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| The Titans players got together for an MLB Opening Day party last week. |
Battling weather that seems to go from Spring-esque in the low 60s and sunny, to rainy and windy, to snow flurries and downright cold from one inning to the next, the Tempo Titans Praha Baseball Club has won four of its first six games, including two in our non-league home openers this past weekend. We went 2-2 and finished fifth in the annual Eltodo Cup at the KRC Eagles Praha's facility last weekend, dropping games to the ExtraLeague's Eagles and the U18 Czech National Team. Both were good tests to see where we are at, and what we need to work on. In the tournament, we picked up wins over Blesk Jablonec and Kotlarka Praha B.
This past weekend's wins were over KRC Eagles Praha B and SaBaT Praha, the later of the two coming on a walk-off, two-run single by our left fielder, Vlada Kus, a veteran of the Czech league who played his college ball in California.
I have enjoyed my first two months here getting to know our guys both on and off the field, and I'm pumped at our prospects this season as we seek to continue to develop our players and gain a return from the second division back to the ExtraLeague.
Our club is young and talented, and this season we will also have some good depth. We're strong on the mound, with four or five guys who could give us six or seven quality innings, two lefties we'll be able to bring out of the bullpen, and a wild card in a 40-year old, Robert Medricky, who is the club's former coach, a former national team player, and perhaps the most fundamentally-sound player I've seen since I've been in Europe. He won't blow you away with his fastball, but knows how to get guys out. He won't lead the team in extra-base hits, but he's a perfect left-handed bat that you can toss in the 2-hole and rely on to get a bunt down or execute a hit-and-run. And he's a solid utility guy who can play any of the infield positions. The true definition of a glue guy, and even more impressive is that he seems to have not missed a beat despite taking six years off from playing while he focused on coaching. His nickname is "Svab", which means cockroach in Czech, and I'm expecting that he'll be as much a nuisance to our opponents this season as the bug might be to a restaurant or home owner.
We've got two foreign guys I'm excited about in Australian Andrew Rodgers, who will pitch and play the infield for us, and Slovakian Martin Lukacka, a pitcher and outfielder on his country's national team who is studying at one of the local universities here in Prague. Adding the two of them to our pitching staff has given us great depth behind our returning guys.
Defensively, we're strong where every coach wants to be strong, up the middle. We've got a solid starting catcher in Petr Susta, very good middle infielders in Rodgers, Medricky, David Neveril and Martin Novak, and one of the fastest center fielders in the country in Jan Skvor. With the exception of Medricky, all of them are 25 or under, which shows you how young our core is.
At the plate, well, we've got some work to do. Like any team in the early stages of its season, the pitching is ahead of the hitting. We're working to get where we want to be, tweaking some of the one-handed swings that seem to be popular here but not suited for hitting off-speed pitches. I'm assuming the work we're putting in coupled with upcoming warmer weather will lead to the bats heating up.
We'll play a 22-game regular season league schedule and likely 50-55 games overall when you consider non-league "friendlies", tournaments, Czech Cup games and the postseason. That's a heavy load for both players and coaches, so it's a good thing we've got a good, laid-back group that knows how to have as much fun off the field as on it.
In fact, most nights after practices I can find at least one guy to share a beer with in our clubhouse at the baseball facility. We've also got several team-building events on the docket (as example, last week I hosted the guys for a Major League Baseball Opening Day party at my apartment), hold a "Bunts for Beers" competition on Fridays, with everyone bringing a beer with them and the winner of the competition taking all, and the team enjoys getting together on weekends to check out the great Prague night life.
My experience in Eastern Europe continues to be a fantastic one, and I'm pumped to see what the 2012 season has in store for our club. I'll be better about keeping you all posted on things as the season continues!