3/17/19 Cop Field

Well I didn't screw it up by expressing my hope that the game would happen. It was an amazing day, 74 degrees at game time, and 21 baseballers came out from their rain-soaked dens to bask in the light.

The real news was the triumphant return of four players:

Tony Rojas, out these last several months with major shoulder injury. Well, he's back. Almost. He isn't batting yet, but he played defense, made a nice clean pick at third for an out, and didn't hurt himself the whole game so we'll take that!

And Duane!  Also a casualty of a long term injury and who I will have to look back to see the last time he and I were at a game together, damn, good to see him too, and he was kind enough to send Satch these ol' pictograms, and also, I think there was a boomerang involved....stories vary on that account.

And JMcG!  Consistent throwing arm troubles have limited him-- though he may have been out more recently than the other two.  But there he was, raring to go, taking ground balls at SS, cracking the ball, moving like an Irish lynx.

And Ben!  For whom it has been a long, long time, his uniform jersey is still in pristine condition, that's how long that has been!

Yeah, Carter was there too, with his two adorable kids, and his wonderful wife, but geez man, you're obviously not crippled like the rest of us, so why not show up a little more often.  And yeah, I know, that has GOT to sting getting admonished from me, Mr. Every Six Weeks Or So.

The game started with Sonny for the homers and Sean for the visitors. Both pitched very well, giving up limited hits, and I think only one run?  Sonny with his sneaky fastball all of a sudden, lots more movement and higher velocity.  Sean, still tricky, still on the corners and you off balance.  I took over after four for Sean, and did my four innings with acceptable casualties....namely the Powell run.

You can't really avoid it, he can belt the ball or he can out-run ground balls especially on a slow infield, he can steal bases and we don't have a catcher in the MBC that can throw him out consistently. Tough out.  I threw my best but my best wasn't quite good enough. Nick W. came in to relieve Sonny and he pitched great too, was breaking off some Uncle Charlie's that had some funk to 'em. Our team just couldn't string any hits together.

That is until the ninth. Mike N. came in to relieve Nick, and we finally got something going, scored a run, maybe? We finally had....base runners.

Only one out. Sean up.

We were all pretty excited with the possibilities.

Sean absolutely pisses on one. Screaming line drive up the middle, where Powell is waiting to snatch it from the shoe tops, flip it to first. Game over.

Final: 4-2 [1], homers.

Highlights:

* I thought we would have more luck in the hitting department.

* Thanks to all the catchers for the day: Mike, Greg, Chris, Nick?

* One team had Chris, Mitch, Richie, Abe, that's a lot of team speed aaaand on the other team me, Greg, Bob... Well you get the idea.

* Speaking of Abe, we all felt pretty bad, he was on our team at the beginning, and was tragically traded away.  And then he struck out his first time batting for his new team.  Well, they got the win anyway.  But we missed his camaraderie.

* Sean and Sonny had a hell of a good battle on the mound

* Tony made a real nice clean play, and he also had the good sense not to overdo it, on reaching for a couple of no-worry dying quails.

* Oscar winner Jimmy Lillard made the scene.

* I think there was an inning where I kept the ball in the infield the entire inning, grounders and pop ups, but there was at least one run scored and multiple base runners.  That was my thing...not good, but it was mine

* One HBP: Carter natch.  You're welcome.

* Richie had the devious play play of the game, bunting for the go ahead, while a stove-in old man was on the mound.

* I think Mitch or Sean had the big hit of the game

* I squared up on one the whole game, but I was Mitched of my big hit, deep center, into the tall grass. Could have been my longest single yet....

* Thanks to everyone that showed up, it was great to see you all

Adam's Run Scoring Single (thanks again to Duane).