My Last Entry

My flight from Bellingham International into Oakland will leave here in about 6 hours, so sadly, this is the end of the bullpen blog :/ well at least for now. It has been an interesting summer, full of memories and good people. Going away to college and then going away for 2 more months of summer, I learned a lot about myself. I think they say that you learn a lot about yourself and gain a lot of knowledge and wisdom when you step away from your comfort zone, and being 20 hours from home, I am definitely away from that comfort zone. It is an experience that I will never forgot, nor ever regret. The journey wasn't always smooth, but it seemed that God never put me in a situation that I couldn't handle, which is what scripture tells us in 1 Corinthians 10:13. So not just for you baseball players or athletes alike, but for everyone out there, my advice: never be afraid to try a new experience. Now I don't mean to abandon your morals and do something crazy like fleeing the country with stolen goods, but if an opportunity knocks, and you are unsure about it, go for it. Leave your comfort zone and TITL, Trust In The Lord. There is an old saying that goes, "you can never get to second base without taking your foot off of first." So next time an opportunity is there to get to that second base in your life, go for the steal. Love you guys.

-Johnny Volk

El Dia de Las Actividades

August 5th, 2010 has been dubbed the day of the activity. It started with a 90 minute racquetball tournament where the #1 Chase Brewer took home the trophy. Then we picked up Junior Dishmey-Perez and hiked Mt. Baker. Junior, who is from the Dominican Republic, and goes to school in Texas, has never walked in snow, and since there was a ton of it still on the mountain, we all got to experience a first with Junior. After a 2 hour hike, we went home, and Chase, Ben Ruff, and I drove 50 minutes up to Vancouver, British Columbia, Canada for dinner. Vancouver is a neat city, and the downtown area actually reminds me a lot of San Francisco. It's not everyday that you can drive across and international border just for dinner.

Our most important autograph ever...

We had a couple of days off this week, and on Tuesday, a couple of us got to visit the St. Joseph's Adult Day Center in downtown Bellingham and we got to talk about our experiences this summer. It was a blessing to get to talk to some older folk, as they had some really good stories. Also whenever Charlie Markson or Chase Brewer is around, there is bound to be a good laugh. A gentleman by the name of Don showed us a picture that he himself took of Lou Gehrig, Babe Ruth, and Jimmie Fox, while at the 1934 All-Star game where Carl Hubbell struck out 5 straight batters, 3 of which where the aforementioned players. So here is this picture of 3 of the games best players, framed, and after he told us the story of how he took the picture himself, he asked the 5 of us players to sign it!! It was the most important autograph I have ever made. It was amazing. Then I was talking to a gentleman by the name of Bob, and he was very happy to see us. He shook my hand, looked me straight in the eyes, and with some tears in his eyes said,"You are great, don't let anyone tell you otherwise." I will never forgot that.

Moses Lake, WA

While on the road, it is hard to get into a gym, but lucky for us, our hotel is just down the street from the Moses Lake Pirate's 'official workout facility'. The manager there was super nice and let 5 of us work out for a $1 each. So it is always cool to see people helping people. She even said, "I might be going to the game tonight, drinking some wine." Wine at the ballpark, fancy stuff Moses Lake. Well played...

Also I am not a big fan of the show, but for you Jersey Shore fans, heard of the the acronym GTL? The gym that we worked out at is connected to two other buildings. A laundromat, and a tanning saloon. Gym, Tan, Laundry. Pics posted soon with Guido aka Frank DeSico.

Last Road Trip

We just finished up a 10-game homestand, and are headed out to Moses Lake and Walla Walla manana. We are 6 games back of first and have 8 regular season games left on the schedule, so this could be our last road trip of the summer. In other news, Saturday was dubbed "Jake Locker Day" here in Ferndale by the Mayor, but his cousin Brady is playing with us so we decided that July 24th is Brady Locker Day aka "The 'Real' Locker Day." Congratulations Brady!

Apples To Apples

The first place Wenatchee Applesox are in town this weekend. I am disappointed that did they not bring any apples for us this series, because when we went to Wenatchee, then gave us a box of sliced Washington apples. Each package provided 130% of your daily Vitamin C requirements, and I had 9 packages (ask the bat boy, he witnessed it). So I essentially got 1170% of my Vitamin C for the day, and left Wenatchee with great eyesight. Hey I figure if you aren't in the game, find a way to make yourself a better ballplayer.

River Rafting

We had a couple of days off, so a bunch of the guys wanted to head on over to the Nooksack River and float down it for the day. It was a lot of fun, but little did we know that Mitch Ludtke would park his truck a cool, 4 and a half hours away. I am not sure, but it could be close to a local record. Luckily the sun was out and the water was nice, but our raft's top speed was about 4 MPH, so you could imagine that is was a long float! Nonetheless, a fun day out in Acme, WA.