Slyder

The way I see, Warren County has a chance to host and be the #2 seed in the tourament. Killen will have to pitch against siegel. If you finish #2 you play #7 and Colby can get the needed rest. You do not wanty to travel just to get him in game 1 of the tournament..I don't think. Home Field plays a huge role, especially since a regions birth is at hand.

Out of respect for my sons injury and the elimination of my early retirement... please let's get off the amphibious ambidextrous pitchers that utilize swimming as an exercise tool. I was going to buy an in ground pool with my sons signing bonus had he not got hurt. I would appreciate it

Classic! I wondered where these stove top hats the Pirates wore came from. Obviously for balance for the inverted style submarine pitcher.

Best pinch runners...your kidding me right?

Touche'. I am nobody but slyder and a baseball expert and given a couple days I'll be a kickball expert. I am also a expert at getting kids to the next level. As for the rope burns on your little girls forehead...use some of the vasiline your son is using for his spitters. It will ease the pain. And lastly...I happen to enjoy hearing myself talk!

You are exactly right! The only problems a kid can develop with this method is the occassional head ache or worse...it could ruin a white hate. I love white hates. I am anxiously awaiting E5's clinic on defending the kickball slash and steal. A kickballer showing the push early has a tendancy to get some kids out of position for the steal. I have some personal theories on defending this...but E5 appears to have traveled these unchartered waters before. And I must admit, my area of expertise is getting kids ready for the Bigs.

Good stuff guys! I can see where treading water w/ a 50 pound weight can help lung capacity too. And as much as I am for driving a child to perfection with practice, you have to teach them work ethic as well. Do not let them quit their 4am paper route before school. It builds character. I have found that a good off season workout on the submarine method is chopping down my cedar trees on my acreage. If your kids need the work out, I'll be happy to help! Love to help kids get ahead... and if they want to throw some signing bonus money my way for caring...so be it.

Can the MLB really change the age a kid can sign his pro contract? If they cannot be drafted until age 16, some parents are going to have to hold on to their jobs A LOT longer than anticipated. What about retirement for the parents. CCriders is trying to teach his kid submarine style pitching so he can be retired by 35, now he could have to work until 40?

Thanks for the kind words old timer. He is doing well since his playing days are over. He is assistant manager at the car wash. He actually can lift his arm up to a 90 degree angle now, in a couple more years we may try it again. I am considering coaching to share my knowledge, maybe a foster child. I have the drive to get some kid to the pros!

ccrider: I have read all the posts and opinions and have a couple of questions before I offer my expert advice. Does your 9 year old son not have the velocity to get people out right now? Is that why you need the submarine style pitching method? I respect what you are trying to do...it is never to early to get look sees from the big leagues, but by age 8 my son was throwing exploding breaking pitches. By 10 his slider was the best in the league and he was playing up a year. I disagree with the gimick pitching styles and if was a natural motion Leo Mazzone would have been doing it by now. Teach him the breaking picthes now. By 12 he should have big enough hands to throw the splitter. Trust me i know. People were really talking up my kid before he got out of Dixie Youth. I heard that peope in Florida was talking about him and I believe, beyond a shadow of a doubt, he would be in the big leagues right now if it wasn't for his arm problems!

I heard a coach say one time that he watches a kid play based on ability and if he could sit down and eat dinner with him after the game. Baseball is a game of failure. Baseball is a mental game (yogi....90% of the game is half mental) Confidence plays a role in it as well. If a player or coach cannot accept baseball (i.e, errors, strikeouts, walks) and cannot accept failure, it does not matter how good they are. There is always somebody going to be better than you on any given day or at-bat.

As the season begins to wind down, it appears that Riverdale will win the regular season District Championship. They have a 2 game lead with 6 games to go. Riverdale plays White Co (they will sweep), Blackman (they should sweep) and Cookeville (a split at best). They will not lose 3 games. Oakland controls there own destiny though. We have a solid 2nd place which would be a 2nd seed in the tournament. We have a 2 game lead against the 3rd place teams. We need to sweep 2 of the 3 reamining district series, which will be a tough task; Warren County, siegel, and Lebanon, to control our own destiny. There will be help along the way with the Riverdale/Blackman series and the Riverdale/Cookeville series. If I recall, to advance beyond the district you have to win the regular season or the tournament. Therefore, we will need to win the tournament OR lose it to Riverdale to advance. I say all that to say this. At one point this team was 7-9 and not hitiing very well. In the current 8 game winning streak, our pitching has given up 13 runs (9 earned) and over half of those runs went to White County. Oakland controls it's own destiny. A 2 seed in the tournament would be a huge advantage as long as we keep pitching the way we are and if the sticks are still being swung the way they have been the last 7 games. There is a lot of baseball left to play and this district is tough! The Remaing 1 1/2 weeks should be interesting.

