Florida Atlantic University Athletics
Diamond Diary by Kevin Cooney
2/12/2002 12:00:00 AM | Baseball
Feb. 12, 2002
I love L.A. Not really!
What started off as a great trip, gradually went sour. We arrived Wednesday night without incident. It is a long flight, but a real cheerful flight attendant made the ride easier for our guys. I couldn't believe she has been flying for thirty years and is still so happy in her work. She even gave extra meals to our players after the service had ended. That made her real popular!
The hotel was nice. Great views of the wall to wall traffic on the freeway. I thought I95 was bad here. It's no comparison. The ocean was visible the last two days as the smog lifted. It is a nice area if you can afford to live in the good sections and you don't have to drive anywhere. But, a lot of people say that about Boca Raton.
The UCLA coaches were real nice people. They let us practice on Thursday, and told us they weren't a very good team. Coach Mac said they are either the nicest guys in the world or they are setting us up. After the first night I didn't think it was a setup. We scored seemingly at will and won 23-13. But we didn't pitch real well and I didn't feel comfortable all night. Shaking hands at home plate, their coaches were cheerful and smiling, and we were worried and happy it was over.
Our hitters had a great night in some terrible weather. Cold damp and foggy. LJ was 3 for 6 with 5 RBI and Mike Valdes was 3 for 4 with 4 RBI. Mike Cox started off a great weekend of hitting with two doubles and 4 hits with 5 RBI. Jeff Fiorentino had his first career home run and 4 RBI.
The next day was sunny and cool. Our bats were cool too. Their pitcher really shut us down. Mike Cox got us on the board with his first FAU home run. How do you go from 23-13 to 4-1 in 15 hours? I guess that's why there are so many alcoholics in baseball!
After a drink free night, we lost again on Sunday. The game had its moments but we continued to play bad defense. We can't keep giving teams four and five outs in an inning. There is not enough offense in the world to make up for that.
The flight home... did the Wright brothers envision the redeye when they jumped off Kill Devil Hill? We boarded our flight at 10:45 PM PST which is 1:45 AM EST. At 5:55 AM EST, we landed in Atlanta. After grabbing a cup of coffee, we were airborne again and landed in FT. Lauderdale at 8:45 AM. Some of our guys had a test at 10:00 AM. I'm glad I didn't.
Was the trip a success? Well, no one was hurt and no one was arrested. That puts you on the way to a good trip. Seriously, I think it was a good experience for our kids. Playing an opponent from such an established school and conference, halfway around the world is a great part of their college carrer. Are we pleased with how we are playing? No. We have got to get our defense straightened out in a hurry. If we accomplish that, it will make our pitching better. Thus far, our starters don't have a win and have not pitched to their potential. Saturday and Sunday, the defense was responsible to a great extent, but we expect more from our pitchers.
Oh yeah. When we walked past some eateries in the airport out in LA on Wednesday night, our guys got a standing ovation from the people there. I guess they assumed we were part of the Olympic teams. We didn't tell them any different!
There have been a number of people who have emailed comments about this diary. Thank you. Most of them have been complimentary. I even have heard from players I coached in High School and at Montclair State. Some of you guys are now old. It's hard to believe. Scary too.
A number of parents have sent word that they are reading and feel it is a good way to stay closer to what's going on with their sons. I appreciate you taking the time to write. For those of you whose sons haven't played much or perhaps not at all... I really dislike that aspect of my job. My preference would be to carry a bare minimum of players and thereby ensure adequate playing time for everyone. But the reality is that we have a large roster. We carry a lot of pitchers because you never know when arms are going to break down. We are restricted by rule as to the number of players who can travel. Believe me, it is not easy to leave players behind. It's especially hard when the trip looks like a good one.
We play the people that we feel give us the best chance for the team to win. Many times those choices don't seem to make sense to the fan or parent. Sometimes the player is in the lineup to decide how we will do things further down the line. Can this lefty batter hit left handed pitchers? Sometimes you need to just find out.
Believe me, those lineups are not arrived at without a great deal of discussion and often disagreement within our coaching staff. I can't count how many times I've asked those guys, "Whats YOUR lineup." Sometimes the final decision is just a hunch or a gut feeling. Sometimes a player is held out until we see him make the adjustments he is working on with his position coach.
I think all coaches have been told "you play favorites". I agree. But a favorite player is a guy that you believe in for some particular reason. It could be the obvious one that he is a great hitter, or it could be more of an intangible factor. No coach that I have encountered is willingly playing people he knows shouldn't be out there. We all want to win and I take seriously the responsibility of putting a winning team on the field. I and my coaches owe it to FAU and to the other players that are busting their tails out there.
Our last year in Division II, I chose to play a young man who was not the best to have at that position. It was the last weekend of the regular season and we had a senior who had lost his job after a few weeks to Nick Presto when Nick was a freshman. I told Nick that I was starting the other kid, and Nick argued with me thinking I felt he was hurt or tired. When Coach Mac saw the lineup he asked me if I was crazy. This is a big game. If we won it would be our 40th win of the season. John expressed his opinion forcefully, as is his style. I pointed to the other boy's father up on the hill. This would be the last time that he would see his son stand on the field as a starter and put his hat over his heart for the national anthem. We would be in the NCAA Regional the next week and Nick Presto would be in the lineup, not the senior. Needless to say the first batter hit a ground ball to third where the senior fielded it and promptly launched it onto the hill behind first base. It landed pretty close to his father as a matter of fact. We escaped without a run and I trotted out to coach third. My wife ran down from her spot on the hill. "What's wrong with Nick?" she asked. I told her what I was doing and the look she gave me spoke volumes on what she thought of my lineup. Et tu Brute?
You can't please everyone. But these decisions are not made lightly. It does pain me to not be playing kids and seeing them later with their parents. I know how those conversations go. I have kids. KC
