Roundabout game-time I was torturing the kids in the car about having to come play baseball with me for Father's Day after we got back from our camping trip....but of course, I knew that was a pipe dream, because at 3pm we were somewhere around Rio Vista, stuck in the 4-way intersection. Still better than 80 any day of the week. Mike L was there, and he filed this report:
Week 3 in Golden
Gate Park, and while the weather looked more like Week 2 (a bit gray, but not
too windy), the game itself shaped up to be a cleaner affair with more than
full sides on each bench.
It started as a
matchup of veteran right handers, with Sonny spinning balls off the mound for
the visitors while yours truly (Mike L) took the bump for the home team. All in
all, a solid start for both of us. I was able to hold the visitors mostly in
check through four innings, exiting down 2-0 on the strength of a fourth inning
that saw Urano and Adam both do what they should have done with pitches right
down the pipe - smoke them up the middle for a hit. Those hits plus some stolen
bases and a couple of errant throws erased my attempt at four clean innings but
left us in good condition overall.
That’s because
once I was out of the game our offense got to work, stacking up four runs in
the bottom of the fifth to give us a lead with Mitch, Greg, Marcy, and Me all
reaching base before an out was recorded, and reaching home safely before the
third out was made.
The beneficiary
of those runs was Sean, who followed me on the hill and quickly claimed the
title ‘King of the Comebacker’, as hitter after hitter knocked one back at him
(including a life-threatening line drive from Bob), and as expected Sean
handled them all with ease. I think there were 5 (could have been 6)
comebackers over Sean’s four innings. Including one where he caught Liam (how
had arrived late from high up in the mountains) leaning off third to help erase
a threat.
Sonny bowed to
Phelps after 5 solid innings, turning it into a battle of the lefties as we
headed late into the game. We were able to tack on a run against Phelps (Greg
driving in Mitch) which proved handy as ultimately the visitors were able to
scratch 3 runs across against Sean to tighten things up.
But that is as
tight as they would get, as Chris came in looking sharp to get the last three
outs - a single the only blemish on the back of his baseball card for the day. All
in all, a fun day at the yard, a nice sub-3-hour game, and plenty of good
spirits as we all enjoy the post-pandemic life.
Highlights:
·We would have had a runner thrown out at the
plate for the second straight week, as Mitch came charging hard on a liner to
left as Urano charged hard around third. Sadly, the relay was not to be, as
Tony started to throw before he ever had the ball fully in his glove. Probably
could have stopped, looked at it, added some Pelican Grip, then thrown and
still gotten the out…. ·James hit a prodigious blast just foul down the
left field line that came up about three feet short of landing in the middle of
a family picnic…. The McGrath boys both banged doubles deep into
the gap for a nice Father/Son Father’s Day combo ·Marcy had a solid day at the plate, roping a
line drive to third that unfortunately was right into Bob’s glove (6 inches
either way it’s a hit!) ·Adam continued to square the ball up, and this
week he actually got rewarded with hits. ·T-shirt Mike was a vacuum at third, which was
much appreciated by his fellow shorts-wearing pitcher… ·We had a few groups of family and friends as
spectators which is always nice and is a perfect lead in reminder to bring the
family out for the 4th of July. The doubleheader and BBQ are a GO and we will
be circulating the sign-up sheet soon!
From what I understand, not quite the same affair as last week, but I think we had a good game. The fog was thick, yet it was warm-ish. We had 15 at our high water mark, and there were some excellent plays. Most of which were at home, in an amazing twist. Seriously, I think we set a record for MBC outs at home.
Tony started for the homers, and Nick W. for the visitors. The first 3 innings seemed to take a very long time, but I wouldn't know because I showed up late. After dropping off lil" Satch and lil' Josh Gibson at sleepaway camp, I worked my way home and then raced across the bridge. I was glad I did.
Doc! The old man makes another appearance and umpires most of the game....
Setting up the controversy, what do you do when one team gets the umpire for half an inning, and the other gets their own catcher calling the balls and strikes. Good thing we are all honest people, I suppose.
Double plays! We each had those too, the defense was really locked in for most of the game as well. Fly balls were a little tougher, with the fog and the wind, but ground balls were in good supply. We almost had another double play, but Anna legged it out and beat the throw.
Dan took the ball from Tony, and then I took the ball from Dan. It was nice to play on a field with a mound, and everything was working pretty good. Knuckleball had a little extra mess on it from the moisture, which also helped with the other stuff, what with wet air raising the seams on the ball. John McG came in for 2 and then Mike N after that.
The game had spiraled out of control for our team by that time, and the score was 10-5. We had calculated that the game would be around 18-7 by the end. The visitors were stacked with a real Murderer's Row, every hitter a danger. And they proved it, I saw hard hit balls from everyone: Bob, Anna, Urano, James, Mike N, John McGrath, and Nick W.
We tried for a comeback, and made it about half way, the ending was eventful enough for us to have fun, but we didn't tie the game and force us all to try and finish. We called the 8th inning the 9th, since we were all ready to go, and the game had dragged on into 6pm. The band was out and they played through their whole set about 4 times, much to their credit they sounded awesome, and they waiting a long time to get to the 7th inning stretch. They had also played the Bye Bye Baby song in honor of Urano that has hit an in the parker the inning before.
A great game, in a beautiful setting, with good people.
Highlights:
* The plays at home! Amazing throws from Urano, Nick W., and James.
* James also hit a rocket to the moon in left
* Ed Sidawi in the flesh! Apparently he has a reprieve from shuttling his kid around.
* The Mike L's were a great power back-to-back lefty combination all day
* Greg had a nice poke up the middle and almost got thrown out again by James from deep center field.
* Anna continued her hitting tear
* Doc did a good job of umpiring, though he got overruled by Greg a few times
* A lot of our rally was thanks to throwing errors by the other team, in other words, a real MBC rally.
* I somehow managed to strike out more than a few, and even got Mike N and James on nasty change ups. That felt good.
* There was a pretty good average on pop flies which I thought were usually trouble.
* RBI Ed must be out of practice
* Tony took his bat all the way down the line, and was almost was safe as the ball was bobbled, he eventually tripping over the bat and falling past the base. Luckily he was alright....
* There was another play at home, involving Satch of all people. I had started at first after another droopy single, and that was no place to be scoring from. But Dan scorched the ball and as I came around third, Dan was being waved on (I think) by our team past second. So I had nowhere to go but home. The throw beat me by a wide margin, from James again I think, and John McG was ready for me, except he didn't think I would slide. And so I did, though I thought it was going to end like this:
But I managed to slide at a 45 down angle towards the plate, and got my big ass foot on the plate before John could reach down to tag me. It was a good feeling.
Thanks to all that showed up, it was a great game to be a part of.
I was not able to make it to the game, but the first of our residency at GGP was a good one, and here with the recap is Ol' Reliable himself, Mike Lattig:
It was a beautiful day to be back in GG Park. Not just because the wind was still howling and St Marys would have been unbearable. But because the sun was shining, the hawks were flying, the old-timey game was happening - with all the fans and beer drinking that that entails - and the promise of a better field brought out a number of our old timers who we haven’t seen as much of lately.
Namely James (kid), Rich (kids), Don (baby - as in he is one, not has one), Ben (kids - but because he’s a teacher, not a father), and Stone (kids). Also making his first appearance in forever was our once and future umpire, Doc. It was great to see him, and he didn’t look a day over however old he is.
