Its here

It’s Finally Here.

Baseball in the fall has finally begun. After rain had threatened all morning, the skies cleared and made way for baseball in the afternoon. The Rams dusted off their cleats and met for the first time at Foster Field this year. Having removed the field tarp twice in one day, it was time to begin the first official practice. Today marks the first of 24 official practices the Rams will have with the coaching staff during the fall semester and it was a good one. It was a day full of jitters for some, and for others it seemed like business as usual. Most of the new guys fell right into place and most of them looked like returners as we worked today. As expected we worked through several simple drills; Ground balls for the infielders, fly balls for the outfielders, batting practice for the hitters and, of course, lots of running for the pitching staff. We worked through first and third defenses, run downs and a few other refresher courses. In all, it was an excellent first day for everyone none the less and will be a great starting point for the rest of the year.

Today we also talked about growing together as a team and trusting others to do their jobs, support each other and understand that each member on the team should be willing to do whatever it takes to make the team a success. Coach Brooks pointed out that it will take time for this to occur. Sometimes it takes the entire length of a season. He also brought up a valid point that we cannot be expected to be a cohesive team this early in the game because let's face it -“Many of us don’t even know each other’s names yet.”

I will confess. I am definitely in the category of people who do not know everyone’s name yet. So, I will make a conscious effort in the coming days to make sure I can put a face with a name and learn more about my teammates. At the same time, because talking about a day of batting practice and ground balls is not the most exciting blog in the world, I would like to introduce the guys to you as I meet them. I will post interviews periodically with one returning player and one new player so that you Ram fans will have a bit more info about us than just our height, weight and profile picture.

With one day under our belts, we head into day two which is sure to be just as good or better than today. The plan as we know it, pending weather, is to practice tomorrow and take Saturday off to work the Kid’s Carnival at the football tailgate starting at 4 p.m. Sunday we will have one more tune up practice before we begin inter-squads on Monday. There is a lot of talk filling the clubhouse about Monday. Everyone is very excited for the first real test. But really, what’s not to be excited about?

Its baseball in the fall and it’s here.

GO RAMS!