes and enjoyed our time together. We had a great time catching up and actually seeing each-other in real life and not on a computer screen. She really loved Paderborn and by the time we got home on Friday, her bag had arrived. What a great feeling! Having her in Germany meant so much, and she was finally going to see me play baseball.

Hamburg Split and Dortmund Orchestra

With the weeks blending together very rapidly, we have come to approach our weeks similar to an American Football Player. We play once a week, usually Sundays, take Monday's off, and get back on track with practice and workouts on Tuesday-Saturday. This past weekend we played in Hamburg on Saturday. We woke up at 5 a.m. to make sure we got there on time because last year traffic was so bad they had to forfeit a game because the team was late. Not this year! It was a four hour drive which to many Germans is like driving from Seattle to Fresno. Non-stop complaining as you would imagine. We arrived in Hamburg at 9:45a.m. for our 12pm double header and the team looked like we had been out all night partying. Not the case for Danny and I at least. The first game went well. I hit the ball really hard, although right at people and I walked twice. Danny got two hits and we won the first game 6-4. Our German starter, Eugene, is a Russian immigrant who is pretty legit. He has 4 good pitches and throws what ever I ask him to throw in any count. I love the expression on a hitters face who is ahead 2-0 and gets a nasty slider or change-up. Classic! Eugene aka "Aulga" and his brother Alex are both Russian Germans playing for the Untouchables. They have great accents which I constantly try to master and they love baseball. Our team is composed of many different ethnic groups who are German as well. Russia, Mexico, America, Poland, France, England, and of course Germany are some of the descents of much of our team. Danny and I are the only ones that are not German citizens though.

After our game one victory we learned that the Hamburg foreign pitcher was not playing this week because he was stuck in Sweden due to the Volcano. Nobody could fly in and out of Europe and he was stuck. The German rules are that foreign players cannot pitch until game two. This is the game Danny always pitches. We had no idea what to expect and when I took my first at-bat I quickly told myself to dumb it down a little. The pitcher they had was topping out at 72mph.... Maybe! It was so slow and the first pitch I saw looked like a giant beach ball floating in the air. I took the pitch, stepped out and said "wow, that was really slow." I think Hamburg did the right thing in throwing him because he was effectively slow! It completely deflated our line up. On top of that was the wind blowing straight in from left-center, knocking down anything hard hit in the air straight into a defensive players leather.
Danny pitched well, but he gave up a few 0-2 hits and walked a few. The biggest thing that hurt him was the lack of defense, which I was also a part of. After a botched double play that would have ended a scoreless inning, Hamburg scored three unearned runs. with two outs and the bases loaded Danny gave up an 0-2 hit to the 8 hitter and rounding third was a big guy looking to barrel me over. A perfect one hop throw from our center fielder took me a little bit to my right, but I snagged it with plenty of time and dove down to my left to apply the tag. He was running 100% and when he arrived at the plate he delivered a low shoulder which included a fist to my mask, not to mention I had exposed my body with my arms reached out to his feet. I applied the tag, got knocked in the face, and as I was whipped around from the force of the contact, the ball literally flew out of glove to the backstop which allowed another runner to come into home. After the hit I was out of it. A combination of little sleep, fatigue from catching the first game, and now a blow to the head and I was out of it. I was more pissed than anything, but I had a really bad headache after the play, and mainly was embarrassed because I dropped the ball. No matter how hard you get hit at the plate, it is always worth it when you hold onto it and get an out. I didn't do that, and I felt it too. After that I had to get myself together which took a few innings which included me giving up an at-bat due to a lack of focus. I did get a hit in my last at-bat, but by then it was too late, and we could not put anything together as a team. We lost our first game of the season in game two by a score of 4-0. The unfortunate victim of the loss was Danny.

The ride home was bitter sweet because we split, but we had fun with the time.

With our games over for the week on Saturday, we had two days off from baseball which is a rare occasion. We had talked with our coach Red earlier in the week about doing something or going somewhere on our days off and he told us he was going to do something for us. Honestly, after our loss I was in no mood to think about two days off. I wanted to play the next day, which in America would usually be the case. I always felt that after a bad day you always had the next day to look forward too. Now we have six days to look forward to. This is a major adjustment for Danny and me.

