1/1/12- Cop Field

Hard to believe its already 2012, but it is.  And it was hard to believe it was as nice as it was out on Sunday.  But it was.  Here's proof, for all those who are no longer living in our jewel of the West...

Yep, so we had 20 guys show up, it was a little sparse to begin and we started to wonder if we may have to Havana 6 it, but then there was the second wave, including one very rough looking Sean "I don't know what end its gonna erupt from" Presley.  Strangely enough, Sean and I ended up on the same team, which rarely happens.  And we both pitched.  And we both lost.  But more on that later.

Satch was hurling for the homers, and feeling sprightly and good with the warm sun and the time off, the fast ball was moving, the curve was curving, the knuckle was, well you get the idea.  DJ Greg started for the visitors, and was throwing good ball, getting us to pop up, ground out and in general not score any runs.  The visitors on the other hand, were not shy about their scoring, getting out of the gate early and running up a 4-0 score before we had ended the 3rd frame.  Missed pitches, a constant barrage of short flies to the right field/deep second base area, and timely line drives made for some long innings.  We even had John Carey on our team, which should have given us the youth angle, but nothing was working for us.

It didn't help that every time that we hit the ball well, it seemed to be right at somebody, Dennis made some good catches to rob us, and Mitch, playing shortstop, had about 8 put outs.  This was taken right before Nick was robbed of a great line drive.  Which was pretty much par for the course for us.

DJ Greg sprinkled a few strike outs in there for good measure, and I would say the total K's for both teams had to be at least 12-15, it was apparent what a week off will do for timing.

In the 6th, cruising, I threw a fast ball a little too hard to Will, and felt a painful pop somewhere in the southern rib/ northern hip area of my throwing side.  Not good, I finished the inning with a lot of knuckles and changes, and am now looking at rehab time.  Greg diagnosed it as oblique strain.  I say I pulled my rib meat.  Either way, Sean came in to throw and didn't have any more luck than I did.  We at least had scored by that point, the score was 5-2, but it didn't stay that for long.

Will came in for the visitors and kept at us with the pop ups, K's and ground balls.  We turned away a big scoring opportunity from the visitors and then went down meekly 1,2,3.  Not quite capitalizing on the momentum.  It was early and sunny still, so we kept at it for the 10th and 11th, but the game never got any better for us homers, the true definition of anemic offense.  Not even sure what the final score was, but I know that we lost.

But what a great day and a beautiful start to 2012.

Highlights:

* The weather.

* Dee Dee survived her first baseball thumping

* The field was in great condition

* Bob made an awesome catch at the backstop

* Lots of bunts, both intentional and swinging

* We had a great double play home to third, if only the bases had actually been loaded.

* Mitch may have been thrown out by Greg at 2nd base, I put on the tag, but didn't see a thing.

* Nick Smith finally got the hit that had been robbed from him

* Duane uncorked for his first triple of 2012, starting a new streak?

* Maybe its just me, but in general, I think our outfielders give wayyyyyyyyyyy too much respect to most of our hitters, if someone hits it 490 feet, oh well, but that's not the place to play on a regular basis.

* Speaking of, Loren really got a hold of couple.

* Ed technically broke a bat, but Jimmy Shotwell would have kept using it

* We lost two balls over the cop fence.  Damn cops.

* My offense got steadily worse all day, started out with a monstrous double, and by the end I was gratefully taking walks.

* AGAIN, Please try not to swing when people are stealing. Unless you can guarantee that you will get a hit.  Which you can't.  So don't swing.

* Thanks to Ed, Greg, Bob for catching.

* After a failed center fielder pick off maneuver, we ended the inning with a pick off with the SS.  Some people just don't learn.

* Bob was not HBP, but Mitch was.  Both of these guys refuse to move on inside pitches.  I respect that.

* Late edition- Ed states that he broke that bat.  And then Sean struck him out looking.  Then hit him, the next AB.

See you in the ice bath.

S. Paige