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.

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.

I made my 2nd start of the 2010 season 2 nights ago against the Bakersfield Blaze (Rangers). I admittedly was a little nervous before the game because Bakersfield's Stadium is famous for having a tiny dimensions especially to centerfield where it is 354 feet***. Once I watched batting practice I felt much better because the park played much deeper than its dimensions because the wind would knock everything down.

***The short porch was not the only unique thing about Bakersfield's ball park (Sam Lynn Ballpark). The field was built in the opposite direction that the baseball fields are meant to be built in. This may not seem like a huge deal except for the fact that this means the sun sets directly behind the centerfield fence and directly into the eyes of the batter and the catcher. To combat this problem a monstrous batters eye was constructed behind the centerfield fence so that as the sun began to set it would be blocked by the batter's eye thus allowing the batter and the catcher to see the ball rather than being blinded by the sun. This would have been a great solution but unfortunately the sun blocking batter's eye was built during the winter when the sun comes down in a different place than it does during the summer. Now if you go to Sam Lynn Ballpark as the sun is going down you can watch as the sun goes right to the left of the batter's eye that was supposed to block it. I've seen a lot of quirky ball parks in my few years in minor league baseball but so far Sam Lynn takes the cake.***

After my last start where I struggled with commanding my curveball I really wanted to focus on getting my curveball breaking how I wanted it and ending up where I want it to go. This is different than how I normally warm up in that I usually focus on getting my fastball and change up locked in to both sides of the plate and only spin 4 or 5 curveballs. I do this because if I can locate my fastball down to my glove side and my arm side then my mechanics are where I need them to be. I don't need to throw a ton of breaking balls because the only difference between my fastball and my curveball is my hand position at release.

The curveball turned out to be the key against Bakersfield because they are a great fastball hitting team. I was able to get ahead with a curve or a change up and then keep them guessing later in the count. In the end it was a successful day, 6 innings pitched 4 hits 1 run 0 walks and 2 strikeouts.

One thing I have noticed on this road trip is that it is much harder to have a set pre game routine on the road than at home. At home I know that I get out on the field 45 minutes before game time, stretch and run for 15 minutes, do dry work for 5 minutes, throw out to 120 feet, come in and throw 6 change ups at 80 feet until 15 minutes before the game, warm up in the bullpen for 10 to 12 minutes, simulate the first 2 batters of the game and then walk down to the dugout to rest for 2 minutes before the 1st pitch. On the road you don't really know when the first pitch is going to be and you don't know how long the top of the 1st inning is going to take. I have always been the type of pitcher who would prefer to get ready to early on the road so what I have been doing is getting completely warm before the National Anthem. After the Anthem is over I wait for the opposing pitcher to take the field at which point I simulate the first two batters of the game and then head down to the dugout. It doesn't give me exactly the same amount of time before I get on the mound each game but it give me a sense of normalcy that puts me at ease before the game starts. What are your thoughts? What do you do at home vs. when you are on the road?

Baseball season is officially here! Two nights ago I made my first start of the season, which also happened to be opening day for the California League, against the Visalia Rawhide (Diamondbacks). I had never experienced an opening day as a starter in my minor league career and I was excited to get the 2010 season off to a good start for the team and for myself.

My focus going into the game was to establish my fastball and change up to both sides of the plate and try to force some early weak contact. The California League is a notorious for being a hitters league so my hope was that I could work down in the zone to to get ground balls.

In the end I felt like I executed my game plan well and was helped out by a few great plays by my defense so that I was able to go 4 1/3 innings with 0 runs, 3 hits, 3 walks and 5 strikeouts. I could do without the three walks but for the first start of the year I can't be too upset.

A few days ago I was lucky enough to get to go and dress for a big league game (often times minor leaguers are sent as back up just in case the scheduled pitchers don't make it through their allotted inning(s)). Although I didn't get into the game it was awesome to get to experience the light at the end of the tunnel for a day.