When I woke up Sunday, I felt refreshed, ready to explore, and better about not playing well the day before. We got a call from Red and told us to be ready at 2 p.m. We were going to Dortmund to see a live European Football game. The Dortmund club plays in the German 1st league and they are very popular in Northern Germany. Ballspiel-Verein Borussia in Dortmund was founded over 100 years ago, and to many Northern Germans is a religion. Westfalenstadion von oben is the stadium they play in and it holds over 81,000.

Now when I think of soccer it usually includes a big "Ehhh, whatever?!?!" But for some reason I was excited. I had heard this place was awesome, it hosted a semi-final in the 2006 World Cup, and was rated as one of the best stadiums in the Soccer world.

On our hour ride to Dortmund, Danny and I enjoyed a few German beers, which by the way is totally legal. As long as you are not driving you can drink in a vehicle. When we got to the stadium it reminded me of Saturday College Football in Berkeley, or Sunday NFL game day In San Francisco. The weather was beautiful, the crowd was excited and I could never have imagined what I was about to experience.

There is no real way to explain the shock I experienced amongst my first glance at the goal side section of 25,000 screaming and signing German Soccer Hooligans. It was literally a small army waving flags and signing like the largest Orchestra in the world. The Bleachers on one side of the North goal seemed to never end, and I quickly learned after my initial reaction to the monstrosity of the section that it was the largest single bleacher section in all of sports. Unbelievable!

Seeing Barry Bonds hitting #756 at AT&T. Seeing the San Francisco Giants win the 2002 NL Pennant. Steve Young's touchdown pass to Terrell Owens in the 98 playoffs. And now, the first time I ever walked into a European Soccer Stadium. One of the best sports moments I have experienced.

The game was not really that exciting, as most soccer games usually are not exciting to me, but I enjoyed it.

See the footage below to get a small idea of what the weekend was like, and what it was like walking into the stadium for the first time.

Care Package from Home!

It is easy to take advantage of all the accessible things we get everyday in the U.S. Here in Germany, although we have been taken care of in every way possible by the club and coaches, the little things we take for granted back home are a hard to get a hold of.

Monday morning I heard a loud knocking at our door and I quickly made my way over to find a DHL man handing me a package addressed to me. I signed and quickly ran to my room to open it. My girlfriend, Erin, had so generously sent me a care package with all the essentials I could not find here in Germany. Enclosed were two pair of Good Feet insoles/arch support (I have terrible flat feet) which are EXTREMELY helpful, along with plenty of candy, chew (for the German players who can't find it over here....not me!) Choulula Hot sauce, (which I usually put on everything!) protein powder, sport socks, Advil, and yes, confetti cake and frosting which I thought was hilarious! Thank you so much Erin! It made my week! It was awesome to see how much effort you put into such a small package, and you know the old saying! HAHA.



Erin, I appreciate you everyday! It is amazing to think I found someone as beautiful, confident, successful and most of all supportive as you are. You appreciate my silly dreams, support our relationship even though I am thousands of miles away, and give me confidence in everything I do. It is really hard being apart from someone who puts as much effort into things as you do! I miss you, love you, and think about you by the minute.

Luckily, Erin doesn't start working for a few weeks with her new job in Portland and we found a great deal for her to come over this coming Wednesday. (Pending the stupid volcano ash from Iceland!!!! YIKES!) I will keep my fingers crossed and pray to my lucky stars that everything works out for the best.
She will hopefully get to see me play for the first time next Saturday! Very exciting!!!

Dying a Hero and No-No's during a No-No!"

Danny and I experienced our first home game this past Sunday against Dortmund, and it was a whopping 36 degrees when we got to the field. I forgot what it was like attempting to warm up and get loose when it is that cold. Growing up in Reno, Nevada there were plenty of times when it was snowing or well below freezing during baseball. I learned to deal with it at a very young age, and playing college ball in Portland wasn't always easy wither. Trying to hit with a metal bats in that temperature feels like you are swinging an icicle, and with wood you just don't want to break your stick by getting jammed or hitting it off the end. Not to mention the terrible "bee sting" feeling you get when either of those things happen with any type of bat, especially in the cold.

