Dein erstes Forum » emulate. Winning games is all

Marcus Stroman is having the worst statistical season of his brief career. Coming off an injury-abbreviated 2015 in which he went 4-0 with a 1.67 ERA and helped the Toronto Blue Jays into the playoffs, Stroman was pegged as one of this years most exciting, young starting pitchers. Instead, the 25-year-old Duke graduate has one of the highest ERAs and WHIPs among major league starters. He knows its impossible to hide from his failures -- and the whispers that his work is deserving of a trip to the minors. I will never second-guess myself, he says. I always trust Ill be able to endure tough times because I never get lazy. Im relentless. While Stromans struggles have created much doubt among online commenters, the New York native has heard it before. Here, he opens up about his haters, his teammates, his comeback from a devastating knee injury last season and his father, Earl -- the man who prepared him for moments like this.I read it all.I see everything anyone says about me. I read the blogs. I read the tweets. Thats fuel. Thats motivation. I see people say I should be sent to [Triple-A] Buffalo, that I should be in the bullpen, that I shouldnt be in the majors. Those are the same people who said I shouldnt have played college baseball at Duke. Theyre the ones who said Im 5-foot-8 and that I was too short to be a starting pitcher. Now Im struggling, and Im hearing it all again.Fine. I like to have those doubters in my life.I went through it last year when I tore my ACL. I was in the doctors office. The trainer was with me. The doctor felt around my knee. He just shook his head and said, Its torn. I was crushed. I sat there for a couple of minutes and collected myself. I knew my mindset. I was coming back. I called my mom. I called my dad. I called my best friend. They were devastated. I hung up, collected myself again. I called my mom again. I said: Call Duke, Im going back to school.When I got there, I told the doctors in North Carolina that I wanted to be back by playoff time. There were no promises, but we were going to attack. It was relentless: Wake up at 8 a.m., foam-roll, stretch, breakfast. Id go to my first workout. Hour-and-a-half to two hours. Pool work. Ball stuff. Strengthening the knee. Everything was intense. Id go back to the apartment, go to class for two hours. Id do another two-hour workout with my other trainer. Crush it. After that, it was back to the house, eat dinner and go to night class. Six days a week. And then Id get up and do it again.That attitude comes from my dad. Hes a police detective. Hes about my height, real stocky. My parents divorced when I was in the fifth grade, but he moved just a mile away. My dad knew I was going to be undersized. He preached to me that I had to play with a chip on my shoulder. I had to have confidence in myself when other people might not. That became my way of thinking: always to turn a negative into a positive. Work as hard as possible. Most importantly, enjoy it all. Like Drake said: If Im not having fun with it, Im done with it. Its true.My dad saw the talent in me, but he knew if I was going to make it, I needed to have the drive. I wasnt going to get by on physical stature. We didnt get along well in the early years because he was so hard on me. He wanted me to be great. I wasnt the kid outside playing with friends. I was working out. I was in the gym. I was practicing. I was 6 years old, 7, 8, 9, 10. I was at the track, running with parachutes, running hills. Id be out there when high school varsity teams were practicing. If I wasnt doing that, then I was on the field throwing, taking ground balls, taking swings, shooting baskets, throwing the football. Then I was at home doing work. When I was done, Id do more work. My dad wanted me to be ahead. Hed give me the newspaper and make me read articles and help me with reading comprehension. Id read the articles, and hed question me. My dad was preparing me mentally, in every way. Ive got a tattoo on my wrist now. It says, Daddys Gift.That work helped when Ive faced adversity. Ill never have to go through anything harder than when I was rehabbing that knee. I came back in five-and-a-half months from a completely torn ACL on my landing leg. Think about that. We werent going at it at a normal nine- to 12-month pace. In five-and-a-half months, I made it back to a big league game. Sept. 12. Its not like I was just rehabbing, either. I was