10/08/2021
PARENTS/PLAYERS, you're gonna see this swing replayed hundreds of times today.....BUT as you watch Chris Taylor hit a walk-off HR last night for the Dodgers to keep their season alive, sending 53,000 fans into absolute delirium, CONSIDER THIS…
-HE WAS 8 FOR HIS LAST 72 (.111 AVG)
-HE'D HOMERED 1 TIME SINCE AUGUST 29
-HE'D STRUCK OUT 23 OF HIS LAST 58 AT BATS
-*HE'D BEEN BENCHED AND DIDN'T START THIS GAME*
And yet when he came to the plate in the bottom of the 9th, after entering as a defensive sub in the 7th inning, none of that mattered. Unless he let it. THIS is what people mean when they say baseball is a game of failure. He’d “failed” 89% of the time over the previous 70+ At Bats. If that had shaken his confidence and he’d carried those thoughts to the plate with him in the 9th inning, he wouldn’t be the hero today. Instead, he:
-Got back to work
-Stuck to his daily routine
-Tried to adjust where needed/take the coaching
-Had a “short” memory.
-Focused on that moment only
-Trusted his preparation
-WENT TO THE PLATE CONFIDENT LAST NIGHT, (and with his teammates confident in him) despite WEEKS of day to day “failure”.
His manager Dave Roberts said “The game honors you. He wanted to be in there tonight (in the starting lineup), but he was ready when called upon.” Please keep that in mind when you have a tough GAME, or tough WEEKEND. I too often here “slump” when a player is 0-7. THAT'S NOT A SLUMP and this game isn’t designed to go 2-3 every day! And the sooner you understand that, the sooner you’ll be ready to be the best version of yourself!