First, we will talk about the process of making the Olympic team. Out of all the Minor League players, they only take 24 for the team; but before that, they get the number of players down to about 60. The scouts for the Olympic team continued to evaluate those 60 until July 16, when they made the final decision on the 24 who represented the U.S. in the Olympics.

The team met up in San Jose, Calif., where we stayed for a couple of days to get all of our Olympic gear. While we were there, we stayed in the dorms at San Jose State. After spending a couple of days there, we headed back to North Carolina, where USA Baseball’s training facilities are located. Once we got there, we received some more U.S. baseball gear. We played a couple of games against Team Canada to prepare to go to Beijing and play.

We left North Carolina on Aug. 5 to go to Beijing. We had to drive five hours to D.C. and get on our 13-hour flight to China. The flight wasn’t too bad. I slept for a while, then we played cards for about five hours until we landed.

We arrived in China a day later because they are 12 hours ahead of us on the East Coast. We had to go through customs, which didn’t take too long because we were Olympic athletes. Once we got to the Olympic Village, we had to get all of our credentials so we can get in and out of the village. After all that, I got to my room, which happened to be a little bigger than the other rooms. It must have been the master bedroom. Ha, ha.

I sat down on my bed and it might as well have been the floor it was so hard. Ha, ha. But that is how the beds are over in Asian countries. I unpacked all my stuff and got settled in for the next three weeks.

On Aug. 8, I got ready for the Opening Ceremonies that night. It was one of the longest days and nights of my life. The first thing we did as a team was go into the fencing hall with all the other U.S. athletes and wait for President Bush to come in and say a few words to us. It was awesome because we got to take a picture with him and all the other U.S. athletes who were there. After all that fun stuff, we had to go sit in the gymnasium and wait until it was our turn to walk into the Opening Ceremonies.

We waited for about an hour and a half for our turn to get up and start walking out there. Once we got outside, we waited another 45 minutes in line and finally got our chance to walk on the track.

The feeling I got when we walked out there was like none other. I have never heard that many people cheering and yelling in my life. It gave me chills. After we made our lap, we waited for the rest of the countries to make their way around and finish the rest of the ceremony.

We waited the next five days ’til it was our turn to start our competition on Aug. 13. Our first game was against Korea and we lost by one run. We ended up losing one more game, but we won enough games to get into the semifinals. The first semifinal game we played was against Cuba, who had already beaten us by one run. I was not available to play this game because I still had a slight concussion from getting hit in the head with a fastball while playing against China.

We lost again to Cuba by eight runs in the semifinal game. The next day, we had to play against Japan for the bronze medal; if we lost, we would go home with nothing, but that was not the case. We ended up beating Japan. We had to come back later that night after the gold medal game to receive our medal. It didn’t really hit me that we won a medal until I was up on the stand, looking into the crowd and receiving the medal around my neck. It was such an amazing feeling to know that I won a medal and got something that no one can ever take away from me.

Thanks for reading my journals all year and I wish all the best to my readers.

This is the verse that I said to myself out there in China and I thought you guys might like to hear it:

Proverbs 21:31
“A horse is prepared for the day of battle, but victory comes from the Lord.”

God Bless,

Matt

(Editor’s Note: I’d like to thank Matt LaPorta for all the contributions he made to BDD online, BDD Live (radio), the USA Olympic Team, and baseball in general. Matt is an extremely talented ball player, but even a better person. I am happy to call Matt LaPorta a friend.

I have been honored to have Matt join us at BDD and wish him all the best in his career and life. – JH)

How large a lead does the Mets bullpen need for it to be safe? Yesterday, the Mets had a 5-1 lead after six strong innings from Pedro Martinez, but five relievers couldn’t hold the lead against the Pirates. The Bucs scored three times in the 7th and three more in the 9th while the Mets offense just shut down and Pitt ended on top, 7-5. Nine times this season New York has lost a game in which it led from the 8th inning on and while closer Billy Wagner has his share of blown save, since he’s been on the DL, the bullpen has collapsed in flames.

The first place Phils had a chance to open up some more space but they blew it in an 8-6 loss to the Dodgers. Newly acquired Casey Blake hit a two-run homer and Manny Ramirez doubled home two more during a six-run 3rd for the victors. The victory was Torre’s 2,126th in the regular season, tying him with Joe McCarthy for seventh place on the career list.

The third team in the NL East race also went down as the Cards topped the Marlins, 4-2. Yadier Molina hit a two-run homer and Joel Pineiro pitched seven strong innings for St. Louis.

A NEW LEADER IN THE AL CENTRAL
The White Sox John Danks needed a no-hitter to defeat the Red Sox Josh Beckett last night and all he could put together was 6 1/3 inning. Boston got their first hit in 7th when Kevin Youkilis broke his bat and dropped a single to center. Moments later, J.D. Drew’s two-run double put Boston ahead 2-1 and Boston went on to a 5-1 victory. Josh Beckett improved to 4-0 for his career against the White Sox by pitching eight innings giving up seven hits, striking out eight and he did not walk a batter for his second consecutive win after losing three straight. Danks, who had his six-game win streak snapped, allowed just allowing just two runs, two hits and two walks while tying a career high with nine strikeouts in seven innings. Dustin Pedroia went 0-4 and had his 29-game road hit streak snapped.

