I didn't update after my 5th start but I am happy to say that both my 5th and 6th starts went well. On Thursday, I carried a no hitter into the 5th, unfortunately I lost the no no and the shutout on 1 pitch as Bakersfield's catcher hit a solo home run. My final line was 5 1/3 2 hits 1 run 2 walks and 9 strikeouts.

It was nice to do well but the most exciting part of the night was that I got my first 2 at bats since High School. We didn't have any reserve position players so when our center fielder got hurt making a nice diving catch I got to bat. It was a really bizarre feeling standing in the on deck circle but once I got in the box it came back a little bit and I didn't feel so out of place. I fouled off two pitches and then struck out in my 1st at bat. In my 2nd at bat I took 4 straight pitches and walked. When you go such a long time without hitting it really makes you appreciate how much fun it is to be on the other side of the pitcher vs. hitter battle.

Last night against San Jose was easily the best fastball command I have had in my career. I ended up going 6 1/3 5 hits 2 runs 2 earned 0 walks and 4 strikeouts. Against a team that swings the bat as well as San Jose you have to be happy limiting them to 2 runs over 6 innings.

I did an interview with one of the radio broadcasters a few days ago. Check it out and don't judge me those Are You Smarter Than a 5th are hard.

I made my 4th start of the season against the Modesto Nuts (Rockies) on Saturday. Unfortunately, Saturday happened to be one of those starts where something was a little off and I really struggled to throw strikes, even walking the 1st batter of the game on 4 pitches. I had to battle the entire game and only lasted 4 1/3 innings while throwing 100 pitches but I can at least be proud of the fact that I only gave up 2 earned runs and left the game with my team winning. As a pitcher you are going to have days where you don't have your best stuff or struggle to throw strikes, that doesn't mean you can just mail it in and say, "oh well I'm going to get rocked today."

I did an interview with Melissa Lockard of Scout.com last week. If you are interested in checking it out here is the link. If you aren't a subscriber click this link as gocrimson.com also carried the interview.

The Stockton Ports are doing quick profiles on each member of the 2010 team. Here is the link to my profile.

I know it is really late, as I make my 4th start of the season tonight but I thought I would post a quick recap of my 3rd start. I pitched against the Dodgers affiliate Inland Empire. I faced the most of the guys on Inland Empire last year in the Midwest when they played for Great Lakes. Great Lakes was known for having a bunch of players who could hit the ball out of the ball park especially Kyle Russell who had 27 home runs, which is a tremendous feat in the minor leagues, in 2009.

Any time you are facing a team that hits for power you really need to focus on getting ahead and keeping the ball down in the zone. This is because you don't want a hitter with power to be able to sit on a certain pitch and take an aggressive hack at it, rather you want them to be on the defensive, constantly behind in the count. You want to keep the ball down because it is harder to lift a ball over the fence that is down in the zone because the natural path of the bat is going to hit the top of the ball more times than not.

I was pretty effective in getting ahead and keeping the ball down (I gave up 1 home run on a 1-2 curveball that would have bounced had Kyle Russell not reached out in front of the plate and hit it over the fence) going 6 innings giving up 3 runs, walking 1 and striking out 8 for my 2nd win of the season.