Mister Baseball

Dirk Fries, pitcher of the German National Team and the Cologne Cardinals, will give us a daily report about his time at the Final Olympic Qualifying Tournament in Taiwan.

Final Report IBAF Final Olympic Qualifying Tournament

By now, everybody has returned home. Most professional players, referring to the other nations, probably have either gone directly to join their teams, or will report to spring training camps in a few days. Taiwanese players have already started their season. In contrast, we still have a few weeks until our season gets under way. Opening day in the German BUNDESLIGA is still three weeks away. So basically, the tournament was a real high level spring training for everybody on our team. But now we have to get back to playing in the cold and rain, playing on baseball fields of lesser quality (but sometimes more character) than INTERCONTINENTAL and DOULIOU STADIUM. There will only be fewer seats, but in most places more spectators, even for the pre-season games, than in TAICHUNG. Unless, of course, you count in our game against CHINESE TAIPEI. That game is simply in its own category.

Another difference is that we now have returned to our regular lives. For one there is no more “baseball every day”. Sure you get some type of workout in almost every day in order to compete at a world-class level, but not all is baseball-related. Due to field and weather restrictions you sometimes have no choice but to make it an off day. Not all players live in the town they play in, so finding a practice partner isn’t all that easy. So in baseball, everything is back to normal German circumstances. Practice in most places will still be held indoors during the week, with practice sessions and pre-season games outside on the weekends. We always look forward to the season, but this time it’s a little different. With this year’s highlight already over, the outlook for 2008 looks a little different.

The German championship is a goal for every player, with some enjoying greater probabilities with their clubs than others. While the league takes main importance right now, the NATIONAL TEAM, which still has some events planned for this year, will be pushed back until July. This in no way means that we will lose importance. Neither will we pout on the lost opportunity and stay put. We will give it our all trying to improve even further, trying to get better every day.

Beyond that, we amateur players have returned to a 9 to 5 schedule. Team members like MIRKO HEID, MARKUS WINKLER and SIMON GUEHRING have already gone back to work, students like DOMINIK WULF, PHILIPP HOFFSCHILD and myself either have a couple of days until the new semester kicks off or have hit their books already.

On the other hand, we’re already in pretty good baseball shape. Hitters have seen quality pitching seven days in a row, starting pitchers have already extended their pitch counts to go deep into games and relievers, well, the league hardly uses any. So the likes of Markus WINKLER, MIRKO HEID, DIRK FRIES and MARTIN ALMSTETTER need to still shore up their arms a little. The great weather surely did contribute to making the transition to playing every day a lot easier. Playing in Taiwan, we had perfect baseball conditions. With temperatures above 20° C it was easy getting loose and throwing at maximum velocity compared to our local climate.

But now let’s briefly evaluate our team’s performance. In my opinion, we can consider our second trip to Taiwan a complete success. We played real solid baseball, being in close games in six out of seven encounters, only losing a lopsided affair against the KOREAN squad (12-1). We got beat by AUSTRALIA (4-1), won against SPAIN (1-0) and lost 0-2 against TAIWAN. We beat SOUTH AFRICA (4-3) and lost to MEXICO (0-4) and CANADA (2-1 in 10 Innings). Winning two games is a step up from the WORLD CUP, when we beat THAILAND for GERMANY´S first ever WORLD CUP win. By now, our experience and expectations have evolved, with us expecting to win going into every game, no matter who is the opponent.

Beating SPAIN makes us the most successful European team behind the NETHERLANDS, and beating SOUTH AFRICA the highest ranked amateur team in the tournament. Also we played real well defensively, with our pitching posting a low ERA and keeping our team in every game. Keeping our opponents from scoring a lot of runs is essential in giving our offense a chance to win the close games. So far, we won’t expect to go in to the games thinking we can just out-hit the world class pitching that we are facing, especially just a few games removed from the long offseason. This strategy worked pretty well this time around, with ENORBEL MARQUEZ and ANDRE HUGHES leading the staff. Also our bullpen was just solid across the board. Offensively from my point of view our hitters did a good job also. I haven’t checked any stats, but the way I saw the games KAI GRONAUER, DONALD and SASCHA LUTZ, DOMINIK WULF and SIMON GUEHRING led the attack, with everybody else contributing an important hit, sac fly or bunt at some point.

KAI GRONAUER is probably our most spectacular player, not only being one of our greatest offensive threats, but also catching almost every game and working well with the pitchers as well as keeping the opposing running game in check. DOMINIK WULF plays real good defense at third base. He and ANDY JANZEN shore up the infield on the left side. JENDRCIK SPEER is just vintage “Jenni”, a really low key guy but a tremendous all-around player, who can help you just as good with the glove as with the bat. His “heir” at second, young PHILIPP HOWARD showed great range and good fielding skills already, and only needs a little more experience. Out first baseman played well also, as did our corner outfielders. LUDWIG GLASER got quite a bit more playing time compared to the WORLD Cup, but showed his potential with a number of great at-bat and hard hit balls to all fields.

All in all, individually as well as from a team standpoint, I don’t think you could have asked for anything more, every single one did his part, contributing in any way possible and without question buying into the team concept. No complaints about playing time, no questioning any coaching or administrative decisions of any kind. This team is a mature one, without doubt. And a lot of credit is due to GREG FRADY, who, together with JESCO VEISZ and the rest of the coaching and DBV staff, has moved the team forward ever since taking the job in 2004, after a disastrous European Championship 2003 in the Netherlands. A special relationship has evolved between the coach and his players, one of mutual trust and confidence, one which has led us from hitting rock bottom all the way to just missing out on an Olympic berth in just a few years.