Sean and Sonny did the pitching honors to inaugurate our three-month run in the park, though with the sides at 12 v 12 it was clear they weren’t going to get to run the length of the game. And it looked at the outset like Sonny’s day might be more dictated by effectiveness than numbers, as the home team struck for one in the first and two in the second. But after that, our bats got awfully quiet.
Meanwhile, Sean had it all going - stymieing the visitors with his varied arsenal and fantastic movement. Along with a complete layout grab in CF by Rich to end a threat early in the game. As Sean said coming off the mound - It took a former minor leaguer to maintain the shutout. But maintain it we did, as Sean wrapped up 5 innings of shutout ball and handed the ball to McGrath.
This is where my details get fuzzy, but needless to say a comeback was afoot. And after two innings pitched by John, HR came in for the 8th. By the time the third out was made, we were tied up 3-3. Chris P gets the credit for holding the home team in check, with some nice defense behind him. In fact, defense was solid for a good portion of the game with a couple perfectly mission-style exception innings. (Though a quick note to James - go with a full throw on the infield rather than trying to lob it.)
I think we had a relay throw to the plate for an out at one point (Maybe Greg from LF to someone to home…), we had Urano making leaping catches and running over the shoulder grabs out into CF (shoutout to Stone for not plowing him down), as well as taking a DP himself to end an inning… Just a solid defensive day all around.
So, we head to the bottom of the 8th all knotted. Yours truly started things and jumped into the wayback machine with a long drive into left center for a double. Sean followed with a line drive back up the box that somehow skipped by Don in CF, allowing me to score and (because he hustles) Sean to get all the way to third. After a comebacker left him still at 3rd with one out, Sean put the contact play on for himself. Only he stopped and admired the high chopper hit to Sonny at third before remembering that he’d done so…
What ensued was the best rundown in a long time. I’m guessing it took at least 6 throws to get him Sonny to Mike to Sonny to Mike to Chris to Someone to Chris…. All that effort allowed Virgil to scoot his way to second, which we ultimately cashed in with another base hit (sorry, forgetting who got it - maybe JT?) to make it 5-3.
That extra run would prove necessary as HR went for the 2-inning save, giving up a couple of hits to make it a one run game before stranding the tying run at 3rd with a nasty strikeout of Dan.
All in all, an exciting and fun way to kick off our run in the park. A few other notes:
In addition to Rich’s impossible catch in the OF, Adam smoked one to left that HR somehow ran down. Greg went a LONG way in left to corral a drive from… I think Chris P? And Don got a great jump to snag a shot I hit into CF. All in all a great day for outfielders, who were clearly thankful to be done with Saint Marys
Anna’s bat has been coming around lately, and she had at least one hit, plus hard contact just about every time.
As mentioned above, Urano gets a gold star on defense for multiple tough plays
Mike N seemed to hit a line drive every time up. Which wasn’t that surprising…
Greg was looking spry in LF and at the plate, including a nice line drive to center that we’re calling a hit - even if JT got forced out at 2nd
Rich’s kids continue to show us that genetics definitely play a big role in athletic ability…
No band this week due to a previous engagement, but hopefully we’ll see them out there next week!
One final time at the old wind tunnel before we move to our new residency in the park. IT was a great game, the sun made the wind less of a freezing affair, and we had 17 players. I had some weird elbow tweak that I was nursing, so I told Greg that I had decided not to throw many/any breaking balls. He liked the challenge. Sean started for the other team, and that is how it began and how it ended.
Yep, Sean and I each pitched complete games, like a real ball game.
There had been concern at the beginning that the teams were mismatched, and they might have been, but in the opposite direction. Our team seemed to not be able to hit its way out of a paper bag, and Sean's team was crushing the ball. Our defense held up pretty well, especially under the adverse wind conditions, but still they were averaging a run or two an inning. We only scored 2 the whole game. The other team had lefty after lefty, and they made JT run all over right field the entire game.
With neither of us bowing out, the game moved along quickly, and there were some gems made in the field. Chris P made several catches in short left, as well as an amazing diving catch while covering left for the other team. Mitch played 2nd, and caught pop ups as well as made the turns on some great plays. I think we turned 2 at least once, and had opportunities a couple other times. Anna played 1st and made some strong plays, including a perfect toss to me covering the bag on a ground ball.
We could do everything except score runs.
Final Score: 8-2.
Highlights:
* Mike N was at least 4-5, maybe 5-6 on the day
* Anna had a great hit late in the game, and made it count, coming around to score one of our two runs
* T-Shirt Mike also had a great day at the plate, bashing doubles and triples
* Pitching without a curve was good, but not having a 2-strike go to pitch was tough. I had so many lost 2-strike counts
* I did manage to K about 5 though
* Every bad hop=our team, every good hop=their team
* We had discussed stealing, and how we have not thrown anyone out in a long time, but I think we will keep it, if not just to keep the pitchers on their toes
* Dan may have to go back to baserunning camp, caught twice at first on a day we needed baserunners
* Tony was back, thumb protected
* Marcie also got a hit, and everyone celebrated, it was great to see
* No band this week which was disappointing
* The mound at St Mary's officially sucks. There was a rebar sticking up in front of the rubber, so you had to put your foot to one side or the other, and try not to catch your spike and break your ankle. And don't get me started on the hole.
* Cap tip to Sean for an impressive day on the mound, a big bat all day with an almost homerun, and for striking me out with a nasty dropball.
I was unable to make the game but here are two accounts on what a game it was!
Dave first:
Went like this... we froze for about 6 innings and yelled at the wind until we realized it was a tie game in the 7th. At that point we started yelling at each other. Visiting team added two runs in top of the ninth only to crap them out in the bottom of the 9th on some sloppy d and a couple of bloops. And then... just when you thought it couldn’t get any worse... Chris P stole home and walked it off but honestly I think everyone was happy to retreat to warmth.
Now a fine tune from Lattig:
It was the best of times, it was the windiest of times. But what is new at St Mary’s? Is this why the St Mary’s college team is called the Gaels? (spelling aside…)
Bluster aside, it was a gorgeous day for a ballgame, and we had 17 hearty souls show up ready to take their chances at tracking balls (or frisbees as the case might have become…) as they acted like a hot dog wrapper at Candlestick.
Sonny and Nick (home and visitors respectively) were probably the heartiest of souls, as they decided it was a good day to toe the rubber on a day where defense was certainly to be suspect. And suspect it was. Pop flies that looked headed toward an infielder landed closer to the mound. And, ultimately, it was dropped fly balls that decided the game.
But before we got to that, both pitchers did an amazing job of pitching around the wind and trouble - stranding plenty of runners and only allowing the spare run here and there. Scoring was so sporadic, in fact, that we could never really nail down the score. Ultimately deciding we were heading into the 8th inning with the homers up 4-3. Or maybe it was 5-4? Either way, they were up one.
With HR now on the mound, Dave promptly banged a hit. Followed quickly by Urano, putting runners at first and second with nobody out. Thinking he was clever, Lattig laid down a sneak attack bunt. It’s surprise only being equaled by its mediocrity. Nevertheless, Dave was moved to third with one out. And after a strikeout of Dan, Elon took a mighty swing that trickled about 10 feet down the third base line. Mike N sprung from behind the plate as Dave sprinted for home, passing him just in time. And by the time Mike spun to throw to first, it was too late. Tied game.
