August 13th Magic

In the world we live in today, there are so many days throughout the calendar year where one can sit down and reminisce about what happened on which particular day. These days often feature a tragic event that has happened, a historic battle that occurred, or the birthday of someone famous. These days, which are often translated into national holidays, can be remembered for the exact date they occurred on years before.

I think the same can go for events that happened in your personal life. There are a few memorable instances that have been seen in my past and I will never forget the dates on which they occurred. This takes me to the reason for this post.

August 13th.

I go back ten years ago on a hot, humid day on August 13th, 2000. I'm 13 years old and only three months away from my next birthday. I had recently wrapped up my baseball from the summer and was gearing up for another football season with Berlin Pop Warner Football.

Being the active kid that I am, I was running around the neighborhood that day with a few of the local kids. Our neighborhood games consisted of all types of activities: backyard baseball, video games, capture the flag, etc. This day consisted of tennis and a few of us were going to play down the street.

I had been running in and out of the house all day and my dad was really getting annoyed with it. I kept leaving the door open and with the cost of air conditioning, my dad had to keep going to shut the door. On the last time I ran out of the house, I took what I needed and headed down the street. I then realized I had forgotten the balls and headed back in. My head was down and I charged back into the house. I looked up...only to see a four pane glass window directly in my way.

My hand reached to stop the door.

What happened next was a pool of blood, screams of terror, and shattered glass everywhere. My arm had been lacerated by the glass and my right forearm had been torn open nearly to the bone.

My parents remained calm as best as they could and made the call with 911 to have an ambulance sent to the house. A short time later, the ambulance arrived and took me to Atlantic General Hospital to be evaluated. I was told that the cut was severely deep and that they could not handle me there. They then sent me to Peninsula Regional Medical Center, where I was looked at and seen by Dr. Vincent Perotta. They saw that my cut was millimeters away from the central artery and by the grace of God, I had missed many other vital areas. I had still severed several tendons. I would immediately go into surgery and after 50 stitches to my forearm, the healing process would begin.

I never realized until later how lucky I was. I had nearly lost my right arm and although I faced a few months of rehabilitation, I fully recovered.

Fast forward to the present and it's exactly ten years later. I find myself in the sixth inning of a 4-4 tie featuring El Paso against Pensacola at Cohen Stadium. The bases are loaded with no outs and I'm called out of the bullpen and into the contest. The first batter grounds out innocently to our shortstop before the following hitter swings into a 6-4-3 double play to end the inning. The crowd, which was nearly 7,000 strong, erupted in excitement.

I would go on to throw two more innings of shutout baseball and our 13-game losing streak would finally come to an end. It was the first win since I was injured on July 2, 2009.

My first win of the year on the day where I almost lost my arm 10 years earlier. My how God works in strange way.....

God Bless.

Free Falling in West Texas

We've been going through a pretty rough stretch out here in El Paso lately. The recent losses cannot be attributed to one particular aspect of the team but rather, the entire team itself. I noted in an earlier post that we were losing games because we couldn't put everything together when it mattered the most.

Well, now, we can't seem to put anything together.

The team is out of playoff contention but we still have things to play for. We are now playing for the love of the game. Regardless of the circumstance, I have never laid down to my competition. I've never given up in any aspect of the game and even though we are double-digit games back with less than three weeks left, there is still something to play for.

Pride.

Pride for yourself, your team, your city, your baseball career, your fans, etc.

If you look at the box score from last night's game against Grand Prairie, you would assume the El Paso Diablos have given up on the 2010 summer. It was one of the roughest games I have ever been apart of as a player or a fan. The drubbing was harsh to say the least.

This particular loss brings me back to a memory I have of the 2008 season. In my first game with El Paso, we took one off the chin in the season opener. The margin of victory of our opposition was much more and the crowd gave it to us a little worse than what was heard last night. There is some irony to this beat down as the following night we responded with a punch of our own...in the form of an 11 run victory over Shreveport.

I'm sensing a big game tonight for El Paso. To be honest, maybe a brutal loss like that was just what we needed for us to open up our eyes and our hearts.

God Bless.

NYSL Hall of Fame Inductee

I'm pleased to announce that I have recently been honored as a member of the inaugural Hall of Fame Class of the New York State League. This is my second award with the league as last summer I was honored with the 2009 NYSL Courage Award.

The NY State League was where I began my professional career. After I went undrafted following my senior year of college, I went to three different professional tryouts and was cut from each one. The NYSL then offered a tryout in Utica, NY and I was one of the first players to be signed from that particular tryout. I remember signing that contract and feeling like I was on top of the world. My dream of playing professional baseball had now become a reality.

The league was a jumpstart for getting into the Can-Am League with the New Haven Cutters and then with El Paso in the American Association. I'll never forget my days in that league and how I was given the opportunity to bridge my career from college to the professional ranks. I will be forever grateful of league commissioner, Jay Acton, for giving me that chance.

You can view the release here.

God Bless.

Superstitions in Baseball

As much as I don't like to admit it, I fall under the category of being a "superstitious" player. Baseball is a game of skill and chance but I don't think extraneous measures always need to be performed to change your luck. That being said, I'm a firm believer that some people are destined for different kinds of success and that one can create their own luck.

Here is a small list of my superstitions with baseball.

1. I never spit during the National Anthem. In college, I had a coach preach respect during the national anthem and that was one of his pep peeves. If I'm chewing gum or eating sunflower seeds, I'll hold them until the Anthem is over.

2. I like to talk to my dad before starts. It's something I've always done and although its just a good luck conversation or "try this"..I've been successful talking with him pre-game. It's a little different out of the bullpen because I don't know which game I will throw in.

3. If our team is scoring runs and I'm in the dugout, I won't change where I am at until we get an out. Silly superstition of having to remain in the same spot but it is seen all across the board.

4. I used to walk a complete circle around the mound before I started an inning and would them look up to the sky and say a prayer. I don't really do this as much anymore because my prayers are on a much more private level these days.

5. Depending on how well I am pitching, I try and keep the same cleats. If I'm struggling, the first thing I'll change is my cleats. For example, after I struggled earlier this season...I exchanged my Mizuno low tops for a pair of Nike Clippers.