AUSTIN WARD Star-Tribune staff writer | Posted: Thursday, July 2, 2009 12:00 am
Jeff Squier has a lot on his mind.
Different bat.
New team and town.
Shorter swing.
Quiet feet.
With his wrists taped and right index finger hanging off the handle ready to trigger, the Casper infielder processes it all in his thinking place - the batting cage.
And before Wednesday night's doubleheader against Idaho Falls, Squier was the last to leave it after a soft-toss session, making sure there wouldn't be anything but pitches to worry about later.
"I try not to think about a single thing when I'm up at the plate," Squier said. "You have to do your thinking early in the day. That's why we do our hitting-maintenance program in the cage so you can do it all then. When you're up on deck, you try to picture it, but at the plate, you don't think about getting your foot down or, 'Is my elbow up high?'
"You've practiced it 1,000 times in the cage, you've got 100 hacks in during the day already, now it's just up to a grip-it-and-rip-it style. You know you can hit in the cage, so you should be able to hit in the game."
It took the 14th-round draft choice a few more to remember that than he would have liked, but he broke out of a season-opening slump in a big way in Tuesday's 12-9 loss to the Chukars.
Just 1-for-18 in his first six games with the Ghosts, Squier blasted a run-scoring double to the wall in right field in the second inning then crushed a fastball over it in the fourth.
Those shots haven't completely repaired his batting average, but they did give him something good to think about Wednesday afternoon.
"That was nice to see, and he got some balls to handle," Casper manager Tony Diaz said. "That's baseball, you know, you live and learn and he took some advantage of some pitches and squared them up.
"He'll build from that, and hopefully he can turn that into some more success. It's going to take some time, but he's a hard-worker and the only way he can really get better is if we throw him into the fire."
Squier was getting burned more often than not early, though Casper has collectively had its share of struggles getting going.
And despite another loss on Tuesday night to open their first homestand, the Ghosts rapped 13 hits, showed some pop and snapped some slumps.
One even managed to do a little of all those things.
"It was a tough start for me, but I've been seeing the ball a lot better lately and been getting a lot more comfortable at the plate," Squier said. "That's the big thing I think, just getting comfortable up there. Maybe I was thinking too much, worrying too much about who's watching you, now it's just down to playing the game that I love and realizing that I got here based on my talent.
"All the jitters are out, I've played with all these guys for over a week now and you just know that you belong here. That confidence feeds into being comfortable at the plate, and it's starting to pay off."
Obviously somewhere other than in the cage.
IDAHO FALLS 6, CASPER 5: The Ghosts had the better start.
They got better starting pitching and outhit the red-hot Chukars.
But Casper still couldn't beat them in the opener of a rain-delayed doubleheader.
The Ghosts built a 4-1 lead with Ricardo Ferrer on the mound and appeared to be cruising to their first win over the division leaders this season.
The right-hander gave up just three hits and one run while striking out four in five innings, but more bullpen problems and control issues doomed the Ghosts once Ferrer left.
The Chukars rallied for three runs in the sixth inning to tie the game and tacked on two more in the seventh to stay undefeated against Casper.
Contact sports reporter Austin Ward at (307) 266-0634 or austin.ward@trib.com.
GHOSTS TRACKER
WEDNESDAY: Idaho Falls at Casper (n).
RECORDS: Chukars (6-1); Ghosts (1-6).
NUMBERS GAME: Casper infielder Jeff Squier broke out of an early slump with a run-scoring double and a solo home run on Tuesday night in the home opener.
HE SAID IT: "You know you can hit in the cage, so you should be able to hit in the game." - Squier.
UP NEXT: The Ghosts and Chukars meet again tonight at Mike Lansing Field at 7 p.m. The teams wrap up an extended series on Friday.