The first inning was a complete surprise, both for me and the opposing batters. If they prepped for a plethora of inside fastballs, they sure didn’t act like it.

My first pitch felt like a big meatball coming out of my hand and the lead off hitter must have felt the same way. His eyes lit up and he took a big swing.

The grounder to second took a funny hop and Brandon handled it well enough, but flopped the throw to first and suddenly I was pitching from the stretch.

It’s something I’m used to doing, but after just one pitch Damon recognized a problem and used one of mound visits to see what’s up. It may seem a little premature, but when your catch knows what he’s doing he can see what’s needed.

It was a quick conversation, but because it’s a mound visit it meant everyone had to join us. As the infield gathered, Brandon had to know we were going to get him. Everyone was bristling at the bit to get their joke in, but Damon took control.

He stated the obvious, alerted everyone the next batter would be pitched low in an attempt to generate a ground ball and sent everyone back to their position. His position seems the entire field, but it’s something different to lead from there and he does.

We pitched the next guy low and while we didn’t get the double play, I did leave the runner stranded to end the first.