Last weekend, Zachary had a baseball tournament a little up north from us. They won both games on Saturday but then fell on Sunday before the title game. After the game on Saturday, PopPop and MomMom went with us for our first foray out in public. It really was a big moment for us. Now that we have our vaccine, we feel much more comfortable doing these types of things. Lunch and golf, yes please. If you must know, our first meal was…cheeseburgers and it was well with worth the 1,000 calories. It was so good.
As to the golf side of it, PopPop was on fire. This lit the competitive juices of his son. Who went from doing short shots to bringing out the woods and aiming for the hole way in the back….knowing full well, that those big points could only be had by him. It really was a fun day. As Zachary said, it felt good not to have to worry and just go have fun…yes, indeed.
Spring is upon us on the East Coast. I can’t lie, those beautiful spring days make my heart beat a little faster. Mommy’s flowers are in full bloom. These Iris are from Great Grandmom’s garden so they will always be very special to us.
On to baseball. It’s by far the busiest time of year for it. The boy is definitely learning some tough lessons. Mechanically, at home, he looks great. On the mound, during games, he still hasn’t put it all together. Last weekend, was a rough one with wild balls and walks….and a front knee that refused to straighten. We’ve all been a little frustrated because we know he can do it. For some reason, he just can’t get it mentally all together. We ended up talking with an NPA Guy about it and he really does think it’s mental. His advice, stay positive and trust the process. He was confident that it would come together eventually. So for now, Zachary continues to work, bruised ribs and all.
True to form, his fantasy team is also struggling. Game postponements, Guys put on IL and Covid IL, have taken their toll. So we made a bold move this morning. Fastball Freddie is pitching today and normally we would start him. But, the top pitcher still on FA pitched a gem last night, 30 points. Normally, we would have waited to put Freedie on Waivers, but Liam (Zachary’s opponent and good bud) had a pitcher put on IL for 10 days. So we knew he would be looking for a pitcher. So, we snapped up Carlos Roden before Liam could take him. Take that! Roden was the number three pick a few years ago and injuries and bad mechanics cost him. This year, he seems to be putting it all together. He pitched a no hitter, and is throwing a filthy slider. Let’s hope that continues…or else we may be picking Fastball Freedie back up…a flame thrower who is a tad wild. And with even better news, Bellinger is at the Alternative Site taking batting practice and Yelich did a simulated session yesterday. Finally, our two top fielders have been on IL for way too long.
You see that Belly jersey that the boy is wearing….that’s from his Uncle Michael who is attempting to sway him to be a Dodgers fan. And yes, it does appear to be working. It’s hard not to root for the Dodger Blue. He came down yesterday and said “mom, do you know how many good players the Dodgers have had?” He even knew about Sandy and Drysdale…and of course, Kershaw, in which he has a gigantic Fat Head on his bedroom wall of him pitching. We had a long conversation about Kershaw and his struggles in the post-season. How he was money during the regular and just tanked in the post. He faced tremendous pressure because of it. But Kershaw kept doing what he always does, kept quiet, worked and aimed for his goals. Last year, the monkey came off his back as the Dodgers won the Championship and guess who paved the way….Kershaw. Life lessons.
As an aside, there is a funny Uncle Michael story and the Dodgers. We went to Dodgers Stadium a few years ago when Zachary was probably 6 or 7. The whole time, Michael kept telling him that he needed to root for a winner and not the Phillies….but Z was undeterred. During the 7th inning stretch, Uncle Michael disappeared. When he came back, he had a Dodgers hat and baseball for him. He told Zachary that he caught the ball off of Chase Utley. You could see the suspicion in his eyes. Fast forward to last week, Zachary asked me did Uncle Michael really catch that ball?
