Welcome to my new blog. This is the first post of what I hope will be a series of installments about what I, as a player, feel at the moment with the Cubs and my teammates this season. In confidence, ask me questions and give me your your perspective on how you feel as a fan. Come by often…I’ll be waiting here.

The Cardinals are coming

One very important thing about the Cubs, and I have always been a good critic of this, is how we play against the good teams and how we come down a bit against the ones that aren’t so good. Whenever a good series comes around, such as the one we just had against Milwaukee, we get charged up (literally: we put the batteries in) and took that series. Now St. Louis is on their way and I think it will be a good series because they are one of the teams against whom the Cubs really roll up our sleeves.

Talking about passion and intensity

I always try to do things right and when it doesn’t work out that way, that’s where I get frustrated. No one wants to make a mistake. Including me. No one wants to do their job badly. Everyone wants to do their job well. (Translator’s note: Redundancy is part of the original!) There are things that you don’t want to do on the playing field and they just happen. You just have to forget about it and move on with your day-to-day and the future. I believe that my teammates are motivated through the energy that one brings to the team. That is the most important thing. The energy that a player brings each day, not just when I am pitching, but when I am on the bench or I pinch hit or with anything else I do, the best thing is for me to transmit that energy to the team.

My plans for the All-Star Break

I won’t be able to go to Venezuela because it’s too far away and we have to go to Washington afterwards. I think a trip to Venezuela is far. If we were playing in Miami or Atlanta, which are closer to Venezuela, then I would consider going to Venezuela, but unfortunately we’re not. My wife and I are taking our daughters to the Bahamas and spend three days there. I will forget about baseball for those three days and spend some quality time with my family.

Thanks for reading my first blog. I’ll be waiting for you until the next time…

“I have always thought that there are no bad teams in the big leagues, but there are good teams and some that are not so good.”

Also, “cachorro” is used for the offspring of any animal (appearing most commonly with dogs), so we don’t even have to limit ourselves to breeds of dogs. Why not meerkats? They appear appropriately skittish and frustrating to understand.