We had a pretty good game at Big Rec yesterday:
After a couple of weeks of rainouts, we were feeling the
pent-up demand for baseball on what turned out to be a beautiful afternoon at
Big Rec. The outfield grass was tall. The gophers had been busy. The new clay
on the mound was too slick. The parking problems were epic. But the weather
made up for it, and by the time Loren arrived in the 5th inning, we were 10 on
10.
Sean started the game on the mound for the home side, with
Greg doing the honors for the visitors. Sean set the visitors down quickly in
the first, sort of an unconventional 1-2-3 inning, but the home team couldn't
put up a tally in the bottom of the frame either, leaving two on base.
Sean mowed them down again in the second, and this time we plated
three in the bottom of the frame, with the help of some, - ahem - timely
fielding from the visitors. Lattig started with a base hit, and I forced him at
second on a fly ball to shallow center - Mike was stuck in no-mans land when
the ball dropped. I moved to second on a wild pitch (remember, Big Rec has a
full 60' backstop), and moved to third on a base hit. Ed Sidawi hit a sharp
grounder to Will at third, and for some reason I broke for the plate. Will made
a good throw home, and I was just making up my mind whether to slide or try to
get into a rundown when the throw clanked off the catcher's (we'll leave him
nameless) mitt, and I was able to score.
The score stayed 3-0 into the fifth, and then we rallied
again. Sean drove home two, and a couple of hitters later I knocked him in. We
picked up a couple more single runs, and the visitors finally reached Sean in
the sixth when Loren reached on a strikeout/dropped third, and came around to
score.
Mitch finished the game for the visitors, pitching well
again, while Lattig closed it out for the home team. In the end, it was Blue
Moon Odom and Rollie Fingers - Sean for the win, and Lattig for the
three-inning save. We played an extra inning or so just because, but the final
score was 8-1.
- Sean, Greg, Mike, and Mitch (and Tony in the extra frame)
all pitched well; the big difference was more about fielding than hitting
- Greg and Mitch both forgot to hit Bob
- Will reached on a grounder in the top of the first when
the throw pulled me just off the bag. Sean then promptly picked him off.
- Greg got me looking on a nifty pitch on the inside corner,
and Mitch got me swinging on a fastball at the letters. Sean had his share of
strikeouts, too
- Thanks to Ed, John Nero, Bob, Duane, and Greg (am I
missing anybody?) for catching
- The home side's fielding was unusually good. John McGrath
made a couple of nice plays at short, and Elvin made a couple at second and
caught a couple of fly balls in center.
- Mitch hit a triple, but it was with two outs, and he ended
up stranded at third
- We missed our new dads, but we understand. We'll see you
when we see you
Note: Right fielders will please warn bystanders when our
left-handed power hitters are at the plate. We're all pretty sure that ball
missed that little girl, but we aren't sure how.
