2025 Doubleheader- GGP

An enjoyable and a tad bittersweet day of baseball.  

This marked our first 4th of July BBQ doubleheader without Bob.  I am not saying that we failed completely, but there was a noticeable lack of preparedness in our BBQ this year.  I think everyone got something to eat, and hats off to the people who remembered things like plates and cutlery and condiments, and a big thank you to Gabe and Phelps for manning the grills and getting some food out to the hungry players.     

Actually this year we were without several of the stalwarts of the MBC: Tony, Sean, JT, Johnny B, Mitch, Rick, James, Anna, Sonny.  They were all missed.

However, we still had full ranks for the day, and played two solid games.  The weather was about what you would expect for a game in July, foggy and cold to begin with, a few periods of sunshine and blue sky and then the real fog and wind to close out the game, chilling us to the bone.  By the time that I got back to my side of the bridge the temperature had risen by 21 degrees....

Game 1:

I started for the homers and felt really good.  I was also aided by the mound, which had not been disturbed all week, since all the leagues take the week off.  So that was awesome.  My curveball was finally working again and so was the knuckleball!  I couldn't believe Greg kept calling for it, and more, that I was throwing it for strikes.  Must have been the heavy air.  We cruised through the first couple of innings; I believe we scored first, but the game was close.  Phelps started for the visiting team, and was cruising as well.  Special thanks to Brian for throwing me a first pitch knuckleball —that didn't knuckle—for my deepest drive of the day to left center for a lazy man's double.

I went 6 innings, struck out at least 4 or 5, and was a little unwilling to leave the mound, but when there are 25 players, you don't to be the dick that take playing time away from others. Or at least, that is what I am told. Greg came in for the homers, and well, our lead which was 5-2 at that time, suddenly became 6-5 visitors.  All that hard work gone... :(  

Luckily, our batters were keeping us in the game, RB-Ed was out doing his thing, and Adam contributed several knocks.  Diego came in to throw for the visitors with the visitors now ahead, but we were saved by the hard work and determination of Charlie D, playing in his 2nd doubleheader, who laced a soft line drive over the head of 3rd base.  He took 2nd on a passed ball, and then scored from there on Adam's line drive over 1st base, sliding into home on a close play to knot the score at 6-6.  We put in Gabe to halt any additional runs, and he did well, It stayed tied and we decided to end the game so that we could get to the BBQ and the second game.

BBQ

Hot dogs!  Hot dogs!  Thanks to whoever brought the hot dogs!  Without them, I think we would have been fighting over 12 hamburgers and 2 packs of sausages.  As stated before, the absence of Bob means an absence of meat, in about every sense of the word.  But more specifically, all the good beef.  I will say that we did the absolute minimum amount of planning this year so it is not altogether surprising, but something to remember for next year.  Thanks again to Gabe and Brian, who had the forethought to bring grills, another thing that Bob was always good for.  I had also hoped for an appearance from Johnny with the Boudin sausages, but alas.  

The AOY trophy was also not discussed beforehand as part of our general lack of planning, and honestly, no one has really stepped up their game in the ways worthy of an AOY distinction.  So we gave it to Bob, who as a first ballot Hall of Famer AOY, is always a crowd favorite.  

The Rookie of the Year went to Erasto, whose acrobatic fielding, clutch hitting, and deceptively impactful pitching have been impressing us all year.  He has become a great addition to the MBC and I hope that he continues to come out.  Our only wish is that he feels comfortable enough to start sitting with the group.  We all promise to get better at our Spanish as well!  Special thanks to Alejandro for serving as translator this year, as none of us had any idea of what the Spanish word for Rookie is. 

El premio al Novato del Año fue para Erasto, cuyo fildeo acrobático, bateo decisivo y pitcheo engañosamente impactante nos han impresionado todo el año. Se ha convertido en una gran incorporación al MBC y espero que siga participando. Nuestro único deseo es que se sienta lo suficientemente cómodo como para empezar a sentarse con el grupo. ¡Prometemos mejorar nuestro español también! Un agradecimiento especial a Alejandro por su trabajo como traductor este año, ya que ninguno de nosotros tenía ni idea de cómo se dice "novato" en español.

