‘2009 Season’ Articles

The key to holding runners on is that you have to be unpredictable. Base runners, just like hitters, try to pick up on pitcher’s patterns. First base coaches time the pitcher’s delivery to home to see if they are repeating their approach to the plate.

Ways to change things up:

• Mix your looks up to first. Sometimes look over once; other times look over three or four times.
• Mix your leg kick (high vs. slide step).

Unless the other team has a very aggressive manager, it’s rare for runners to try to steal a base in the ninth inning. The team is looking for a rally. If a runner gets picked off or is caught stealing, he can kill a potential rally and seal a loss. Still, a pitcher can’t ignore speedy runners at first base. He has to do his part in holding runners close!

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As a closer, Joakim never knows when he is going to pitch. Before batting practice, he usually throws from 110 feet. He throws for six or seven minutes but never goes to the mound. If he hasn’t pitched for a while, he stretches his arm out. He may go out to 150 feet for about eight-10 tosses and then starts working his way back in to 110 feet for six or seven minutes, and then to 90 feet.

When some players long toss, they may throw from as far as 300 feet. Joakim is a firm believer that if you want to stretch your arm, you have to stick to a distance that you can control.

"You can’t control 300 feet," he says. "Why go farther than your control point? It will burn you out to throw later at night." In short, save bullets!

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Joakim is having a lot of fun on Twitter. At first, he didn’t know what to expect, but now, he’s very surprised by the number of people who are his followers. He wasn’t very good at tweeting when he started, but he’s getting the hang of it.

Several of his teammates are on Twitter as well, including Coco Crisp and Mark Teahen. If you aren’t keeping up with his tweets yet, you can follow Joakim at twitter.com/JoakimSoria.

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Joakim Soria is thankful his stay on the 15-day disabled list is over. So are the Royals.

Joakim’s trip to the DL led to a wave of Royals following him. There were pitchers Sidney Ponson, Robinson Tejeda and Doug Waechter; position players John Buck, Mike Aviles and Alex Gordon; and Coco Crisp has now made that unwelcomed trek to the DL.

The absence of Joakim and these other key players sent the Royals from the top of the American League Central standings to near the bottom. But having Joakim, sidelined with a sore arm, back should reverse that slide.

Not that the Royals wanted to rush their star reliever back. Not at all. They wanted to make certain that when Joakim was ready to return, he could return – and not one day sooner. Read more about Joakim’s Ready To Go

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The Royals renovated Kauffman Stadium, a ballpark with a rich history, for the 2009 season. Fans have raved about the stadium’s new look. So has Joakim.

“They did an awesome job on the stadium,” he said. “More fans have come out, and its a really good time.”

The stadium seems more fan-friendly. It has the sports bar, a new scoreboard and the Diamond Club.

As far as the player amenities go, the Royals redid the clubhouse in 2008, so nothing needed to be done there. It remains as spacious and as comfortable has it’s always been.

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