After a long two weeks of rain, cold, and depressing outlooks, we were once again met on the West Sunset field to salvage January for the baseball season. A big tip of the cap to Greg for working on the field and making it habitable, without his help, we probably would not have had a game, Thanks Greg!
A few muddy zones aside, the field was in pretty good shape, before I knew what was happening I was ordered on to the home team, to play shortstop, and provide a bat. Well, I got the shortstop part of it, anyway. The teams were halved at 16, until the late appearance of Mitch, which made us 9 strong. Defense on both sides of the game was pretty outstanding, there were plays made all over the place, and everyone contributed (Yes Brian, your basket catch counts too!!!).
Hitting on the other hand, seemed to be much more of a visitor kind of thing, although Johnny did his best to shut down the rallies. It seemed like we got out of some tight spots, with runners on the corners, but by the end of the 3rd, it was 2-0. By the end of the 5th, it was still 2-0. We had chances, and usually at least a base runner, but never could get them home, and a lot of rallies died before they started.
Sean, resplendent in his Evergreen uniform had brought his A-game to the mound, and tallied at least 8 strikeouts by his departure in the 7th. And who was it that knocked him out of the box, none other than His Royal Mouthiness, Brian “Circus” Girgus. A beautiful line drive, with 2 outs, to score two runs, and all of a sudden the game was tied.
And we got to enjoy that for approximately 4 minutes. The next inning the visitors fought back, score the go ahead, and then they stayed ahead. I had come into relieve Johnny by that point, and was feeling the effects of time off, wife out of town partying, heavy wet balls, and a general ache of everything. Our hitting never really improved, even with Rojas on the mound, who kept us honest, and plunked me in the elbow; just because that is the kind of competitor he is….
The 9th brought us more pain and anguish, as we gasped our last, and then with the light still in the sky, we convinced everyone for an extra inning. It was nice to have a bonus and one more chance, but then I fouled out to end the game, which batting wise for me that day was pretty much par for the course.
It was great to get shake off the rain, and for most of the day, it was sunny and nice, with a strange chill that blew through for 15 minutes. The forecast is not so favorable, and Super bowl Sunday awaits, but if we can, the game will be at Treasure Island.
Highlights
* Sean, hell of a game pitching, Johnny too, sorry I couldn’t be more effective at holding the score.
* Bob, catching a couple of third strike foul tips, thank you!
* The return of the Bhatia boys, a big fly double from Vivek, and a Rickey slide double from Vinay, too cool!
* I can’t remember anyone getting a bad hop, which is amazing considering the rain and mud
* Oh yeah, Adam took one in the head area, but that was because of his fearless play not a bad hop…. He also made some nice plays around the bag.
* I made a mistake in saying Take the easy one, on an up the middle two out groundball, the easy one should have been to first, which is rarely thought of as the easy one….
* Greg and Tony again had some loud hits off me
* Mitch had a great bunt and a much needed catch in center
* Nick scooped up some of my throws from first, which I appreciated, and made a jumping tag at first, too cool.
* Ben, way to squeeze the pop fly in the sun.
* Bob made a great long run catch in left, after complaining that he didn't like having to run out to left from the dugout, that's why you're out there, Bob!
* Reminder to Pitchers: Ball hit to the right side, ground or fly, your movement is always towards covering first base.
S.Paige
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