Wednesday, April 13, 2011

4/10/11- Camp Swampy

Again we had a large number of people show up, which is great, but it makes one all the more frustrated on beautiful days when 10 people show up. But I suppose one should always focus on the positive.

The numbers and people being what they were, the teams were divided as Grey Mission jerseys versus Mission shirts and other jerseys. There was a little grumbling from the others, as it seemed as though the MBC regulars were going to walk away with it. Gaspar in particular seemed to think that the MBC jerseys were too stacked, but hopefully the outcome will be a lesson that one should never be too sure about anything....

William Zerbes, looking trim and relatively clean-shaven walked out of the woods and demanded that he start on the hill. Well, demanded might be a strong term, but certainly we had to remind him that usual protocol does not allow one to show up and get the starting duty. But we were all glad to see him, and no one else on his team was fighting for the position. He had dropped to a three quarters, almost sidearm delivery and had more pop on his fastball than we had seen out of him a few years. After establishing that he still had it, he passed the ball on to Johnny Bartlett, who did what he always does, which is eat the innings, get the outs when they are needed, and in general, play the outside part of the plate like a Stradivarius.

Sean, replete with strong mustache, started for the visitors, and we had decided to platoon the pitching duties for the team, as we were fat in arms. Sean went three, then sent in Satch, tossed three, then we went to the Irish courage of Dustin (D-Sky) to close it up.

Or at least that was the plan, but in a rare instance, we actually had to play extra innings because the score was tied, and not just because some of us will play until its too dark to see. It was a hitters day, no one seemed to have too much dominance on the hill. The ball bounced a bit more, especially in the outfield. The score was all over the place, 3-0 , then flopping to 6-4, and then back again. It was really good game, punctuated with some timely hitting, defensive gems and gaffes, and lots of good opportunities that were actualized or squandered.

We went into the 11th, and with Greg Snyder now on the hill, and the visitors up by a run (scored by the master of the delayed steal home, Tony Rojas), the home team managed to get to their last out, and with two men on base, Loren stepped up and sent a ball deep into right center to secure a win. The final score was somewhere in the neighborhood of 15-14, mostly we knew that it was a close one, and everyone contributed.

Highlights:

* A beautiful day, lots of players

* Adam, our new political ally, made a phone call to the SF parks and Rec, and got them to mow the jungle that was the grass, thus making the game safer and more enjoyable

* Both teams showed some great defense, it was nice to have a game that didn't have too many real weak spots

* Paul made a great catch in right field, fighting the sun and the run

* The sun, proved to be a fierce enemy for the 2nd baseman, and we had a lot of shading and running away from pop flies

* Rich anchored SS for the homers and turned a lot of MBC singles into easy ground outs

* I battled Zerbes for at least 14 pitches in my third at bat, before striking out. Touche, Bill.

* My only hit for the game was my first at bat, when I managed to hit a ball up around my eyes

* Gaspar, bucking the trend, had a sharp grounder to the right side of the infield for a hit, while we all bunched up on the other side, traditional Gaspar shift style.

* Someone had a great sacrafice bunt. Love that.

* Thanks to Greg, Mike, Noah, Adam and Ed for catching

* Johnny hit Adam twice. I guess when Bob isn't around, you got to hit somebody.

* The knuckleball worked well for a few innings, especially when I needed it to. That isn't always the case

* In general, everyone seemed to be better about knocking down ground balls, not always getting the out, but its a good step to keep the ball in the infield.

* Loud hits were registered by John, Loren, Rich, Nick, Zerbes, Ed, Tim, Sean, Lattig, to name a few. If you feel you had a loud hit I missed, let me know....

Let's keep the momentum going, this morning's rain was nice, probably packed the clay, so the fields should be in good shape. Not sure where we are yet.

S. Paige

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