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.