Going "across the street" as we call it in the A's organization also afforded me the opportunity to see how the big leaguers go about their business. The biggest thing that I will take away from that day is that there is a definite reason why major league pitchers are able to locate the way they do.

The reason for this is the way that they go through their throwing program. Just as a quick aside, the throwing program is basically what we, as pitchers, do every day to get ourselves loose for early work, bullpens, flat grounds etc. The distance and throws vary based on when the last time you pitched and when you are going to pitch again. I didn't really notice that most minor leaguers were not getting the most out of this program, myself included, until I saw the pitchers on the major league staff play catch.

Rather than throwing to get loose, the big league pitchers executed every single throw with a purpose. The key to pitching is repeating your delivery. I know a lot is said about mechanics, arm slots or whatever but you can be very successful repeating a bad delivery from a funky arm slot. What separates the major league pitchers from the minor league pitchers is that they are working on repeating their delivery every single time they throw the baseball while most minor leaguers work on repeating their delivery when they are on a mound.

It makes sense that the more times you throw a baseball the same way the more it is going to be natural to to throw the baseball that way when you are on the mound with the bases loaded and have a full count.

My ultimate goal is to make it to the major leagues, and stay there, so I have made some changes in how I play catch.

1- I don't just throw to the person I am throwing with. I pick a spot on his jersey or pants and try to throw to that small spot. When I am on the mound I am trying to locate to exact spots, why do anything different when I am playing catch?

2- I really focus on keeping my weight back and riding my back leg rather than diving with my shoulder. This has been my major mechanical adjustment as compared to last year. Although I am doing well so far with it, it doesn't help me to have bad habits when I am playing catch.

3- I always stick my landing and get over my front leg. If you want to locate in the bottom of the zone you need to land on a solid base and throw over your front leg. If you play catch every day and don't finish with your head on target over your front leg why are you going to do it when you get on a mound?

HItters are so big, strong and smart today that pitchers really need to have superb command to get outs at the major league level. The only way you are going to accomplish this is to have a delivery that you can repeat.

Its been quite some time since I last posted here is what I have been up to.

- The first three weeks of spring training have gone pretty well. It was amazing how much of an adjustment it was to throw outside after throwing inside for 3 months. The first day every other throw was either way to high or was bouncing because my depth perception was all out of whack. Fortunately after about 20 throws I was able to adjust.

- As mentioned in previous blogs I made a few mechanical adjustments this off season to help me command my pitches more effectively and to protect myself from injury. My focus has been to really control my front side and not rush out towards the plate as well as not throw across my body quite so much. Right now I am probably executing 90 percent of the pitches how I want to and 10 percent I fall into my old bad habit of diving towards the plate. I just need to focus on my dry work to make my new mechanics muscle memory.

- Legendary A's pitcher Dave Stewart came to talk to all the pitchers in minor league camp. He offered a very unique approach to pitching. For Dave Stewart every single person he faced was trying to take something from him. Every hitter was trying to take a win from him, take money out of his pocket. He said he would do anything to fight, kick, scratch, whatever it takes to to make sure that no one ever took anything from him. The best part of the meeting was that towards the end of the meeting he was holding a small water bottle and he challenged anyone to come up and try to take it from him, no one was crazy enough to try to make a move for that water bottle because you just knew that he would die before ever letting someone have that water bottle. It was amazing to see how single minded you need to be to compete at the major league level.

Now that I am in the routine of Spring Training I should have more time to post so until next time.

ps. thanks to my dad for the spring training photo

When watching video from the side you really want focus on 2 things. First, is the pitchers weight over the rubber before his hands break? In this video I do a pretty good job of getting a solid post and not leaking forward before I break my hands. When I am struggling this is the first thing that I look to correct because if my timing at my balance point is off then my arm is going to drag and I am going to have trouble locating. Second, is the pitcher "sticking his landing" and getting over his front side or he is spinning off causing his momentum to go side to side. As someone who throws across their body I really need to focus on getting my momentum going towards home plate. On the first two pitches I spin off, falling to the first base side. On the third pitch I do a much better job as evidenced by the fact that I finish with my hips pointed at home plate. When I am "spinning off" I am not going to be able to get full extension causing my pitches to be flat.

