BJ Upton at bat

After making it to the World Series last year it has been hard for me to watch the playoffs this year. There's nothing like playing in October. Playing on baseball's biggest stage was the most amazing experience I've ever had on the field and I was very disappointed we didn't make it there this season. Not making the playoffs has motivated me that much more to re-dedicate myself and help the Rays make it back to the playoffs in 2010.
One thing I'm doing with my free time is helping give back to the communities that gave me so much. Over the weekend, I went to the Trop and spent time with kids from the St. Pete area. Next week I'm holding a golf tournament with my brother Justin in Virginia that benefits Friends of the Portsmouth Juvenile Court. I'm also hosting my second annual BJ Upton Golf Classic in Tampa that will help the homeless in the Tampa/St Pete area.
I can't wait to get back on the field and get 2010 underway, hope to see you at the ballpark!
- BJ Upton

Ross Ohlendorf from the Pirates checking in

Hey adidas World, this is Ross Ohlendorf of the Pittsburgh Pirates. We have an off day today, and I've been taking care of some errands in preparation for the end of the season. We flew back from Los Angeles last night and got back to the field around 1:30 this morning. It's great to have a job where you can fly around and see different parts of the country. Dodger Stadium was awesome. I had never played there before and was really impressed with the crowds. It reminded me of Yankee Stadium. The California weather is great too after a long summer.

We start our final home stand tomorrow and then finish the season on the road in Chicago and Cincinnati. Our team hasn't done as well as we would have liked this year, but we can still finish strong and give ourselves something to build on for next year. Hope to see all the Pittsburgh fans come out for these last few games, and I'm looking forward to getting ready for a winning season next year.
Thanks for the chance to check in with you all and for your support this season!

LaTroy Hawkins giving a shoutout

adidas world what's good in the universe?,
LaTroy Hawkins coming your way Blogging, nothing huge going on in LaTroy's world. I'm home 8/17 on an off day kicking it with the family before the kids go back to school.
I recently returned from a DL stint, now when you hear of a player going on the DL, the first thing that comes to your mind is hamstring, shoulder, elbow, groin, ankle etc., you can see where I'm going with this. I was on the 15 Day DL for none of the above. I had shingles (everyone is scratching their head, as I was when the team Dr. diagnosed me) what in the world is shingles? It’s a virus in your body that the chicken pox leaves behind. It lays dormant in everyone that has had chicken pox until it feels the need to resurface. When it decides to come out it usually attacks a nerve in your back. You have small back spasms initially then they get worse by the day. I stood up for 17 days in the bullpen without ever taking a seat.. LOL.. There isn't a prescription to take for it, you’re at the mercy of the virus (how Fun). Good news… is it didn't kill me. Though, I've been the butt a lot of jokes following my battle with shingles.
Well I'm out of here for now. Catch me next time...Go Stros!!!!!

LaTroy Hawkins

P.S.: Anytime You Have An Opportunity To Make A Difference And You Don't, You’re Wasting Your Time On Earth.

Special Guest Blogger: adidas' own DJ Charma

What's up everybody? This is DJ Charma - you might recognize my name from some recent adidas events. As part of the adidas family, I wanted to let you know about an event we're hosting on August 13th in Seattle.

I'll be spinning from 9:00 PM-2:00AM @ the SeeSound Lounge as we welcome adidas Athletes Joba Chamberlain & Dellin Betances of the New York Yankees to the Northwest.

Come check it out, there won't be a hotter party in town! The music will be tight, as always, and we'll be giving away baseballs and cleats signed by Joba all night long. Come show your support of the players and adidas and welcome the guys to the Emerald City!

Get event details and RSVP here:
http://www.facebook.com/home.php?#/event.php?eid=124974716061&ref=ts

Jayson Werth saying hey...

Adidas world, what's up? Writing you today to tell you about my first all star experience in St. Louis this year. Due to Carlos Beltran being injured, my manager Charlie Manual had to replace Carlos on the roster. Although I didn't get voted by the fans or by the players, it was almost a greater honor to be selected by my manager. the guy who gets to see me play day in and day out. Who choose me over some pretty good players that were having some pretty good years. Much love and respect for Chuck Cuz, what an expierience it has been!I started out the day of the Homerun Derby by getting to the Busch home clubhouse at and meeting my new teamates for the next two days. Watching the homerun derby from the field was cool, the atmosphere is nothing like that of a real game, everyone is there to see a demonstration of power by the games most prolific hitters in it did not disappoint. I was rooting for my teamate Ryan howard, but was happy that atleast we kept it in the national league with Prince. Day 2, game day, kicked off with a parade to the field from the hotel down a very long red carpet. we got to meet the president (for me and my phillies teamates it was the second time meeting him this year), and after the national anthem a stealth bomber flew over head for the pre game fly by, SICK! The game was buisness as usual, Carl Crawford robbed a homerun that Brad Hawpe hit that seemed to change the game. After that the AL pushed across a run late to beat us. The AL winning streak continues. Hopefully I'll get to be apart of another all star game but I realize that could be a once in a lifetime opportunity. It was a blast!

