What Just Happened?

It's now past the middle of May, meaning my husband's 2012 season is well underway.  Although still fresh in the season, Ty has already been causing quite a commotion.  The only words I can think of to best describe our whirlwind April would have to be crazy and overwhelming...

In April alone, Tyler was awarded all of the following:

International League Pitcher of the Week(4/5-4/9) 

Player of the Game(4/11/12)

Phillies Minor League Pitcher of the Week(4/5-4/15) 

Player of the Game(4/24/12)

Phillies Minor League Pitcher of the Week(4/23-4/29)

Eastern League Pitcher of the Week(4/23-4/29)

Strike Thrower of the Month(April)
&

Phillies Minor League Pitcher of the Month(April)

Holy moly!

I am so so so proud of him!  I have known my husband to be great at what he does, but this has been quite a month.  It literally all started happening the second we left Florida...

Myself, along with two other wives, dropped our husband's off at the complex for the last time during Spring Training 2012.  The boys were then flown with the team directly from Tampa to Philly, while we girls began our drive up the East Coast in caravan fashion.  Although we were each in separate cars, we still had a lot of fun following each other and also felt extra safe staying together.  We were welcomed to stay the night in North Carolina with the coach's wife, and then the next morning she, along with their four kids and the family dog, joined us on our journey.  We made sure to take our time and arrived safe and sound to our husbands at the team hotel in Reading, PA.  

The boys were scheduled a doubleheader on Opening Day, and Tyler was told plenty of days in advanced that he would be starting in the second game.  I'm not sure if I've mentioned in my blog yet the fact that I went to school for massage therapy, so if not, now you know.  With that being my profession, I take the benefits of massage very seriously and therefore choose to give my husband a massage every night before his scheduled starts.  Now that you're aware of that, you can bet the night before his scheduled start on Opening Day,  I was giving Ty his routine massage.  In the middle of his session however, at about 9:30 at night, his phone rang.  Out of reach, he didn't answer.

Once I was done working on him, he checked his phone and realized the call he missed was from his manager and that he had a new voice mail.  We listened to it together as his manager said, "Hey Tyler, it's Dusty.  It's about 9:30.  Call me back when you get this, I need to talk to you about some stuff."  Clearly nothing out of the ordinary, Ty thought maybe he would have to pitch the first game instead of the second, or that maybe the game times were being changed altogether.  We sat down on the bed together as Ty called him back.

I listened as my husband's voice changed from it's normal flat tone, to a little something more, as he spoke the following words before hanging up: "Yeah. Okay. Really? Alright. Sounds good! Will do. Thank you."

"Well?" I asked him.
"I'm not starting tomorrow," he said.
"Why? When do you start then?" I asked.
"Well, I'm not starting tomorrow......here in Reading," he said cleverly as he smiled,  "I'm starting tomorrow for Triple-A in Lehigh!"
"Oh my gosh! How exciting!" I exclaimed as I jumped on him and gave him a big 'ol hug!

The following morning, life was so sweet in the passenger seat as Ty and I made the thirty-three mile drive to Allentown, PA.  Together we packed an overnight bag, but nothing more because Ty was told we were only going up for the one game; no matter the result of it, he would be reporting back to Double-A the next day.  That was perfectly okay with us!  We were just excited to be able to spend a day in Triple-A.  The Phillies put us up in a hotel for the night, and we quickly realized as we pulled up that it was a hotel we would otherwise not be able to afford.  We opened the door to our room and I got that feeling I haven't had since I was a little kid; you know, the one where a hotel room seems like a giant play ground with a bed to jump on and furniture set up specifically to play tag around?  Of course there was no jumping on the bed, but it was all just really neat and an extra blessing for Ty and I.  After dropping off our bag in the room, I took my husband to the field.  I gave him a hug and kiss and told him to do good, not realizing that the time frame between that moment and the next time I would get to see him would be a little longer than normal.

I got to the game a half hour early dressed in my heavy winter coat and wrapped in my giant fleece blanket.  Unfortunately, April 5th in Pennsylvania is not as warm as April 5th in Florida.   The stands were packed and the atmosphere was so exciting!  As I sat in my seat looking around, I felt so proud of my husband for making it all the way to Triple-A.  Although we knew the move wasn't permanent, and that the very next day we would be heading back down to Reading, it seemed like such an achievement to get the call up!  In the midst of all my thoughts, I heard Ty's name announced to the crowd and then saw him and the rest of the team run out onto the field for the National Anthem.  Game time!

