Good Friday

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Today is Good Friday, the day that Jesus of Nazareth was crucified.  Christians believe He died to be the ultimate sin sacrifice for those who believe in Him.  His death was required to allow anyone, no matter what their baggage is, to go to Heaven. 

He died for the "good people."  You know the type.  They don't get arrested, they volunteer in the community, and they help the old lady load her groceries in her car.  They are polite, helpful, and are good friends.

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He died for the "bad people."  The person that every other word would be bleeped out if he/she was on television, gets drunk/high every night, or is a San Francisco Giant fan.  The person in prison for murder, rape, or any other horrible crime.  

"For ALL have sinned and fallen short of the glory of God." (Romans 3:23)

"For by grace you have been saved through faith; and that not of yourselves, it is the gift of God.  Not by works, lest any man should boast." (Ephesians 2: 8-9)

"Jesus answered, I am the way and the truth and the life.  No one comes to the Father except through me." (John 14:6)

Jesus came here to die for us all.  There is no prerequisites for anyone to follow Him and receive eternal life.  He asks that you admit that you are a sinner.  Admit the obvious, we all suck from time to time.  Repent for your sins by asking for forgiveness.  

Then believe that Jesus Christ is Lord, that He died for you, and rose again so that we all can live in Heaven.  "For the wages of sin is death, but the gift of God is eternal life in Christ Jesus our Lord." (Romans 6:23)  

Finally, confess that Jesus Christ is Lord and follow Him. "That if you confess with your mouth, "Jesus is Lord," and believe in your heart that God raised him from the dead, you will be saved." (Romans 10:9)

The tough part is sometimes believing that you are wanted, loved, worthy of someone's unconditional love.  But that's exactly what Jesus offers.  There is no shame, guilt, sin, flaw, hang up, addiction that is so gross that Jesus says, "Whoa! That's too awful."  Instead He says "Come to me, all you who are weary and burdened, and I will give you rest." (Matthew 11:28)

Someone once said, "Christianity does not guarantee a release from the ills of the  world, but a way to deal with them."  Life is hard and unfair at times.  But having faith and hope in the right place leads to something better.

Jeremiah 29:11 says, "For I know the thoughts that I think towards you, says the LORD, thoughts of peace and not of evil, to give you a future and a hope."  We all stumble and fall, but we get back up.  Even if the world says you are not good enough, no one cares about you...someone does. 

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A Boy and a Dream

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Opening Day is almost here and it is time to put on my rosy colored glasses and make my prediction (wishful thinking) about the Dodgers.

The Dodgers have a loaded team with talent, but do have holes they will need to address.  Here's how I see it:

*Russell Martin rebounds and returns to his All Star form.

*Rafael Furcal stays healthy and has an average year (good batting average, defense and lots of runs scored).

*Matt Kemp and Andre Ethier both take another step towards stardom.  Both are on the All-Star team.

*Mannywood stays challenged by his walk year (he will be a free agent after the season) and by the play of Kemp and Ethier.  He leads the league in batting average, but can't keep up with Kemp and Ethier's power numbers.

*Kershaw and Billingsley make everyone forget that they didn't start the season with an "Ace", but now have two.

*Broxton continues his dominance in the 9th.

**Feeling the good vibes on how the team is doing, but seeing how the Phillies appear to be unstoppable, Frank McCourt get drunk and gives Ned Colletti the okay to do whatever it takes to get Cliff Lee (the Mariners fall apart and make Lee available).

The Dodgers pay all of Lee's salary and give up multiple AA prospects.  McCourt wakes up the next day with an awful hangover, but is delighted to see a headline that actually is positive about him being the owner.  He then sees that Cliff Lee is a Dodger, throws up, tries to veto the deal, but it is too late.

The Dodgers storm through the playoffs, finally beating the Phillies to get to the World Series.  They sweep Boston (Manny and Torre dance the jig on the pitcher's mound at Fenway).

The day after the parade through downtown LA, Jaime McCourt teams up with an investment group led by Mark Cuban and buys out Frank.  Jaime tells Frank, "They boys will still own the team in the future, it will just be me handing them the reins."  

Dodgers resign Cliff Lee during the offseason and now have Kershaw, Lee and Billingsley leading the rotation, with Broxton slamming the door shut.  Kemp and Ethier make everyone forget about Mannywood.

Vin Scully retires, and his final words were, "The Dodgers are the World Champions once again...Good night everybody."

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They Finally Did It

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Frosh/Soph Update:

Today we played a team that we should beat...and we did just that (16 to 1).  The boys played well and pulled off the old hidden ball trick.

With two outs a runner advanced to third base.  The third baseman did not throw the ball back to the pitcher, but walked away from the base slightly as if he did.  The pitcher walked towards the mound, but stayed off the dirt of the mound (very important part of the trick).  The runner then took his lead and the third baseman applied the tag.  Our fans started yelling, "He's out, he's out!"  It caught the umpire, the third base coach, and myself by surprise.

