Dugout-Talk.Com

This year, it is the Arizona Cardinals vs. the Pittsburgh Steelers. Now most of the country is probably going for the Steelers, however the Cardinals have two cities behind them all the way…the second city being St. Louis. That’s right. Many fans in St. Louis still have a spot in their heart for the team AND their QB Kurt Warner. Probably more for the latter.

Kurt Warner will always be loved and adored in St. Louis, not only for bringing the Super Trophy back in the 1999 Season, but also for all of his charity efforts and personality he showed while here.

Earlier this football season, Kurt Warner came to town to help raise money for the flood victims of the midwest, and the turnout was great. People here in St. Louis are very passionate about their sports heroes. Stan “The Man” Musial, Ozzie Smith, Marshall Faulk, Isaac Bruce, Albert Pujols, …and Kurt Warner.

Good Luck, Kurt!!!!

Last week, I sent out a request for my newsletter subscribers to send in their best drills for baseball.  Check out this one below sent in by Kathryn!

Range Drill
 
1 line at first base
1 line at third base
1 coach with bucket of balls at home
1 coach with bucket of balls at 2nd
 
Players at 1st run toward 2nd and players at 3rd run toward home. Coach at home hits ball into 2nd base gap for the player at first base – they must run and field the ball in this drill. Start with balls close to them and then extend the range.

Depending on age and skill level get them to the point of diving for the ball. The player fields the ball and puts it in the bucket of the coach who is at second base. Then they run to the end of the line at 3rd base. While this is going on the baseball coach at 2nd base hits a ball for the player on third – same thing. Start close and then work on their range and extending them. They field the ball and put it in the bucket of the coach who is at home. Then they run to the end of the line at 1st base. After you go through some series of fielding switch where the coaches hit to and where the players run to so you work their range to the other side. Coach at home hits towards second base and players at 3rd run towards 2nd – coach at 2nd hits towards home and players at 1st run towards home.

So the word going around the internet is that Jeff Kent is an  “accidental Hall of Famer”. Here we go again with useless terminology to squeeze out another “filler article” on a sports page.

Look, so the guy wasn’t flashy, or that he took a few years to develope into on of the best all round 2nd basemen ever. Yes, one of the best! Check out his numbers…they beat out Ryne Sandberg’s numbers…BIG TIME. 351 homeruns as a second baseman, first place in that category. 100 RBI’s for six consecutive seasons and eight times in all. Not too shabby.

He played the game the way I like. With day-in-day-out determination and grit that the game should be played with of an infielder. He carried himself on and off the field with integrity and honor. Too bad he his more thought of getting into arguments with Milton Bradley and Barry Bonds. But that’s “shock value TV ratings” for ya.

Oh well. What can you do. For those who remember the Jeff Kent, you will be able to remember that you could always count on him to give his best, day after day, game after day. For that, along with his numbers, he SHOULD be a shoe-in for the HOF.         

So Mark McGwire’s brother wrote a proposal to submit for a book about the use of steriods of his brother Mark McGwire…and did it out of love. If this book does get published, I will be the first one NOT to buy it.

Come on! He wrote “My bringing the truth to surface about Mark is out of love. I want Mark to live in truth to see the light, to come to repentance so he can live in freedom — which is the only way to live. “

Who the hell are you to judge another person on how to live? Some ex-musclehead, that probably juiced to compete, who hasn’t spoken with his brother in several years? Yeah, right. I bet you never have been accused of being able to sell water to a whale.

Wonder how long it will take THIS clown to star on some B.S. reality show.

Funny…I did not see Barry Bonds there for support…LOL

I know, I am a little behind on writing about Rickey Henderson and Jim Rice, so here it goes.

First…it is about time Jim Rice got voted in. Talk about a stud back in the 70’s and 80’s when this man was patrolling left field in Fenway. The guy was the best at what he did. Wasn’t the flashiest, and did have a big mouth, but he was the best of his era. Now all we need to see is the Hawk get voted in next year to help justify the best of baseball from the 1980’s.

I can not remember who said it, but the following quote fits Rickey Henderson. “Before Manny was being Manny, there was Rickey being Rickey.” Rickey was properly voted to Cooperstown in his first year of eligibility. The guy was a five tool player. Not known for his defensive play, the man was known most for what he did on the base paths. Most runs all time. Most stolen bases of all time. 81 leadoff homeruns in his career. Hell, he stole third base over three hundred times. That over 99% of all players ever to play that stole ANY base!!!!

Congrats to both!

Try these baseball tips and drills at practice to work on baserunning skills with your players. With runners on two different bases, you might want to execute a double steal to advance both runners, instead of just one.

What you need:  A full infield, batter, a runner on first, and a runner on second or third.

How this drill works:  The pitcher will go through his or her normal delivery and the batter will just swing at the ball and not hit it.  The runner will attempt to steal two bases.

From first and third, the runner will advance to second in hopes the throw goes and the third base runner can advance home.  From first and second,  the hope is that both runners can advance.  The offense competes against the defense in this one – if the defense gets the lead runner, it’s two points, the second runner, one point.  If the offense executes the double steal, they get two points.

The baseball coach can alter the timing of the double steal, having both players leave at the same time, or staggering them.

Result:  Having your players both advance is a huge offensive advantage, especially if it scores a run or takes the force off.  If your players can effectively execute a double steal, you will see runs totals increase.

MLB network TV station went active on my DirecTV package at the beginning of the year…now I rival my kids for disk space on the DVR! The other good news is that my wife does not mind at all, just as long as The Biggest Loser and American Idol get recorded for her…lol.

Hope you enjoy him playing for the Cardinals the next two seasons, because I believe he will be the first 300 million dollar man in baseball.

Watch out for the Mets and the Angels to be frontrunners at free agency.

Often times during a game, players will be called upon to get a runner around the bases with a fly ball or a bunt.  This is one of the baseball plays used to teach this.

What you need (set up):  A full infield, a batter and a runner on first, second or third.

How this drill works:  The batter must get the runner to the next base, but only using one of two plays:  a bunt, or a sac fly.  The fly ball must be deep enough to advance the runner and the bunt needs to be effective enough not to be a double play ball.

Batters should work on hitting a fly ball on purpose and also bunting to the best areas to avoid outs.  These skills are important in this game situation.

Result:  This is one of the most common plays in baseball.  If you can get your team to execute sacrifice plays with regularity, then you will notice your overall run total increase considerably.