Monday, March 3, 2014

2/16/14 Big Rec

Satch has been out of commission welcoming a new ball player to the family team, and so has Lefty Phelps.  So congrats to him and his and thanks for your understanding.  JT Tiemann writes up February 16 game in Golden Gate Park.  I am chomping a the bit to get back, but for now, this blog is as close as I am coming to MBC....

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.