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.

Mullet Mania

So my goal was to not cut my hair all summer, and I think my last haircut was in May, so I had a mini afro goin. I couldn't take it, so I decided to cut. My roommates suggestion? a mullet.. So before the game Cordell and Cody helped give me a mullet, and I looked like a came out of an old late 80's, early 90's country music video. As my Uncle Scoot would say, Billy Ray Cyrus had a mullet around the time Miley was born, so a mullet helped produced Hannah Montana. I actually got to pitch in the game, and heard my coach yell, "let's go mullet!" I ended up getting taken out of the game after an inning and a third, so after the game I decided to cut it, and came to the conclusion that in order to have a mullet as a pitcher, you have to throw 98-100 and have a couple of tattoos to accommodate the haircut. but hey, its summer, always fun to try a new hairstyle.

Golf is like pitching...

My parents took us to a golf course in Bend, OR, which I guess is supposed to be a top retirement spot with the warm summer weather and multiple golf courses. I love golf, but it can be a frustrating game. Its a lot like pitching, because you can't just try to hit the ball as hard as you can, and in the same way with pitching, you can't just try to throw hard right down the middle. Then sometimes you want to hit a little change up or hit a slight slice and in pitching, we call it a slider. Unfortunately my golf slider is hard to control and usually goes into people's backyards...We finished up our 3 game series against the Bend Elks, and then enjoyed a 7 hour bus ride home. Crazy story, we got home at 3:43 AM from our first road trip to Canada, and when I looked at the clock in the kitchen when we got home last night, it said 3:43 AM, so definitely a God thing I think. What are the chances ya know.

Country Boys

We hit the road again for our final series against the Bend Elks. I knew I was at the right place when Montgomery Gentry and Kenny Chesney were the main artists playing during batting practice. We ran into some good ole boys before comin out here at a KFC. 20 pieces of chicken, 2 extra large cole slaw along with mac n cheese and mashed potatoes, and 16 biscuits for 4 guys, gotta love it. Took 30 minutes for us to get food at a fast food restaurant, so life is definitely slower up here but it is a nice change of pace. Tomorrow I get to hit the golf course with the family and do some backwoods golfin. Then two more games on the same field that Dirty Dancer Kurt Russell played on in 1972. Speakin of country, Dierks Bentley new album is out, y'all should check it out!

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gkU8JCja7ck

How to sleep on a charter bus...

I feel like the minimum drive from one city to the next in this league is about 4 hours, and today was no different. It was a five hour drive from Corvallis to Kitsap, WA, so I did something productive and came up with 3 different ways to sleep on a charter bus full of baseball players.

1) The Sardine: Lay flat on the ground in the aisle in the direction that the bus is moving, using a book or a glove as a pillow. Effective but not safe, because anyone around you has a clear shot to throw something at you.

2) The Hibernator: Lay perpendicular across the aisle and burrow your head and feet under the seats. A safe place to hide for a quick nap, however there is little room to move and it is hard to change sleeping positions. Also be aware that if you are to awake from a dream, you will for sure hit your head on something.

3) Third, and my personal favorite, the Top Bunk/Bat Cave. Make some space in the over hang where the luggage normally goes, and take a nap there. It is safe from pedestrian traffic in the bus, however if the bus driver is to stop quickly, you may be in trouble. Also if you are over 6 feet tall, this may be hard to do, so here is one case where it pays to be short :)

Last Day in Corvy

Laid back day in Oregon. Went for a hike, hung out outdoors, but the real highlight was at the RV Park where we had a wiffle ball game. Ally had a meltdown in the 2nd inning and was trying to complain about her contract, and when she wasn't offered the extension and money that she wanted, she sat out an inning, and our team hurt from it. Luckily she settled her dispute with the front office and we were able to get her back on the field. With the winning run on third with 2 outs in the bottom half of the inning, Mom put a ball into play and made it safely to first base which allowed Ally to score the winning run. Good stuff team. Hopefully we will get some more wiffle ball games in during the road trip.

