My Man...

My man.

So Dodge was asked to come join his old team for the state baseball tournament.  I remember now why we left last year though and got picked up by another team.

In general, the team can not identify pitches in or out of the strike zone.  (When I say this I really do mean they strike out on ball six, i.e. they could have been on base already, but grandma is too busy reminding them to hit a home run that they have never been able to do in practice or games.)  They don't play defense.  They have one pitcher; well two if you add Dodge.

I realize there are different tiers of teams in baseball, first tier that play all three facets of the game well.  Second tier that play generally two of them well and then everyone else who probably struggles to play any well.

Last year with this team, Dodge had back to back no hitters.  The first game was against the team that would pick him up for their World Series run last year.  The second was a perfecto where he faced twelve batters and took them all down on strike outs.  I realize that a four inning game is not a "full" game in the Major Leagues, but if that is the full game at age nine, a full game it is.

Fast forward to this year's state tournament.  The team he is playing for scored eight runs through two games.  He was responsible for half the runs and RBIs.  That's right, he either knocked you in or as lead off man scored himself.  He only has one hit, but got on base in all four chances and collected six stolen bases in the meantime.  On the bump, he collected the only win with three strike outs in 2.1 innings.  He pitched mostly right handed though - his non dominant side.  (Oh yeah, he switch hits, like plenty of hitters do, but he also switch pitches.)

I realize one kid can not make a team, but one kid can also nor carry them on his back either.  When one kid has to put up 50% of the teams run production, the "team" is probably not going far.

True to form, I suspect that while the team he is helping this weekend is pretty limited on their options for advancing I am glad he is just out there playing and enjoying the game.  I look at some of the coaches who didn't want him this weekend and their resulting records getting blown out 24-0 or losing more games than they won and have to ask is your system really that stellar?

In any case, I love watching my man play the game he loves and succeed at it.

Put Me In Coach...

So this week's Friday Night Music selection is all about baseball.  This weekend we begin our state tournament for my eldest son, Dodge.

His fall team decided to move up to select ball, though they were ill prepared for the competition as evidenced by their 3-7 record and no tourney wins.  Ouch.  That meant Dodge ended up in the draft with an "expansion" team of kids who had never played ball before or who were dropped or left the team for whatever reason.

Needless to say, we barely got across the .500 mark for the season and while I want to avoid pride, find myself beaming that Dodge finished the season with a 5-0 record as a pitcher, though he did earn one of those wins via the blown save.  Nonetheless, he was ace, closer, and whatever else the needed when it came to an arm while holding down short stop otherwise.

He has now been picked up by his old expandion team, the Cedar Hill Ruff Ryders, for the State and potentially World Series tournaments for both his pitching and defense and I believe his ridiculous ability to get on base.

In any case, it is time for a new tournament and being picked up as a proverbial waiver wire pickup.  Results will come soon from the tournament.  Until then, enjoy the tune.

Really?

As I noted the other day in a blog piece, Yogi Berra was right when he said Little League was a good thing becase it got the parents off the streets.  If only I could keep the careless ones out of baseball coaching.

Once again, adults who barely understand the game and go out of their way to not understand its rules are jeopardizing weekend plans because they do not have their acts together.  I realize some of us are more disorganized than others, I
realize some parents have kids with ADD who do not understand how to follow instructions, but do us a favor and do not get into the coaching business then if your own game is not fixed...first.

Crazy idea I know to have your own act together before you try to help pre-pubescents with theirs.

I know the concept is a big one that you should be able to have your act together before you take on responsibility for someone else, but apparently this lesson in organization, teaching, and motivation has missed some folks and they seem to have congregated these past few weeks in little league baseball.  Let me paraphrase a great quote about baseball: nothing is easy, but nothing is impossible in the game.  That being said the adults have got to get out of the way of the kids or baseball will continue to see dwindling numbers at the youth level.  Pathetic!

Lunch Crawl

Hmmm, so what to do on a Friday without the children and your wife is home?  Well, how about lunch?  The problem: which restaurant?  The solution: three of them.

FOR LUNCH?!?

Yes, this would be my first lunch crawl, akin to the bar crawl though with much less alcohol.  In between getting CDs unlocked at the library and visits to the farmer's market and grocery store for a Memorial Day weekend that would start off with lunch, or lunches, so the adventure begins with a little Luck.

The restaurant: Luck.  The score: 4 stars.