Elon was also now holding it down on the mound, and we moved to the 9th tied. Which is when the wind really struck. First, a lazy fly ball to Sonny in center that might have caught some of his glove - but definitely caught chin and chest on its way to finding the ground. Then, with two outs, a looping line drive into left looked to keep the game tied - until it too found the chest of an outfielder. This time the borrowed Nick (who certainly didn’t mean to do it…)
So, on to the bottom of the 9th with a two run game and Urano taking the mound. The biggest problem with that? He couldn’t also play SS… So after a couple of hits and seeing eye ground balls, we found Chris (who had a five hit day) on third as the winning run. Sensing John McGs fatigue from 9 innings behind the plate, he broke for home on the throw back to the mound, scoring easily to give homers the walk off win.
A few other highlights I remember:
Mike Lynch (as he emailed) was drilled in the leg and picked off first. Quite an eventful day.
While playing RF I was telling our CF that I was playing shallow because the wind would knock anything down. And within 3 seconds Mike N had barreled one up and sent it over my head.
Nick, trying to be kind, tried to return a frisbee to a father/son who were playing out in CF. The wind had other ideas and returned the frisbee toward Oakland… it was a truly remarkable site to behold…
Great to see Tony back out swinging free and easy with his thumb recovering
Elon is off to summer camp for the year, but left on a high note with solid hitting (even if the wind didn’t want him rewarded) and pitching. See you in the fall Elon
The band was in fine form and continues to thrill at our exploits as much as we appreciate theirs
That said, would be great to get a field with an actual mound one of these days!
After the debacle a few weeks ago with Balboa, we decided to hedge our bets and return to the hidden promise of St. Mary's. Luckily, it was devoid of games and the band was there awaiting our glorious return. They had been pining for us, and were sad when they didn't get our contact info before we moved to Potrero. A joyous reunion.
Sonny started for the homers and I for the visitors. It quickly became apparent that with 13, then 14 players only that this was going to be a interesting game. The wind was howling so much that we deemed it the 3rd outfielder and played the game with only 2 outfielders. It worked well.
Greg was all-time 1st baseman for the beginning of the game, until Sean showed up to even the teams. What that made for was a lineup that had 6 hitters for the homers, hard to deal with as a pitcher when you know that you have to keep facing the same hitters over and over again.
Sonny and I did a nice job of keeping it from being a laff riot, partially thanks to the dulcet tunes that our band was playing. That band really ties the game together, I have to admit. And they played a Jimmie Rodgers tune when I requested one. For those of you not in the know:
Anyway, I think that a couple of runs were scored, for the visitors, it was Chris P all day. He scored 80% of the runs for our team.... I know for my part that I came up in the inning with runners in scoring position and 2 outs at least 5 times. And I flubbed it 3 of those times.
Maybe 2, since one was a robbery of felony stature. I hit a ball so square I had time to enjoy watching it fly. Straight into left center.... where I realized suddenly that Anna was playing me at about 390 feet, and that smart play, coupled with the wind that suddenly turned the air into pea soup, the ball came down calmly and neatly into Anna's glove. Third out, again.
The wind, as mentioned before, was a contention all day. Foul balls went very foul. Other foul balls came back into play. Jon McG made a great play over behind first, one of many for him in the game and there were basket catches made by Dan, Chris. For only fielding 7 on a side it was a well-defensed game. The see-saw battle continued, and we went into the last of the eighth down two runs. I had bowed out and Sean had come in and shut the door. Sonny had stayed in longer than I, but had given way to Mike N. Meanwhile, our team had inched back to close, after I finally was able to bat a run in. In the ninth we scrambled Mike's plans for a win and go ahead, thank god. We had been ok to not win too, but if we had tied, we might have all quit.
The bottom of the inning proved to be a non-starter for the homers, and we walked away having snatched victory from the jaws of defeat.
Final score: 5-4?
Highlights:
* Call me crazy but St Mary's reminds me of the peace and tranquility of the Presidio all those years ago. Not a bad thing....
* Great defense all around.
* Chris P and John McG seemed to have strong days at the plate.
* I hit a ground ball at the end of the of the game that took that 3rd bounce that always seems to be where the problem lies, and it bounced right up into his jaw. I was really thankful it was jaw and not throat, but still a tense moment. Sorry Sonny, you took a shot like a champ.
* Thanks to the catchers, Nick W in particular was very helpful while I was working out the kinks.
* I managed a handful of Ks for the day, I was all over the map, but then would suddenly get locked in and throw 3 pitches right where Nick put the glove. Weird.
* Bob had a few nice knocks, as did Dan.
* JT and I were involved in 3 double plays. Unfortunately all of them involved us as runners.
* The homers defense turned three double plays!
* The visitors had one double play, which is more gentlemanly.
* I love pitching at St Mary's because the mound is basically non-existent, and easy on the joints.
* Thanks to JT and Sean for making us a real game
* Coyote sighting, the old boy is still there.
* The band is sounding tight, and has new selections to choose from and they also warned us that the Parks and Rec dudes posted at St Mary's may be badge-heavy, so lets keep our profile low and calm.
Well, the time tested method of dibs and COVID bureaucracy finally screwed us.
We are not able to secure a permit because we are not a league, and that is the only people getting permits. The other field was taken by a non-official league that had just started their game. The other field near the skate park was taken by softball batting practice, leaving us to chance a move to St Mary's or play at the other LL field. We measured out the bases, which were about 15 feet into the outfield on all sides, and the mound. Throwing on a flat surface was nice after months of falling off the cliff at Potrero. However, the more immediate concern was any hard hit foul ball to the left had a decent chance of damaging property and/or risking injury to bystanders. So everyone tried real hard not to pull the ball. It mostly worked.
Sonny started for the homers and he went the distance, with a win under adverse conditions. This was not his first CG, but it may have been his finest. Not only were we on a field 2 sizes small, we had a constant gale force wind to contend with, no joke, about 25-35 mph. I started for the visitors, and felt good, not trying too hard, and once we realized that the wind was blowing the right direction for the knuckleball, we had some good innings. Sean came in after I took myself out of the game on a injury in the 6th, and he took it the rest of the way and held the visitors right where they were.
The visitors put up 4 runs very early on, and then we quieted them down. We could not score a run to save our life in the beginning, and the key word for this game was double plays. I think the visitors made 4-5 of them. I know I hit into at least 2.
We were getting good hits, John Mcg had a loud day with the bat, as did Urano, but we couldn't get them around. We finally scored a run in the middle of the game, and then another. The visitors were making it look easy, and we kept getting every bad hop and dropped ball that we could. I will say that we did have good luck with our second efforts though, and still managed to get some outs after a oopsie.
By the 9th rolled around, we were in a 5-4 scrap, and looked like we might tie it up. Chris L led off with a hit, I bunted him into scoring position, but Sonny doubled down his effort and we left our tying run on base.
MVP: Sonny with the complete game
Highlights:
* Chris P made a couple of amazing over the shoulder catches, and almost made a few more. He seemed to have invented a new position Short left fielder stop.
* Elon had an amazing dig at first
* Bob made a couple of good put outs are first on tricky grounders, and Sean and I both remembered to cover 1st.
* John McG made several outs at 2nd in needed scenarios, and also slapped some boss line drives.
* The wind made anything in the air a gamble. A ball I thought was going over 2nd base ended up falling about 5 feet behind me on the mound.
* Double plays!
* JT showed up to make things almost perfect, and did a great job of keeping the score and innings straight.
* Mitch didn't care about the wind, he can still Mitch whenever he needs to
* New guy Virgil is a dead ringer for Richie, if Richie had a gray beard. It's amazing
* I clicked for a second in the 5th inning, and had a 1-2-3 inning with 2 Ks.