The White Sox loss dropped them out of first place as the Twins beat the slumping Yankees, 4-0. Glen Perkins, whose wife gave birth to a baby girl Sunday night, allowed four hits and three walks over eight shutout innings. Perkins (9-3) struck out four and produced two inning-ending double plays. Twins manager Ron Gardenhire picked up career win No. 600 as Joe Nathan struck out Bobby Abreu, Alex Rodriguez and Xavier Nady in the 9th to complete the first shutout of the Yankees at the Metrodome since June 24, 1996. A-Rod is hitting .216 in August.

DON’T FORGET
Don’t forget the Brewers who continued their winning ways by defeating the Nationals yesterday, 7-1. Dave Bush pitched a five-hitter over 6 1/3 innings for his second consecutive win as Rickie Weeks and Corey Hart homered. In his last six starts, Dave Bush has 41 strikeouts and five walks in 41.2 innings pitched. The Brewers swept the Nationals and have now won six straight to move 3½ games ahead of St. Louis for the NL wild card.

The Brewers won despite striking out a season-worst 14 times and the absence of Ryan Braun for the second straight game. Braun sat out with a lower-back injury. He is listed as day to day which is more than we can say about the Rays Evan Longoria.

The Rays were forced to place their star third sacker on the DL retroactive to Friday, the day after the rookie was hit by a pitch from Seattle closer J.J. Putz. The club initially believed a previous fracture that had not been detected might be the source of some of Longoria’s discomfort, but the latest tests revealed it was a new non-displaced fracture (that’s the good news). The Rays are hopeful that he will be able to return to the lineup within two to three weeks.

Longoria, who began the season in the minors, is hitting .278 with a Rays rookie-record 22 home runs and 71 RBIs. He also leads AL third basemen with a .971 fielding percentage and had not missed a game since joining the Rays on April 12 from Triple-A Durham. Willy Aybar takes over as the regular third baseman. Carl Crawford, their veteran outfielder batting .273 with 57 RBIs and 25 steals, went on the DL with a right hand injury on Sunday. There’s been speculation that he could face season-ending surgery.

CAN HE GET IT DUNN FOR THE D-BACKS?
The Arizona Diamondbacks yesterday acquired Adam Dunn from the Reds via the trade waiver. Dunn had been claimed by several teams, including the Arizona Diamondbacks, said Reds assistant general manager Bob Miller. Dunn has a .247 career batting average with 270 homers and only A-Rod has more homers than him since the 2004 season.

Arizona sent minor league right-hander Dallas Buck to Cincinnati (52-67) along with two players to be named. The 23-year-old Buck was 1-4 with a 3.94 ERA at Class-A South Bend. Dunn is tied for the big league lead in homers while Arizona offense is 20th in the majors in runs scored. Dunn, 28, will be a free agent at the end of the season. He is  batting .233 with 32 home runs and 74 RBIs. He takes too many pitches (80 walks) and strikes out a lot (120 Ks). In addition, he is a constant adventure in the field.

His future will be as a DH.
 
Bill Chuck is the creator of Billy-Ball.com (www.Billy-Ball.com) and, with Jim Kaplan, is the author of the book, “Walk-Offs, Last Licks, and Final Outs – Baseball’s Grand (and not so Grand) Finales,” with a Foreword by Jon Miller, published by ACTA Sports, and available worldwide. Autographed first editions are available by contacting, Bill@billy-ball.com or order directly from Acta Sports or from your favorite bookstore.

Baseball is such a humbling game. One day you can feel like you are on top of the world, and the next you feel like the world voted you off the island. Ha-ha. I am not doing as well as I would like to be to right now, but I have to just keep reminding myself that I know that God has a plan for my life. So everyday I try to get better and rest in the fact that I know Jesus has me by the hand. I may not like all the trials that I go through, but it is a test for me and my faith so that I will be able to endure more and have a better relationship with my personal savior. When things are not going the way that I would like them to, I also take time to remember all of the blessings that I have been given in my life. This brings me back to reality. Not everything is going to be perfect for Matt LaPorta, but I still have to be grateful for the things that I have in my life.

This is one of my favorite times of the year because for colleges all over the nation, it is the chance to go to the College World Series.

This is where all the marbles are on the table and only eight teams are going to make it to Omaha.  In 2005, I had the chance to play in the College World Series. Our team made it to the championship series against Texas, which was a great team, and they beat us the first two games to end the Florida Gators' season that year.

My experience out in Omaha is one that I never will forget. I wished that every college player could have the chance to experience it. At the College World Series, baseball is taken to another level, not just by the players, but also by the fans. I had never played baseball in front of 23,000 fans until I got out to Omaha. The fan base out there is amazing, and they really make it the outstanding atmosphere that it is today. If you have a chance to get out to the College World Series as a fan, you should take in all the festivities that go along with being in Omaha.

Many of the players that go through Omaha are drafted into the Major League Baseball draft which took place a couple of days ago. I had the chance to be drafted three times, and each one was different, but for all of them, I was very grateful because of the experience I gained. I knew a few guys that got drafted this year. I was very happy for them because I am sure it was a dream come true for all of them. So to all the guys that got drafted this year, congratulations and keep up the hard work!

Thank you all again for reading these journals on Baseball Digest Daily.

Verse of the day…
Be confident of this very thing, that He who has begun a good work in you will complete it until the day of Jesus Christ. Philippians 1:6

God Bless,
Matt