Thanks for listening in, and dont forget to check out those phightin
Phillies down the stretch, we are hoping for big things again this fall.
JW out.

Justin's Update...

Hey Whats up adidas World. Just wanted to thank all of you that voted for me to make the 2009 All Star Game in St. Louis. I am very excited to get there and play with so many guys I grew up watching. To be part of the All Star Team with guys like Derek Jeter and Albert Pujols is unbelievable. I am also happy that I get to share the experience with my Diamondbacks and adidas teammate Danny Haren. Danny has been awesome this season so far and deserves to be in St. Louis as well. We haven't had the success so far that we expected but its a long season and I expect things to really pick up in the 2nd half, so don't give up on 2009 yet, I'm not.

Josh Bard checking in....

This season has been a battle, but I've learned a lot about myself. When things get tough, you really have only two choices - to quit or to be a professional and keep grinding. So I have chosen to be a professional and keep going. That's the kind of player I want to be and have to be. But more importantly, it's the kind person I want to be. The thing I keep reminding myself in this long season, is that we have 100 games left and it is how you finish that matters, not how you start.

Thanks for letting me share my thoughts with you and thanks to everyone for your support this season. Let's see where we end up!

Adam Dunn here...

Hey adidas baseball fans!

Adam Dunn here, coming at you from Philly. We’re here for the weekend and I’m on my way to see how many cheese steaks I can eat right now! We had an off-day yesterday here in Philly so I took the little one to a kid’s museum. We both had a lot of fun! Life is not too interesting right now, just trying to research our competition.

I’m going to the field at 2:30 today to watch video on tonight’s starting pitcher, JA Happ. It’s an important part of preparing for a game. You can never be too prepared in the majors.

Wish me luck on the game tonight! Thanks for reading, hopefully I can do this again soon.

-Adam

Justin Masterson checking in...

Hello to all you adidas baseball fans. Justin Masterson here, coming to you from the lovely confines of Fenway Park in Boston, Massachusetts.

It’s still very early in the season, but many things have already taken place, at least in my life. I started the season in the bullpen, had a few outings and then made 6 starts. Surprisingly enough, as I write this, I’m currently moving back to the bullpen to be a reliever again. Now I can imagine that you’re probably thinking this is an easy transition. But let me be the first to say it's not as easy as it sounds. As a starter you have more assurances. You know what day you’re going to pitch, you know what steps you can take to prepare for that start - as far as workouts and throwing - for the days leading up to your start. As compared to relieving- when you have a chance to throw every single day, even on some days you may not be feeling so good. And even more so, you’re coming in usually at clutch times when guys are on with the game close at hand.

Yet as a starter you do face the opposing lineup two, three, maybe even 4 times in a single game. That gives the hitter more of an advantage as they have seen what you bring to the table that can be difficult. A reliever will hopefully only go one, maybe two innings.

Even with all of that being said, with a little experience, I think it helps to transition between the two. I feel blessed everyday just to have the chance to be out on the field and throw. Everyday there’s a moment of how awesome it is to be a part of a major league baseball team. But even more than that, I'm reminded of how great an opportunity it is to impact lives in a positive way.

I had fun writing this and thank you for your support. Enjoy the season!


Don’t forget to check out Justin’s videos on adidas.tv

An Insider's Look Into adidas Baseball

This week we’re peeling back the curtain to give you an insider’s take from our head of adidas baseball.

Hello everyone. I’m Mark Clinard and I oversee adidas baseball and football here in at adidas. I’m very lucky to work with a bunch of cool people, that commit a large portion of their lives, to bring you great product and stories through adidas baseball. Everyone from our designers and developers here in Portland to our friends in the factories in Asia, we truly enjoy finding ways to make you faster and more powerful through our products.

One great element of my job is working with athletes to determine what they need. I want to share some insights from our meeting with Ryan Howard during our contract process. We met with Ryan, his brother, mom and dad and his agents in St. Louis to talk about renewing our sports marketing partnership. We talked about how the business was trending, adidas' goals for the future and what Ryan brings to the adidas baseball family. The conversations were great and we showed him the concepts of his new shoe (now in store at Dick's Sporting Goods) which Ryan gave feedback about to our team.