ccriders: I admire your intentions in allowing your 9 year child to be the best he can. If submarine style pitching works for him...make him do it! If you are worried about his health make him stop smoking.

It could work out that IF it rains out Friday...the Warren County game could be at home Sunday and Colby could pitch Sunday at HOME on 5 days rest (instead of at Oakland on 4 days). I would think the Pioneers would like this senerio. It would also give Barnes 1 more day to heal his ankle, because I would throw Wilson at home Saturday IF it rains out Friday. A rain out could make things interesting. I saw Barnes practicing yesterday and he looked as though he was not having any problems...which is good for Oakland, but throwing 6 innings is different on an injuried ankle than practicing.

Tennyson Dodd is Chip Dodd's son, Phils nephew. Brett Wilson and Tyler Burnett both have pitched very well. Pitching Tyler changes the complexion of your defense though...significantly. I don't think the defense falls off all that much, but going from 1st base to 3rd base once a week could cause problems for most high school players. The ball bounces differently, your throwing across the field etc. Wilson has earned the 2or 3 spot as well as Tyler is needed in the infield..to be at our best. Burnett pitched a dominating game against White County, but I like the consistency of the same defense with Tyler at 3rd (or short). Thats my opinion

Agreed OaklandGrad...and Oaklands hitting of late has been superb! BUT>>>lets not forget White County tonight and tomorrow! The Warren COunty and Colby Killen this weekend. A lot of baseball before the rivalry starts.

Oakland had 16 hits today against Smyrna as the Partiots won there 6th game in a row, 12-4. Andrew McGowan hits his 1st career homerun. Warren hit his 4th home run, a grand slam in the 4th. Mitch has hit 2 grand slams this year and another in preseason. Tyler Burnett has, yet another, multi hit game going 2-5. Drew Fann had another solid game at the plate, Phillip Parsley and PJ Polk had a couple of rocket hits into a wind. Fann, by the way, an All District 1st baseman as a sophomore is well on ghis way to earning All district again, this time as a catcher. Eric Renfro picked up the win on the mound going 5 very effective innings and Brennan Stender and Tyler Morrow threw an inning each. Smyrna had a district game Friday night and another right after our game so they did throw off and rested some starters. Marcus Barnes twisted his ankle early in the game, but x-rays were negative. We will need him the rest of the way!

Congratulations to Zack Jones for his first career homerun. That will be a memory he can cherish forever. And guess what...it was in the paper! KUDOs to DNJ and kudos to Zack for getting done before deadline! I did email the DNJ like David suggested. I got a very nice reply telling me to be patient that are working through some issues. I appreciate the prompt honest reply. BUT, the season is in the 2nd half and we have the Spring Fling in the 'Boro. How embarrassing is this going to be if we cannot even cover the tournaments we are hosting! On-line subscriptions to our competitors papers are the best way to read about the game. Cookeville, Warren COunty and White County has great high school coverage. They do NOT have as good as writers as we do IMO, but they are not fighting the deadline "problem", and actually cover the entire game.

I agree with that....what is the deadline for that though? And if it is printed in Nashville where do we send it? I know I am being petty, but The Oakland vs. Riverdale series, those 3-2 thrillers should have had 4 pictures and a whole page write up. The siegel vs. Riverdale game last night...the city vs. city period ought to have coverage. I got up early the other day to read the article on the MTSU vs. APSU game (look at the local boys at MTSU and APSU) and saw a picture and a reference to look at the DNJ web page. Come on.

1) Just move into an area where there is a good coach or 2) go private schools, they almost always have great coaches

By no means am I blaming the writers, they are out there and if the game goes extra innings or past 9:00pm, the powers that be don't feel like its news worthy I guess. Am I too sensitive to think the local paper should carry local sports?