Luck was my first choice for where to eat if we were going to dine in a single location at Trinity Groves.  All of these restaurants are in the
Trinity Groves complex located at 425 Bedford Street, Dallas, Texas  75212.

Luck had the most inventive menu overall I would say though that might have to do with my prejudice towards Fried Green Tomatoes which of course is where I started.  Since this was going to be a multi-course crawl meal I wanted to pace myself so this would be both a great appetizer for my palate as well as not to be too filling, except, the chunks of tomato were huge.  Nice job chef with the surprise.

I washed down perfectly textured tomatoes with

Oak Cliff Beverage Works root beer and continued with the Blueberry and Raw Butternut Squash Salad.   (For those of you who know me, I really really did have butternut squash.)  Again, proportions were much larger than expected so half the salad was boxed up for later.  The staff at Luck is attentive without being over bearing and what I had from the menu I found enjoyable.  I wanted to try their beer battered apple fritter funnel cake as I am a fan of most funnel cakes (who isn't?) ice cream, but dessert was to come elsewhere.

My biggest disappointment was Luck is a beer only establishment.  I get the craft beer craze, but I drink liquor if I am going to imbibe.  Other than that, four stars.

The next stop, was Resto Gastrobistro.  A little swankier or wannabe maybe, I almost suggested this place for appetizers as I was interested in how they were going to do their pork belly gorditas.  Crab cakes and roasted artichokes might have been interesting too, but I was now on an entree course which for me meant a lobster corn dog.  The BBQ chips that came with it seemed home made, but the corn dog was just okay.  I am not sure if they just extracted a hot dog from the bun and filled it with lobster.  Again, okay, but not great.  Maybe I came for the wrong part of the menu, but I certainly came at the wrong time of day.

While they were able to make my personal martini I drink, they seemed slow to follow up and unprepared for the bus of folks that dropped off an elderly sight seeing group.  Maybe any Friday night would have been better than Friday holiday lunch, but slow service and okay food yields a forgiving three stars.

Finally, we go to the pop up kitchen with the rotating chef, Kitchen LTO (Limited Time Only).  We are now on second entrees and dessert, except...(I will get to the exception in a minute.)  So again, the starters looked more interesting and since I already had an entree perhaps I should have had another starter as an ender, but I got flatbread.  My date got a chicken salad sandwich.

If you want to talk about boring and unimaginative, have
flatbread with "fresh mozzarella" (is anyone using old mozzarella), arugula, and kalamata olives.  Of course, I had the crazy dish as they chicken salad was less impressive than what I make at home.  Sunflower sprouts do not a $12 sandwich make.

While the service was better than Resto, the communication was not.  Their website advertised a buttered popcorn creme brulee.  Want to guess what I am having?

That's right, the LTOMG! Chocalate Dome because the staff removed the dish from the menu without updating their website.  A chocolate dome with fresh caramel over vanilla ice cream does not normally get me excited, but it was something.  Still, in this day and age, don't advertise it, if you can't do it.  The service and food was underwhelming, but stable so three stars.  I think I would go for appetizers and  desserts next time except who knows what the menu will (or won't) have on it when I get there.

One thing I do know is if you have the time and
the desire, a lunch crawl is a fun way to look at multiple restaurants when they are housed so close together.  You get to try multiple places and figure out who does what, how they do it, and can they provide the service you are looking for in a quicker period of time than usual.  Have fun and enjoy your meal.

Happy Birthday 'I'...

 While I doubt anyone referred to him as I, Ian Fleming, could have gone through this moniker.  Or perhaps Fleming, Ian Fleming, station J...Jamaica.  In any case, today we celebrate the man's birthday who created James Bond.


Fleming who himself was a British Naval Intelligence Officer during World War II likely had a first class seat, due to his assignment as well as his upbringing, to spy craft in its golden age of espionage.

Beyond the explosions and Walther PPK/s that appear again and again throughout the series, no Bond film would be complete without his martini.

In a bit of an unusual departure in Casino Royale though, Bond moves from the ubiquitous vodka martini - shaken, not stirred - and 
goes for the Vesper, the drink named after Vesper Lynd, Bond's love interest in the film.

For those fans who do not remember the recipe, the Vesper is made with:

• 3 measures of Gordon's Gin
• 1 measure of vodka
• 1/2 measure Kina Lillet (Kina Lillet is a White or Blanc Lillet. It's a brand of dry vermouth  made in France since the late 1800's that is often referred to as "the apèritif of Bordeaux".)
• Lemon peel for garnish

Here is hoping you celebrate Mr. Fleming's birthday with a proper Vesper martini.