Beyond all of the business stuff, I left the meeting so impressed with Ryan and his family. As a brand, it’s important to partner with people that you respect because they represent you on the field of play. Ryan is a great athlete, but more importantly he is a genuine person that never fakes it on or off the field. In my short time with the Howard family, it was easy to see why Ryan connects so well with all types of people. His pride in representing himself and his great family with class is why it is really easy to like Ryan Howard.

To sum it up…I have an 8 year old little boy that plays little league. I showed him the Ryan clip from our website and now my son gets into the batters box and taps the plate JUST LIKE RYAN. It’s cool to know that he’s copying a player that’s doing it the right way. When you fully understand Ryan's story of hard work and commitment, you would want your kid to copy him too.

Good luck this season and thanks for your interest in adidas baseball.

adidas music artist ZNi is our guest blogger of the week

I’m excited to be the guest blogger for adidas baseball this week. If you’ve seen any of the videos on adidas.com/baseball you’ll see that I did all of the music for the videos. It was a great project and I got really excited about all the great players adidas has so I’m planning to watch a lot more baseball this year to keep track of each of them!
I’m also a huge Seattle sports fan and am looking forward to watching the M's this season. Looks like we are off to a decent start but there’s still a lot of baseball to be played. The return of Ken Griffey Jr is big for our city and sports fans given that he’s a sports legend for the city. Vlad Guerrer0 and the Angels are in town for the first home games. It was good to see the M's win on opening day, but Vlad did look good in his adidas cleats- LOL.
The M's look like a different team then they did last season for sure. I have my hopes up for a better season. I’ll be attending as many games as I can with my music schedule and following my team through the season. I hope we go to the playoffs this year – would love to see them in the world series- wouldn’t that be something!
Can’t wait to see Ichiro back in the line up - to this day he’s my favorite Mariner. The team is off to a good start, hopefully they can continue it through the season. Go M's and go adidas baseball!

Note: ZNi is an adidas music artist who works closely with the brand on exclusive music downloads and provides music for adidasTV content. Be sure to check out his projects on our websites or visit him on www.myspace.com/zni.

BJ Upton from the Tampa Bay Rays here...

Hey guys its Rays CF BJ Upton checking in from Port Charlotte about a week before the season begins. It has been a longer than usual Spring Training this year due to the World Baseball Classic but I am of one of the few guys that is happy that it is longer. I had off season shoulder surgery so I'm glad to have as much time as possible to get 100% healthy before the 2009 season begins. As of now I wont be travelling with the team for the first series of the season, I'll be staying back in Port Charlotte to get some ABs and be ready to play when the team returns to Tampa for the season opener. Rehab has been going well and I feel great and I'm very excited for the upcoming season.

Last season was amazing. To win the AL East, make the playoffs and then make it to the World Series was such a great experience for me and my teammates. The fan support was amazing and it felt good to bring that kind of excitement to the area after all those years of struggling. I'm sure that the fans will show up again this season as we try and make it back the World Series and this time come out on top. Almost everyone is back and we added a few important pieces as well. Pat Burell will give us some much needed pop in the middle of our lineup and Gabe Kapler will give us some outfield depth and bring a great veteran presence that Cliff Floyd provided last season.

I can't wait to get back on the field and to defend our AL East division title. We wont be sneaking up on anyone this season and we are going to get every one's A Game but I know we're ready for it and we proved last year that IMPOSSIBLE IS NOTHING!

Justin Masterson here...

What a whirlwind it has been starting last season and continuing into this spring training and, well, continuing into this upcoming season. The offseason seemed as though I didn't even have one, because the season before was the longest that I've ever had going all the way into October.

What a blessing it was last year to have a chance to not only be in the playoffs, but pitch in almost every game. It was such an exhilarating and humbling experience.

Then put into the mix that this off season my wife and I purchased a new home. It seemed as though we were always running around here and there trying to find just the right thing to put here and there. If I knew it was that taxing I may have just bought a studio instead, haha. Then to end the off season we purchased a new car, a mini cooper. Yes I am about the same size as the car, but that thing is pretty cool.

Coming into spring training is such a great feeling of knowing that I will be in the big leagues. What a comforting feeling that is. I feel honored and humbled in that fact too, because so many are having trouble finding work and at least for another year I have a job. For no reason would I ever take this for granted.

I've worked hard and love the team that we have put together and I see many wins in the future, as long as we can stay healthy. I can’t thank you enough for your support and love for this game. Everyday is a joy to come to the park and when that subsides it will be the time to go.

