A long time coming, especially with our frustrating Sunday at the Marina, we could not ask for a more perfect day this past Sunday. Ye gods the heat! It had to be at least 75 degrees which of course, is like a sauna to us San Franciscans. And not a cloud in the sky, gentle wind that died down and really reminded us of how odd it was that it was still as hot as it seemed to be. We started the whole day off by pissing on the parade of a huge bunch of Sloshballers who had already established the keg at 2nd when Greg and I got there. We showed our permit, they offered us booze and girls in trade if we would let them use the field (their chief negotiator seemed like she might have tapped the keg a little earlier than the rest). We countered that we had been waiting for this game for quite some time, and frankly, there was nothing they had that we would take in trade. They took it well, and ended up playing above us, screaming and drinking for the next two hours, sometimes it sounded like they were cheering for us....
We had 22 by the time everyone else showed up and the breakdown of the teams was almost a old Mission squad versus the new Mission squad, with the exception being Gaspar and Mitch and Adam (salty dogs all three) who were on the visitors.
Satch started for the homers, and quickly gave up two runs on some questionable defensive plays and a few poke jobs. No problem thought we, and then promptly went down 1-2-3. Brian the lefty was facing us on the bump and kept his pitches all around the strike zone and us off balance and stinging. Satch led off the 2nd, fisted a ball for a single, took second on a error, stole third, and came home on a clean hit, with another two close behind. It was our game 3-2. Then the visitors scored two more, and it was theirs 4-3. Back and forth it went with both teams doing some dynamite defensive plays to keep the lead or maintain the tie.
Brian bowed out in the 5th and Satch fell off the mound in a heat stroke after the 7th. Sean, another lefty came in, fresh from a band tour (probably spent every night wishing he was playing ball I am sure). He had some zip on his fastball from all the rest he probably got, but had trouble with consistency. Still, he got done exactly what was needed. Johnny Bartlett took the bump over for the homers and did a fine job with keeping the team from getting too much of a insurmountable command. So it went, and just when one team would thing that they had the lead, the others would take it back and we would be right back where we came from. The game was down to the wire, the visitors stormed back to tie up the game in the ninth, and our chance to win was turned away viciously in the ninth, as we stranded runners on 2nd and 3rd with no outs.
The visitors, fresh from the greatest of all turn-aways, went straight for the throats of us all, and ran two runs across the dish, and then bolted down the coffin lid in the bottom of the 10th, we all collapsed in the dying rays of the sun, and declared the Sunday a success.
Highlights
- Happy Birthday to Vivek, who got a couple of hits, and whose lovely wife and son brought cupcakes for the end
- Dani, back again, with some flashy leather at 2nd and speedy as always out of the batters box
- Satch led off each time he was at bat, got on base each time (three of them were errors), stole two bases, scored twice and was stranded twice. And I am feeling it....
- Doc, don't-give-a-fuck beard and all, moving real well on the new hip
- Sean had a nice long ball after some frustrating at bats
- John Nero had a pretty good day at shortstop, not his natural position
- Brian Girgus, let see what there was the not sliding on a clear cut need to slide play, the not running out of the ground ball that was dropped and would have been a hit, ah, I won't go into the rest, lets just say Brian's got a real knack for making himself known during the game
- Mitch managed to kill every ball that came to the outfield, again
- Adam had some great defensive catching when the game got close, blocking the balls in the dirt
- The jams that all the pitchers got out of over the course of the day was great
The Conundrum for the Day:
In the bottom of the ninth, with one out, and men on 2nd and 3rd, Mike Lattig came up. Now this hasn't ever been an issue, but Mitch was making sounds for Lattig to be intentionally walked, to set up the double play and to take the big bat out of the box. In theory this is what you are supposed to do in baseball, but we have always been a hitters team, where everyone gets the chance to swing. Walks are only at the discretion of the hitter, in cases of three or more BoB in a row, or getting hit with the pitch. It all worked out, as Mike popped up to Mitch, and then the last batter struck out, but still Mitch raises a good point. We countered that if we intentionally walked Mike and the next batter got four balls, would the winning run count by being walked in? Certainly not the way that any of us want to have the game end....Thoughts anyone?
It was great to see you all out there, hope and pray for another day like Sunday,
S. Paige
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