Fourth of July

Baseball, hot dogs, sunshine and fireworks, all great things associated with the 4th of July. Today we had a good supply of all four. I can't remember the last time I played on the 4th, so that was another good experience. I went into downtown Corvallis with my family for the Red, White, and Blues festival for food and music. After wards we sat on the banks of the Willamette River and watched, what I am gonna call, redneck fireworks. Basically people lighting stuff and fire and watching what happens. One kid even lit a Mountain Dew box on fire, maybe hoping that it would blow up I guess, and shoot green smoke everywhere. Earlier in the day we saw people rafting down the river, one couple floating on a pol raft. The real show didn't start till 10, and it was the slowest firework show I have ever been a part of! 22 minutes for about 48 fireworks. It was a cool setting, but I am not used to the single launching of pyrotechnics that we saw tonight. It was still a great way to celebrate our country's Independence. A one point Frank Desico was offered $165 to swim across the river, but luckily the Irishman didn't accept that offer, because that would have been a tall task to complete.

The quote of the day came from one of our pitchers during the game. We were talking about floating down the river to enjoy the holiday and the great weather, and his response, "build me a raft, and I will supply the beer." Gotta love summertime.

Corvallis

July 3rd- We hit the road for a 9 game road trip, first stop, Corvallis, Oregon. We are playing the Corvallis Knights, and they get to play at Goss Stadium on the campus of Oregon State, and tonight is their firework night. It s an amazing facility, but I guess that is what you get after winning back-to-back National Championships. It was a packed house, and max capacity is close to 3,500 fans. Tonight/today was definitely a day where God showed His work and power a little more evidently as He got my family up here after a flat tire and an early morning of driving. I somehow found my mom walk into the stadium amongst the other 3,500+ fans, so I was happy to see them. I went down to the bullpen, and don’t tell coach, but I was texting from the bullpen to help my parents find the stadium, and once they got there, I spent an inning talking to them. Then before I knew it, it was time for me to warm up! So not only did my parents make it to the game, somehow get into the stadium even though no tickets were available, and got there to see me warm up in the bullpen. I went into the game in the bottom of the 7th, with runners on first and second, with one out. God gives me strength (Isaiah 12:2) and I just tried to focus on the catcher and the batter, even though people were rattling their cowbells throughout Goss Stadium. A picked off runner, 2 strikeouts, a fly out and a ground out later, I had finished 1.2 innings. Much props to Mike Chiarelli, Chris Pierce, and Chris Sturdivant because those guys are pretty good and their defensive support was what a pitcher always desires when they are on the mound. Being able to pitch in front of such a large crowd, on firework night before the Fourth of July, and having my family there when I haven’t seen them in a couple of months was awesome. Not to mention, the Knights GM had offered me a 10 day contract prior to Coach Matthews giving me a call and offering me a full contract, so I wonder if he was there tonight watching. Tonight was more than I could ever ask for, and I am thankful for my number One fan, who is always watching. He is the reason as to why I pitch. Happy Fourth of July everyone.

Pre-fireworks fireworks

July 2nd- We had an interesting day at the ballpark today. Every team gets a firework night to help boost attendance, and the 2nd was that day for us. The night was sponsored by the U.S. Border Patrol and so the Border Patrol ran out to the outfield with the players, and one officer even took his patrol dog with him, so that was cool to see. It was very official and there was a presenting of the colors, and during the National Anthem there was an actual bursting of bombs in mid air (fireworks) and a border patrol helicopter did a fly over so I felt like I was at a pro game. We had a good crowd; I think it was something near or around 1,163. I dunno, that is an estimation... The craziness was at the end of the game. We had bases loaded and there as a past ball, so two guys actually scored because the catcher wasn’t paying attention, and when the second guy scored, he got nudged by the catcher and got some words fired back from the catcher. So In retaliation, 2 pitches later, the pitcher hit our hitter and then he charged the mound. We had our boy's back, so we cleared the bench and luckily no one got hurt. I was trying to pull guys off the pile and at the same time, not get hit by a spontaneous haymaker. I did run into my buddy from Sacramento State who is on the other team, but that would’ve been an awkward time to say hi to an old friend. After the game we had some fireworks. Only problem was that it was still light out as the sun doesn’t set in Bellingham till 9:30….:/