Hello from Florida,

Well, it’s been quite an eventful last few weeks since I last had time to sit down and post a blog. We’re here in Miami now getting ready to face off in the ‘rubber game’ against the Florida Marlins, one of our big NL East rivals and a team that is playing great in the very competitive division. A ‘rubber match’ is a baseball term used to describe the third game of a three-game series in which each team wins one of the first two games. Whoever wins the third game of this series wins what we call the ‘rubber game.’

That has me thinking about baseball lingo. There are so many phrases is the game that we use sitting in the dugout and I always wonder: would a fan know what we’re talking about. Let’s go through some of my favorites and their real life meanings.

Baseball Term: A ‘Can of Corn’

An easy fly ball that we catch in the outfield

Baseball Term: A ‘Bronx Cheer’

When the crowd boos (Although I will say this, the crowds in Philadelphia are incredible when it comes to boo-ing a player, so they should rename this ‘A Citizens Bank Cheer.’

Baseball Term: ‘Cheese’

A really good fastball

Baseball Term: ‘Texas Leaguer’

A bloop base hit that falls between the infielder and the outfielder

Baseball Term: ‘Uncle Charlie’

A really good curveball

Sorry to divert a little bit from the subject, but after writing the word ‘rubber game’ that got me thinking. What’s your favorite baseball term?

The All Star Break was last week and it’s an opportunity for everyone on the team to get away from the baseball field for a few days and clear their minds. Some of our players – including Chipper Jones and Brian McCann – had great First Halves of the season and were members of the 2008 National League All Star team that played in New York. Both of those guys were more than deserving of the honor. I’m really happy for both Chipper and Brian. As many of you know, Brian and I came up together and have been great friends for years. To be a teammate of Chipper’s – just to watch him play the game the right way everyday – is still amazing. I read a story about Chipper the other day where one of our Minor League players – Tyler Flowers – told Chipper that Chipper actually visited Tyler’s class when he Tyler was in 4th grade. Yes, 4th grade. We’ve got to give Chipper a hard time for that. The fact that Chipper’s doing what he’s doing at this age is incredible.

I spend three days down here in Florida during the break with my closest family members. I arrived in Florida at about 2 a.m. (we played our last game before the break in Los Angeles) and woke up early the next day to spend some time on the beach with my brother, D.J., and my brother in law Barrett. After a full day at the beach, I got out on the golf course early the next morning for a round of golf with my dad, D.J., and Barrett. As a professional athlete, I’m competitive in most everything that I do, and golf is another sport where I absolutely hate to lose. So there is no such thing as a nice relaxing round with my brother and brother-in-law. It’s all about competition with me. Four-foot putts may not be as scary as a 95 MPH fastball, but at that moment they were just as important.

The next few weeks are going to be very important for this ballclub. July 31st is the Trade Deadline, and each team at that time of the year determines if they are ‘buyers’ or ‘sellers’. (More baseball terminology. Although instead of buying or selling stock, if you trade for a good player you are a ‘buyer’, and if you trade a great player for a bunch of young prospects, you are a ‘seller.’ ) Last year, we added Mark Teixiera, so we were definitely ‘buyers’. Every player wants to be on a team that adds top flight talent for a run at the Playoffs/World Series. We are 7.0 games back today with a little over two months to go, so I’m excited to see what we will do in the next 10 days. These may be the most important two weeks of our season. But it all starts, of course, tonight with the ‘rubber game’.

Best,

Jeff