Pirates’ relief pitcher Octavio Dotel knows a thing or two about staying composed in crunch-time. Dotel was sent in to keep a 3-3 tie with the L.A. Dodgers Wednesday night. The tie seemed to be slipping away when Dodgers’ Jamey Carroll hit a double. To make matters worse, Carroll ran to third on Dotel’s wild pitch. With a runner on third base and no outs, Dotel kept his composure.

He responded with three outs: a comebacker by Rafael Furcal, striking out Matt Kemp and a ground out to Manny Rameriez.

The Pittsburg Pirates went on to win the game 4-3. Pirates’ Ronny Cedeno sealed the win a single line-drive in the 10th inning.

“You can’t start thinking about it, like ‘Oh, my, they’ve got a guy on third, it’s the ninth inning. You’ve got to keep yourself relaxed as much as you can and go pitch by pitch, and that’s what I did,” said Octavio Dotel.

Many ball players can get rattled when things don’t go as planned. You might throw a wild pitch, walk a batter, or strike out. When things don’t go as planned, many players become frustrated, dwell on errors and then speed up their routine.

Playing angry or frustrated baseball can cause more errors, poor decisions and mental mistakes. You’ll want to maintain your focus on the task at hand. Focus on what you have to do to throw a good pitch or to make a successful hit. You can focus on seeing the ball well at-bat or focus on the catcher’s mitt if you’re a pitcher.

Another strategy: stay calm.

“If you watched that inning closely, he never panicked. He knows the game is on the line. He knows a runner is on third base. He knows he’s facing a great lineup. But you still make your pitches. That’s what a veteran guy does. He’s figured it out. He knows how to control himself. That was impressive,” said teammate Evan Meek of Dotel.

Your baseball psychology tip for today is to refocus the moment you find yourself losing composure or dwelling on the past. Remember that no one can make you feel frustrated but yourself.

How you react to those lows can influence your performance. Do you get frustrated and upset with your performance? Or, are you able to bounce back from your mistakes?

Anger and frustration can impact your performance in a negative way. You might dwell too much on your mistakes causing you to lose focus on the current task. You might tighten up and try too hard.

Matt Garza, starting pitcher for the Tampa Bay Rays, worked on controlling his emotions on the field. Garza’s hard work paid off, which contributed to a 6-1 win over the Marlins in 2008. Garza was on a roll, giving up just one hit, a home run, to Hanley Ramirez in the seventh inning.

“I’ve made huge strides mentally. I think before I would have lost it after giving up that slider to Hanley (Ramírez). I would have gotten ticked off, threw a couple angry pitches, a couple more knocks might have came and we’d be talking about a different story here. I might have been out in the bottom of the seventh. But I was able to regroup,” said Garza.

Garza’s ability to regroup was critical to his performance. When you’re angry or frustrated, you’ll have to find ways to regroup and refocus on the task. You might take a deep breath before approaching the plate or mound. You might use positive self-talk to tell yourself to refocus. You might tighten up your glove or readjust your hat, for example. No matter what you do, you’ll want to put the mistake behind you to get ready for the next pitch or hit.

If you can control your emotions, you’ll be in a better position to improve your performance. Rays manager, Joe Maddon sees a relationship between emotional control and performance.

“In this game, I know for a fact, when you can correct the mental mechanics a lot of times your performance increases. You do deliver the ball better, you have a better arm stroke, you have better mechanics, etc., because you have control of yourself. You have control of your emotions, you’re able to breathe,” Joe Maddon said.

Your baseball psychology tip is to find ways to control your emotions on the field. When you find what works for you, use that mental game strategy consistently, which will help you bounce back from mistakes quickly.

You can lose their composure for several reasons. You might lose your composure after making stupid errors, not meeting your expectations or feeling angry or frustrated with your performance. Milton Bradley of the Chicago Cubs shows his anger by throwing temper tantrums on the field.

Recently, Bradley threw his helmet and a water cooler in the dugout after a fly out in the sixth inning against the White Sox. Bradley struck out two innings prior to the incident. Manager Lou Pinella was tired of Bradley’s behavior and removed him from the game.

A loss of composure can also result in more mistakes. Rick Porcello, Detroit Tigers pitcher, lost his composure after the Minnesota Twins got a few hits recently. The Twins hit two runs, a single and home run, rattling the rookie pitcher. Porcello then gave up a combination of hits and walks to send eight batters to first base.

These are just a few examples of what can happen when players lose composure. Even professional baseball players get frustrated and angry sometimes. Frustration can happen at any time during the game. When players are angry, they can forget about the rules of the game.

No one can feel frustrated but yourself. Composed baseball players don’t let strike outs or other mistakes ruin their mindset for the rest of the game. Composed baseball players approach can let go of their mistakes because they know that frustration can harm their performance.

First, you must be able to identify what situations cause you to feel frustrated. Do you feel frustrated after you’re down in the count? Do you get upset when your teammate makes a scoring error? You’ll want to know which situations cause you to become frustrated so that you can respond more effectively.