The best dressed MBC award was not given, as Tony, Johnny, and Sean were all MIA.  The trophy is lagging at least 2 years behind as well.

The band came through this year with a trophy of their own, presented to Greg as a token of friendship and for including them in our game.  It came with a bottle of Tullamore Dew taped to it, so an extra bonus for all those brave enough to take on the Irish. The band was out in force for the 4th, with new singers, trumpet players, and a Melodica!  They sounded great, and stayed the whole day with us.

Game 2:

Per usual, we swapped the order of the teams, so that the visitors were now the homers, but left everything else the same.  Greg pitched the first inning and then Gabe came in again, he struggled a little with his control, but still put up 3 innings of work.  John McG followed Gabe, and had a real good first inning, and then the homers started to put together some hits, but all in all still a good performance. Mike Naldony wrapped up for the visitors, and threw some lights-out baseball, his curve in particular was real snappy.

HR was raring to start for the homers, and did well over his innings.  Daniel came in for few innings, and threw well for only doing so once a year.  Erasto followed with his usual frustrating bag of tricks, and it was around the time that everyone lost track of what inning it was, what the score was, and what the batting order was.  At least, that was how it was on my team.  

We also started losing players, and no one knew who they followed when there was a gap in the order.  It was 3-2 at one point, the visitors were behind.  Then we exploded for 3 runs, Powell, Greg and myself all scored.  But when the smoke cleared a few innings later, and the homers had their own rally, somehow the score was presented to us as 4-4, and we accepted that and played on, only to realize a little later what had happened.  

The Homers scored the go ahead run late in the game, and we finished up the 9th inning still down a run, for a victory for the Home team, 5-4.

Highlights

* A Huge Thank you to everyone that came out to play or cheer on

* I don't know how this rumor got started, but I did not bat 1.000 for the day.  At best, it was .500.

* Erasto had several big hits in big parts of the game

* Don showed up in the 5th inning of the 2nd game, a new record for tardiness!  Great to see him as always

* Jesse did it with the bat and showed us all what a real arm looks like behind the dish

* Great to see Marcie out with the little'un, and giving the business to the Dodgers fans, read the shirt:

* Special thanks to Greg, McG, Gaspar, Don, Jesse, Patrick and anyone else who took a turn catching

* I had a great opportunity with the bases loaded to tag third and then throw home to get the runner.  I fielded the ball cleanly, tagged the bag, and then completely rushed the throw and beefed the whole thing.  I did bellow TAG! though

* Ed might be the best guy for getting on base and the worst baserunner we have

* We had a brilliant few innings where Chris Powell was relegated to right field with his young son, and we have never seen so many outs recorded in right

* Jesse mad-dashed for a foul ball, wearing the gear, and made an amazing out

* Adam also had a great sno-cone catch at first on a foul ball

* The catch of the day was made by Brian Phelps who inexplicably started chasing a small dog on a leash that had gotten away from its owner.  He sprinted all the way across center field and halfway up the hill before he caught it.  

* Good job on calling for the catch, avoiding several potential calamities

* I was trying for the "1st and 3rd get picked off an hope for the runner to score", but I ended up just getting a fantastic jump off of Phelps, looking at him the whole time and jogging into 2nd

* In addition to his offensive prowess, Charlie D. also made a nice catch at 2nd

* Phelps with the long stretch at first

* The wind was blowing in from right pretty strong, and anything to that side of the diamond died

* Stoner beat out a play at first, but was willing to give us the out anyway, it was so hard to tell that no one wanted to make the decision.  Eventually we gave him the hit.  A democratic MBC moment.

* Daniel had the hit of the game with a 3-run in the park home run, a powerful line drive to left field

* Heal quick Bob, so you can fly out next year!