* Is that a foul ball, a double, or a homerun? was one of the themes of the day.
* We kept hitting the ball hard, but right to the wrong person
* A great game of baseball under not so great conditions.
* Get well soon Greg, Anna, Tony, anyone else nursing an injury beyond our usual bunch of injuries....
Well, it was a lot better than last week. We had 23 people out to play, on a nice day, a little breezy and occasionally chilly, but a fine day for a ballgame. Sonny was starting for the visitors, and Sean for the homers. Both went several innings, and the game stayed very tight. Homers scored a run in the 1st, visitors tied it up, then they went ahead, then the homers went ahead. It was tied up in the middle innings, Nick W. took over pitching, then Chris L came in for the homers for an inning, then Satch for the last. For the visitors, John McG took over after Sonny, then Mike N.
The score was tied 4-4 in the 9th, and we were able to get 2 outs, but the 3rd out eluded us, and with dying quails and a misplayed grounder, the visitors scored the run that they had been looking for and took the lead.
We had had so many players that we thought about extra innings to make it more fair for at bats, but by the time the 9th came around, it was getting cold and we wanted to either win quick or lose quick. First batter got out, but then we got a baserunner, and Greg came up. Unfortunately, he did what our team had been doing the whole game, he hit it to Urano, who picked it up, kicked 2nd, fired it to first and game over double play.
5-4 Visitors
Highlights:
* The Return of Urano. I think we have forgotten how much of a difference he makes, at the plate and definitely in the field. I will say it now that Powell and Urano are never allowed to be on the same team.
* Gabe came out again for the first time in a while and had several laser line drives
* New guy Virgil was also out, made a good catch in left, and had the frustrating day at the plate that we all remember from our first foray back into baseball. Timing takes a few at bats to come back.
* Tony played, tried to bat, but thumb is still smarting. He was able to play defense though!
* Some of the hardest hit balls were caught, including one that Anna snagged at first that was a bullet.
* Our team was almost caught twice on the base paths at close plays at 3rd and 2nd (some might say that we were caught....)
* John McG came in for the first time, as he put it, in a real game situation e.g., a non -mop up inning. He threw real well, working a snappy sidearm approach. Solid first outing in a high pressure game. Atta' boy!
* Lattig has gone from Babe Ruth to Ruth Buzzi in the last few weeks at the plate. He'll come out of it, I am sure.
* I hit into a double play, one of three for our team. I think they were all 4-3, with Urano at SS
* At one point the visitors had a defense on the left side that was really unfair: Mitch at 3rd, Urano at SS, Gabe in left. Anyone of them could throw us out from anywhere on the field.
* Matt Stone made an appearance, I guess he has come a few times recently, but I had missed him. Good to see him out, and he made a nice catch in center, and didn't even Stoner slide!
* Powell made a couple of really nice catches at SS, a few line drives and a few over the shoulder pops
* Sean also made a nice catch behind the mound, something I don't think I can do anymore
* All in all, a great game, wonderful to see full teams, and a fun way to spend a Sunday.
Late posting, but this game was pretty bad, we only had 12 people show up, so we played 6-6, two outfielders. It isn't very relaxing when you don't sit down for 3 hours of play.
The game was fun, got a lot of at bats, and we made the most of it, but not a game to repeat too often.
It's been a great run at the mystery field in question, but the rumor is that we will have to move on and start getting permits again. So, remember all those funds you have been stockpiling for the permit costs, right? In any case, it was a great game if it was the final game.
We had 17 hearty souls and a beautiful day, and I mean beautiful! Sun shining, a little too intense some might say, a light breeze pushing the ball to right. Sean started for the visitors and Sonny for the homers. We jumped to a quick 4-0 lead, which surprised us more than anyone, and we held the line for the first few innings, 4-2 as we entered the middle innings. Which was a complete mystery to everyone as to what the inning was. We went back and forth on if it was the 5th or the 6th for a while, all I will say is that I had 3 at bats at that point, which felt like a lot for that much game. But hey, who doesn't love more baseball?
The homers mounted a comeback and tied up the game, on the heads-up play of Chris Powell, who sprinted to first on a dropped swinging strike out. Greg couldn't get the throw off in time, and the 3rd out turned into another opportunity. It had a been a real journey that inning to get 3 outs, and when the ball skipped at first, the last remnants of hope left Sean's body and he collapsed on the infield like a punch drunk fighter who had finally lost his legs.
Sean came out after 6 and I came in to throw 2 innings. I never felt comfortable, but didn't serve too many up, other than the ones I tried to serve up, I really wanted to see someone put one over the fence. Sonny bowed out to Mike N and John Mcg mopped up the 9th. The homer's comeback was short lived, and we sparked a big rally on Mike N., putting up 6 runs in one inning.
Unfortunately, in the midst of our hitting, Tony took a pitch to the thumb and it got squashed between ball and bat handle. It was an impact wound, and bleeding pretty good, but no joint damage. Dr. Greg got out his first aid kit and patched him up quickly, but Tony was done for the game. We were down to 7 players, and borrowing two outfielders, which conveniently seemed to be Chris P and Mitch a lot of the time.
We started to pile on the runs, and by the 9th inning, the score was 13-6. Greg felt he had a decent chance of blowing this lead, and true to his word, the rally of the 9th was a great one, though the deficit proved to be a little too big and the final score was a impressive 13-11 win for the visitors.
Highlights:
* No one hit a homerun at the field, but Chris P. came close twice, one hopping the fence, he ended the day with 2 triples!
* We had a number of beautiful defensive plays that resulted in no outs. Great throws to first that the runner just beat out, and including a double play attempt, where both runners were safe. It was clean, just not in time.
* Gaspar with the aluminum is beating the Gaspar shift, and pulling the ball now.
* Lattig made a awesome stretch at first to get a third out and also great play on a ground ball to the hole, and got off a perfect throw to Sean, who remembered to cover....
* I had to catch a ball in left field for the first time, and I literally didn't have to move which was the worst part. I almost started moving just because it didn't seem real that I would just wait to catch it.
* There were numerous pop flies lost at the last second in the sun
* Anna had two hits and RBIs to to left field after a long drought
* We almost had a nice play at home
* Baserunning continues to be our weakness, I think there were two innings ended due to people not knowing how many outs there were
* For the first time in a long while, I was 5-5, with 3 singles, and two doubles (though the 2nd double I never made it to 2nd base, due to my broken down running, does that count?). My hits spanned the spectrum of what can be a hit: the all-arms looping line drive over third, the hot ground ball between SS and 3rd, the "hit it high" in the wind and sun, and it falls untouched, the opposite field power alley (probably due to being behind the pitch and swinging a 50oz bat). It felt great, not sure what has changed, but I will take it.
* One thing I will not miss at the field is that travesty of a mound. The landing hole is bad enough, but the steepness of the mound makes the follow through a balancing act. Give me St Mary's any day of the week.
* The sun was brutal, but this time for left and center field
* Mitch, Powell, Sean, Nate, just some of the people who made great defensive plays on a tough day. Special thanks to Mitch and Powell who made them while covering defense for us, crushing the dreams of their won teammates.
* There were plenty of hits to go around: Sean, Powell and Elan all had triples, Mitch, Anna, Gaspar, Greg, Dan, all were racking
* Thanks to Greg, John McG, Mike N, Nick W. for catching
Beautiful day for a baseball game. The Sun was out, the wind wasn't blowing too bad, and we had 25 people out.
