Eastlake Baseball League: Coaches Corner

There will be no rule difference between regular season and the Round Robin Tournament. Higher Seed will play on their home field (check the website for updates daily). Home team to supply umpires and two baseballs. All winning managers are to e-mail both Ralph Nazario rlnaz@att.net and Jon Axelrod jon@lakeohiolaw.com the night of the game to report the score and find out where their next game is. It is important that you e-mail us ASAP after the game so that we can keep the websites up to date for all to see. All games except the championship game will begin at 6:15 pm at the higher seeds home field. The championship game will be played at Bruce Yee Park at 8:30 pm under the lights. Trophy presentation immediately following the game. Good luck to all! 

Brackets will be posted at the park on the announcement board.  Watch for a downloadable PDF handout here in the upcoming week.

(From Jon Axelrod, Scheduler) 

I am finding it harder and harder to keep up with the rain outs and make ups and tracking down managers for responses to proposed make up dates. Therefore, I am now utilizing the Eastlake Baseball League website to reschedule games. All games that are going to be rescheduled are updated on the website. At this point in the season, we cannot extend the regular season beyond the minor tournament (July 17 – 19). The regular season ends on July 16 whether or not all games have been played and made up by then. Please check your team’s schedule and notify all of your parents to do the same.

Managers: If the date and or time is not good for you then I will cancel that game and it will most likely not be made up at all. The season has to end sometime and we still have to play the round robin tournament. If your team standings are not correct that is because a games has not been reported. If you go to the standings and then click on your team name, you will see your record vs. all other teams. If there is a game missing, then that is the game you need to report to me (jon@lakeohiolaw.com) no later than July 19. Whatever the standings show as of July 20 is how you will be seeded in the Round Robin Tournament.

Speaking of the Round Robin Tournament, the format this year will be as follows:

·    The regular season champions for each division from Eastlake will play one game with the regular season champions for each division from Mentor. (i.e. Mentor McMinn Mighty Mite Regular Season Champion vs. Eastlake Mighty Mite Regular Season Champion)

·    Both cities will participate in one round robin tournament per division (some games will be played in Mentor and some in Eastlake).

·    The home team will be the team that is the higher seed (schedule and fields will be announced July 20 – be prepared to play a game Tuesday night – games will not be rescheduled due to lack of players or coaches – if you cannot field a team then you will forfeit the game)

·    If there is a rainout (it will be made up within a day or two)

·    The rules for each division will be the same as the regular season (including pitching limits)

·    Make sure you check the website daily as we will do our best to update them daily – scores must be reported immediately to Jon Axelrod (jon@lakeohiolaw.com)

If there are any questions or problems, please let me know ASAP! Good luck to all and I will see you at the fields.

Jon D. Axelrod

7/2/09 ------------------------------- 

ALL games and standings in MM/Minor/Major/Junior divisions are up to date as of 7/1/09, to the scores reported to date.   If the standings W/L records are off, that means there are un-reported games for that team. Those games just need reported.  Look on the Calendar or Game Schedule for scores for your team.  Email info@eastlakelittleleague.org if you have any questions.  Be sure to reference your team and division.

 7/1/09 ------------------------------

Managers:  Please only submit a score for a game ONE TIME.  If you make a mistake on a game, email info@eastlakelittleleague.org to list the change.  Do not resubmit it.  There are many multiple game scores in the system and it is very hard to track down games that have already been played and scored.

Also, the 'Required Field' has been removed from the player names section.  If you do not have the proper first and last names, then leave that blank.  Please do not enter nicknames, cartoon names, or anything other than player first/last names.  The News Herald will not print the score.

The standings are updated at least twice a week.  Please allow a few days after score entry for the standings to update themselves.  We have about a dozen scored games that are held out and must be matched to the schedule or have a conflict with the schedule or real game dates, and this causes a lot of delay in the standings update.

Please also do not resubmit scores if the standings are not updating fast enough.  All this does is add more games into the scoring system that need to be confirmed with the schedule or found out where they belong.

As of today, 7/1, the schedule is a bit messed up from all the rainouts and rescheduling.  The standing should be finalized and up to date by the weekend.  Please be patient while we sort through all the games to get us back on track.  There are over 400 games to process!

Anyone interested in trying out for, managing, or coaching the all star teams for the Mighty Mite, Minor, and Major divisions.  The teams are open to all players. We strongly encourage as many kids to tryout as possible. Kids will participate in tournaments over the season, on the weekends. Tournaments are held in Eastlake and surrounding cities. The Tournament schedule normally does not interfere with the youth football season.

You must attend tryouts to be eligible for a team. Being part of an All-Star team is a big commitment, and attendance is very important.