In my first at-bat of the day I came to the plate with a brand new maple bat. Maple is the best type of wood, usually the strongest and the hardest to break, so I figured I was safe. (They usually cost about $70-90 per bat) Danny was generous enough to let me have this bat since it was 33 inches, and he uses a 34. For the past 3 weeks I had been using an ash bat that feels great but started to flake due to overuse. I had to tape the barrel, which means I cannot use it during a game. (Baseball rules) I had not even taken a swing outside of the on-deck circle with my new stick when I came to the plate with runners on second and third, no outs. As a lefty hitter all I could think about was pulling the ball hard toward right field in order to score a run or two and give us an early lead. I took the first pitch for a ball, and with a 1-0 count, sitting dead red fastball, I took a big hack and hit a dribbling grounder right past the pitcher to the short stop. I was waaaaaay out front and although I should not have swung, I committed to the swing and made contact. The shortstop threw me out easily, but I got an RBI as the runner from third scored on the play.
Even though I got an RBI, I was really pissed! Not only should I have not swung at a 1-0 change-up (I was being way to aggressive) I BROKE my bat on one swing! "S.O.B. threw me a 1-0 change; one swing and the bat is done!" I got back to the dugout and was congratulated by a few guys for the RBI and others laughed because they knew what had happened. All I could say was, "Well, at least he died a hero. He got me an RBI on his death bed." I would have preferred to see another pitch or two and drive the ball, but like the old saying goes, shit happens! The bat is sitting proudly in my room, as the crack was not too bad, I may use it for soft toss and front toss.

On a positive note, I got a 2 RBI single in my next at-bat and went 1-3 with 3 RBI's and another hit-by-pitch in the game. (I got hit in a much better spot this time so I wasn't complaining as much to Danny this week.) Danny went 4-5 as the left fielder had a hard time with all the back spin and top spin he put on each ball hit to left. It is really funny to see outfielders react to most of the balls Danny hits to them. Mostly, it looks likes a golf fan trying to get out of the way of a Tiger Woods 4 iron because they are hit so hard. I am usually not running as fast as I can when I am on base because I am laughing really hard. The best part of the day was the wind blowing straight in from center. Danny hit a ball that would normally hit the Mango Hunt Center at UP (which is about 500 feet from home plate in Portland) but the Gail force wind put it softly into the center fielders mitt for an out. Neither of us got a hit in the second game which was disappointing, but we ended up winning both games. (15-5 and 6-4.) Danny pitched stellar in game two and only gave up a couple of real cheap Texas League hits.

For all you savvy baseball fans, (and even novice fans who want to learn something really, really important about baseball) see the video below, there is a great story which you will love...... One of the many "No-No's during a No-No!"

Sliders & Slivovitz

Easter Sunday turned out to be a great experience for Danny and I as we visited with a fellow teammates in-laws, who happen to be an Orthodox family from Serbia, which is the same religion and background I grew up with on my fathers side. Mischa and Branca are the father and mother in law to our teammate Hieko Schumacher (Sheumy). Mischa also happens to be the groundskeeper for the Untcouchable's field in Paderborn so we see him everyday. The first day I met Mischa he greeted me with a "Kako ste Nikola?" (How are you Nikola, in Serbian) Knowing a small amount of the Serbian language, I responded back "Dobro, falla." (Good, thank you) My Baba Sophia would be so proud!
The night of Easter we were treated to a great dinner with their family. We were treated so kindly and we ate and cooked off the table grill which neither Danny nor myself had ever done. We also sampled some of Mischa's homemade šljivovica (pronounced Slivovitz).Now for those that have never heard of this alcohol, it is a plumb brandy famous in Serbia and Eastern Europe. It is about 50% alcohol, so it usually puts a little hair on your chest every time you take a shot. Danny and I both had a shot with Sheumy and Mischa, and to my surprise it was a lot better than any Slivovitz I had ever had.
Well done Mischa. Hopefully he can teach me the secret to making good Slivovitz this season, although that might not be a good mix during the baseball season. All in all, we had a great meal, enjoyed awesome company, and at the end of the night we ever had a competition with hard boiled eggs as we tried to crack each others eggs with the tip of our own egg. (An old Serbian Easter tradition). Branca won!