Phelps out for the 1st time in quite a while started for the visitors and I started for the home team. Pretty close for the 1st part of the game visitors managed to score a run an inning or so, and we managed to not.
Fact we couldn't seem to get a base runner past 2nd base. But still beautiful day and we were still playing Baseball.
In the very 1st inning we managed to turn A 6-4-3 double play which was amazing and also got us out of a jam. I bellowed like a moose on the mound with the excitement and pumped my fist like Mad bum getting all worked up. Double plays seem to be both our curse and our saviour for the rest of the game. In fact I think we had 2 more double plays, both of them on line drives where we doubled up a runner. We also had about 3 opportunities to turn regular double plays and we managed to muff every single one of those opportunities. We didn't even get one out.
Visitors on the other hand were turning plays and making spectacular outs at every turn. We slowly realised that we were going to get hammered in this game. Not just because of the stellar defense but the offense. I think we need to examine closer the lineups before we start. There's no reason that Lattig, Mitch, Chris p, Phelps, Rich, Ana, Mike N, Dan, and Elan should ever be on the same team.
I ended up throwing 5 and I didn't pitch too bad. I think I had one strikeout the very 1st batter of the game. But it felt good and I wasn't in a lot of pain so chalk that up as a win. Sean came in to relieve me and looked much more on point. However our defensive woes continued and the runs piled up. At one point we thought it was about 14 to 1, turns out it was only 9.
To add insult to injury, Liam came in to fireball us to death and work on making a bunch of middle aged people look even sadder than they are.
I left in about the 8th inning, to head home and see the end of little Satch's 1st baseball practice. From what I understand, our team made a valiant comeback ,at least by our standards, and made a show of it in the last inning scoring some runs the final score being 9 to 6.
Highlights
* it was a very fun game even if it wasn't a pretty game.
* Bob after muffing yet another ground bawl and injuring himself, looked at me on the mountain side just shoot me. To which I responded you think I'm gonna waste a bullet?
* Hard hit line drives all day from the visitors. Nick w. Made an snagging snag of one of them in a tight spot
* Hr made a dynamic throw from the outfield to hold a runner.
* John McG had a real rope, that turned into a round tripper!
* I hit Anna with a slow curve which I felt bad about, though Greg said I didn't hit her as much as I thought I did
* The visitors hammered the gaps
* I struck out on an outside fastball that I shouldn't have swung at
* Bob was hurting from his knee and asked for a runner, Nick W. Who has two bum ankles went in for him. That's the MBC in a nutshell.
* Mike made a great grab at third to start a double play. Unfortunately that didn't work out.
* Anna made a fantastic scoop at first
*We realized that we had no margin for error, the visitors also had team speed "Team speed for crissakes..... quoth Earl Weaver "on their side.
* I think Dan put one on the warning track in left, we'll get there some day.
* A very lopsided affair but still a great way to spend a Sunday
There is a reason that we live in California, and a reason we don't live in well, pretty much everywhere else in the US right now. But it was 70 degrees and beautiful. I brought lil' Josh Gibson out with me, and he was telling me on the ride in that he was not sure about baseball and the playing of. He was willing to give it another try, but he wasn't sure if he could continue to come in with me. As of this writing, he is at least still willing to join me, though it may be tenuous.
17 brave souls. The sun baking. The field overrun with desperate city dwellers just trying to not look at their wall paper for another minute. And a baseball game.
Sean started for the visitors and Nick W for the homers. Both were throwing raw, and Nick got the short end of the stick. We took a early lead, with some timely hitting from the team, and were sitting on a healthy lead finishing the first part of the game. Sean was dealing, but the homers had a stacked lineup, including Rich who--along with his two munchkins-- looked like he was trying to hit everything over a fence, and Lattig who apparently bought a practice batting tee on whim, and in about 4 days has upped his batting average by 300 points.
So we bring in Liam, who had been neglecting his team so he could work on his drive line or something, and he threw well. Then I think Mike N came in and struck out the side. I know Chris P pitched for a long time for the homers, and was lights out until he wasn't and we took what we thought was a insurmountable lead, but then HR came in for homers, and Mike stayed with it, and Lil Gibson and I had to get home.
The story as I hear it is that the visitors took the lead in the 9th, but the homers took back the runs plus, and sealed the deal with none other than Chris P taking home on a ball in the dirt to win the game. Hero.
Highlights:
* The day.
* The players.
* The camraderie
* There were a lot of strikeouts in this game, a cap tip to the pitchers, as well as the jumpy hitters
* Mike L killed it all day
* Rich hit a very hard ball down the line, and I was grateful to get it 2 bounces in
* I managed a weak groundball up the middle, a hit, a strikeout, and a 2 rbi hooker that Greg got a piece of at 3rd before it rolled into no-man's land
* Gaspar hit a classic gasparian hit
* Chris P struck me out o a high inside pitch, I can't lay off and I can't hit it.
* I think the final was 13-12. Amazing since I think the score was 8-2 at one point.
* John McG covered for his kid and played solid baseball
* Aiden was the unsung hero--even though he had some tough at bats-- he got us important outs, and managed to get on base
* And in the NO SHIT, I SWEAR HE SAID THIS: Lil Josh G. is mildly disgusted with the blatant giving of bases that is afforded the little kids at the game when they get their swings in the game, and would appreciate it if we--as a team--make our "bobbles" much more believable or just play it straight. He may be ready to take on an official MBC place, leapfrogging his bookworm brother....
Here's a real
fine piece of scribbling from a man named Donald Hall
The old game
waits under the white,
Deeper than
frozen grass.
Down at the
frost line it waits
To return when
the birds return.
It starts to
wake in the South,
Where it’s
never quite stopped.
Where winter is
a doze of hibernation,
The game wakes
gradually,
Fathering vigor
into itself.
As the days
lengthen in late February
And grow
warmer, old muscles grow limber.
Young arms grow
strong and wild,
Clogged vein
systems, in veteran oak and left fielders both,
Unstop
themselves,
Putting forth
leaves and line drives in Florida’s March.
It was sure nice to see everyone, and the people came out of the woodwork. I was especially pleased to see, given that we had 25 players, that everyone maintained distance and masked up the entire time. Truly great to have such responsible and respectful people.
Sean started for the homers, and Satch for the visitors. It was plain from the beginning, that we were all a little rusty. Sean was pitching his heart out, but the hits were dropping in, and the possible outs were just dropping. I have not seen a consistent defensive drubbing like that in a while. The visitors jumped out to a 5-0 lead in the early frames. I couldn't get a curveball in for a strike, and I apologize to Greg for the bruises that he probably has from blocking the attempts. The fastball sort of worked, and the change up was decent, so I stuck with those. The knuckle was a disaster. However, thanks to the layoff, people's timing was also rusty, and I struck out 3 in 3 innings of work, and my defense held down the fort, some due to great placement.
I bowed out on a high note, and gave the ball to Liam, who is in his high school prime, and mowing down batters with a live arm. He looked great, though it may have been unfair to unleash that on a bunch of people who have not played in 3 months. His curve was nasty, as was the heater.
Sean stuck with it longer, and for his pain had to witness a heartbreaker of a play at home. James fired a rocket from center field to nab a force out at home, it was on target, and Mike N...well, the ball clanged off the catcher mitt, and the run scored. Sean collapsed in the infield. I felt his pain.