There was a short protest by the coach, but I explained how our pitcher stayed off the mound so that the play was legal.

I was impressed.

We try it all the time in inter squad games, and they have asked many questions on how to do it in a game.  They were going to try it in a game last week, but they didn't do it properly and the pitcher "chickened out".  Good thing too, because it would have been an illegal play.

So, we'll see if they can do it again this year.  I'm guessing they'll try to do it every game.  It was pretty sweet, even though the opposing coach wasn't thrilled (we were up 13-0 at the time), but I think he was more embarrassed that it happened two feet in front of him.

So we are in first place in league (1-0), and we'll take it!

March Madness

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March 17th (St. Patty's Day/My birthday)
I called in sick due to irritable bowel syndrome.  After pounding Kaopectate I was able to recover enough (barely) for our baseball game.  As I got to the field I kept hearing, "Happy birthday Coach" and "Are you feeling better yet?"

(Hope I don't have to run to the bathroom during the game.)

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We played a team that crushed us twice last year, but we were ready to have a different experience this time.  We were doing great, making defensive plays, getting timely hitting, and building a lead.  We headed into the last inning (which is the 7th in high school) with the score BHS 6, FHS 2. 

(Feeling better, this will be a good victory for us.)

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On the first pitch, we hit the batter.  Later we made a few errors.  The lead is now down to one, tying run on third, two outs.  The batter gets jammed and floats one just over the first baseman...tie game.

(Stomach is getting queasy.)

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Both teams quickly make outs and it's on to the 10th.  Two outs, nobody on and a groundball right to our 2nd baseman...and on to the outfield. 

(Profanity.)

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Runner ends up scoring and we go 1, 2, 3...ballgame. 

(Happy birthday Coach.)

March 18th

We play a much easier match up and jump out to a 13-1 lead after the 2nd inning.


(Feeling better.  This is the time to get guys in that haven't played yet this year.)

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We stop hitting, start making errors, and watch our lead dwindle.

(This is why 1) these guys don't get much PT and 2) there should be a cut policy.)

Rebecca and the kids get to the game and watch us continue to stink up the field.

(Brooke sure does look cute today.  Are we about to lose?)

The time limit is about up (2 hour time limit), and the umpire informs us this will be the last inning.  The score is now 13-9.

(Wait, we were up 4 going into the last inning yesterday...oh no.)

First two batters walk.

(Profanity.)

Next three batters make outs.  Rebecca comments, "You guys won that game?" (When she got there she only saw the other team score...a lot.)

(Thank you!!!)

VICTORY!!!

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The Good, The Bad, and The Ugly

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Frosh/Soph Update:

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The Good:
We are playing a lot better than we were last year.  We have our moments of playing really good baseball.  Our fielding is much improved, as is our hitting.  One of the opposing coaches even mentioned how much better the talent is this year compared to last.

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The Bad:
We lost all three games last week.  We had our chances each game, but it just didn't work out. 

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The Ugly:
We gave up 11 runs in one inning last Friday.  We were playing a top team and we only allowed 2 runs in 5 innings.  Unfortunately we had a REALLY bad 4th inning.  But to the players credit, we didn't give up any runs after that.

So we have two games this week (Wednesday and Thursday).  Hopefully we can get back to the good side.

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Happy St. Patty's Day everyone (a little early I know.)

VICTORY!

 

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Today was our first baseball game, and we did what we were supposed to do.  We won 22 - 0 in four innings.  Here are some of the highlights:

*12 runs in the first inning.

*3 run homer by our #6 hitter in the 1st inning.

*All players got an at-bat.

*The team only made one error.

*Our pitcher only walked two batters.

*He also threw a No Hitter!

*The game was not as close as it sounded.

We'll take the victory.  We are undefeated, but will face 4 of the top 5 teams over the next two weeks, so we should find out really quick how good/bad we really are.

The team looks good, much better than a year ago.  Hopefully we will be competitive in every game this year, and will compete for the league title.

On a side note, I only have received one parent complaint so far about our uniform situation.  We suited up 17 players today out of 29.  

GO DRILLERS!

March is the Best Month

 

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March is the best month of the year, hands down.  Need convincing...

1) March Madness- I'm not a big fan of college basketball, but I do love the tournament.

2) MLB starts up.  Spring training begins, and the season almost is here (it used to start in March).

3) NBA is still going on, Lakers are going for another title.

4) Spring starts.  Who doesn't like spring?

5) St. Patty's Day- Which happens to be my birthday.

6) Daylight Savings begins!

7) Spring break-doesn't always happen in March, but it will begin this year in March.

8) My anniversary- LOVE YA BABE!

9) High School Baseball- I coach the Frosh-Soph team at Bakersfield High School.  First game is tomorrow.

10) One month closer to summer vacation!

Feel free to add more if you'd like.  Best month...let's enjoy!