On Monday, Danny and I had our first league double header vs. the Cologne Cardinals. After coaching on Saturday and Spending Easter Sunday with a our new Serbian friends we traveled to Cologne early in the morning this past Monday. The drive was pretty easy and we had some time to get lose and check out our surroundings before our games. One of the coolest parts of this experience is seeing new baseball fields in places we have never been, or we believed the area had never heard of the game.



Cologne is a really cool city, and although it was only a day trip, it was cool to see a little bit of the area as we breezed in and out of town. Danny and I both had a good day! In game one we gave up a 1 run lead late in the game and went into extra innings..... Not for long though! Danny lead off the top of the tenth and hit a MONSTER homerun to left field on the first pitch. WACK!.... "Yay-vohy!" (That is what the German's yell when something good happens! See the video below.)
I nearly knocked one of my teammates in the jaw with an elbow as I jumped off the bench to watch the flight of the ball. Needless to say, Danny was the hero in game one for sure! I went 2-4 at the plate with an RBI. I got a hit in my first at-bat which was a really nice feeling, then I got hit in the back of the hammy the next inning, and had to catch 18 more innings with a lump in my leg. Just one of the many parts of the game I had forgotten about until it happened. (Below is a picture of one of my hits, above is Danny's Homer.)

Danny started on the bump in game two and did not have the best control, which I later found out had to do more with the terrible mound condition and the "Auslaender (foreigner) strike zone." Wow! We had some really interesting calls, and although Danny threw only four innings, nobody came close to a hit. He did however walk a few guys, and after four innings had a pitch count around 90 which is where he should be around the 8th inning. At one point Danny made a perfect pitch right at the knees, and as I held the ball in my glove waiting to hear "strike," I heard nothing. I asked very sarcastically..... "Was that pitch my fault? I must not have given you a very good look at it huh?!?" To my surprise, the umpire did not pick up on my sarcasm as he said "Yes, thank you, you tried to frame it too much and I could not give you a strike." (Keep in mind, I didn't even move my glove) My reply was "Oh, ok, thank you, I guess I will have to explain to my coach and pitcher that although he threw a pitch you thought was a strike, you cannot call it a strike if I try and frame it too much. Thank you for making that clear to me." The best part was, he really thought I was serious and continued to talk about it. I am not sure who was messing with who, but it became a common theme for the rest of the game as more and more good pitches were not called strikes.
On a funny note, Cologne had an American from California who was hitting late in game two when a god awful smell swarmed the home plate area.... "Was that you bud?" I asked as I laughed. He looked at me, and as honest as a guy can be said while laughing, "No way man, but I would DEFINITELY claim that one if it was...... That was a good one!" Curious as to who cut the cheese, and also agreeing with my fellow American about claiming your own brand, I asked the umpire if there is anything he would like to tell us? No joke, just like the balls and strikes, he says, "Oh gosh, I don't know what that is, maybe it is the bbq because they just put out the fire." WOW, not only can this guy not claim he missed a pitch or two, he once again blames something else. Pretty funny stuff.

We ended up winning game two as well, Danny got 2 hits and finished the day at 3-8 with a few walks and a very memorable homerun. I finished game two with a 3-6 with a double, and 5-10 on the day. I felt I gave away about 4 at-bats because I was so tired. I had never caught 19 innings in one day, and I was exhausted by the time game 2 was half way done. I guess I will get in better shape as the season goes on, but until then, I will continue to suck it up and play hard.

Check out the video below if you want to see a little of the baseball action, as well as our Easter dinner.

Good Friday...... Good day to explore Paderborn!

So ever since Danny and I arrived in Germany we have been pretty busy. Everyday is filled with things to do, especially with baseball. Since we arrived last Saturday we have been trying to find some time to catch our breath and take everything in. Well, yesterday was the day to do it so we decided to jump on our new bikes (purchased for 90 Euro's at the train station) and we got lost in our new city. Below is a little video footage if you want to watch. Enjoy!