After Liam, Sonny came in for 2, and John McG for the close. Mitch, HR, and Mike all threw for the homers. The agreed upon score at the 9th was 8-5, though none of us knew if it was actually that. The last stand of the home team was a 1-2-3 inning, with little fanfare. But the thrill of actual baseball, with good friends was well worth the wait.
Highlights
* It was great to see everyone!
* Chris Powell made a tricky pop up play, and also stopped a ground ball to hold the runner
* The sun continues to be a real hinderance, but man was it enjoyable to be in
* I was playing Lattig short in right field, and managed to track down a long fly ball. I didn't think I had a chance at the crack of the bat
* Marcie made a good play in right, also had a hit, and may have also scored.
* Don in center, and Powell combined to nail Mike at 2nd who was stretching a hit. The throw and tag were a thing of beauty
* Dan had the long hit of the day, which got past the right fielder, for a triple.
* I struck out Anna, which may have been the first time I have managed to do so. It was a tense 2-out at bat.
* James had a tough day at the plate, but in his defense, he is up to his eyes in diapers and feeding schedules, and figuring out how to make a 3 month old happy (hint: you can't).
* There were a couple of great foul out catches made
* Anna made a great play on a tricky throw at 1st
* Remember: When there are runners on 1st and 2nd, and there is a sharp comebacker to the mound, go to 3rd for the first out. You will be happy to get the lead runner, and you are throwing on level terrain, rather than throwing over the mound to 2nd which seems to always ends in tragedy.
Stay healthy, stay 6 feet away, and let's keep the momentum going!
Thanks again to James for keeping me honest, and the blog moving forward. Sounds like I may not have missed the most comfortable game, but I still wish I had been there.- Satch
Welcome to another episode of This Week in Mission Baseball!
'Twas a cold, dreary, rainy game for the most part. The home
team is not proud of their win, despite pushing about 11 runs across the plate.
Why not? Let's give out some awards and see what happened.
SWINGS OF THE WEEK: We're giving this one to Mike L., the
toughest out in Mission Baseball these past couple of months (along with Aaron,
but Mike has played more). Mike continued his assault on the right-center gap,
with power, and the man has been racking up doubles galore. Honorable mention:
I'll give this to myself for an OPPOSITE FIELD HIT! Indeed, I followed a little
coaching advice from Sean, waited on a pitch more than usual, and pushed one to
an empty right field (beat the shift!) on purpose. Yeah!
PITCHES OF THE WEEK: Let's give this to Sean. I would not
call it a dominating performance, but he threw well enough and let his fairly
solid defense do their thing.
GLOVES OF THE WEEK: Nick W! In a game that did not showcase
the best of Mission Baseball fundamentals in the field (first sun and cold,
then rain and cold... Aaugh!), Nick W. made a smothering catch up the middle at
second and flipped the ball to second from the ground to get a force out. It
was a momentary stop-gag for another home team half inning of death to the
visitors by a thousand small cuts. Honorable mentions: Stoner made a
falling-to-his-knees catch in center while adjusting for the sun. Welcome back
to CF, especially at Portrero! Also, shout-outs to Greg and Mike N. for plenty
of impressive stops behind the plate. Sonny and Sean threw quite a few in the
dirt; these guys stopped them all!
AAUGH!
- The weather. Not only did the sun f*ck up some folks early
on, but later the cold and rain made for tough conditions, especially when
trying to field... (thought continues below)
WORD OF THE WEEK: Bloopers! Why was the home squad not proud
of their one-sided victory? Most of our runs were base-to-base, push them
across, one at a time, lucky/sloppy bloopers either whooshed around the infield
by the wind, or dropping just behind the infield dirt. The visitors were good
sports about it, regularly laughing at how long some innings were and whether
they would ever get the next out. I know that at least two of my
"hits" were bloopers of this fashion. Not our proudest victory, but
as Bob says, "I've lost so many times in life... I'll take the victory no
matter what!" Something to that effect.
Sometimes a great opportunity comes along, and you have to grab the bull by the horns. So the story goes that this guy William, known to JT and Bob, had taken it upon himself to build a baseball field. The dream many of us consider, but this guy made it a reality. A lot of blood, sweat, and tears went into this, and he wanted a team of appropriate stature and respect to break it in. The MBC was happy to oblige.
The field is in Grass Valley which, for those that don't know, is nestled in the fabled foothills of California. I grew up south of there in Placerville, and for me it was a great opportunity to go home for the weekend, and also indulge a baseball game on Sunday, without the fevered drive home and then the race to the city for game time. Plus, who could resist being the inaugural team for a new field?
The scheduled game time was 10:30, so I was up and gone by 8:00am. The drive took less time than I thought, and as I rounded the curve of the back road, I couldn't believe it was real. The field was beautiful, carved out of a big stretch of sloped land, with a barn and pasture beyond right field.
I missed the turn, and as I turned and drove back and into the lot I didn't see drills, and teams warming up on the field, I saw dudes drinking and partying in the parking lot....so, it was truly a MBC vibe, a dream come true. Matt, our young power hitter, grew up in Grass Valley, and as he tracked the ins and outs of the players, he decided to call up his old baseball buddies to fill in for the cancellations. They knew what to do.
William, our generous host, was perched on the porch of the clubhouse, listening to music and enjoying the fact that something he had built and poured his heart into was about to be utilized. He sat, just soaking up the moment. The clubhouse, by the way, is beautiful, completely modern, and filled with baseball and sports memorabilia, in addition to a 12-burner stove and a lot of beautiful work.
I have to say, the locals were a lot more prompt than the MBC, I sat and waited for the rest of our team for quite a while. Kudos to Jordan, John, and Arson for being on time and picking up rocks and golf balls while we waited for the rest of the team. But they did finally show up. JT gave a very nice speech on the quirks and tenants of MBC baseball and how it differed from a regular game.
William started for the homers, after a misfire in which Liam McG thought he was getting the ball. I lay it at the feet of youth and skilled entitlement. Liam figured he would start because, who wouldn't want him to? And in a normal game, that may have been the case. But this was a special game, especially for William, and no one but he was going to toe the rubber on his field for the first pitch. Liam grudgingly agreed, good for him, and switched teams. I had already called the starting job for the visitors. A wise man once said, better to be smart, than quick.
Dan led off for us, which why not, he was the last person to arrive....and he struck out. Aiden was next, and he got on base, and when I came up, he stole second, then came around on a botched pick-off for the first run of the game. I got a RBI doing nothing. But I did manage to get a legit single, so that was something. Older McGrath also roped a solid one.
In the bottom half, the homers made noise, but no runs. Same with the next couple of innings, as I was helped by a weird infield fly, double play at first base. Burt Field, our eternal right fielder, made the call. He is a real umpire in his other life, and explained it to us so that we all felt like it was right. He then hit a down the line extra base hit, and our collective base coaching fell short, as he tried to stretch it into a triple and was thrown out by a large margin. I sruck out a few, got some groundballs, and bailed early on a pop up that landed on the mound-- "Fuck, I'm not getting it!"-- and then bowed out, with the score 1-1, after a failed throw to second contributed to another run scored. Liam took over for the next batch and threw very well.
In the meantime, people got hits, plays were made, the homers switched pitchers at least 3 times, including Jordan, and then William was back in again for the rest of the game. Bob talked a lot of shit from first base. Don got a clutch-hit, deep in the game, after listening to William complain about a called strike 3 two innings prior. When asked how and why he had hit such an outside pitch, Don's reply was " Well, I was tired of listening to you bitch about that call."
