(AP - Ottawa) So thats just the way it went. The team The Rogues faced tonight were playing .500 ball up until this game. The team called The Canadian Badge In Uniform, or C.B.U., proved why they're a competitive team, and The Rogues are suffering.
The game started off very well. The Rogues hit fairly well in the first inning, creating some offense and playing excellent defense as well. O'Grady made some nice stops at short, as Martin Soucy played third base well too. The infield was perfect through 3 innings, and the outfield had little to work with.
In the fourth inning, Glazer was showing signs of either fatigue, or the CBU bats were getting into a groove, as he was hit pretty solidly. Glazer gave up 4 runs making the game 6-2 before handing the ball over to Cox, who gave up 2 other runs before getting out of the inning. He pitched an almost perfect 5th, including a nice line drive snag over his head, and gave up 2 more runs in the 6th inning after a couple of errors were made.
So the bats are still lost somewhere in spring training. Cox continues to struggle massively at the plate, he's got 2 hits in 8 games this year, which is just awful. But he's not letting it get him down. He knows he can help his team out with his pitching, so when he shows up at the diamond, he thinks of himself as an asset to the team - not a liability. Unfortunately, there's people on the team that feel differently. They make an error or a strike out, and for the rest of the game, their effort goes out the window and they curse themselves for the rest of the night. That kind of pessimism is very contagious in the duggout, as it brings others down.
We're too hard on ourselves. It's heartbreaking to lose so often, when we're a good team. A lot of people in the Grey Division don't realize that we have a roster of very talented ball players. The speed and base hits of Sim / Ian / Famous / Marty S / and Darren. The pitching of Cox / Soucy, Robert and Glazer. The power of Hrycak, Martin G and Dan. The solid D of the K.O.G. and McNeil. This is an awesome team of extremely talented ball players, and because it's a team that I've put together and have all the pride in the world in, it breaks my heart to see players get down on themselves when they make a mistake.
The 12 players on this team all know that mistakes are going to happen. It's how to deal with them that's been the issue all season. From every thrown helmet and bat, to sulking in the duggout...it's just been killing us. I only wish the rest of the team has the same amount of pride that I do wearing the Rogues jersey.
And F*ck off to all you that think I'm being cheezy! I'm speaking from the heart is all. This is exactly how I feel right now. There's an optional practice on Sunday at 12:00PM. I'll go if anyone else wants to...just so that we can work on hitting the ball. We haven't even reached the halfway point in the season yet. If we pull together a few wins and get on a hot streak, we can still get into the playoffs and wreak havoc.
BRING IT!!!
