Went to the batting cages with Karyn this week on Thursday. It was the first time I'd swung a baseball bat at something that was actually being pitched at me in about a decade. I had 6 tokens, each token getting me 14 pitches. I started off in the softball cages (of which they had 3: high arc, medium arc, and low arc) and tried each cage once. I hit almost every ball in each cage as a perfect solid line drive. Great contact, each would have been a perfectly placed basehit. So I knew my mechanics were still there, otherwise I would have been hitting tons of ground balls and popups. Then I decided to try the baseball cages with my remaining three tokens. They had 6 baseball cages (35 mph, 40, 50, 60, 75, and 80 mph). Since all the slowest were full of young'uns , I stepped into the 60 mph cage which I was sure I could hit. At first I looked a fool whiffing at the first several, but I soon found my timing and started hitting them. The last few may have even gone for home run distance in a small ballpark (had they been allowed to travel that far). So I confidently stepped into the 75 mph cage. Big mistake. I think I might have made contact with 4 of the balls and only one of those traveled forward. Pretty embarrassing, especially since the 14 year old kid behind me stepped in and hit at least 5. Oh well, I had a good excuse not having swung a bat for so long. My hands are now blistered as hell, and my whole body hurts like a mo-fo (ask the L-Train about his similar experiences). Hopefully with a couple more trips, my soreness will start to subside and my blisters will callus up. By then I should be smacking liners in the 80 mph cages. Next step.... spring training 2005!!

- these thoughts flowed through Jeff's fingers @ 10:42 PM