Miles Voted To 'All-Star Game' By Teammates

Congratulations to Miles, who tonight learned he was voted (by his teammates) to the 2011 DGYB Single-A All-Star Team!  The game will be played on Saturday, June 18th.

Way to go Miles!!

"Owlztanding" Game!

Miles had his best baseball game ever tonight, literally starting and ending the game with terrific plays.

Game Begins:  Miles was the lead-off hitter of the game tonight, connecting on the very first pitch with a single smashed down the 3rd base line.

Game Ends:  Miles was tapped as the closing pitcher for the final inning (6th inning).  He pitched another perfect inning (3 up ... 3 down), but the way it unfolded was really exciting.  He took the first batter to a full count, and then threw a strike over the left corner of the plate for a called strike out.  Identical scenario with the second batter; again, a called strike 3 with the batter left looking.  The final out was the best of the year.  Miles took the batter to a 2-2 count.  On the fifth pitch the batter connected, popping the ball straight up in the air.  If the ball had ever hit the ground, it would have landed four or five feet in front of home plate.  But Miles charged home plate, never taking his eye off the ball, and CAUGHT the pop fly to end the game.

Total joy for him as his teammates swarmed him to congratulate him.  Celebration at DQ followed.

Way to go Miles!

Owlz Award

Congrats to Miles for winning the "Owlz Award" after today's baseball game. Last night he "retired the side" as the starting pitcher (3 up - 3 down). Today he had a great fielding play at 1st base, and had two hits. Way to go Miles ... we're proud of you! And thanks to Coach Mike for the cool mini-Owlz-hat trophy. We are really fortunate to have such a supportive team of coaches working with the boys.

Match Game

Guess which hat my daughter picked out at the Colorado Rockies game
tonight. Hmmmmmmm.

Part of me thinks Major League Baseball should fine the Rockies for
selling a pink/leopard-skin/hearts combo hats.

But then again, I paid for one.

Baseball, Apple Pie, USA

Nothing says America like a little baseball, right? Miles was inspired by the Cubs win this afternoon (and surprised that the Brewers' pitcher walked-in the winning run in the 10th inning). So we made up a game where he threw pitches across a plate to me (in the role of catcher and umpire), and tried to get three strikes before he 'walked' the ghost-runner with four balls. His goal was to get three outs before any ghost-runners were walked around the bases to score.

He did pretty well, actually. After the first couple of innings, he asked me to take some video.

Posting the video here for any family interested in seeing the progress he made playing ball this summer. Some good stuff.

Rookie Card

DGYB @ White Sox Game

Last night was the 'Downers Grove Youth Baseball' night at the White Sox game. Nearly 1,600 parents and little league baseball parents from DG sitting in the outfield together. Lots of fun, despite a 2-1 loss to the Detroit Tigers. Fast game; started at 7:10 and we were walking to the car at 9:20 PM!

Characters

Father-Daughter Day at the White Sox

Miles' First Baseball Game - Opening Day

Miles had a terrific time this morning in his first Downers Grove Youth Baseball game. He went 2 for 3 at the plate (including what was probably the best line-drive hit of the game by either team down the 3rd base line, scored twice, threw out a runner from 2nd base, forced an out at home plate, caught an out at 1st base, and generally loved every second of the game.

It was very special to Miles that his grandfather (G.D.) was in town and able to cheer him to victory. Glenn and Josiah Williams also showed up for the Opening Day festivities.

Click here, or on the video box below, to see video highlights. Go Phillies!

400 Posts ... and back to "The Cell"

I just noticed that my last post (about Miles' M hat) was the 400th post of our Blog. Wow. Hard for me to believe.

In that post there's a picture of Miles at the new Comiskey Park, right after the new ballpark was built. Notice the seats are blue. About a year after they built the stadium, someone decided the blue seats were ugly, and they were all torn out and dark colored seats were installed instead. Visionary planning, for sure.

Miles and I were back at "The Cell" (named after U.S. Cellular) on Friday night as the White Sox took on the Toronto Blue Jays. The DGN Chamber Choir was selected to sing both the Canadian and U.S. anthems, and we got to be down on the field. It was pretty exciting for Miles. We walked out on the field through the first base dugout. Players from the White Sox were out on the field doing batting practice, and manager Ozzie Guillén greeted the choir and posed for pictures. Miles got to stand in the 'on deck circle' with the MLB logo, which he thought was pretty cool.

One more Sox game in my future: June 6th is "Daddy/Daughter Day." I'm heading down with Emery, and three other friends/daughters (Bill Miller, Glenn Williams and Hank Vaughan).

Click here for a link to the Chamber Choir singing:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Z073Sk05ZgA&fmt=22

'M' Hat

Miles had baseball practice yesterday, and as we were walking back to the car, I looked at him and realized the hat he was wearing was one I bought for him when he was just a little over a year old. It's a Milwaukee Brewers hat, but we bought it for him because it had the "M" on the front. I remember it was the smallest hat we could find at the time, but it was too big for him.

Six years later he seems to have grown into it.

Spring Training

Miles is playing the Downers Grove version of Little League baseball this spring/summer for the first time. So yesterday and today have included some practice sessions to get ready. We went to a second-hand sports store and found a great pair of Nike baseball cleats for $12, and a nice bat for under $10. My key at DGN got us into the batting cages yesterday, and this morning we went to the neighborhood ball park with Miles' friend Mickey for some outdoor Spring Training.

Miles will be playing for the Phillies this summer, which he is very excited about since the real Phillies won the World Series last fall. Stay tuned for more baseball and laughs (not necessarily in that order).