When we look back, we rarely remember the bad times. We gloss over letters that ruined relationships, phone calls that led to separations and everything in between.

I have a way of completely blanking out performances – good and bad. Luckily there’s always a film session to show exactly what went wrong.

But there are some beat downs that are easy to remember.

Take for example a few weeks back in Atlanta. We were already down three runs when I entered in the fifth. Skip was looking for a couple of innings to keep us close, but he’s still looking for that.

I couldn’t find my fastball location and without that, I’m like a dead fish in the water. Something pretty useless that’s clearly going to stink up the joint. That’s what it felt like in the moment as I watched pitches fly past me at various speeds – from clean and true to smoked and ripped.

With runners on the corners, I managed a double play ball that resulted in a run crossing the plate and another runner on first. A lefty was strolling up to the plate and I looked into the dugout, somewhat expecting to see Skip on the top step.

He was sitting down. Or burying his head in his hands; something that made it clear he was not serving as my savior today.

The lefty stroked a line drive to the wall in right center. I was trotting to back up the plate and watched from there as he suddenly decided to attempt for third. It was a lucky choice for me, since he was out by a mile and gave me a foothold to get out of the inning.

I took advantage, throwing nothing but changeups to the next batter, who would ground out to second base and graciously allow me to escape the frame.

I slumped back into the dugout and was met by Skip, who told me that the game was mine until we mounted a comeback. It wasn’t a sign of confidence. More like we’ve used a lot of arms over the past couple of games, everyone needed a break and I was going to provide it.

I did pitch a 1-2-3 bottom of the eighth, which was the close of my line – four innings,  five runs, three earned, two walks and two strikeouts. Not my best work, but it’s easy to forget with a little help…