Hello again everyone,

          With the Fall League coming to an end and only three games left, we (Mesa Solar Sox) are out of first place by 4.5 games, and officially eliminated from the championship game. We have played really good baseball throughout the fall, but we just cant catch the Scottsdale Scorpions.  They are a quality club and you have to tip your cap.  We definitely had our chances to win some close ballgames, but we just couldn’t get that clutch hit or clutch out at the right time.

          With only one or two more outings left, I want to try to finish on a good note. Since moving to the bullpen after my first start start, which didn’t go so well, I have turned things around.  I really would like my last couple of outings to go well so that I can take what I have learned here and apply it in Spring Training in hopes of making the AA or AAA teams out of the chute.

          On another note, this past weekend I was able to attend the NASCAR race at the Phoenix International Raceway, and it was AWESOME!!!! It was amazing how many people it took to care for a huge team where the superstar is just one person, the driver. We got to the the track at about 10:00am for a 1:00pm race because we were able to get pit passes. We walked all over pit row looking at the cars, the garages and the team trailors. These trailors weren’t just regular trailors either, they were ENORMOUS. The pits, where the cars stop during the race to get gas and repairs, were pretty amazing. Each pit had double or triple of everything you could think of!  From lugnut drills to rolls of tape they use to fix small scrapes and small dings in the cars. After walking the pits for a few hours before the race, we finally made it to our seats and man were they good!  We were up just high enough to see the whole track and still feel the power of the cars as they raced by us. Even though Carl Edwards won the race (and not my boy Jimmie Johnson) we had a really good time. I’m looking forward to going again, but next time I hope it’s in TEXAS!!!!

          Another thing I did this past week was play golf…a few times. For the people that like to play golf, we have it pretty nice here in Arizona. I mean the courses here are just beautiful. Of course, the rates here get really expensive when the weather starts to cool off in the fall and into spring, but sometimes we’re able to catch a break or two on reduced green fees if we happen to go out at the right time.  With all of the amazing courses out here, it is hard to pick my absolute favorite, so here are my top 5: TPC Scottsdale, Talking Stick (Troon course), Whirlwind (Troon course), The Legacy, and The Raven. Please feel free and let me know your favorite courses on my comments so that I can try them out next Spring Training. I love playing new courses no matter how hard or easy they might be.

          Thank you for stopping by, and dont forget to leave me any comments or questions on anything you want to know. I will try to get to them as quickly as possible.

                                                             Thanks again,

                                                                      Ryan

Hello everyone,

          Well, this week sure didn’t go as well as last week. Our record is now 7-4, which is still good enough for second best record in the league. We have been playing really good baseball as a team, and the games we have lost, we feel that we had plenty of opportunities to win.

          Our Wednesday night loss to the Scottsdale Scorpians was a game of high anticipation with Bryce Harper playing in his first professional game since being taken as the #1 overall pick by Washington Nationals in the 2010 MLB draft. I know the game was covered pretty well in the media but I thought it would be interesting to give you guys a player’s perspective.  In one of the first few innings, a ball was hit to the right field wall, where Harper was playing, and he had his first chance to make a play. After picking the ball up at the fence, he fired a low line drive throw to the cut off man that had many of the players talking about how impressive his arm was. It was a very strong throw. While Harper was walking up to the plate for his first at bat, everyone was anxious to see what he would look like facing a professional pitcher. He took a hard swing at the first pitch that he saw, and popped it up to the shortstop. After going one for four with a double, and a few hard hit balls, it was pretty clear that he had some pop in his bat.

          With the addition of a few new pitchers to the team, they have decided to move me to the bullpen and on Thursday game against the Scottsdale Scorpians I had my first appearance.  I came in to the game in the fourth inning with a 2-0 lead. After a good fourth inning, I ran into a little trouble in the fifth. I gave up a one out single, and after an errant pickoff throw where the runner advanced to third base, the runner scored on a ground ball error to first. Altough it was an unearned run, it is still a run that goes against your team. Luckily it didn’y hurt us too much as we went on to win the game 4-2.

          After starting the last year and a half with the High-A and Double-A teams for the Angels, it is a pretty easy transition for me to the bullpen. I was in the bullpen since I first signed with the angels in 2007. The Angels wanted me to become a starter half way through last season so I could develop a few offspeed pitches that could help me make it to the big leagues. After finishing the 09 season fairly strong, the Angels dsecided to keep me as a starter for 2010. When I was informed that I was coming to the AFL, I wasn’t sure whether I was going to start or relieve.  But after doing both, I have to say I enjoy getting the ball more often as a reliever.  Call it competitive nature, but I just want to be out there as often as possible to help my team win.

          Hopefully we will come out next week and get back on the winning track.  And now that I’m going to be coming out of the bullpen, I will have more of those opportunities to contribute.  Even though this league is to show off your individual skills, everyone still wants to win more than anything.  Because when it comes down to it, winning in this game isn’t an individual effort.  You play as a team, you win as a team and everyone gets recognized for it.

         I’ll see you guys again next week, and let you know how the team and I are doing. Thank you for stopping by and next week’s entry I will get to all of the questions and comments that have been left over the last couple of weeks. 

                                                                                         Ryan

Hello again everyone,

          The last time that we talked, I was just getting to know my new teammates, and boy am I glad that they are on my team. Im just glad I don’t have to pitch to these guys! We just crush the ball. Throughout the first week of games we are 5-1, and we have really been playing well.

          Our first game was against the Phoenix Desert Dogs and our starting pitcher, Brad Holt, started the AFL season out right with three scoreless innings. He really set the tone for the whole team with his outing. Our pitching staff as a whole did a very good job only giving up 3 runs, and in this league that is awesome. My Angels teammate, Jeremy Moore, put the final stamp on the game with a huge homerun over the left field fence in the ninth inning, and we ended up winning 8-3. It was a really a good way to start the season with a win where the whole team contributed.

          In our second game, the Desert Dogs got the best of us with a 6-3 win, but we came back the next day with a chip on our shoulder. Our hitters were on fire. After a big nine run inning in the fourth, the game was pretty much under wraps for another Solar Sox win. We won the game with a final score of 11-6, and like I said, I am so glad I don’t have to face our hitters. They just don’t stop hitting and producing runs. 

          Thursday was my first start, and man was I nervous. I wasn’t nervous because it was my first start, but because I know how important performing in the Arizona Fall League is to all of the players here. It’s a very big opportunity just to be invited, and everyone that is here is at (or near) the top of the list in their respective organizations. Unfortunately, the game didn’t really go as well as I hoped it would, but I did have some good things come out of it. After working out of a small jam in the first and putting a zero on the scoreboard in the second, the third didn’t go so well. I left the ball up in the zone to a few hitters and ended up giving up four runs. If you do that against the hitters in this league you will get hurt and give up runs. The hitters want the pitch up so they can drive the ball and sure enough that is exactly what happened to me! After tying the game at five in the eighth inning, we went to extra innings. Brandon Wood (Angels) hit a walk off double that scored three runs in the bottom of the 11th and a win for the Solar Sox.

          After going 5-1 in the first week, I can’t help but think about the Mesa Solar Sox being the last team standing when all is said and done.  With the hitting and pitching we have, there isn’t a doubt in my mind that we could’t win it all.  But, it is still early and a lot of baseball left and we all know that anything can happen.

          Well, that’s all for now. Don’t forget to ask me any questions you all have, or share anything you want to share about baseball. I’ll do my best to answer back as quick as possible.  Thanks for the golf course suggestions!  

          See yall next week.