10/8/23- GGP

The Mission Baseball Club is facing a crisis.  I don't want to sound like Chicken Little, but the numbers we have been putting up for attendance are not acceptable and we are in danger of this thing of ours dying on the vine.  We have had lulls before, but this seems extraordinary.  And fucking ridiculous. 

The last few games that I have been to were paltry, at best, and this week was no different.  12 players, 2 of which were my kids.  

Currently there are 95 email addresses in our list.  Of those, 20% are legacy players that don't live remotely close to the game, but like hearing that it is still going.  

As for the rest of you, what the fuck? 

We hammered out the best we could with what we had.  There were 4 guys in the park playing catch, with a baseball, and I tried to talk them all into joining, but they were real adamant about not playing.  We tried to entice a few of the players from the olde tyme practice to play, but they said only if we moved our game down to their field.  Nah.  So 12 it was.

I started for the visitors and Mitch started for the homers.  That was pretty much how it was all game, with the last inning for us going to Phelps, who looked great, and I bet would have loved to pitch more, did I mention that all you people that aren't showing up are fucking this up?  Am I putting too fine a point on it?

The Lil's, T and C, played great in the meantime.  They got hits, assisted plays, scored runs, stole bases, made outs, got dirty, all things you could have done if you got your lazy asses out there more often.

We were on our feet the whole game, playing defense when we weren't batting, and Anna and Greg got traded back and forth about 3 times, until Greg finally put his foot down and just stopped batting.  

The game was 4-0 for most of the time, our visiting team could not put a run across.  The homers chipped away, and by the time we scored one run, so had they, and it was 5-1 going into the 9th.  Suddenly our bats came alive, and we pushed 3 runs across the board, with runners on 2nd and 3rd.  Alas, it was not to be, and the rally died, as did the game.  

Final: 5-4, homers.

Highlights

* For having 3/5 of a team, we made some good plays

* Several line drives were hit at the heads of people, and all survived

* Sean hit the turd shot of the game, dropping a fly behind 3rd, with two outfielders playing him to pull

* Thanks to the catchers, who did a great job

* Phelps behind the dish!

* Greg was in a semantics argument about location with a AAA driver for the first half of the game

* Phelps also hit two balls down the 1st base line, which made me have to run to 3rd.  

* Being the broken specimen that I am, somehow I was responsible for our first two runs scored.....

Roll Call of the Reliable

Greg

Tony

Anna

Nick W

Mitch

Mike N

Sean 

Conor

Satch

Lil Satch

Lil' Josh Gibson

Brian P