I hope this year that we may share in the joy that this wonderful game can bring.
Thanks,
Justin

Justin Upton checking in...

What's up adidas baseball fans, this is Justin Upton of the Arizona Diamondbacks checking in from Tucson, Arizona where I'm preparing for the 2009 season at Spring Training.

I feel great so far this spring, all the hard work in the off-season is really paying off and I am very excited for the upcoming season. We made some great additions this off-season with guys like Jon Garland, Felipe Lopez and Tom Gordon and we're all focused on getting back to the playoffs like we did in 2007.

Getting back to the playoffs and making it to the World Series is why we put in all the hard work. I spent a lot of October with my brother BJ who was playing in the playoffs and World Series with the Tampa Bay Rays and seeing him play so well on the biggest stage in baseball made me work harder and want to get their even more.

Our fans have been as great as always and I hope they're as excited as I am for this season. I'm looking forward to taking my game to the next level and being one of the big reasons the DBacks are back in the playoffs in 2009.

Thanks for letting me keep in touch with you and be sure to check me out in the adidas mens training campaign soon!

It's Ryan Church checking in...

Spring Training has begun here in St. Port Lucie, Florida and I finally can say that I'm back to 100%, the concussions are a thing of the past! Things have been pretty good so far and I really can't wait for the season to begin. Looking forward to the brand new stadium in New York. Here's to a very healthy and productive '09!! Thanks for letting me blog and I'll check in with you again later this season with another update.

Adam Dunn here...

This week I signed a free agent contract with the Washington Nationals and I am excited to start this season with a new team.

As I sit here eating breakfast at Cracker Barrel it hits me… Spring training is next week and I have not begun to pack! So the panic button has been pushed. My weekend will consist of packing and trying to get everything lined up for the year. I live for this!

-Adam Dunn

Chase Utley here. I'm guest blogging this week...

Happy New Year Everyone! Once again spring training is right around the corner and I’m very excited to embark on another championship season. As many of you know, my team and I won our first World Championship! The playoffs were a complete blur, so much excitement and so much energy was streaming through the city of Philadelphia. Night in and night out we found a way to win. We were hitting, we were pitching and our defense was sound, yet it was our team determination that carried us through to the end. I am so proud of my teammates for all of their hard work. The Friday after the game, we had an unbelievable parade down Broad street in Philadelphia to celebrate and share our victory with our fans. That was one of the intense and thrilling days of my life. The fans were amazing, they were so thankful for the championship and so excited to have the victory parade and I think the city of Philadelphia will remember that day for a long time. I had a lot of fun, but it was time for a break.

My wife and I had been planning a trip to Africa for months to go on safari. We left two days after the parade for South Africa. While we were there we visited two different safari camps in South Africa and then flew to Botswana for our last safari camp. We saw tons of animals and actually were lucky enough to witness a pride of lions hunting a herd of cape buffalo! It was intense but so awesome. Africa is one of the most beautiful places I have ever been and we will definitely be back there. We had an incredible time on a much needed break. I really used the time I had on vacation to give my body a complete rest. After 8 months of nonstop baseball, I needed to heal.

While I was on my trip I had to make the decision of whether or not to have surgery on the hip that had been bothering me for most of the year. I came to the conclusion, with the help of many doctors and physical therapists, that the surgery needed to be done because it will enable me to prolong my baseball career.

It has been 11 weeks since my surgery. I have spent the winter in Philadelphia which is definitely not my normal routine. I am used to sunny 70 degree Los Angeles, not 20 degree east coast. My rehabilitation required me to stay in Philadelphia and I know now that I made the right decision. The Phillies training staff has done an outstanding job in helping me recover from surgery. I have been at the field everyday since my surgery and my rehab is moving along as expected. I continue to be optimistic that I will be ready to play Opening Day 2009!

The 2009 season will be here before we know it and I can’t wait for it to start. We have a world championship to defend and I believe we have the team to do it again. Thanks for tuning in to hear about my offseason. See you at the ballpark!!

Chase Utley

Hey adidas baseball fans - Josh Bard of the Boston Red Sox here. I'm guest blogging this week...

January 28, 2009

A couple more weeks to go and I could not be more ready. I feel so blessed to be getting another opportunity with the Red Sox and I am going to make the most of it.

As I have been lifting and hitting this off season, it definitely has a different feel to it. I have always tried to train to catch as many games as my body would let me and play deep into October in a world series, but this year I really believe it will happen.

I know that I have put in the work and I am ready. Now it is just about trusting the gifts God has given us and letting it all hang out.

-Josh

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