Jet-Lag knocks and 20/15 vision

The first morning I woke up I didn't really know where I was. We had to be at the field at 8 a.m. for our team photo shoot and individual pictures so we did not get a chance to sleep a ton. I was going with the flow and I knew we had a game at 1pm as well, although I had no idea where. I was really excited, but extremely tired. After the photo shoot we jumped in the team van and headed southeast down the Autobahn to play the Solingen Alligators, who are a very good team in the German pro league. One of Germany's best players is from Solingen, Kae Gronauer, is a catcher with the Mets double-A team and played there three years ago. As I learned many of my teammates names and a little bit more about Germany, I found myself once again thinking about how excited I was to play! Thousands of miles away from home, I am going to play baseball for the first time in 4 years.
We arrived in Solingen about an hour and a half before game time and to my surprise I was really impressed with the park. I would compare it to a good junior college, as they had a nice field, a covered batting cage area, and guest locker rooms with showers. The stands weren't bad either. The funny thing about the whole day was that I was not nervous about anything. I was so happy to be on a field playing catch, taking batting practice, and getting ready that I didn't even think about not performing well, or not living up to expectations. was the same way. He was very energetic and excited to play. We were both really excited to play in an actual game. One of the best parts of the day came right after warmups when our head coach, Red, pulled both Danny and I aside and told us both that he was really happy to have us and not to worry about today. "I want you guys to know there is no pressure today, I want you to enjoy this and have fun. You are not going to get sent home because you don't do well so just have some fun!" From a coaching standpoint (and now a players standpoint again) it really meant a lot to hear him say that, and although we didn't feel any pressure to begin with, it was nice to know that our skipper has our back and is looking out for our best interest. He is a very good manager with as much passion for baseball as anyone I have ever seen.
As the visiting team we hit first of course, and when I saw the lineup for the first time I was hitting second, while Danny was third in the lineup. Now, I hadn't faced a pitcher since the city league in 2007, and had not faced good pitching since college in May 2006. The only live swings I took had come from batting practice in a cage. As the game began I found myself going through a routine on deck like I had never left the game. I got my timing down, took in the surroundings and started to clear my head and breath. It felt great. The leadoff hitter walked on five pitchers, all fastballs. As soon as I stepped in the box I had one thing in mind.............I wanted to take the BIGGEST hack I could at the first good pitch I saw. Since the pitcher had a hard time throwing strikes to the first hitter, I knew he was going to give me a "get me over fastball." Even after all this time, the mental side of the game never leaves you, and neither does the competitor within! I walked to the plate, swiped my feet back and forth in the batters box like I had done thousands of times before, and pointed the bat out to the pitcher to acknowledge that after all this time away from hitting, I was ready. It was so strange to stare down at a pitcher again, and it felt amazing! The pitcher was a tall guy throwing maybe mid 80's, but to me I might as well have been facing Tim Lincecum again. As the pitcher went into his first windup and came forward with the release of his pitch I felt my motion go back, hands load, front foot land forward, and hips and hands fly to the ball. WACK! I connected with the first pitch. The ball started to sail high and hard to center, and my first reaction was "Damm, fly-out to center." Yet, as I started running down the first base line I noticed the numbers on the back of the center fielders jersey, and he never turned back around to catch the ball. Now, with as much objectivity as I can muster, I will say it was not the best ball I have ever hit, but apparently they were playing me pretty shallow. (This is a photo of my first swing, courtesy of Eisenhuth Photography, notice the ball in the top right corner of the pic.)
As the ball continued to stay in the air I realized the center fielder might not get to it, and sure enough, the ball landed about fifteen feet over his head. (The fence read 420 ft. from the plate but I wasn't that close to it.) All of a sudden I found myself on second base breathing hard, and our runner from first scored. 1-0 Paderborn on the first pitch I saw. Stand-up double. My teammates were applauding from the dugout and like a scene from Mr. Baseball, the Solingen shortstop says "Hey man, nice piece, where are you from?" While still gathering my bearings I said thank you and told him " All over man, that was a trip,I can't even think straight right now, that is the first pitch I have seen in four years and I just got here last night." I continued to chat with him throughout Danny's at-bat as he got hit with an 0-2 pitch in his first at-bat. The Solingen shortstop was an older guy who had played JC and indy ball back in the states, and ended up in Germany this season. He was a cool guy and it was fun chatting with him about our experience while the game was going on. The inning ended with a double play ball and I raced into the dugout to get my gear on and was welcomed by all of my teammates with high fives and fist pounds.
As I got my catching gear on I thought about the fastball I hit, and it occurred to me I had never seen a pitch so clearly! I saw the seams and movement! I didn't even realize how well I could see until this moment. Wow! Back in October I received lasik surgery and my Doctor (Dr. Mills in Reno, Nevada) told me that it was one of the best operations he had performed. I am seeing 20/15 which is better than perfect, and unbelievable to me. I used to wear contacts every game, and even then I struggled with vision because of dust and dirt on the lens. What an incredible feeling to see the ball that well. (That and the pitch was an easy 84 mph....)
Catching was another great experience.
As the first inning started I felt very comfortable and our pitcher had three good pitches working for him. It was a cool experience, and he did a great job. I loved calling the game as well. We finished the day with a 9-0 win, and Red told us after the game he could not remember the last time Paderborn beat Solingen that bad. He was really pleased, especially since his two American's finished the day a combined 5-8, 2 doubles, a triple, 5 RBI's, at the plate, with 3 runs scored. I also caught a complete nine innings and threw a runner out at second on a steal attempt

