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Monday, February 27, 2017

The Closer


We've been discussing the book with our table groups.  Now it's time to talk with your friends from other classes that are also reading this book.  Take some time to think about a part of the book that would make for a good discussion.  It can be any part from the beginning to the part you read for today.

Tell about the part you read, give your thoughts about it, and invite others to share their thoughts too.

Here are some discussion stems:

I want to talk about the part where __________________.  I thought _____________________.  What did you think?

The part that I thought was most interesting so far was _____________________________.  I think _________________________________________.  What did you think?

31 comments:

  1. I wanted to talk about the part where he is playing catch with another team mate but then he stars throwing the ball and it curvesand the other team mate tells him to stop but he does not know what he is talking about because he is just throwing the ball how he normally does and it curves. I thought that that was cool because his pitch just curves on it's own he does not even have to do anything different. Then his fastball with a tail was born. What do you think?

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    1. I agree that that was pretty crazy that he didn't even know how he was curving the ball and that he was just throwing the ball regular and it had tail.

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    2. True! He thought he was just pitching like any other normal pitcher would, but instead all it did was curve which was very good because he would have been to use that technique in games and strike out batters a lot easier.

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  2. I want to talk about the part where He struck out Mike Blowers. I thought it was a crazy moment for a young guy like that to come into the game and strike out one one the hottest hitters in the league at the time. The part that I thought was most interesting so far was when he led his team to a world series and pitched amazing as the Yankees closer as a very young guy not even from america, not even growing up with a glove or even a baseball. What do you think.

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    1. I think that's pretty dope. He did come from Panama and didn't even like the sport at all. He tried it, loved it, and became a pro player.

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    2. I thought about that and I agree. He really showed everyone who said he wasn't good enough. It must of been so much work to get up to this level especially not knowing the game very well as a young kid.

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    3. I think that at that moment when i read that i was blown to on coming from a kinda poor family and now being a famous baseball player and before I bet not a lot of people knew him but now they do.

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    4. Same. I think that it is awesome that he came from nothing into something.

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    5. I agree with you on this for sure. He literally came from nothing to something so fast. He played with a stick and a cardboard glove to a major person for the yankees.

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  3. I want to talk about the part in the Closer where when he was pitching that he throw a curveball and it went where he didn't want it to go and he found out that he could use that to his advantage on pg 120 to pg 121

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    1. I agree it was pretty cool that he did not even know what he was doing. Im suprised as of how much he did not know like who Babe Ruth was!

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    2. I agree that was pretty amazing to do that in a game and it really made something big happen as in amazing then only he knew he did that and everyone else thought that he meant to throw that pitch.

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    3. That was really cool how he was just throwing normally and that he did not know.

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    4. I also find that interesting. He didn't even mean to throw the pitch that way and it turned out to still be a good pitch.

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  4. I want to talk about the part where he went against the Indians (page 124) and lost it for the team by giving up the game winning homerun and he was so disappointed that they lost. I thought he wouldn't be able to overcome it and still be the great pitcher he is. It's hard to lose a very important game and keep a good mindset for the next season. Which he did have a good mindset going into next season and won the World Series and then the one after that.

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    1. I thought the same thing and how he could paly it off so well and recover over night like and win two world seriors I juts thought that was crazy but still amazing.

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    2. When I was reading the book i thought the same thing that from giving up a winning home run and i thought that he would not be able to overcome that loss too!And it also was amazing that next season he help lead his team to a victory in the World Series

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    3. I agree the pitcher play a big role in baseball and if he gave up he would let his team down. Its a good thing he did not give up though because he is a very secsessful man.

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  5. I want to talk about the part where he did not know what was happening to the ball when he was throwing the curve ball on page 120-121. I am suprised as how much he did not know about baseball like some of the most popular players.Also I think it is ironic that the day after the coach told him not to try anything because it would mess up his pitching.What do you think about him learning the curveball over night?

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    1. I thought that it was very interesting on how he tried to throw a fast ball but turned out to be a curveball and that must be how he learned to throw such a good curveball.

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    2. I think to its pretty cool he did that but for him to learn it overnight and get it perfect its like a merikle but really amazing. But even though he didn't listen to his coach I bet he was amazed after.

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    3. Same!That was very interesting to read about it and i thought that was odd when his coach told him not to do anything to mess up his pitch and the next day he was throwing curve balls

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  6. I want to talk about when he hd to choose for the rest of his life to play baseball or keeping fishing? pages 9-20.If I was in his shoes and had to dicside to go on with the family buisness or go on a different path and play baseball for a living. Another thing is that I thought was really amazing was when he got to pitch and meet some famous baseball players don't you think to?

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    1. I thought that was really tough decision for him because even though he wants to play baseball he can't just leave his family on short notice.
      Though it was something he wanted to do, so I'm glad he chose it because it wasn't like he didn't help out his parents and didn't visit them.

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    2. I agree with you. It was a crazy decision for him and if I was in that situation it would be one of the toughest decisions of my life. It was a risky decision for him and his family and it obviously paid off!

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    3. I agree that would be a hard decision for me to make and he I think made the right one and now you can see that it really paid off for him!

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    4. I agree that it would've been hard for anyone to have to face that issue. Especially if fishing is basically a family thing to do. Just like Lily also said it did pay off(him picking baseball).

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  7. I agree it must have been a very hard choice for him to make. I think he made the right choice though because he is very sucsessful. Also if he was woorking on his dads boat still it would be harder to support his family.

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  8. I want to talk about the part where he said that he knows about his dad leaving his dad when he was about the same age as Mariano on pg 31. I though that he's smart for knowing not to repeat something bad his dad did in the past because it's not like it's going to make anything better. What do you think?

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    1. I think that was a great comment and that it was amazing that his dad didn't leave him like mariano's dad's dad left him. If I was a young boy and one of my parents left me, I would be heartbroken

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  9. I would like to talk about him coming from Panama to the U.S. He came from playing on a dirt field on the beach to pro baseball and a new language and a ton of new people. He was not used to the big cities and all the noise, he transitioned so fast and it turned out to be great.

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