overloading on classes. I got my degree from Duke. All the pieces fell perfectly. Now that I look back, it couldnt have gone better. Nothing went wrong for me that entire summer.Now Im struggling.This game can consume you. It can eat at you. Ive learned that. Im going through it. Coming off a bad game, Im frustrated because of the work I put in. But the wheels are already turning as to what I can do better in my next outing. Im at the field from 2 to 11 every single day. Im training. Im working on my delivery, working on my mechanics, on my pitches. I get in the video room and see where my delivery was. I make small adjustments to get back on top of my sinkerball. Im always thinking, always trying to better my game. Dawg, theres no one thats going to work harder than me.Its impossible to escape the criticism. I go through those tweets. I have to deal with it. When youre struggling, everythings under a magnifying glass. Im not going to overthink and make the rest of my life unhappy. People doubt me and say I shouldnt be in the position where I am. I hear the noise.What drives me is seeing what Clayton Kershaw is doing, what Jake Arrieta is doing. I want to be there. I want to be the best in the game. I want to be a perennial All-Star. I want to take my team to the World Series. I want to be the staple, the ace you can count on every fifth game to get a win. The guy who you can count on to take you to the playoffs every year. I dont play this game to be mediocre. I dont coast. Im not average. Average isnt gratifying. I never want to get comfortable. Mediocrity scares me. You dont train as hard as you can to be fine with OK results. I dont play this game just to play.Baseball excites me. I want to fully reach my potential, and I dont think Im close to that yet. Im a starter. Ive shown I can be a dominant starter. My value is as a starter. I believe in that. I want to go six, seven, eight, nine innings. I was in the pen in 2014, struggled, and was sent down. People said the same things theyre saying now: He cant pitch. Hes too short. His fastballs too flat. I went down two weeks and came up, found a sinker somewhere in there. Im still learning. Im still growing in this process. Im aware of that. Im going to struggle at times, but those struggles wont last.Yes, I could end up in Buffalo. Do I think I belong in Buffalo? Not at all. If the Blue Jays think I need to be there, thats their decision. Im in a good place mentally and physically. Things are going to turn around. Im not the only believer. Everyone in my clubhouse believes that. Coaches believe that. Teammates believe that.There are these little key notes I get from the guys, little points. Im on the perfect team. I have unbelievable talks with Buehrle, LaTroy Hawkins, Estrada, Bautista, Donaldson, Tulo, Martin. I have the best group of guys to learn from. Im thankful for that. Jose Bautista took me under his wing from the second I got to the majors. Hes my mentor. Ive learned so much from him. Hes a guy whos been there for me. He saw when I was going through this rough patch. People in the clubhouse have faith in me every time Im on the mound. These are All-Stars telling me this. Theyve been there for me through the good and even more through the bad. They know how driven I am. They say, Stro, this is temporary. I have to be able to deal with this if I want to be elite. Theres been a low point for every player. Theres been a challenge theyve had to get through. My teammates are throwing confidence on me and letting me know Im still the guy. Im faltering a little bit, but theyre still going to rock with me.At the end of the day, Im lucky. My life is amazing. Thats why I can deal with this. Ive had success in the majors. Ive gone nine innings. Ive gone eight. Ive pitched in the playoffs. I know its there. Its just disconnected for a bit. But this little disconnection is going to create a stronger individual. Im a confident, hard-working visionary with big dreams for my friends, family and myself. Baseball is my passion. I know mentally, physically, emotionally, Im stronger than most. I can get through anything. Scarpe Air Max 97 Outlet . -- Chicago Bears cornerback Tim Jennings was selected Monday to his second straight Pro Bowl, while guard Kyle Long made it after a solid rookie season. Nike Air Max Saldi . -- There were a lot of firsts for the Edmonton Oilers on Tuesday night. http://www.scontateoutletairmax.it/vans-scarpe-economiche.html . John