Snow, Rain, Hail, Sun, Wind, Baseball

Beautiful week and rain all weekend. That is what haunted my thoughts this week. It was promised in all the weather stories, and they sure got the first part right, it was amazing all week. And storm clouds descended as promised on Saturday, although not like I thought they would. By that time, we had gone to the mountains to do some clean living for 24 hours. And I woke up Sunday morning to snow, big fluffy flakes of snow. My family and friends all ragged me, told me it was useless, and the game was sure to be cancelled. I never wavered completely, but I began to prepare myself for a baseball-less Sunday, as we drove back down the hill. By the time we hit Sacramento however, it was 55 degrees and clear skies, and all of sudden, baseball seemed like the most logical activity, and I tromped on the accelerator.

Home by 2:45, out the door by 3:00, and to the park by 3:25. Excited, nervous, happy, worried. All emotions came tumbling through as I neared the field. Lo and behold, the game had started, and it looked like we were well stocked. Silently I thanked the baseball gods, and threw on my uniform. Luckily I brought my undershirt, the wind never stopped blowing, and the temperature probably didn’t get above 54, but the sun was bright, and the game was lively….for the other team anyway.

Noah threw a masterful complete game, resplendent in fadeaway pitches, and low and slow changes. Struck ol’ Paige out (with some psychological help from Gaspar), as well as Zerbes, who ate Satch for breakfast last week. Noah’s team had hits all day, line shots, dribblers, soaring shots, they all came out to play. Our team of hitters couldn’t do much more than pop up to the infield, which had us beaten hands down on defensive ability. Johnny tried his best, but our team gave him no help in the field, I think we averaged three errors an inning. We had apparently adopted a couple of new guys who showed up to play their own game and joined ours. Noah’s new guys were juiced up monsters with defensive capabilities. Ours didn’t get a hit, and managed to fuck up groundballs, and a relay throw about five times, although there was a nice double play turn later on. Not to lump too much on any specific player, as we all managed to hump the wrong leg at some point in the game.

We started to mount a comeback, and the momentum was hurtling our way, but then there was a doubling off, and some more pop ups, and suddenly the game was over. Mentally, I think most of our team was changing their shoes by the 7th inning. The final score was 15-4, but luckily, there is always another game…..

Highlights

* Noah, again with the CG, nibbling and jamming the whole game

* The homeruns and triples and doubles that all seemed to follow one another

* Mitch, doing it with the bat, and the glove, strangling the hell out of our last rally chance

* The return of Nick Levine, who proved that you can be gone for years, and still put on a hitting display

* New guy 1 and 2 for smoking the ball, and making some fine defensive plays

The sun is supposed to stay, but so is the wind, so bring your long sleeves and cap.

Stay loose

S. Paige