Like any quality game, it went into extra innings, and Aiden took over for Liam. The score was tied for two innings, and then, like a fairytale ending, a runner ended up on 3rd, with one out, William was up and he pushed a hit right through the left side, and the winning run crossed the plate. A win for the guy who wanted it, and a good game for all the rest of us.
Final Score: 5-4
This postscript from our resident poetic professor JT Tiemann to William, the field owner.
I’ve been thinking for the past couple of days about Sunday. Thanks for welcoming the Mission Baseball guys up to play the inaugural game at your field. The Field played great, and it’s fun to think about how much better it will get as the grass comes in and everything settles down. Building The Field was obviously a labor of love, and, well, we all loved it.
The Field is a thing of beauty on its own, but a baseball field is most beautiful when people are playing baseball on it. I’m sure Dave will organize rosters, and captains, and umpires, and such, and all that is to the good. But I’m glad we baptized your field with the spirit of Mission Baseball, sorting ourselves into teams organically, playing fair without umpires, and delivering a tight, well-played, enjoyable - and epic - game.
Sitting here watching the World Series reminds me of an observation I’ve long made about baseball as part of American life. Baseball only suffers a shortage of one thing: people coming out to play the game just for fun. Well, we made a little progress fixing that last Sunday, thanks to you and The Field.
Welcome to another episode of This Week in Mission Baseball!
We played a solid game this week. The home team eventually
pulled away while shutting down a few attempted rallies by the visitors. The
game ended in the top of the ninth on a cleanly executed, 6-4-3 double play!
Let's give out some awards and see what happened.
SWINGS OF THE WEEK: We're splitting the honors this week.
Tony gets an award for two solid hits, one to each gap and both with decent
power. Abe gets a mention for a solid, opposite field double. Sean blasted one
to right field late in the game. The fence is deeper to right, so he becomes an
honorary member of the Warning Track Club because if he was a righty, it would
have threatened the fence. Finally, I am tipping the hat to myself for a
renewal of my Warning Track Club membership with a blast to deep left field
early in the game, driving in two. It felt good!
PITCHES OF THE WEEK: This one goes to Greg. Both starters
pitched well and cancelled each other out. Greg came in for the home team in
the 8th and 9th and closed the door. Well done!
GLOVES OF THE WEEK: The very best glove of the week goes to
Mike G! Early in the game, Big Dave was looking at an RBI situation against
Nick. Dave fought one off the hands and pushed it to the right side. A bit of a
soft liner, but it looked like a fine piece of hitting and a sure opposite
field single through the hole. However, Mike G at second base moved to his
left, dove, and produced a cloud of dirt while making the stop! He then
continued the heroics with a throw from the ground to get Dave at first.
Excellent put out. Honorable mentions: Adam at first base on a ground ball
towards the hole made a graceful, spinning catch/turn/throw to the pitcher
covering first. Check out the film! Phelps fell to his knees while running
forward to make a catch in center. Greg playing catcher threw behind the runner
at third after a pitch and caught Adam sleeping. Because he is so nice, he let
it go despite many people agreeing that he was out. We scored two after that on
a single the very next pitch, but we agreed to trim one run off the scoreboard
due to Greg's generosity. He wins a glove of the week and sportsmanship award!
Finally, I'll say that as catcher, something I do from time to time, I made a
nice play on a swinging bunt up the third base line late in the game. I
sprinted up the line, snatched the ball on a high bounce before it could land
one more time and leak into foul territory, and threw a laser to Adam at first
to get the runner. I felt like a pro catcher! I even ditched the mask!
AAUGH!
- Poor Tony and Abe. Early in the game, they got in front of
some hard-hit balls at 3rd and short, respectively, and had to deal with wicked
hops up into their chest (Tony) and near the face (Abe).
WORD OF THE WEEK: Double play. I think the home team turned
three or four. The most clutch was in the top of the 7th. Bases loaded, one
out, HR struggling the entire inning, and then he gets a friendly grounder up
the middle. 6-4-3... it ended a 20-minute inning where the visitors got no runs
for all their work. Then, they ended the game on a double play as well.
Nice.
Some of the MBCers were away at a different game (more on that to come), so a split-squad kind of day. Here with the report is James "Coney Island" aka "Brooklyn Biologist" Madden:
Welcome to another episode of This Week in Mission Baseball!
Another wild and wacky game, no joke! So many errors all
around. Seriously, raise your hand if you did NOT have multiple errors in this
game. I sure did! Plenty of "AAUGH" to go around. What else? We had
another instance of "well, looks like this game is over... oh wait, he's
not running for home for some reason... or, oh wait, they just blew an easy
double play to end the game... or, oh my god, HR caught that blast to save the
tie!" Yes, the game should have been over at least four times, but wound
up an 8-8 tie. Let's give out some awards and see what happened.
SWINGS OF THE WEEK: Hands down this goes to Chris. He
self-reported a 5 for 7 day, with most of those hits being well struck. Also,
allow me to welcome you to the Warning Track Club of Portero, Chris! He joins
James and Aaron! He blasted one to deep left field that one hopped to hit the
fence and missed hitting a dog by inches. Indeed, a group of young folks were
picnicking against the left field fence, they asked me if they were in
danger/can anyone hit one this far, and I did tell them yes! One or two pitches
later, and their dog got the sh*t scared out of it. Later on, Chris bombed one
deep to left again that looked like a sure game-winning blast in the 10th, but
HR ran it down! Honorable mentions: all of Chris's other hits.
PITCHES OF THE WEEK: Another hands down award, this time to
Sean, who pitched 10 innings and really deserved the win and not a crappy tie.
Here's one of those "oh, this game should be over" moments. Bottom
ninth, one out (Sean just struck me out on a high fastball!), and home team has
men on 1st and 2nd. I lend myself to play third. Immediately an easy grounder
gets hit right at me, I field it cleanly, and think to myself, "Well, I'll
sling this over to second, then on to first for the double play. Game over,
visitors win." Only I proceeded to throw the ball into right center field.
That should have ended the game, PART 1. Sorry, Sean! The home team would then
tie it up. Interestingly, the home team then should have won the game PART 2,
but New Mike pulled a Nick W. and decided to hold at 3rd despite having a
clean, easy walk home to win the game. It was like a replay of last week! Why
don't Mission Baseball baserunners trust their legs? Seriously, he could have
walked backwards home to score the winning run. Then again, he is recovering
from a hamstring injury... In the top of the 10th, the home team could have
protected a lead and then won the game, but a weird "throw it behind
yourself after fielding a line drive" error happened in left field,
allowing another tying run to score. Should have been the end, PART 3. Finally,
in the bottom of the 10th, Chris blasted another one to left field that looked
certain to drive in the winning run, but HR tracked it down and made an
extended catch! Should have been the end, PART 4! However, we decided to call
it 8 to 8 tie after that, so it was the end.
GLOVES OF THE WEEK: I'll toot my own horn again here,
despite my horrible missed double play ("the final snowball that started
the avalanche," as Sean put it). I had back-to-back web gems in the top of
the 4th to extinguish a rally. A diving catch in shallow center of a Sean line
drive to rob a hit, and then a not-so-nice throw out of Greg at first from
centerfield to rob him of a hit, too. There were baserunners threatening to
score; lo, they did not! Honorable mentions: Mike N. made a tumbling catch of a
hard line drive to rob me of a hit, HR made that tie-saving running grab in
left to rob Chris, and Greg made a beautiful chest-only stop of a short-hopped
pitch at one point that I made a mental note of. Also, New Mike made an
interesting basket catch of a bloop to center and then doubled the runner off
second. 'Twas quite funny. He had it lined up, then clearly lost it in the sun
(desperation body language kicked in), then he found it at the last moment to
make a waist-level basket catch. Quick toss to second = double play!