Lucas, signed as a mentor for rookie Trey Burke, showed he can score if required, scoring 12 points of his 16 points in the second quarter as Utah built an 18-point lead. Nike Air Max Prezzo Basso . Barcelona also left injured defenders Carles Puyol, Javier Mascherano and Jordi Alba out of its squad for the trip to Glasgow. That means that Marc Bartra will probably start again in the centre of the defence alongside Gerard Pique. Balenciaga Scarpe Scontate . The person spoke to The Associated Press on condition of anonymity because the Lions have not announced the hiring, which was first reported by ESPN. Lombardi, the grandson of former Green Bay Hall of Fame coach Vince Lombardi, has been an offensive assistant on Sean Paytons New Orleans staff since 2007.In his first column for Sky Sports, Birmingham Bears batsman Laurie Evans gets set for the start of the 2016 NatWest T20 Blast on Friday, by talking about the Bears new captain, big-hitting Baz, and the World T20 winners... There is no doubt that us players are eagerly awaiting the return of the Friday night lights of the T20 Blast.The cold of April and early May seems to have disappeared, and fans too will be excited for the start of the T20, but for players and coaches, our planning began way back in the winter months. The T20 Blast is back this Friday as the Essex Eagles takes on Surrey live on Sky Sports 2 from 7pm Cricket is transforming at a serious pace and getting ahead is what everybody is working hard for. If you sit still in this form of the game, you get left behind.Ive been fortunate enough to make back-to-back finals-day appearances for the Birmingham Bears, being part of a winning team in 2014.Some are expecting similar success this year, but our new skipper Ian Bell certainly isnt letting us rest on our laurels. Ian Bell has made his mark as Warwickshire captain So far in four-day cricket, he has encouraged method, hard work and graft, but I know for sure hell be looking for us to attack from ball one in our first game on Friday at Nottinghamshire.He wants the guys to express themselves, and he made that clear from the start by telling everyone on our pre-season tour, you dont find anything out by sticking to what you know.True to his word, he gave me a chance to captain against the bbig-hitting might of the West Indies ahead of their World T20 win, which I thoroughly enjoyed.dddddddddddd It was a great honour. West Indies World T20 big-hitters posed a big test in pre-season Personally, I reflected on last years T20 campaign with mixed feelings and have really worked over the winter to push myself and my game forward.Hitting sixes is a skill, and is great fun to work on, but theres a perfect world which exists as a batsman in T20 cricket, a nice blend of effortless boundary hitting with relative low risk.The reality is though that striving for consistent match-winning performances without the risk of losing a wicket is a difficult thing to do. Brendon McCullum offered some invaluable advice during his spell at Birmingham last year When Brendon McCullum was with the Bears, he said to me, I look to come off maybe once every seven games.Hes one of the worlds best and even he knows its not going to happen every time he runs down the wicket.Remaining calm and moving on when it hasnt been your day are important. Play with a smile, he also always said.This year, we have another Black Cap in Luke Ronchi with us at the Bears. Having had Jeetan Patel for such a long time now, as well as Baz last year, I certainly feel there is something honest about the Kiwis. The brand of cricket they play is all about putting the team first and getting the win. Thats something I certainly try and emulate. Winning games is all that matters.Hopefully we get off to a winning start on Friday at Notts and in our first home game against Worcestershire the following Friday, May 27, a game which is live on Sky Sports.Theres no doubt this game is the most fun to play, and the crowds are a big part of that. Edgbaston really does seem to create a unique atmosphere, and hopefully we get a full house in for that first home game. Watch the first live game of the 2016 T20 Blast between Essex and Surrey from 7pm on Sky Sports 2 on Friday. Then catch Laurie Evans in action for the Birmingham Bears against Worcestershire Rapids on Friday, May 27, also on Sky Sports 2 from 6.45pm. Also See: WATCH: The Blast is back! WATCH: Top Blast moments Live cricket on Sky Get Sky Sports ' ' '