Bring your Mitt, Spikes, Bat, etc.  Wear your regular team uniform shirt.  Wear baseball pants or long pants..no shorts

Mighty Mite Tryouts:

April 5, 2009 12:00 pm - 2:00 pm

April 19, 2009 12:00 pm - 2:00 pm

April 26, 2009 2:00 pm – 4:00 pm

Minor Tryouts:

April 5, 2009 12:00 pm - 2:00 pm

April 19, 2009 12:00 pm - 2:00 pm

April 26, 2009 2:00 pm – 4:00 pm

Major Tryouts:

April 5, 2009 4:00 pm - 6:00 pm

April 19, 2009 2:00 pm – 4:00 pm

April 26, 2009 12:00 pm - 2:00 pm

*****PLEASE NOTE*****

If you do not show up for the tryouts and do not notify Jon Axelrod (440) 946-2701 or Ted Swearingen (440) 942-0902 why you are unable to attend you will not be considered for the all star team as a player, manager, or coach.

A new rule for 2008 is to monitor Innings Pitched by Pitchers.   For your score to become official, EACH MANAGER must fill in the Pitcher and Innings Pitched in the Scorebook AND on the Online Scoring page as noted.  Pitching will be monitored by the Player Agents.  The OFFICIAL scorekeeper is responsible for keeping the scorebook up to date.  The VISITING manager is resposible for giving the home manager a score sheet with your team info filled out.  Forms are available for download and printing in the Handout section of the website.   The HOME manager (or deligated person) is responsible  for reporting the score online and entering Pitchers Innings Pitched for both teams.  See your divisions GM for any questions on scoring.  Each manager should have received an email with the new 2008 approved pitching rules including rest days etc. 

All of us coaches know the routine of calling all of the teams parents multiple times due to questionable weather, changing field conditions etc.  To call an average team of 13 players can take up to a half hour!  And, parents nowadays are so mobile, they're all over the place and using multiple phone numbers.  Everyone now has cell phones and most have texting.

How'd you like to notify parents on your team in ONE phone call, that takes 30 seconds!!??  Well, that technology is out there for FREE!  Verbal text messaging is here!

JOTT is an online service that 'transcribes your voice into text messaging and relays it to your contacts or groups'.  You, the coach, would call an 800 number from your cell phone and 'speak a message' such as "Tonight's game is cancelled".  JOTT would then transcribe that message and send it to your group or team.  Everyone on your team would receive that message in about 2 minutes as a text message on their cell phone or an email on their cell/PDA, or both, or multiple cell phones, etc.

You just need to make sure you speak clearly and use words that are easily distinguished.  Saying "Game is OFF" can get confused to "Game is COUGH"....use the word CANCELLED instead.  ON can get confused to ODD, HON, etc.  Use something like " OKAY as Scheduled"

This is an awesome free service, and with a little effort and setup, you can communicate with your team very easily, anywhere they are!

Check out JOTT at www.jott.com

This is a batting instructional tip picked up off of a coaching/batting website.  This is an anonymous question posted on a forum. 

Q   Elbow Up

I have always been taught to keep the back arm up with the elbow pointing straight back, so the back bicep & elbow would be in line with the shoulders. The Baseball Commissioner in our town is telling all the Coaches to teach the kids to keep both elbows in and down, and he is insisting that we teach this to our kids (7 & 8 year old Intramurals) and if we don't we will not be allowed to Coach.

Please send me any information or links on 'The Batting Stance' as the Commissioner did say that if I could bring him any kind of documentation on this he would reconsider.

Answer:  Sorry, but your commissioner is right. 'Back elbow up' is an old myth that is taking years to disappear.

In order to generate torque through the arms, and create as level as possible an arc for the bathead through the plane of the pitch, the back elbow must be down not up. Regardless of ready position, the first thing any batter does in starting his swing is bring the arm down - so it's best to start it there in the first place.

Don't feel bad, I probably was a victim of that same shouted instruction from a head coach or two back then - and it's tough to ignore. If you read the on-line instruction in OnDeck carefully you'll see that covered.

Other factors now known to be important - stay back, don't transfer weight forward, shorten stride, etc.

.... from www.WebBall.com 

It is the WINNING TEAM's responsibility to report the score. If the visiting team did not give you a form, report the scores as normal and add your names as usual, leaving visitor names blank.   A PDF form is available on this site for you to download and extras in the umpire office if you need more.

Standings will get updated about 2-3 times weekly. It will be critical that your scores are reported within 24 hours of the game to keep these standings accurate. If you have any questions, comments or suggestions, please email info@eastlakelittleleague.org. Have a great season!

1) Give three names to WINNING Team before leaving fields.  Make sure you list the PITCHERS and Innings Pitched in that game. (Minor/Major/Jr/Sr)
2) Winning Team: Fill in scores and add your three names for the paper.  Add your pitchers and Innings Pitched also.  Give this form to your designated team score reporter.
3) Score Reporter: Log on to ELL website and click the report scores link.