You may be right, but the DNJ is not The USA today. Cover the local stuff IMO. I talked to a writer at a big inner city baseball clash. He had a 9:00pm deadline. He did not have a chance to cover it. Pitiful.

Mon son has torn both ligaments in his pitching elbow and went to see Dr. Andrews about a year ago. Dr. Andrews was very good and knew baseball. Knew exactly what to say and showed pitcures to back his explaination. Long and short he told my son he needed Tommy John surgery if he wanted to ever pitch again. The news really played havoc with my son and effected him (us) all last season. Tommy John surgery requires 14-18 months recovery. You lose 2 high school seasons in essence, depending upon the surgery. Dr. Andrews said 24 months for complete recovery and he would probably gain back his strength and velocity but the chances of increasing the velo was slim due to the surgery. He told my son... why miss your junior and senior high school season and not have a real good chance of making huge improvements. (There are not many 16/17 yr olds that are throwing 90 and if you are only throwing 85 that is mediocre in big conferences). My son plays(ed) first base and outfield and has no arm problems today. His arm strength is nearly as good as it was. Dr. Andrews told him that would be the case. Dr. Andrews said it 1 year you will feel as though you can pitch again, but the violent arm action of pitching...it would take 1 or 2 innings before the pain sets in again. He said you can play outfield all year and have 7-10 throws that you really have to let go with and your arm can and will recover from that...but pitching is different. My son lost his chance to pitch and it is still hard to swallow. The letters (that most hard throwing lefties get) dried up. He has dealt with it. But Dr. Andrews made the right call and convinced my son to play other positions. Arm injuries are becoming too common and it devastates young players. I wish I knew more about it as he was growing up. We all have dreams and aspirations and news like this is hard to swallow. I am not trying to be negative. My son still signed JUCO and is happy with that. But he is not doing what "he envisioned". I can tell you Dr. Andrews knows his stuff. He said he would have to really think before he would do Tommy John on a 16 yr old. Torn ligaments are tough. I can, however, state that the hardest part of the injury is to a 17 year old physche. No one knows how much that pain hurts a high school kid who simply loves the game. The pain of realizing that dreams will not come true hurts a lot more that the ligaments do. It effects other parts of their game. And most parents or players don't understand that. Good luck. Take him to see the best (Dr. Andrews) and hope I was not too negative.

Oakland is beginning to swing the bats like we all thought they would. Tyler Burnett has been swinging it very well. Had another multi-hit game last night against Blackman. He has to be leading the team in hitting and he is driving the ball to all fields. I am curious as to how many doubles he has this year. Big year for Tyler thus far though...and the best year defensively for him as well. PJ Polk continues to hi very well and seems to be on base 3 times a game. Drew Fann is getting his swing back...he hit a ball last night at Blackman into a high breeze and nearly got it out of there. I believe we had 25 hits in 9 official innings against Blackman...so it is up and down the line up. But pitching....WOW. 2 no hitters this year by Oakland hurlers! Marcus has dominated, Burnett has thrown well, the emergence of sophomore Brett Wilson (5-0) as a very crafty lefty pitcher has helped tremendously. But factor in Big Brennan Stender, Tyler Morrow, Eric Renfroe and Chesshire Rigler! Oaklands new pitching coach, Travis Holland, has done an excellent job with these guys. He has made pitchers out of several "throwers". He has really kept Burnett, Dodd, and Parsley from having to come out of their positions and off the mound by teaching and utilizing other people. A couple of times, we have ran Barnes out to getting an inning in a game to keep him fresh! Our arms are in great shape going into the belly of the district season. The team really respects asst. coach Andy Smeltzer to. These new coaches are really helping Coach Hawks and Coach Mitchell. I enjoy hearing about coaches being focused and driven, and positive! We need the big push the next couple of weeks though. It is good to see the "team" playing and getting up for each other. This is the chemistry they will need to make up ground on Riverdale in the District hunt.

Is it just me, or has the high school coverage in Murfreesboro been an after thought in the minds of the local paper? Yes, their was a nice and well deserving article on the Riverdale game. But the Riverdale Oakland battle ( to 3-2 victories by the Warriors) got as much press as the 5 year Wal Mart tee-ball team. Blackman has had 1 decent article this year. The Blackman/Oakland series got 3 sentences today. Girls softball is worse. We need to rally and get the local paper to cover local sports. MTSU should be covered, everything else is on ESPN.