AAUGH!
- Early in the game, Sean blooped one between short and
center. Chris and I couldn't get there. It drops for a single. I scoop it up
and flip the ball casually at Chris, not noticing that he had already turned
his back to walk back to the infield. Weak little toss trickles away, Sean
advances to 2nd, score slater. Aaugh!
-See the four times
the game should have ended above. Aaugh!
WORD OF THE WEEK: Defense. It was bad! So bad, in fact, that
there was chatter about mid-week fielding drills.
Good lord it was a hot one. The switch in time to 1pm to better accommodate the blindedness of the outfielders was not a rousing success. But every little bit helps I guess. The good news was we had 19 1/2 players out, the 0.5 being the return of Lil' Josh Gibson, my younger slugger. If we counted his runs, the homers walked away with the game, which he kept reminding us of. He was all in, all game: there to hit dingers, slide hard into 3rd and home, smother foul balls down the line, and remind Tony of the dangers of cigarette smoking.
The game starters were Aiden and Tony, respectively, and Aiden continued his dominance of the club. Amazing what a fast ball and a decent breaking ball will do to a bunch of senior citizens. Tony pitched well, but we did not help him too much in the defense department, my own flailing in left field being the most egregious. Adam put a decent bat on the ball and I thought I was all lined up on that thing, and it just defied the laws of gravity and stayed up in the air, over my head before I could realize what was going on.
Sonny came in for Tony, Aiden stayed in to punish up some more and then hit his limit, bowing out with the score 5-1. I came in after Sonny, did one inning, then Mike N, and James rounded it out. Aiden gave way to Dave, Chris L., Elon, and Abe. It was a Baskin Robbins of pitching days for sure.
Somewhere along the way we started scoring runs, and by the time we reached the 8th inning we had built ourselves a 7-5 lead! No one more surprised than us, and Greg came through with the late inning RBI that we always seem to miss. But the 9th proved to be complicated, and Nick W. hit on to center right into the sun, past Mike and rolled to the wall. Nick was for sure to get an in the parker, until he crashed and burned coming around 3rd. I've been there, and it ain't fun. So we still had a chance, but short lived, he was driven in, and the game was tied. Extra innings, back and forth, to the 11th, and the visitors finally scored that crucial go ahead. Josh and me had to hit the road, so didn't see the coup d' grace but the writing was on the wall.
A great game! Probably final score of 8-7.
Highlights:
* Homers would have been very much back in the game, but 8 of the last 10 balls we hit were to Aiden at SS, who gobbled them up left and right, taking hits away.
* Marcella, I believe, had her first hit and run scored and almost nabbed a runner on the right field SQ play.
* Visitors turned at least one double play
* Elon robbed me of a double in center, on a semi diving, into the sun play
* James made several great catches in center, to keep the score close
* I actually managed to catch the next 3 balls that were hit to me, 75% is a passing grade.
* There were a lot of great plays made from SS and 3rd: Tony, Mike, Aiden, John, Abe
* The jury is still out on how Don keeps his Fuck Um Bucky shirt so vibrant?
*Greg's single down the line gave me hope
* We had a respirator and boat shoe-clad Bob as a second baseman for the last frames, almost back to playing form
Welcome to another episode of This Week in Mission Baseball!
What a roller coaster of a game! The home team -- my crew --
was down 5-1 around the midpoint of the game. We rallied to tie it at 5, Aaron
said the ol' "Feel that momentum shift?", we took a 7-5 lead into the
9th, and then... Yikes, again! Let's give out some awards and see what
happened.
SWING OF THE WEEK: I'm giving this to Nick. Let's set the
scene: Two outs, top of the ninth, down two, runner on first. I was cruising,
getting guys on easy grounders. It looked like an easy save. I threw a really
hard fastball, and Nick blasted it to deep center. The dreaded conditions of
centerfield paralyzed the defense, and the infinite roll on the rock-hard dirt
commenced. One run scores and it is clear that Nick will very easily score the
tying run because we will need a five-man relay chain to get this ball to the
infield. It's still rolling back there. Nick approaches third and slows down!
What? After like a minute of his team screaming at him, he restarts for home.
He trips and falls. The crowd is going bananas! Get up! Run! The ball is being
relayed from the other field dirt, and we're bobbling it. Nick crawls around a
little bit and retreats to third. His team is outraged! So much yelling,
laughing, head drooping (on my team)... Bonkers. He could have easily crawled
home on all four, backwards, and still made it easy. Luckily, Dave came up next
and got an infield single because the throw to first was not in time (Aaugh!).
Tie game on two runs in the top of the f'n ninth with two outs. In the top of
the eleventh the visitors struck for two more due to the dreaded, paralyzing
center field effect. It is no joke. But our unraveling all began with that
blast from Nick, perhaps the longest ball I have ever seen him hit.
Congratulations. It was memorable!
Honorable mentions: Aaron stayed hot, but
was finally retired after a 9 for 9 streak over three games, I believe.
PITCHES OF THE WEEK: Let's give this to Elan and Abe for
late inning relief work. They managed to cool off the home team in the late,
crucial innings to allow their comeback. We were hitting the ball hard on both
of them, but their gloves were working!
GLOVES OF THE WEEK: Tons of gloves to give out this week.
Primary winners: Mike N. and Aidan. Mike made so many put-outs at third early
in the game on hard grounders, it was ridiculous. Every throw over to first was
money. Plus, he threw out Dave a home on a grounder to third. In the later
innings, it was Aidan for the visitors. In the late innings, the kid showed so
much range at short and a strong throwing arm, it was also ridiculous. I
blasted one up the middle that I was sure was a hit, and he glided over and
made it look easy. I even sensed a little arrogance in how long he was holding
the ball on some of his throws over to first. He did not look like he was in a
hurry at all, and was delivering lasers over to first like nothing. Elan and
Abe owe him for vacuuming up everything.
Honorable mentions: Elan made a
falling catch to rob Aaron of a double to deep left center, Abe made a
spectacular sprinting catch of a shallow bloop to left, and you know what? I'm
giving myself honorable mention for my play in center field in this game. Yeah,
that's right! Due to playing CF so often, I have mostly overcome the massive
learning curve of the sun, speedy grass, and slope of Portrero's pastures. I
made a few blinding catches that had me seeing spots for the rest of the
inning, and I even robbed Dave on a deep drive to left center onto the other
field dirt. It ain't easy, folks, and your certainly in for a baptism by fire the
first time you stroll out to play CF at Portrero.
AAUGH!
- Home team takes a 7-5 lead into the 9th, loses 9-7 in the
11th. Aaugh!
WORD OF THE WEEK: Roll. As in the infinite roll of the ball
if it gets passed an outfielder. Of the visitors' 9 runs, I think 6 of them can
be attributed to this effect. Elan's basic single to right became an RBI triple
and then he scored (2), Nick's blast to CF might have been catchable, but the
infinite roll was an RBI triple and he later scored (2), and then Aidan's base
hit to center in the 11th also got by and infinitely rolled. RBI and an inside
the parker (2). This was absolutely our downfall. Aaugh!
