It was a long time
getting across the bridge, the 49er's opening game, the Giants, the whatever
the hell happens on Sunday's around that time.
But eventually, we all made it out to West Sunset and had enough to
start a game. We were without a number
of the stalwarts of the MBC, which was odd, but it didn't stop us from having a
good game.
Mitch started for the
homers and looked good. The danger, as
we quickly assessed was that when Mitch is on the mound it means he isn't able
to contribute in his usual way defensively.
There were more than a few dropped pop ups, and mixed with the hits, add
one ugly inning and the visiting team had a commanding lead going into the
middle frames, something in the neighborhood of 9-2? After five innings, Mitch was done watching
his team try and get the outs, and started playing defense and hitting bases-loaded
triples. The ball went to Chris Powell
who pitched in relief the rest of the game (maybe his longest stint so far?).
Satch started for the
visitors and worked with Noah the whole game.
It was a good combination, once we got our rhythm going. Change of speed was the name of the game, and
helped by a generous strike zone at times (you are supposed to swing,
people....) we were holding it together just fine.
Round about the 7th,
Satch was cruising, got the first two batters with two pitches. Then all of a sudden, the homers came alive
with an amazing two out rally and the next thing you know they had closed the
gap and then taken the lead! 13-12.
We battled back to a
tie game, and the homers took a one run lead again in the bottom of the
eighth. It looked like curtains for the
visitors, but a hit, and bobble, and drop and we the tie runner on third.
A ground ball to Jimmy
looked sure to be the end of the game, but then, for reasons we are not clear
on, Jimmy went home with the throw rather than first. The play went awry and we were tied up. A play later, we had the lead. Satch came in for the final frame and saved
his own affair. Which was
satisfying. But I kinda wished the homers
had won, given the amount of heart they put into the comeback. Oh well, that's the game we have chosen to
love.
Final score- 15-14.
"Lurking behind
every baseball game, is the knowledge that a play will occur in which the game
is decided and someone will fail. We
know this because statistics are kept, records are examined. It's the spooky undercurrent that runs through
baseball."- Daniel Okrent
Highlights:
* A great game, warts
and all.
* JT's younger daughter
Sarah came out, went 2-5 (same as JT), made a great play in left, as well as a
couple of amazing throws and looked like she belonged out there from the second
she took the field. Come out again
anytime!
* Daniel's new guy had
two home runs that were both brought into question ( first one he might have
missed third, second one the ball got lodged under the fence)
* The homers were popping up the change up all
day
* John McG had a hard
hit ball to the gap and explained "FUCK YES!" as he ran down the
line.
* I struck out Bob for
the first time in while with a slider I found in my back pocket. I also found some Vaseline, sandpaper and a
razor blade back there, but those were unrelated.
* We had two news guys that showed up to hit
batting practice with their friends who all flaked on them We recruited them in, and hopefully they came
out again this week. They both appeared
to know what they were doing.
* Elvin was thrown out
twice at the plate, because he refuses to slide. A long Garcia-Nero-centric argument ensued
about the second time, as Elvin went waaaaaaaaaay out of the baseline to avoid
the tag and Noah called him out without tagging him. MLB rule book says:
7.08 Any runner is out when—
(a) (1) He runs more than three
feet away from his base path to avoid being tagged
unless his action is to avoid
interference with a fielder fielding a batted ball. A
runner’s base path is established
when the tag attempt occurs and is a straight
line from the runner to the base he
is attempting to reach safely
Sorry Elvin, just slide
next time.
* For a not very sunny
day, it was muggy as hell out there
Here's to all those who
played!
S. Paige
