Relief Work Last Night

Last night, I arrived at the field we were playing on and instantly discovered that there was a major key item missing.  A bullpen.  Being in relief for that game, I was pretty upset.  However, I went through my normal pregame; stretching, joking, jogging, throwing, joking, sitting.  Our starter threw a decent first few innings.  He gave up a lot of balls and wasn't working ahead in the count, but got out of jams.  Our second reliever threw just as well.  By this point, I began to realize the number of pitchers we had on hand.  I was called over by my coach and asked if I could sit this night out and be in first relief tomorrow (tonight).  I figured, "I'm already sitting, so why not?"

However, by the time our 3rd reliever came in, his pitch count was getting rather high.  I was told to stretch out and start throwing, with no bullpen.  I threw about 30 balls to get loose and spun a few off speeds to get a feel for my pitches, and of course we go 1-2-3 at the plate.  I was in.  I was told I was only going to pitch to two batters so we could get our closer some work as well.  I worked the first batter to a 3-2 count and got him to lazily fly out on a two-seamer inside which he fisted.  The second batter should have struck out as I put a two-seamer by him twice.  I went with slider in and he lazily flew out to left as well.

That was the extent of my time on the mound last night,  I was pretty happy with the performance being as it was the first time on a mound at all during the game.  I'm in long relief tonight and will surely see an inning plus.  I'm excited as the team we're playing won the entire league last year.  Should be a fun competitive game.