Day 31

I'm still dealing with that cold, but it hasn't really limited me. This is way too important to let a little congestion slow me down.

In the cages this week we started working with live hitting. We've each only been thorough the cages once with this so far. It definitely takes some getting used to after having been in a very sterile umpiring environment for most of the past month, but I was fine after a couple pitches.

On the field, I finally got my first ejection yesterday...then three more today. So I've got that off my back. The first one was actually pretty fun. The runner missed first base on his way to a double. The defense appealed and I called the runner out. One of the instructors acting as manager came out to argue the call. It happened to be one of the head instructors who is about a foot taller than me. He was yelling and in my face (or above my face. whatever). In the end, I ejected him. Then he bumped me for good measure. But I didn't back down and overall handled it very well. Today I had a manager yelling at me about an interference call, a batter drawing lines with his bat, and a manager arguing balls and strikes. So they finally started throwing things at me. And it feels good.

Still, I've had some lapses. I messed up the positioning on a few of my plays in the field involving trouble balls. Obviously, I'd like to get everything right, but that's unrealistic. As long as I don't make any mistakes that cause me to miss calls, I think I'll be okay. Now I'm working on reading plays more quickly, which is happening as I get more experience with more games. I've got a couple more days to work everything out and make my last impressions. Hopefully it all works out.