Had a brief meeting today with the folks from the Corvallis Knights talking about the coming season. They are extremely happy with how things have gone in their two seasons in the mid-valley and expect to be here for years to come. This year the team will include two guys who played for LBCC this spring, pitchers Liam Baron and Trevor Smith.
If you saw the Kevin Costner movie “Tin Cup” you’ll remember the scene where Costner’s character, a small-time golfer, gets the yips. His caddie, played by Cheech Marin, frantically tries to help rid him of the disease, suggesting that he take the change out of one pocket and put it in another. It’s funny stuff, but golfers aren’t the only one to get the yips and pitchers seem especially susceptible.
After starting the season with an impressive 12-6 record, the Mariners have lost 13 of their last 17 games. Over this stretch they have looked pretty much like the team we expected to see: pretty good pitching, but limited offensively. Thursday’s loss to the Texas Rangers in a get-away game that started at 11 a.m. our time is a perfect example of what’s been wrong. Feliz Hernandez pitched seven shutout innings and David Aardsma pitched a scoreless eighth. But Mariners’ closer Brandon Morrow got hammered for the second day in a row.
Other than starting with the same letter, my two topics don’t have anything to do with each other. They’re just what I’m thinking about this afternoon. I’m thinking about the rain because the weather is being a real aggravation right now. We want to have a reporter and photographer at this afternoon’s Lebanon/South Albany baseball game. But the photo staff has a lot going on and would like to know as early as possible if the game is going to be played, despite today’s February-like weather.
