November 15, 2009, West Sunset

Teetering on a birthday hangover cliff but excited because it was the one weekend I couldn't get in trouble for playing ball. That was my feeling as I stepped on to the field for Sunday's game.

Another clear, autumn day, brisk enough for sleeves, sunny enough that no one felt the chill. 20 people showed, and when the teams split, we noticed immediately that something was not going to work in the formula. The home team had all the power, most of the defense, and pitching and catching to spare. But we gave it a shot. And true to our initial fears, after the 1st inning the score was 9-0. The home team was walking around the bases, not legging out triples, and in general no one was having fun. Amazingly, all but two of those first runs came with two outs, it had to be the longest two out rally I have ever been a part of. Noah kept dancing, as one ball fell after another, and Tim's voice got hoarse repeating the phrase "Two outs!".

We brought in the MBC and traded Satch and Greg to the visitors team, for pitching and catching depth as well as some bat power. New guy Edwin and Dennis "white legs" went to the homers. It was still lopsided, but at least it wasn't going to be a massacre. Noah kept hurling for the visitors, and Floppy Pockets kept it up for the homers, only with a 0-0 score.

It see-sawed for a bit, and we had the lead for a bit, but Sean was throwing fire all day, striking out pretty much everybody, and we never could get more than a run at a time. By the time the sun started to be a factor, the game was again getting ugly, as Noah was blinded by the rays, and killed by the gorked ball. There was easily 6 infield hits in one inning, and when it wasn't that, it was doubles off the wall. Tough choices.

Satch came in as long relief, and the defense settled down, but by then the score was 11-4, and Sean showed no sign of letting up. Dusk came early and suddenly, and we capitalized on a pitching change and the lack of good light to score some runs, but in the end it wasn't enough, and the homers took the prize in a final of 11-8.

Highlights


* Bob as a leadoff hitter? And then he never leaned into one....

* Sean was dealing, and throwing the wood around as well

* The pitcher in our league is expected to catch pop flys, he is in the best position, and frankly when its your arm, you want to have only yourself to blame if it gets dropped.

* Same goes for pitcher as the cutoff, and this time it worked, catching Tony off of third, when we really needed an out.

* Lattig was 7-8 at least

* The Gaspar shift worked perfectly when we really needed it to

* I don't really want to point this out, but I think Noah might have given up 19 runs this Sunday, which has to be some sort of record, they were in two games technically, but still, pretty damn amazing, Congrats Noah! Way to battle!

* Ben almost had an amazing double play, but we were happy to get the lead runner!

* A play at the home, with the infield in, haven't seen it actually work in a long time, Elias to Gaspar, to get the sliding Dustin at the dish!

* Dennis has been trying to hit to the opposite field for 6 years apparently, and he did, a double. Congratulations!....

* Nasty knuckleball for a strike. Always nice when that happens.

* Almost had Lattig on a foul tip strike 3. That one will haunt me for a while

* Vic is the new base stealing weapon, not only did he get on base a lot, but he is quick as hell. Too bad none of us could bat him in....

* We sat on the third base side for the first time in a long while. The regular dugout was a swamp, a foreboding sign of winter, error in design, or broken sprinkler? In any case, it was different, and Gaspar almost killer Tony with a foul ball.

* Nero had some clutch plays at third, as did Ben at second

Game next week at Moscone, someone pay attention, I'll be laying down melodies at the Rite Spot.

S. Paige