Top of the first: fly out, strike out, ground out.
Top of the second: strike out, strike out, ground out.
Top of the third: strike out, ground out, strike out.
Top of the fourth: fly out, strike out, ground out.
Top of the fifth: ground out, strike out, ground out.
Top of the sixth: strike out, ground out, fly out.
Top of the seventh: new pitcher replaces Tyler Cloyd.

"Tyler James!!! Omgosh!! You did unbelievable!!!!" - I sent to him via text after he was taken out of the game.  I was so thrilled for him!  Ty had just pitched six perfect innings in his completely unexpected Triple-A debut on Opening Day, on a team managed by Hall of Famer, Ryne Sandberg, on less than 24 hours notice! Whoa!!

Also, that night, Coca-Cola Park, named 2012's Best Ballpark in Triple-A Baseball, held a crowd of almost 10,000 people!  As soon as Tyler was taken out of the game, that number was made clear to me as I heard the fans begin to roar....

"What??!!!  New pitcher??  Eighteen up, eighteen down, eight strike outs, zero walks and only seventy-three pitches.  Why in the world would they take this kid out when he is pitching a perfect game??!"

No worries guys!  It was the first game of the year, which means low pitch counts.  Ty and I knew they wouldn't let him pitch a complete game that early in the season, so it was not a surprise nor a disappointment to either of us when they took him out.

What was a disappointment however, was the fact that I was still freezing even with all of my winter gear on!  Luckily, I was offered by a staff member to move up to the suites in hopes of warming up under the one condition that I stay clear of the media room.  I agreed.  The staff member laughed a bit and I quickly realized that that "one condition" was apparently not a normal request.

"What's going on in there?" I asked him.
"The media is all over your husband right now.  They're trying to find out as much as they can about him," he said, "We don't want them to know who you are or you'll never hear the end of their questions."
"Oh gosh," I said worriedly.
"Yeah," he laughed, "They've already started their articles and all of them want to interview him separately after the game.  It's probably gonna be awhile until you get out of here tonight."

Boy was he right!  Thankfully, after the last out of the game, he took me down through the dugout so I could get a couple pictures with my husband before the majority of the media got to him.  As we rounded the corner though, Ty was already in the process of an on-camera interview so I waited off to the side.  That's when I saw it coming...the shaving cream pie. It was so funny to watch Ty's teammate sneak up behind him and smash it all over his face.  Ha!

After a looong wait by myself in the car, the boy was finally ready to go. We went out to dinner to celebrate our exciting 24 hours and then headed back to the hotel to get some sleep.  Early the next morning, we were already on the road back to Reading.  We had left Allentown as the same two people who arrived there the previous day and all was back to normal... but something odd was happening around us.

Articles started pouring out, phone calls started coming in, texts and friend requests from people we hadn't talked to in years became overwhelming.

"Well this is new," I said to Ty confusedly.
"Yeah, weird," he replied.

On top of everyone still not understanding why the decision was made to take Tyler out of his perfect game, they now didn't understand why he was being demoted back to Double-A.  We tried to explain the situation, but no one wanted to accept it - especially the media, who was now referring to my husband as a young prospect that's been sliding under the radar, when earlier they were calling him old and not really a prospect at all.  It was a nice, yet very sudden change. Our personal lives even seemed to take a hit, when almost all of our family and friends were getting a hold of us only for reasons like autographs or hats or shirts or balls or baseball cards or programs or tickets...oh my!  Of course we knew how proud everyone was and we truly understand how lucky Tyler is to have so much support, but we realized people weren't taking into consideration that they weren't exactly the only one asking us for something.  I had to put my foot down; otherwise, I'd literally be spending Tyler's entire paychecks on his team's merchandise, ordering him to sit down and sign it all, and then making trips twice a day to the post office, only to be told by everyone that they would pay us back later.  Not exactly doable. :/

Nevertheless, even with all of the wonderful support, there were still plenty of people out there saying that Ty is still never going to make it.  They've practically made a hobby out of waiting around for him to fail. Unfortunately for those people, my husband and I keep in mind that if our God is for us, than who could be against us?  Together, we know to stay humble through whatever happens, and in every circumstance we make sure to say, "Thy will be done."  Whether Ty gets a chance in the big leagues or not, is not our decision to make, but until we find out, I thank God every day for my husband's health and talents and I pray that he will prosper in this career that God has chosen for him at the moment.

