Practice #7--Mudcat lingo

A good percentage of the time, most of us have very little idea what our kids are talking about. My understanding is that this only increases as they get older. But the communication gap can be even greater at baseball practice, where the Mudcats have a language of their own. Here's a few of the terms you'll hear around Nowell Field in the days, weeks, and months to come.

Calling time. This was a major point of emphasis in the first half of Sunday's practice, as the Mudcats spent the first hour on the field working on game situation fielding and baserunning. There are only a few ways to stop an opposing baserunner from taking an extra base:

1. Tag them out.2. Throw to the base ahead of them.
3. Tell them there's a free Wii giveaway at the top of the hill (generally frowned upon but permissible in extreme circumstances).
4. Run at the lead runner and scream, "Time!" at the top of your lungs.

Choice number-four was practiced extensively on Sunday. It's not as simple as just yelling, "Time!" and it's not as simple as running at the lead runner. It's the combination of running at the lead runner while yelling "Time!" at the same time. Given the way the ball can occasionally be tossed around the infield in this league, calling time can often mean the difference between a big inning and snuffing out a rally.

The money ball. You could have Nolan Ryan on the mound...whoops, sorry, forgot most of the Mudcats know him as an old guy who owns the Rangers rather than a pitcher who throws 100 miles per hour and beats up members of the White Sox. Let's try that again. You could have Roy Halladay on the mound firing fastballs past the Mudcats without hope of them hitting it. But let Halladay say, "This is the money ball," and there's a good chance they'd start spraying the ball around the cage. The money ball isn't necessarily different than a normal baseball, although from time to time the coaches have been known to sneak in a softball or even a ping-pong sized ball as the money ball. It's simply the last ball in a particular drill, and for whatever reason, the players love it.

On Sunday, while the hitters were taking BP in the cage off Coach Andrew, several asked, "Is this the money ball?" before taking their final swings. If he said no, it was possible they might miss it. But if he said yes, it usually resulted in a line drive--and maybe even a piece of gum (more on that later).

Power position. It's the difference between a weak, three-bouncer throw and one that zips straight to the chest of the recipient. It's not just using the arm. It's having the body properly aligned with the front shoulder leading towards the partner and throwing arm straight behind the thrower. You'll most often see it at the beginning of practice, as during Sunday's initial warmups, when players had to complete at least five consecutive throws with their partner with no misses. Another solid example came during Sunday's first hour, when Gabe made a perfect catch of a high fly ball in left field and then zipped the ball in to the cutoff man.

Fast/slow/fast. You'll hear this frequently in the infield. The infielder wants to get to the ball quickly, charging it if possible. Once they arrive at the ball, they want to slow down to make the play as they watch the ball into their glove. Once it's securely transferred to the throwing hand, it's time to speed up again and whip the throwing arm through to make a solid throw to first base.

Dude. A tremendous all-purpose word, this is something our son has started adding to every sentence. Sometimes it makes sense: "Let's go hit in the cage, dude." Sometimes it makes a little less sense: "Yes, Mom, I'm ready for bed, dude." Should the Mudcats decide they no longer want to play baseball, they could put together a very solid surfing club.

Many uses of "dude" could be found in the final hour of Sunday's practice, as the team went through the usual tee/soft toss/batting cage rotation. The stakes were raised in the cage, as any line drive to the back of the cage net earned the hitter one piece of gum from Coach Andrew. Every Mudcat earned at least one piece, with Anthony and Drew leading the way with four pieces of gum apiece.

Coach Rob was Sunday's eagle-eyed assistant, as he spent the practice looking for the Mudcat with the best demonstration of "having fun." Not a goofy kind of fun without paying attention, but fun that included supporting teammates and smiling from drill to drill. Sunday's winner was Little Ben, whose solid week of practice has included winning a throwing competition and earning a pair of helmet stickers.

The squad's next practice is Monday night at 6 p.m. at Penny Road Elementary, dude.