A Game and Then an Exhibition

I don't know if it was the chiropractor, the acupuncture, or the drinking, but somehow Satch put a baseball display on at the cop field on Sunday. 16 solid souls showed up this Sunday, the sun shining and the game before us ended early, so for once we were on the field and warmed up by 3.

Johnny took the mound for the visitors, and was his usual solid self. Unfortunately he had a few hiccups with the defense, and he wasn't helped by the clouting force of the home squad. In hindsight, it was a little unfair balance-wise, but lots of times we have had an all star team set up, that looked unbeatable, and then they never get out of the gate.

Satch was more efficient than usual, and was helped by a great defense. The home squad was knocking down everything that came their way, and before too long, Satch was carrying a perfect game into the fifth inning. The visitors were starting with the bad juju, trying to throw Satch off his game, and eventually Johnny Bartlett (who really deserved a better shake out then he got) stepped up and knocked a gork over second base and the no-no-no was done for. A few batters later, John Nero fought off some fastballs, and waited on a change up (which had been working great up until that point) and laced a line drive to left center. The visitors were on the board. Unfortunately, the score by that point was 11-1, and it didn't improve. By the end of the sixth, it was in the 17-1 range, and the visitors were starting to look gloomy, so Greg (ever the diplomat) offered up a team remix and a three inning exhibition.

The teams were more balanced, Satch kept throwing, and Sean came in for the new visitors, and effectively shut down our offense with one of the nastiest curve balls we have seen out there. It was still 0-0 going into the 3rd, Rojas came in for the home team as relief, with Satch behind the dish (big mistake on the legs). A little trouble finding the plate, a booted ball, a couple of hits, and it was 4-0 with half a inning to go. The home squad managed a run, but in the end, it wasn't enough, and the game(s) came to an end. Nice.

Highlights:

* Not too much to brag about with a lopsided victory but....

* Johnny and Noah were a solid battery, and Noah deserves an extra kudos for a lot of stingers and hardballs in the neck

* Satch had a virtual cycle, at least one of the hits would have been out of park, any park...almost hit a soccer player too

* The diplomat, Greg. Take care of that leg, cuz I can't catch worth a shit

* Gaspar for putting up with Satch, and sticking out behind the dish as long as he could

* Lattig proving that he can hit anywhere

* New guy John, catching and hitting

* Good to see Owen out on a regular basis, welcome home!

Unfortunately the legs are out of wack, even if the rest of me is balanced. Maybe Satch should take a week off (just from pitching of course....)


See you in the fog,

S. Paige