...Showing Up Isn't Enough

What a wasted night.  More or less like what feels like a wasted weekend for me.

I realize Memorial Day is supposed to be about remembering our fallen, but for some reason my son's little league chose to schedule the end of season tournament when people normally go out of town.  They did nothing to commemorate the weekend for veterans other than those umpires who would turn around and thank those who served (Bravo!).

So, last night Adrian Beltre had the opportunity to finish a game in the ninth inning with a routine grounder and throw to first.  Eduardo Nunez was on second and went around him, reportedly so he could make a clean throw, but Beltre chose instead to attempt to tag Nunez who then made it safely to third and the batter to first.  What?!?  Why would you even consider this play as an option?  Needless to say, the Rangers went on to load the bases and then lose the game on a fifteen foot dribbler off the end of the bat of a AAA call up.  The whole thing was a comedy of errors that reminded me of my weekend.

This weekend our little league team found a way, well via more Errors than innings played, to give away three winnable games.  We went up against one team that had the same record as us and our 3-4 hitters decided that sttriking out four times in four at bats was the way to win a game.  In the second game against one of the top teams in the league, we led 6-1 going into the third when our second basemen decided he would stop playing because he wasn't behind the plate.  That's right, you are ahead in a game and you allow five runs on errors.  The elimenation game Sunday was more of the same.  After falling behind a higher seeded team, our 7 hole hitter punched one into the outfield for a double.  Our eight hole struck out, but could have run to first on a passed ball.  Instead he froze not realizing what to do (hence, you show up on time for games and find your way to practice now and then...read Dianne's talk for more).  So we have one out, down two, and Dodge is sure to get up.

Our nine hole hitter who has one hit all season somehow gets on base on a bobble at short stop.  He even steals second before almost getting caught out on the base paths half stealing third.  Dodge hits him over and gets himself on base.  Now what?  Well, I get yelled at for telling nine hole kid to call time because Dodge isn't in scoring position.  (Dodge is yet to be caught stealing this season and routinely steals home.)  The dad who yells at me then watches as his son pops up and he doesn'd hold his runner on the bag who dashes home only to be doubled off third.  End of game...end of baseball weekend.

Look, I don't care about your kid's ability.  As one of the coaches I will work with them...IF you will.  Yogi Berra said "Little League is a good thing because it keeps the parents off the streets."  If only that were true.  Instead of working with their kid on their chosen craft, the team was scrambling minutes before game time to figure out would we have nine to play with.  (I gave up the beach for this?)

I know it sounds crazy, but your kid can't pitch because he doesn't know how to throw from the outfield.  No, your kid can't play first because he can't catch the ball during warm ups.  He is still using a glove from teeball.  This isn't to be rude, but when you sign your kid up he needs to be ready with the right gear and the right mindset.  As an example, let me show you kid B.  Kid B has played one season previously.  He started the season in right field after basically being kicked off a pseudo-select rec team.  He wanted to learn though.  In four games he went from playing right field to being our starting third basemen.  Why?  Because he would stop grounders and threw across the diamond.  He put his body in front of the ball as we taught him and when he had success he celebrated, when he didnt have success he would ask "What can I do different?  Show me a different way coach and I will change what I am doing."  I can barely get my kid to change his deal.  He wanted to pitch so we gave him a basic drill - which he did on his own.  The season wore on, but you know what?  He pitched in the end of the season tournament for us.  His first game: 2/3 inning, 0.00 ERA with a strikeout.  He was coachable and I hope my son gets to play with kid B for a while because he is a great example of how to get better.  He shows up before time, puts in effort, and wants to help...the team.

Like the play last night...take the easy out.  Play strong fundamental baseball because showing up isn't enough.

I Don't Forget...

 ...no, today and this weekend is not about hot dogs and fireworks, but is time for remembrance (I hope) of what this nation had to go through first to earn her freedom and then to keep it.

I love this song by Toby Keith because I feel like it embodies some of the national rage post 9/11.  While I prefer alternatives to war, there was a clear attack on our soil that day and the response America was able to deliver should have been awe inspiring.

We can talk another day about the merits of going to war and the Pax Americana or the foreign policy that has since followed it and its relative success and failures, but for today I bring you Toby Keith and "Courtesy of the Red, White, and Blue."

When you listen to it, remember not only the success we have had, but the thousands of losses as well.  Enjoy!