The Prague Post
December 1st, 2008
Endowment Fund     Business Listings ONLINE      Reservations      Classifieds    Subscriptions

Home » Archives » Sports

The long non-season

Extraliga baseball resumes ? maybe ? after almost two months

By Dave Faries
Staff Writer, The Prague Post
August 20th, 2008 issue

MICHAEL HEITMANN/The Prague Post
Three tournaments in July kept the Czech national team on the field, forcing many Extraliga players to sit idle for up to 67 days.
Photo by JAN BENEŠ
Richard Kania, center, and his Krč Altron squad have spent a summer in waiting.
Summer break


Last played Next game
Draci Brno June 7 Aug. 13 (Win 5-0)
Arrows Ostrava June 21 Aug. 24
Skokani Olomouc July 5 Aug. 20
Technika Brno June 21 Aug. 23
Krč Altron June 21 Aug. 23
MZLU Brno July 5 Aug. 13 (Loss 5-0)
Tempo Praha July 5 Aug. 23
Blansko July 5 Aug. 19
When Richard Kania stepped off the plane on Friday after two weeks in the United States, the Krč Altron coach faced a lot of catch up work.
He didn’t know, for one, just who would show for a doubleheader against Ostrava, scheduled for the next day. After a glance at the weather forecast, in fact, he couldn’t even guarantee a game on Saturday.
“I’ll be there,” is all he could promise.
Such is the 2008 Extraliga baseball season: Riddled by rainouts and punctured completely in July, when tournaments involving the national team took precedence. Krč last played June 21 when they swept a twin bill at home against Blansko, the league’s perennial cellar dwellers. Thanks to a washout last Saturday, they now resume August 23 — 63 days between games. Draci Brno returned to action after a 67 day break. Meanwhile, Tempo Praha and MZLU Brno had it comparatively easy, with layoffs of only 49 and 39 days, respectively.
“Most of my players were at 80 percent of their potential, and then we stopped,” says Ostrava coach Edgar Delos Reyes. “Now we have to get back to that level.”
Rainouts are a part of baseball. But the extensive mid-summer break imposed by the Czech national team’s back to back participation in Prague Baseball week (they won), qualifiers for the 2010 European baseball championship (also a victory) and the World University Games (sixth place out of seven teams), left many Extraliga lineups in a rather rusty condition.
“It’s good that you get some time off,” says lefty Matěj Hušek, Krč’s oft-injured hurler. “But if you don’t do anything …”
So Tempo Praha held a training camp two weeks ago then scheduled a series of friendly contests as a warm up. Ostrava went back to the basics, with situational drills and practices emphasizing fundamental skills. Kania traveled to Indiana with the Czech U-16 squad and thus missed team practices at Krč.
“I like it,” he says of the vacation, “because I had too many injuries.” Amongst others, Hušek hasn’t thrown since early June and shoulder problems relegated veteran pitcher-first baseman Jan Homolka to the DH role. “The guys are recovering.”
Not playing and practicing as a unit still hurts a team’s rhythm. “I don’t know about the other guys,” says Krč’s Marek Blajer. “We’re not ready to play.”
And this goes for those who wore the national team colors this summer, as well. While much of the league rested, they faced a grueling schedule including games against Japan and Team USA. “They gotta be tired, both physically and mentally,” Blajer points out.
Even worse, at least in terms of their readiness for the Extraliga, national team players stood up against consistently tougher pitching than they normally see. So Reyes, for one, has worked in recent practices “to make them adjust back.”
Many Extraliga franchises enter mid-August with additional gaps — not only the usual family vacations, but also due to a player development camp in Italy run by Major League Baseball. Krč is missing Petr Zýma and Tomáš Sýkora to the latter. In fact, Sýkora may have inked a deal with the Philadelphia Phillies organization.
Krč now resumes their regular season Aug. 23, hosting league-leading Draci Brno — a good thing, Kania explains, “because nobody expects us to win, so we won’t play with any expectations. We can just be ballplayers.”
Weather permitting, of course. Rain postponed six games over the past weekend. And Krč is already four behind Technika Brno and Ostrava in the games played column. Some teams will finish the season with a pack of doubleheaders.
Will the soggy conditions relent? “Unfortunately, I am neither a meteorologist nor a charlatan,” says Tempo Praha infielder Pavel Míka. “We just hope everything will be better.”

Dave Faries can be reached at dfaries@praguepost.com


Other articles in Sports (20/08/2008):

Browse the Current Issue

If you enjoyed this article, why don't you subscribe to the print version!
We accept secure online transactions provided by PayPal and Moneybookers

Be the first to add a comment!


Full Name: *
City: *
E-mail: **
This comment can be published in the print version of The Prague Post
Enter the text on the right:
 visual captcha
Comment: *
* Required field. In order to be approved for display, comments must have a first and last name and a city.
** E-mails are required and will only be used for internal purposes.

Most visited in Business Listings

Hotel booking
The Prague Post Online contains a selection of articles that have been printed in
The Prague Post, a weekly newspaper published in the Czech Republic.
To subscribe to the print paper, click here.
Unauthorized reproduction is strictly prohibited.