June Bloom

As our travels down south ended, the second half of the regular season began as we prepared for the same order of teams as the first half of the season. I can't believe 8 weeks is half way through the regular season, however, it has been a great experience.

Thinking back to the cold and dismal German skies of the first half got me excited to play in the summer time sunshine of June and July. We would also get a chance to face pitchers for the second time, which is great. I must say that I was not personally satisfied with my performance at the plate for the first half of the season. I was hitting .300, and even after a four year hiatus from baseball it not my idea of doing well in Europe, especially when it was made clear to me that I wasn't doing well enough and I was expected to hit .400. However, being a baseball stat rat, I quickly pointed out that I was leading the league in walks, I had a .500 OBP and was 4th in the league in runs scored. (Thanks to hitting in front of two of the best hitters in the league.) I guess no matter where you are in the world, the batting average is still the first thing that people look at. As a matter of fact, I had to remind myself that I had been scorching balls right at people the whole season and I could not control the outcome of some of my quality at-bats. Sometimes you hit the ball hard four or five times and get nothing out of it. Such is baseball!

The quality of baseball has improved along with the season as well. By this point you are either in "baseball shape," or you are not, and we have seen a plethora of different talent levels. Judging the talent from the first half, we have seen pitchers who wouldn't make my high school team, to guys who have above average stuff, and could be good division 1 pitchers. Basically you never know what you are going to get until game day and the moment you are in the batters box.

As June began the spring time rains were still hit and miss. Each day was a guess as to how many layers of clothing should be worn, but we were assured that warmer days were ahead of us. Along with the rest of the world and the crazy spring weather, we saw some great days, and some unusual days for June.

Our start to the second half of the season against the Cologne Cardinals  was a interesting day. We had played through a few different rain showers that reminded me of the mist that comes from Niagara falls. Very dense, very quick, and very wet. In only a matter of seconds it made our field really wet. We won the first game by a score of 11-3 and the second game started with an offensive assault against their new American pitcher. By the top of the fourth we were ahead 7-0 and both Danny and I were having a nice game. Then the rain delay came.

With howling winds and dense clouds streaking across the sky we soon found ourselves in an off and on rain storm. Just like a shower faucet, the rain would come quick and hard, and then suddenly stop.
We were killing Cologne and since it was not an "official game" at that point, we were praying that we would not have to call the game and play on another day, especially since we were up by 7 runs. As the rain came and went the funniest part of the day was the umpires decision making. The timing was epic. Every time the rain stopped, we would clear the tarps and take the field only to get stuck in another downpour as play was just about to resume. "Ok, put the tarps back on and wait for the rain to stop." Over and over this happened and it was really funny. The umpires finally declared that they would wait a half and hour before we resumed play and we would check the field after the 30 minute delay. The rain fell, and fell, and fell. After about 20 minutes I was really worried that this one wasn't going to count and we would have to start the game over on a new day. Cologne did their best to act completely miserable and cold because they wanted to scratch the 7-0 lead we had by coming back on another day.

After the 30 minute delay (and a twenty minute nap by yours truly) the umpires decided to resume the game in the muck and yuck that was now our field. Awesome! To add insult to injury we added another 10 runs over two innings to end the game early with a 17-0 mercy ruling. I finished 3-4 with a few RBI's and Danny had a couple of nice hits including a home run.

We started the second half with two wins and fashionable production at the plate. As the day winded down and I did my cool-down run after the game, the sunshine came out of nowhere and the temperature was perfect. I couldn't help but laugh to myself when I thought of the day.

München

After the Regensburg tournament was over we hopped on the train south and headed to München for two nights.

The train ride was smooth and we arrived with plenty of daylight and enthusiasm in order to explore the city, its many great Beir Halls, and learn a little about Germany history. We had an awesome time for the two days and nights we were there. Here is a little footage from all the craziness that went down while we were there. I must say the locals were something else! Make sure you don't miss the yodeler at the end of the video...... He didn't like me much because he could see I wasn't German, and Danny is. Plus he is speaking German to him. It is pretty funny!

Final Day in Regensburg

Here is another little video I put together at the end of the Regensburg tournament.

Enjoy.