Friday, September 16, 2022

9/11/22 GGP

 




A lot of players came out, including the return of Anna from the IL and moving like she had never missed a game.  I think the total was 24 for the game, which is awesome considering that it's been Havana 6's for the last 3 months.  Let's keep it up.  It was a beautiful day, marred only by the Opera in the Park traffic that made parking a real nightmare.

Pitching for the homers was Sonny, and he was lights out for most of the game.  His fastball had a real tailing movement to it, making it hard to read until it was too late.  he augmented that with a breaking ball that had sharp bite, and he was backed by a strong offense.  Not exactly what you want to face.  We did our best, and Satch was on the bump for most of the game, matching Sonny in effectiveness...until I didn't.  I was keeping the pitch count low-ish, and we tried our best to limit the damage when the big hitters were up but it didn't always work out.

While I don't want to highlight the misery, I have to say that John McG had a real rough day in the field.  I can't put an exact number on it, but it was 5+ errors.  You could see that he had been infected with a strong dose of the defensive yips, the whammies, the hinkies.  It happens to us all at some point.  He was on the ball each time, but just couldn't get it clean and the more frustrated he got, the more he was in his own head.  Luckily, we as a team are the supportive, not vindictive sort, and I am happy to say that through the course of the game, we saw a rebirth of confidence and ability in John which was very gratifying.  

Speaking of defensive prowess, how about that Marcie!  She came out after many promises of attendance, and made a great running catch in right field.  She was clearly unaware that it was not the 3rd out with her post-catch celebratory dance, but ultimately, it did not affect the outcome. She also had 2 almost-hits, stopped only by the book the defense was keeping on her.  Cap tip.

The score was something in the neighborhood of 8-2 as we entered into the last few.  We also realized that we had played an extra inning, mostly because we had the band out, and the 7th had come and gone without the Take me out to the Ballgame.  So they played it, and then we shrugged and said, well I guess it is the bottom of the 7th, not the 8th now....

Sean relieved me, as I was struck by my own version of the yips, due to exhaustion and other ailments, I struggled to finish the inning and was happy to give up the ball.  Sean did well, as did HR who came in to relieve Sonny, and Urano after that, in case we had any thoughts of a comeback, he slammed the door.  We did have a mini-rally and brought the score to 8-5 but that is where it ended.

Highlights:

* The return of Anna!

* Bob hit 2nd for our team, power and speed is what you want in the second slot.

* Sean almost made an amazing lay out catch in center

* The homers had at least 2 triples

* I am proud of the progress that McG made in the course of the game

* I am glad I was not the only one that struck out against Sonny

* The MBC single is when you hit a sure fire out, meander down the line, and wait for someone to fuck it up.

* I almost killed Adam and Greg in collisions, but no one was hurt

* New guy Rudy caught half the game and had a big situational hit to right.

* HR hit one not-to-right field, to prove my shift wrong

* Greg also caught most of our game, all systems go!

* Mike Lynch is a hoover at 3rd, nothing gets by him!

* I made 2 catches off the mound on high pop flies, something I ordinarily try to avoid.  But I couldn't, I was the only one that could make the play.

See you soon!

S. Paige


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