Danny finished 3-4 with a triple and 4 RBI's, while I went 2-4 with two doubles, 1 RBI, and 2 runs scored. We both agreed that this summer should be a lot of fun and we are looking forward to the experience.

Pretty cool day for our first baseball experience in Germany!

The Arrival

The afternoon we arrived in Paderborn, our skipper (head coach) Stefon, a.k.a. "Red" showed us around the facilities and the baseball field. He welcomed us with a beer mixed with cola (The Germans LOVE to dis on American beer, but they are ok with a cola-beer mix....?) I had never had a one before, and don't really care to have another one considering Germany has over 30,000 different Beers..... No joke. Upon arrival I was informed that it would take you 93 years of drinking 1 different beer everyday to try all of Germany's different beers. So, I quickly told Red that I wanted to start trying the good stuff!
The workout facilities are pretty amazing. As Red showed us around, we learned we have been granted a full-time membership at the Ahorn, which is and indoor workout center complete with indoor batting cages, a track, 4 basketball courts, badminton, (which Danny and I love!) and three super large batting cages. The batting cages have to be three times the size of any cage I have ever seen and they are awesome! The entire facility itself is about the size of two football fields side by side. As we continued to explore our new area we hit up the grocery store, got supplies, headed home, and settled in. As I mentioned before we have a great setup. Wireless internet, nice comfy beds in our own rooms, and a gigantic big screen projector which is pretty amazing. We will be hooking our computer up to watch MLB.com when the season starts so we won't miss anything back home!
Later that night Red took Danny and I out for dinner and by the end of the night we were once again spent. The adrenaline shot of arriving at our new home had worn thin, and once our meals were complete we once again felt the jet-lag. At that point I had slept about 6 hours in the last 60 hours or so and I was done! On a side note, we live with three other guys, and people love to come over here and hang out, so there is a ton of noise. It kind of reminds me of my college days. This particular Saturday night lots of people were over and wanted to meet us and hang out, so once we got home we visited for a hour or so and got to bed! Finally, sleep was here! Even with all the noise, we slept hard.

Trippin

So Danny and I made it!