Ty has kept his momentum going and has already been recalled back to Triple-A after going 3-0 with a 1.80 ERA at Reading!  Since being recalled, one of Ty's starts was aired live on the MLB Network and he is now 7-1 with a 1.89 ERA on the year.  We firmly believe that all good works come only through Christ; therefore, we give Him all the honor and glory.   The start of this season has been such a joy!  I am so proud of Tyler and we are so blessed to be able to live this life together!  He is doing so well at his job, and better yet, he's an unbelievable husband.  Thank you to everyone who has helped him and I get to where we are today!  You have all been such a blessing to us!

Thank You!

Another Spring down in the record books for Tyler as his 2012 Spring Training quickly came to an end.  What a fun-filled couple of months in the Sunshine State!

My husband and I headed down the first week of February, barely escaping a ten-inch snow storm that hit the very night we left.  Of course Ty was thrilled to get out of town just in time, since all he had on his mind was throwing a baseball around in sunny Clearwater, FL.  I, on the other hand, absolutely love a giant snowfall, thus giving me an extra reason to cry my little heart out!

After waiving goodbye to my parents and our pets as we drove off down the street (hoping you're picturing that scene from the movie, Homeward Bound), I spent a good fifteen minutes crying in the passenger seat.  Soon enough however, I was content, remembering that I used my time wisely the night before downloading The Hunger Games audiobooks onto my iPod. I would finally be able to start these books that everyone was talking about! I leaned forward, plugged my iPod into the car stereo and sat back smiling, eager for the first book to begin.  After maybe the length of a paragraph, I looked over at Ty, prepared to tell him for the hundredth time just how excited I really was for this.  Before I could say a single word however, I realized I was being given "the look."  Now let's not confuse this with, what do you call them, bedroom eyes??        Nope.       I was being given the, "Really babe? I'm not too thrilled about this", look.  I was then persuaded to spend the rest of our car ride listening to my audiobooks through my own personal headphones.  Boooo.

We were welcomed again to stay a few nights with some of our family and friends during our journey to Florida.  It is always so great to have stopping points where you know someone!  Our friends in Georgia even have a pet deer that loves to give kisses and is also allowed in the house! Her name is Buttercup:

So cool!

Once we got to Florida we were welcomed with open arms by our new "host family."  They're an older couple that are Clearwater Thresher's (Phillies Class A Advanced) season ticket holders.  We had the honor of meeting them last year before my husband got moved up to AA.  If you remember, I even wrote about the Mrs. in my post from last season, as she helped me pack up the car when Ty got moved.  They absolutely love the players and genuinely care about them.  They even had some of us over last year for Easter, knowing that we couldn't be home with our own families on holidays like those.  Seriously, such wonderful people!  We were so blessed and even a little bit spoiled staying with them.  There was breakfast every morning and dinner every night.  They are both quite the awesome cooks. We had a whole wing of the house to ourselves and they even have a pool we were welcomed to use!  They were great companions to us too, as I would hang out with the Mrs. often and Ty would watch shows nightly with the Mr.  On top of all of that, they live about 30 seconds from the field; so literally, everything about it was perfect for us!  As we thanked them continuously time and time again, we were always told by the Mr. that this was their thank you to us.  Confused at first, I had him explain:

"We love to do all we can for you kids!  You've got to understand that your husband, and the rest of the ball players that come up through the system, are our nightly entertainment six months out of the year.  We love that we get the chance to watch these guys play ball and we are so appreciative that they actually play to their fullest!  These boys in the minor leagues are trying to get to the majors and we see that in their passion to play hard night after night.  We are happy to be a part of it and watch them grow, and we are happy that you wives share them with us.  So this is us giving back to you guys and letting you know that we appreciate what you do for us!"

What in the world?  I hadn't heard anything like that before.  These kind and enthusiastic words were so invigorating to me; therefore, I'm taking them and running with them...

In my latest post, "I Am Only Human", I was really giving yall a serious look inside our married life in minor league baseball.  It only speaks the truth about how time together with my husband is most certainly cut short during these crazy, beautiful baseball seasons.  NO calling in sick, NO days off, NO nights off, NO weekends off, and NO holidays off.  (Well technically they get at least one day off a month, although sometimes it's used to travel, but you get the picture.)  If you look at a baseball schedule, it's crazy. No matter how much we truly cherish this lifestyle we live, we are still faced with our own share of challenges.  After listening to what the Mr. had to say to us however, I found a new(actually old) way of looking at all of those "NOs," by looking through the eyes of the fans.

What better way to achieve that than to think back on the days of being a fan myself?