Most people use the rear view to examine the pitcher's line, by this I mean does the pitcher land open, closed or straight. As you can see I am a pitcher who lands closed. A lot of pitching coaches will tell you that this is something that you can't be successful doing. As a general rule this may be the case but I would argue that it is the pitcher's ability to get his hips through that is more important than where your foot lands. In the video above you can see that my hips to get square to the plate at my release point. This is not to say that I don't try to straighten out my line, (in fact the video above is significantly better than I was this past season) getting your hips squared when you land across your body can be more difficult than when you land on a straight line.

While it is important for a pitcher to analyze his mechanics on a day to day basis a lot of times a pitcher is blinded by seeing themselves every day and can miss glaring weaknesses. This is where you come in. What do you think about my mechanics? What drills would you recommend I do to improve my mechanics?

Direct your comments to the comments box below or to the "Ask Shawn" section on the top toolbar.

The past few weeks ESPN has been running articles that with the aim at educating baseball fans on the statistical revolution in baseball. "Hot Stove U" as it is called, tackles issues such as, why the games best hitters hate to see Ryan Braun in the batters box, why stat oriented teams are beginning to focus on defense and my personal favorite, why Derek Jeter is on track to be the 2nd best shortstop to ever play the game.

As with most kids who grew up a Yankee fan in the in the past 15 years, Jeter was my favorite player. However, my admiration was mostly based on qualities that could not really be quantified. I loved that he played the game the right way and how he always seemed to be in the right place on the field. I was amazed at his ability to consistently be at the heart of a Yankee rally and how he performed so well when the games really mattered.

However, it was always hard to argue that Jeter was better than Nomar, or A-Rod or even Miguel Tejada because he never really put up eye popping offense numbers; Jeter was just consistently good. This is the argument of the author David Schoenfield, he argues that Jeter is going to blow by 3000 hits in 2011 and has won 4 gold gloves (even if you argue that he only deserves 1 of them). Since Jeter arrived in 2006 you could basically pencil him in for a .300 batting average, an OBP of .385 and 100 runs scored. Just one season like that would be considered a career year for a shortstop but Jeter has averaged that over his 15 year career and is not showing signs of slowing down any time soon.

Despite the gaudy numbers and the fact that he is arguably the most athletic player in the country. Dyson is rated the 77th player in this years upcoming draft. This makes sense with a player like Luke Harangody but not a guy with Dyson's game.

Sunday was a football filled day, my fiance made a big dinner while we watched Peyton Manning dismantle the Jets defense (he even was able to hit some receivers on Revis island) and Brett Favre gun sling his way to another overtime loss in the NFC championship game (I can close my eyes and see Corey Webster picking Favre off at Lambeau Field).

Really the game was decided by two other blunders. First, Brad Childress, in an attempt to confuse the Saints but instead confused his team, made a late substitution causing a 5 yard penalty and forcing the Vikings into the play that Favre threw the interception on. Bill Simmons has consistently criticized Brad Childress' end of game management and today Childress certainly lived down to expectations.

The second blunder was the NFL's refusal to institute a legitimate overtime situation. Since 2003, the team who wins the coin toss goes on to win the game approximately 60 percent of the time. It seems asinine to let a well played 60 minute football game be decided by a coin flip and a kicker. Imagine a college style overtime with Favre and Brees at quarterback. It would have been legendary.

I'm the type of person that has to do something while I am watching television. This weekend I was addicted to Sporcle.com. There are a lot great quizzes but easily the two hardest I tried were:

Can you name the MLB WAR (Wins Over Replacement) Leaders by Team and Year in the National League?the National League?

and

Can you name the 100 Greatest Movie Characters according to Empire Online?

I was able to get 60% of the National League WAR leaders and 70 out of 100 movie characters, see if you can beat me.