It only took about 26 hours, (When it was supposed to be a 17 hour trip with layovers.) but we got to Paderborn, Germany safely. We left Portland, Oregon on March 26th at 6:30 a.m. PST and we flew to Chicago. It was a really short flight as we slept the entire way. The plan was to Fly from Portland to Chicago, Chicago to Toronto, Toronto to Vienna, then Vienna to Dusseldorf where we would drive about 174 kilometers (110 miles) to our new home in Paderborn.
Well, as crazy of an itinerary as this may sound, that would have been really nice! Instead, upon arrival in Chicago, we were told to switch gates to a different plane. (We were supposed to stay on the same plane from Portland all the way to Toronto) Having about an hour, Danny and I quickly got off and looked at the outgoing flights and gates. United Flight 132 to Toronto reads "CANCELLED." What the hell? They tricked us! We quickly walked through the Chicago Airport to United Customer Service, and for everyone that have never been to O'Hare Airport, it is a big city all in its own. This Airport is one of the worlds largest as it has hundreds of flights coming and going daily, so the walk from the gate to customer service was about a mile.
We waited in line at customer service for about 45 minutes and then the real fun begins. Everyone is trying to get to Toronto!!! Apparently, United Airlines was giving a lot of people the run-around, including us. After about an hour and a half of trying to find the right solution to get us to Dusseldorf on time, the United customer service representative, Carlos, said he got us on a Canadian Airlines flight to Toronto where we could catch our connecting flight to Vienna. He said we did not need to check in at the gate and handed us our boarding passes. Danny and I quickly made our way another mile away in the airport and got to our gate. "Ahhh, we are good, we will make our connecting flight to Vienna," we said. Once it was time to board the plane we got in line and walked to the gate. The gate agent took our paper ticket that Carlos had "issued" and said....... "Um, these are stand bye tickets, go get in the gate line with the rest of the stand bye passengers."......... WHAT!!!!
At this point we were pretty pissed. I was on the phone with my mom who happens to be a travel agent, and she was also pretty pissed about everything. We went to the ticket counter at the gate, realized there were 20 others in line for an oversold flight, and headed back to speak to Carlos at the the United ticket counter which was another mile away!....Again!
Upon our arrival at the customer service and another 45 minute wait in line, we got a chance to give Carlos (who was a really cool guy by the way) a little jarring! He laughed a little, but since we were with another agent at the counter this time he tried to help as much as he could.
At this point we could not get to Toronto, Vienna, or Dusseldorf on the original itinerary. We had to start from scratch. The biggest problem was that United Airlines could not get Austrian Airlines to release our funds so we could get another flight. This took about 80 phone calls, three and a half hours, and splitting Danny and I up for a flight to London at 6pm from Chicago, then a 5 hour layover in London before our flight to Germany.
I left Chicago about an hour before Danny and when I got to the United gate counter I was making sure I had a seat! Things got interesting once again when the gate agent at the counter tried to tell me that I was on standbye and was probably not going to get on the flight. "You are getting me on this flight!" I told him. After hovering over the agent and making him feel a little uneasy, and not letting him push me around, he handed me a boarding seat with an actual seat! FINALLY!
The flight to London was long. No entertainment because the media system was down, and the pilot even told us that he almost cancelled the flight because none of the screens were working. Since when did a flight get cancelled because the entertainment system was down? At that point I didn't care, I tried to get my mind off of how tired I was and I tried to think about baseball and the experience that was ahead of me. I ate some good old fashioned airline food, had a beer, and tried to sleep....... Which I did not get! I guess I could not sleep because I could only think about being away from home, my family, girlfriend, and friends for the next six months because I am chasing a dream which arrived late. In a way, I feel I am four years late to the prom....... but I still got asked!

The Sunrise was beautiful over the Atlantic! I watched the horizon change with beautiful colors for about 30 minutes and was amazed!

When I got to London, I called Erin, Mom and Dad, and felt miserably tired. One more flight to go! Danny found me in the terminal and we tried to talk about our trip and what we were looking forward to, but I was out of it! I could not wait to get some sleep, and about an hour before our flight, I literally could not function. Danny helped me a lot, and thanks to him, we made it to our flight safe and sound.
We arrived in Dusseldorf at 3pm in the afternoon which was 6pm PST, and our bags were there waiting for us. WHAT A RELIEF! That could have turned out really bad with all the changes we went through. Good for United! We got through customs very easily and caught a ride with a friend of our coach. The best part of our trip was the car ride on the Autobon. We cruised an easy 120mph all the way home and we were getting passed on the left by BMW's, Mercede's, and Audi's. Pretty amazing!

So, after about 26 hours and not much sleep we arrived at our new home in Paderborn. We have three German roomies, two of which we will play with, and each of us has our own room. Pretty nice setup as well!





Can't wait to play!