So...

I started by reminiscing back to my childhood years, back to when I was quite the shy, dorky, seven-year-old tomboy:

Awe yes, there I am! 

Note: No, I'm not adopted, and yes, my sister and I are holding our pet rabbits upside down. Now please, no more questions about this Christmas card worthy picture. :)

My cute little family lived in Colorado Springs, Colorado - home to the Colorado Springs Sky Sox (Rockies Triple A).  Every summer we'd all go out to that ballpark on numerous occasions, supplying myself with a lifetime of fun-filled memories.  It's funny though when I think back, because all of those memories really only consist of hotdogs, cotton candy, Bark in the Park (where fans are allowed to bring their dogs to certain games), and of course, my dad pushing my sister and I to ask for autographs from the random baseball players we knew nothing about.  Secretly however, I knew those players had to be a big deal; I mean, since practically every little boy looked up to them as their hero.  So I was always happy with my autographs when my dad gave me the courage to get them.

Then one day during my middle school years, my dad took one of my best friends and I to an actual Colorado Rockies game in Denver!   The atmosphere at that stadium is something I will never forget.  I remember walking in and being so overwhelmed by how much excitement the field had to offer.  After watching some of the game, and of course, downing our hotdogs and cotton candy, my dad gave us the brilliant idea to try and start the wave.  Yes, two ten-year-old girls trying to start the wave at a Major League Baseball game.  Hey Dad, let's be honest here, were you just trying to set us up for failure?  ;)   Well, we began our attempt.  At first, we had a couple fans yell at us as they were trying to keep book from the outfield, letting us know we were in their way and that if we wanted to do the wave then we should go to a football game.  A little discouraging.  Thanks to the help of a random, ridiculously drunk man in our section however, the wave was a success!  Obviously a very proud moment of my ten year life, I can still remember that wave going around all three levels of the stadium seven times!

Alright, so where am I going with this exactly?

In my story above, I have already explained.  What it all narrows down to is that the fans of baseball love their baseball, and for many different reasons at that.  The history, the team, the players, the stats, the food, the music, the atmosphere, you name it!  Baseball is in fact America's Pastime, which is why you're guaranteed to look around the diamond and observe the following almost every night: a father taking his son to his first game, a couple enjoying a date night together, a few old men conversing about top prospects while keeping book and reminiscing about the good ol' days, a group of beautiful girls trying their best to get the cutest baseball player's attention, a family eagerly awaiting the post-game fireworks show, and a man and all his buddies obnoxiously pounding down beer after beer after beer after beer.  You see, the fans will always come, and no matter how different their reasonings might be, they'll all be wearing the same jersey and singing the same song during the seventh-inning stretch.

Goodness that pumps me up for the next home game already! :)

Can I just take a second to say thank you though?
Because I sincerely mean it.

Through a fan's passion for the game, I have come up with a new way of looking at all of the minor challenges we are faced with; it goes like this:

Although there is NO calling in sick for my husband, I know there are fans out there that call in sick solely to attend my husband's place of work.

Although my husband has NO days off, I know there are fans out there that spend their days off at my husband's job.

Although my husband has NO nights off, I know there are fans out there that spend their nights off in my husband's "office."

Although my husband has NO weekends off, I know there are fans out there that spend their weekends off traveling on the road to support my husband on his "business trips."

and

Although my husband has NO holidays off, I know there are fans out there that spend their holidays at my husband's place of employment.


(Now obviously I'm not talking only about Ty's actual games he's pitching in. I'm using these expressions as a whole, meaning somebody somewhere is heading/has headed to a baseball game at some point in one of these circumstances.)

You fans truly make all the little sacrifices that Ty and I are faced with on a daily basis completely worth it!  Thank you so much for enjoying baseball, because if it weren't for the fans, my husband might have NO job at all.  I will gladly accept all of those other "NOs" I've mentioned above to avoid that one! The opportunity I have to go to a baseball game every night to watch my husband do what he loves to do is such a wonderful blessing.  What's even better to me though, is knowing that he can share that with people that are eager to attend a baseball game as well, whatever their reasoning might be. So thank you for attending, and see yall out at the field this summer!

I hope everyone enjoyed Spring Training 2012 as much as I did!  I really can't complain about all of the beach time I got in with the other wives; it was such a blast!!

My husband also had a great spring.  He was officially told the day before camp broke that we would be starting out the season in AA again with the Reading Phillies.  We were very happy to be heading north, but we never quite got the time to settle in.

Holy April...