A spring day in May is a fine thing, and even better when there is aplenty of parking. In our yearly recruitment drive, we played in GGP on Bay to Breakers day, and netted some fresh volunteers. I think the heat must have knocked the drunks out early, I didn't see the usual assortment of staggering giraffes and body paint that I have in years past.
We started with 13, with Satch and Greg going head to head. And that is how we finished, a complete game for both hurlers, which is how it should be. The field and the mound were both in great shape, which made pitching a lot easier. A late McGrath made us 7 on 7, a legitimate game. And much later, after recruiting, Dennis showed up and we had 17.
We gained a Dutch recruit who played right field for a half an inning and took a hurried at-bat, in which he grounded to second but didn't bother to run, and then suddenly left, due to his girlfriend waiting for him. The decision to invalidate his ground ball as an out was contested, unofficially, as we felt he had made an impact in the defensive game, gathering in a ball hit by Nick that would have been extra bases had the Dutchman not been there. But whatever....
The visitors scored first, then we answered back to knot it at 1-1. It was to be a see-saw battle the whole game, which made it exciting. I will say that the lethargy shown by the Dutchman was infectious in his team, the visitors in particular had not interest in running out ground balls. That lack of hustle may have made the difference in the game.
I noticed a man and woman in sporty togs that watched at least an whole inning of the game so I sauntered up and asked them if they were interested in playing? They both agreed and we had 8 on 8, which made the situation a lot more relaxed. Brian and Michelle had actually run the B2B that morning, and showed a lot of spirit in playing eh whole game with us. Michelle was on base twice and scored a run, and didn't strike out. Brian, not so much, although he did also score a run and made a perfect throw to the plate from left to gun down Jon McGrath. We were lucky to have them.
Going into the late innings, Powell was interested in throwing and I declared the 7th my last inning, and then had a good inning and asked for one more inning. Chris, out of the goodness of his heart, acquiesced and suggested that I could also pitch the 9th if I wanted to. I couldn't argue with his logic that he would have the opportunity to throw next week, while it might be a month before I was back out. A sad, but true commentary.
We were tied at 7-7 going into the bottom of the 8th, and then James got on, and scored the go ahead run coming all the way around. In the top of the ninth, the visitors roared mightily, until they got into the batters box, and then, they went down in order. Tony hit what could have been extra bases but Dennis was there and made the catch for the game.
Highlights:
* It was almost too nice of a day
* Thanks to Bob, Adam and John for doing the catching on a day when the weather was hot
* We had a series of foul balls to left, some of which I am not sure were actually foul
* There was quite a few untouched pop ups that go as singles in the books, but were not pretty to watch ( I had one)
* Elvin continues to improve as a lefty, and had a great timely hit
* I don't think I hit anyone, and the only pitches that were getting away from me were knuckleballs that anyone could avoid
* Chris made some crucial plays at SS, and stopped a few more from getting to the outfield
* Once again, perfect strikes to anyone other than Richie in the box
* Tony gained the love and attention of three kids in the stands, giving him advice throughout his at bat and subsequent base-running. Given the adulation that he was garnering, I found myself feeling like the villain in a wrestling match.
* Adam made a number of great stops at catcher, which at Big Rec can be a substantial difference in the game
* We had a chance to get out of an inning with the SQ out (right fielder to 1st base), but some of us were yelling one, and others were yelling home, and the right fielder said it all sounded like home
* Matt also made some great plays at SS, and was a constant threat at the plate
* Greg did a great job on the bump, the game could have very easily gone the other way
* Adam came through with a big RBI at bat that almost broke me
* Tony knew the knuckle was coming and was still flummoxed.
* Thank you to everyone who came out to play, it would have sucked for my once a month game to be a batting practice on a beautiful day
P.S.
It came to our attention that John Nero recently moved to Chicago, without so much as a warning, much less a goodbye. After ~16 years playing with the MBC, we thought we at least warranted a social nicety or even a polite "go fuck ourselves."
Apparently not. Hopefully we have not seen the last of him, and we wish him the best. Someone else is going to have to bring the vegetarian-only grill for the 4th of July BBQ.
For those who wish to remind themselves, here is the player profile on John from 2009.
http://missionbaseball.blogspot.com/2009/10/player-13-john-nero.html
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