Chop Wood. Carry Water.

Dear Ricky:

The one and only time I ever talked to you in person was in 2009. I gave you a pep talk. You laughed at it (it was more of a hearty chuckle), but let's look at the results. Since my pep talk, you got a big contract. You made the All Star Team. You dated hot women.  Clearly, I am powerful.

I have some concerns about your recent comments and tweets. It seems you have a problem with your command, particularly fastball command. Pitching, as you know, is about 80% fastball command.  Without fastball command, your off speed stuff is useless. It makes it hard to be effective.  None of these things are things you don't know.

What concerns me more is that your struggles are starting to weigh on your head a little, that you are listening to the chatter on Twitter and it's bringing you down.

“It's frustrating. I've just got to keep working. This game takes a lot out of you mentally, more than physically. I'm trying to fix things and it's just not going my way.”

That's what you said to the Globe and Mail.


This is what you said on Twitter:

That's rough, dude.

I noticed the other day that you were having this done to your arm

so you might be willing to try something that may be considered a little unorthodox.  I think you should look into mindfulness meditation, which is a process which helps slow down and examine thought processes and also learn to live in the present moment. You might feel that haters fuel you, but it can also drain you. Shawn Green wrote a book The Way of Baseball about how mindfulness helped him slow his mind down and deal with the pressure of Major League baseball. Also, this is Roy Halladay's pitching bible. 

It might feel weird at first, but I've done it and it's helped me. I've had tough times. Not publicly like yours, but they've been tough.  I'm not saying it's a cure, but what it may help you do is settle your mind down and let you figure out what's blocking your fastball command. You're competitive and fiery, and that's not a bad thing, but hearing the chatter from the "fans" and taking it in can weigh on a person. 

Chop wood. Carry water.

But then again, roller coasters with Arencibia probably works, too. 

Here's some Tupac:

P.S. Jays pitchers- I know it's a pick your poison type situation when it comes to the Rangers. But in a lineup of poisonous snakes, Josh Hamilton is a sidewinder. Go pick on the regular old rattlesnakes.