3/4/12- West Sunset

Wow!  That's all I can say.  What a day, the weather was perfect bordering on hot, nice breeze through out the day, and the mob scene we expected to descend was significantly less than we imagined (12-12 as opposed to 16-16).  The teams were halved on very fair terms, and Sean started on the bump for the homers, Johnny for the visitors.  We breezed through a couple of innings, trading scores, Sean was down in his velocity which allowed us visitors to actually string together some hits, Johnny had some questionable defense at times that allowed for any lead to be a tenuous one.

We once again found ourselves at 6-6 going into the 6th, but we scored to go ahead 7-6, thus depriving us of back to back Number of the Beast games.  However, we did make it 8-8 in the 8th ( My number, so a different kind of number of the Beast) and 9-9 in the 9th which was pretty cool.  As you can tell, it was close game through out, and into the legitimate extra innings, it stayed close, as we both ran the tally up to 14.

However, the homers proved to be stronger in fortitude in the extra innings, and also some how ended up having the last at bats, but I guess the reasoning was that they had already won the game, and it was doubtful that we could get another full inning in.  It would have been nice to try though, final score 16-14.

Highlights Extravaganza!


* Sean and Co. managed to get out of a bases loaded no outs jam, it was a thing of beauty to see.  Unless you were the guy stranded on base.

* Two infield fly rule plays in one game!

* Paul W. came out for his swan song, got a couple of hits, told some stories.  He is moving to sunny Florida in the next few weeks, seeking sun, warmth, and friendly income tax climates.  We wish him all the best, thanks for playing!

* A questionable foul ball that sat on the plate, may have been an fair ball.

* Greg vs. Greg once again proved violent, as Snyder put one between his shoulder blades, again.

* Brian Phelps and Jay both took lots of pics, some of which can be viewed here:
http://www.flickr.com/photos/bmp415/sets/72157629519175683/

* We also experienced the ill-fate of the dropped 3rd strike, safe at first

* We had some great hits that were a result of batters hustling down to first, that's the MBC heart!

* Jay got a crucial RBI and then almost got picked off while being 10 inches off the bag

* The ol' first and third steal play actually worked!

* Mitch and Brian traded who could be the best center fielder title through the game

* I tattooed one off Sean my first at bat, and I actually pulled the ball.  That made up for a lot of stinker at bats in the last few games

* JT made a couple of JT Snow-like plays at first

* Thanks to Bob, Greg, Gaspar, Ed, Adam for catching and doing a great job blocking the ball in a close game

* Daniel gets the award for best slide and worst delayed steal

* Sean, playing second base, made a strong argument for the basic mechanics of why lefties don't play second base

*  Duane stroked the ball, Adam had a huge drive for a double, as did Mitch, who of course, got a triple

* Will and Carter got to be on the same team and batted back to back

* No one say Dennis' name when he is playing defense, apparently it paralyses him

* The sun proved to be less of a problem this time, no explanation, except that maybe we are headed into spring?

* The wind, on the other hand, made for some real tense high flies

* DJ Greg did a good job of throwing strikes in the final frames, and struck out Sean, but needs to remember that fixing his hat in the middle of his wind up is considered a balk.

* An epic game, thanks to everyone who came out, and everyone who didn't.

Next week, Big Rec, 3pm ( don't forget to set those clocks ahead an hour)

S. Paige