Monday, October 21, 2013

10/13/13 Big Rec

Sorry this entry is a wee bit late, not enough time in the day to keep up with the old dispatches.  Needless to say the game we had on Sunday last was a real beauty.  The day was amazingly beautiful, clear, no wind, sun and warmth all while taking in Golden Gate Park, and all with plenty of parking.  Sure the federal government had been shut down, Bart was planning on another strike and there is no end to the depravity, misery and pain in the world, but for a few hours at least, we all forgot about those things.

Brian Phelps started for the homers and continued his dominance that has been his calling card for the last few months.  maybe its the impending fatherhood that is putting the extra fire in his belly, but whatever it is, HE HAS GOT IT.  He pretty much coasted his way through six innings, helped by the pinpoint accuracy of his pitches and the convenient placing of his defense to exactly the spot that we all hit the ball to.  One inning in particular, all three outs were recorded by the center fielder, and I don't think he had to move more than three feet to catch any of them.  Amazing.

Greg started for the visitors, and pitched his usual game, but when the offense doesn't score any runs, it makes the pitcher look like he isn't doing his job.  Throwing errors, legit hits, bloops and bad breaks, they all cost something, and heading into the middle innings, the score was something like 6-1.  Satch came in to relieve Greg and was throwing with some fire, the fastball was there, and it was being used.  We tried to stymie the run scoring and give our team a chance, but Phelps' ability or our lack thereof kept us from too much of a rally.

Mitch came in to close things out and we fared little better, our own deficit being raised when Satch gave up a big hit to Powell to widen the score to 7-4, which is where it ended.

Highlights:

* Phelps had our number all day

* My team and myself included, once again committed the grievous error of the line out double play, multiple times.

* Several close plays at first, which lead to some horsetrading on later plays and calls.

* It was strange to have a pop fly actually stay within the trajectory it was supposed to and the person catch it without looking like they were on roller skates.  If I was a teenager (or an asshole) I would probably add #wherewasthewind?

* Duane did a real nice job behind the dish, a spot he is getting accustomed to

* Phelps somehow stroked a single to center on one of the nastiest knuckleballs I have thrown as of late.  Seriously, had to be an eyes closed swing.

* Coney Island James came out again and did some fancy work with the leather

* The mound was in real bad shape, the landing zone was a crater about a foot wide and 9 inches deep

* Ed did a good job of blocking the ball

* Milo served as bat boy with aplomb and got to hit a few times, before Tony put the kibosh on it with his "I hate all children and the fun they have" attitude.  I get it, Tony, and Milo might be a little young to be scurrying around the bases, but a middle ground is probably attainable.

* Good to see Lattig et al. out again, although he didn't go his customary 5-6.

Yesterday's game at Cop Field, outcome not yet known.

S. Paige



Thursday, October 3, 2013

9/22/13 Big Rec

Sorry this is a bit behind the times, but things have a way of getting away from Satch sometimes.  It was a great game, well, if you were on the home team anyway.  Satch had been saving up mojo since the San Quentin game that never was, and that plus another three weeks of not playing baseball put me in a good position.

For the first five innings, I had a no hitter going.  Adam was calling a hell of a game and I had some pep usually not present in my shoulder that helped make the fastball look strong enough that everyone swung at the change ups I was throwing.  Either way, I got throw the full 9,  which was an honor.

It was nice to have some really solid defense, I think Sonny at SS, Mitch in center and new guy from Coney Island, James, accounted for about 90% of the put outs.   All I had to do was keep throwing strikes and they did the rest.

Greg started for the visitors, and he did fine, as he always does.  But holes in the defense were found, and we scored some runs and then some more.  The game was never really lose, and Tony came in to mop up after Greg, and seemed unusually wild, I think he hit Ed two-three times in one at bat.  Or maybe he jsut doesn't like Ed....

It was such a beautiful day that when the regular nine innings ended, we thought hey, why not keep playing, give the visitors a chance to hit, stretch out the day.  Well, sometimes you play a little too much, the bottom of the ninth for the homers ran on and on and by the time the third out was in the books, half the visiting team had gone home, and the other half didn't give a shit about batting again.

So in theory, the game might still be open, they deserved their final at bats.

Score: 13-2?

Highlights:

* Not too much I can remember, other than it felt good to have command of my pitches

* Elvin showed up in a Red Sox uniform, and was threatened by each and every A's fan out there

* The day was amazingly beautiful.  The parking was amazingly awful

* At bat, I twice hit balls that resulted in inning ending double offs.

* Bob swung at a knuckleball

* I had one nice deep drive that felt very good

* Adam and Ed were great for me behind the dish.

* I can't say enough about my defense that day

* James did a lot with the glove and the bat

* Gaspar had a perfect Gaspar hit

* The A's clinched and we played a ball game, end of story.