5/14/11- MBC versus SQ A's

We collected outside the gate, in the afternoon, that threatened to rain, but never did. We were entertained by a ornery old gate guard, who had decided he would list out and apply every rule and myth that he could, mostly because the count hadn't finished and he thought we were in need of "learning." Probably good that he reminded people that the tower guards shoot people with blue jackets on in case of trouble. Mental note 1: Don't wear a blue jacket to the game.

He searched each and every bag, made sure that we all memorized the rules about cell phones, food, drinks, and sunflower seeds. The curious thing is that while he listed all of the things that we were not supposed to have, he didn't really stop us from bringing them in, he mostly just wanted to cover his own ass so we could testify to the fact that he had warned us.

Unfortunately something got fucked up, and Dustin was not able to join us inside. He made up for it hanging at the bar in Larkspur, keeping our rep legit. Hopefully we can iron it out so D-Sky can make it inside next time.

In any case, the all clear bell sounded, we made our way in, and got the field just as the inmates were getting the gear and uniforms out of the locked shed. As time was a factor, and we had never gotten a complete game in the afternoon slot, we told the A's we were ready to start, no infield/outfield required.

Ke'Lam started for the A's, back from shoulder surgery, and apparently a pitcher now. He seemed to have taken on the Stretch role of team representative. There were a few other guys that we recognized from Giants game past, and there was no real difference in the play, so I would say that there are two equal teams at SQ now, rather than an A squad and B squad. As the Giants rep, Johnny "Bad Ass" was behind the fence for the beginning of the game, giving a mixture of shit talking and encouragement to the batters. Then he moved out to right field, and kept his thing going from there.

As usual, they jumped to an early lead, and we failed to get a hit for a while. We do think that Jimmy (his first trip inside) got a hit, but the Con-gress (haha) ruled it was an error. Our first couple of innings were not as tragic as past games, where every one catches their own feet and pop flys drop in the middle of seven guys (that came later.) They had some legit hits, and before we got our first hit, the score was 4-0.

One thing that always seems to be an issue for us is base coaching. It is one of those things that we don't practice very often in our games, and usually by the time that we realize we need a coach at third, its too late. My own issue with base coaching in the SQ game came when I was barreling towards third, and realized that Phelps was a little too close inside my trajectory line if I rounded the bag. In my attempt to slow down or in any way not kill Brian, I tripped over the bag, went face first in to the dirt, cut up my hand, sprained my ankle, but managed to cradle the loose bag in a effort to not be called out. It worked. Helpful hint to all, it is in everybody's best interest to stay out of that zone, now referred to as Big Train Alley.

The other issue of the day was the umpires. Now we all know that there is a lean towards the convicts side, and we accept that. The home plate umpire had a big zone, but it seemed to work most of the time both ways. There were a few times when Greg and I had to share a look of disbelief that a ball was not called a strike, and once he had the LATEST strike call I have ever experienced, but luckily we all froze and waited, and waited, and waited, and eventually he did make the call. The field umpire was another story. He must owe some people on the team or just be really stoked for the A's to win. He was missing calls all over the place, called an out at the tail end of a double play that was just wrong, and completely missed a pick off attempt. I think he was overexcited about being able to ring people up, well, more specifically, us.

We finally got in the scoring mood, and once we had that first run, our confidence came back to us, and for a change the other team started making mistakes. We had to beg and plead to get the scoreboard guys to put our runs up though. We kept up the scoring, and made some great defensive plays to keep the game close. They brought in Junkyard to close the game, and we all thought that this was our opportunity. He was no cupcake though, and even though it was a one run game, he looked calm. The frantic final bell time keeping, I think, psyched us out a little though, and we went down 1, 2, 3 in our final at bat, and accepted a 7-6 loss.

Handshakes and thanks all around, and out we went to the world again. The Marin Brewing Company welcomed us with cold beers, a drunk Dustin, and good burgers.

Highlights:

* Lineup for the SQ A's

1. Ke'lam

2. Rahim

3. Jeff

4. Chris

5. Dalton

6. Paul

7. Manning (DH)

8. T Burton

9. Junkyard

10. Donnie

* I managed to hit four guys, all with exceptionally slow changeups or knuckleballs. And most of them on 1-2 counts. Adam said they all reported that they were happy to get hit, so they could get on base.

* We turned a double play of our own to get our of a tight jam!

* No one hit a cheapy to right, but I got within a foot of it.

* Jimmy hit the ball hard all day, and didn't ever look scared.

* I haven't been able to check in with him to see if he is alright, but I hit Greg in the throat with a bouncing knuckleball. Sorry!

* The outfielders were duped a couple of times by the fast outfield, I think we are all used to the slow grass, but SQ is a quick one.

* Chris and Jimmy scored on a double to left center, they had to wait to see if it fell, and by the time they scored, they were almost piggybacking

* Brian Phelps got sent home by an overeager third base coach, and had to do the worm to get around the catcher. Maybe we can pop lock for a run next time.

* Best Pre-game moment: Noah explaining the five gloves in his bag to the old guard why he needed them and how they were different.

* Chris made a great stop at SS, we didn't get the out, but it saved a run.

* We brushed the metal plate on the first base line, so we would know where it was. One of the A's rounded it the next inning, thinking it was the base. They covered it back up.

* The wind made for an interesting game, we had guys running all over the place. The best was a pop fly that looked like it was 2nd base all the way, then, it was 1st, then it was pitcher, then it fell in the middle of all of us, and thankfully rolled foul. Nice play everybody.

* We also had a team wide run down, we should have just surrounded the guy, since 8 of us were running that direction.

* Successfully picked a guy off first, which really sucked 'cuz he was so happy he had gotten a hit. He was scary mad for a little while.

* Their DH laid down a picture perfect bunt for a safety squeeze play. We need to learn that play.

Thanks to all that came out, email me if there are things that I missed that you feel should be included. Also, those who took pictures, send them to me, so I can add them.

Next game is June 2nd, and then June 25.

S. Paige