Then, you’ll want to use positive self-talk to help you manage your emotions. For example, after a strike, you might take an extra check swing and tell yourself to focus on the ball.

Your baseball psychology tip is to respond more effectively to your mistakes. Mistakes are part of sports. You’ll want to keep your cool by using positive self-talk or taking an extra few seconds to regroup.

Missing a throw, botching a simple ground ball, striking out at the plate, or dropping a pop up will and do happen all the time in baseball. However, these errors become a huge mental game thorn in a player’s mind. And in many cases, especially with youth players, they shut down for the remainder of the game. Baseball parents contact me all the time complaining about their players’ who can’t stop dwelling on errors or missed chances.

I am sure you have made some mistakes in your baseball career, mistakes that you were unable to forget quickly. You might have carried a mistake with you for most the rest of the inning or even the rest of the game. Many ball players can’t enjoy the game or their day because they are too busy beating themselves up. Dwelling on mistakes does not help you get the error back and it doesn’t help out your team.

Dwelling on errors or missed chances during a game is the number one distraction for athletes today. You cannot play in the present moment, a quality of the zone, or enjoy the game when your mind is stuck on a missed opportunity or error you made on the last play.

Based on my experience working with 100s of athletes on their mental game, rarely do athletes use their frustration or anger to help them perform better. It’s rare when a player can use the anger to perform better, but it does happen. You can get angry only if you need a boost of intensity or you can channel your frustration to make it work for you instead of against you.

Why does your mind want to stay glued on the past and dwell on errors?

For many players, when you make errors this does not match what you expected of yourself (or what you think others expect of you). You set a standard for yourself (.500 at the plate) and think you should always perform up to that standard. I’ve noticed that some players will display their anger or disappointment to others who are watching because they want to show others they are better than their mistakes.

Once you start dwelling on an error, it is very hard to stop the cycle of negativity. Why? Based on my experience, you’ll try to avoid making errors again – not a great mindset for playing freely and focusing in the present play.

The best players in baseball have this mindset: They use mistakes to help them grow and become better ball players. If you can become more focused, more determined, and can let go of mistakes quickly so it does not snowball and affect the next play, you’ll be a better player overall.

OK, what are the mental game keys to letting go of errors? If you struggle with letting go of errors, I don’t want you to expert your mental game of baseball to change overnight. Therefore, you have to be patient with changes.

However, two important mental game strategies will help you let go of errors:

1. Prior to the game, you have to check your expectations in the locker room. Expectations are the root of your anger or frustration with errors because they set you up for feeling let down when you don’t play up to your ideals.
2. After an error, you have to let go quickly and focus on the next play. This means you have to interrupt the dwelling cycle. You interrupt the dwelling cycle by making the mistake OK in your mind so you can play on. I know it’s not OK for you when you make errors, but you have to think this way to move on to the next play!

Why do some athletes get down on themselves and play worse when the wheels fall off? They can’t let go of mistakes and forget about what happened at the last at-bat. Expectations are not being met for how the game “should be” played and negative emotions get the best of them. Frustration and anger lingers to the next at bat or inning, which causes more errors. This in turn causes more frustration and a poor focus. It is a vicious cycle. In this article, I present a few techniques for controlling your emotions and helping get back on track when the wheels fall off.

Don’t Dwell on Mistakes
The frustration you carry with you to the next at-bat comes from dwelling on your last strike out. This is unhealthy for your self-confidence and doesn’t let you enjoy yourself. When you dwell on errors, you sends a message to yourself that you should continue to be upset and beat yourself up. You make the choice to focus on the mistake or focus on what you need to do to get a hit right now. Interrupt the negative pattern by changing your focus to the present pitch.

Give Yourself Permission to Make Mistakes
Some players expect that anything less than a flawless performance is a failure. You have to accept that you are human and you will make mistakes just like everyone else. Sometimes it helps to give yourself permission to make mistakes. You’re not perfect and even the best players in the world make mistakes.

Slow Down and Breath Deeply
Frustration or tension causes you to rush your behavior and become sloppy with your preparation. You may walk faster up to the plate, rush your routine, and swing faster. When you are upset, make an effort to slow down your behavior. Take your time walking up to the plate. Slow down your at-bat routine and be more deliberate without overanalyzing the situation. Take a few deep breaths through your abdominal region. You can breathe when you’re walking up to bat.

Give Yourself a Pep Talk
Negative emotions worsen when a player’s self-talk is negative and self-defeating. A player with negative self-talk says: “I’m the worst batter, I can’t play this game”, which increases your anger and decreases self-confidence. Notice when your self-talk becomes negative, and second, learn to be more positive with yourself and give yourself a pep talk: “I’m a good batter, I’ll do great this time around.” No one can be positive for you but yourself. You have to be your own best coach and give yourself some words of encouragement.