Fall 09 – Game 1 and 2 Recap
We’re back in action. Every off season feels like an eternity and every opening day seems as far away as Christmas to a six year old. So I was thrilled to bolt out of the office Friday afternoon; my head filled with thoughts of slipping into the silky, sultry black and gold jersey and glide my hand into the soft, sweet-smelling cow hide of softball justice that is my glove. But this last Friday night I noticed something…
My jersey doesn’t fit any more, my back hurts, my feet hurt and I can actually now feel the inside of my baseball cap on my scalp. I’m old. When did this happen? And who can I blame?
I know we all don’t want to admit this but we’re all kinda getting on up there. When we arrived at Ford Field, I did a visual once-over of our team and thought to myself, “I don’t know if I should be calling out plays or bingo numbers.”
When I saw our first opponents I became concerned we were set up for a whoopin’ of geriatric proportions.
We opened the Fall 09 season with home field advantage against Here4Beer. They always play us tough and jumped up on us quickly despite our resident third basewoman Evil Eye and the Great One at shortstop making play after play.
We started our offense with Skittles Ward leading us off. He knocked a dribbler to short and shot off to first like someone gently poked him with a stun gun. Usain Bolt has nothing on Mike.
The second inning showed the oodles of value we picked up with rookie Chris “Dig Dug” Bahnmiller stepping to the plate to knock in his first career home run. Not to be out done, he was followed by grizzled veteran ManFuller, running over Evil Eye for a 2 run HR. That’s a deadly top of the order!
Back in the field, the Colonel had a spectacular dropping line drive catch in LF to slow Here4Beer’s momentum. Skittles Ward followed up to put the explanation mark on the inning with a falling catch behind the plate to snag a foul tip. I could explain Mike’s catch if I had the slightest idea of how he did it. He had approximately .008 seconds to react to it and, backing up into the umpire, falling with a roll and with his eyes closed, he stuck up his mitt and… thud! In went the ball. It was like he found it via echolocation, like a bat. A great gray haired bat. With all the vitamins he takes, I bet that guano is worth a small fortune.
Not to be outdone by the boys, Heidi “Swiss Miss” Henry had an incredibly athletic StretchArmstrong line drive grab at 2nd. ManHenry played well too, almost turning a double play with “Shumway or the Highway” and later on turning a double play with “Dig Dug” Bahnmiller making one of many breathtaking grabs at 1st.
We had 3 in the park home runs… Dig Dug had a solo shot to the RC/RF gap, while ManFuller and Skittles Ward both had 2 run shots. ManHenry and yours truly both had triples and I have to confess, I think I pulled a liver by the time I reached the bag – I need to hit the treadmill.
At the end of the game, it felt like we won handily but the scoreboard was taunting us with the possibility we’d lose our opener. Sometimes the scoreboard can be the worst thing in the world and I can’t bear to glance at it even momentarily between slit fingers. But when blue called time, I shot a quick look up at an eleven for Here4Beer and a twelve for OBI.
Having secured our home opener, it was now time to turn our attention to the second act, The Better Half.
As I said earlier, I know we’re all getting older – a fact that was highlighted by The Better Half’s players. Turns out that their moniker wasn’t in reference to the sanctity of marriage, but to the better half of life… the youthful half. They were young. Their pitcher was younger than us. Their 2nd baseman was younger than us. Their LC could have passed for one of my daughter’s classmates. In short, we are old farts who, to borrow from the lexicon of football, are “hearing footsteps.”
To add insult to injury, the Better Half was the type of young we don’t like… the athletically gifted young.
They could hit. Before we could blink, the Better Half had racked up 4 runs and every guy and tight-shorts wearing girl had hit it to the fence. They all seemed to be concerned with who would be the first to hit it out of the park… while we were concerned whether or not Chili’s had updated their seniors menu with high-fiber bran muffins.
Our first at bat didn’t fare much better. Dig Dug popped out deep center, Special K popped out to deep left and the Incredible Pulk popped out to right. OBI’s game one swagger seemed to suffocate against these whippersnappers.
The second inning looked like it was going to be a repeat of the first when the Better Half’s LF stepped up to the plate. He was all business and had a stern haircut. It’s like he went to a barbershop with a picture of Hitler. “Give me the Führer!”
He smacked a towering shot over Swiss Miss’ head to the fence and trotted around the bases like a prize winning colt.
It wasn’t looking pretty for OBI. And then Brett Favre showed up.
Often in sports, leaders need to provide their demoralized teammates with a little spark… something that will get the competitive juices flowing again when all seems lost. And Mike had seen enough and decided it was time to stop the bleeding. He scooped up a hard hit to his right, turned and stared down the runner at 3rd, curling his lips back and snarling. Once Mike saw the runner’s pants darken in the tender area, Mike spun around and whipped a bullet at Dig Dug for the out. It was a classic Favre-like Skittles Ward play. Inspired, the Bearded Lady caught a one hopper in LF and lit his cannon and tossed a shot heard around the world as he threw out the runner at first. The crowd went wild and OBI took over the night.
Stirred by the Vitaman, the OBI batters scored 8 runs in the third to take the lead and the momentum. Dig Dug hit a double as did the Bearded Lady and the Vitaman. Couple that with solid base hits by the Evil Eye, Shumway or the Highway and the Swiss Miss and we were in business.
In the fourth, we could tell the Better Half was a little shell shocked but nonetheless confident they could knock our walkers out from underneath us and send us back for tapioca pudding night at the home. But, as my dad is fond of reminding me, youth and inexperience will always be beat by old age and cunning. Not to mention we still have game.
ManHenry had a great unassisted double play, grabbing a line drive to the left of 2nd and tagging the bag to end the inning. The Vitaman used some gamesmanship by fast pitching the batters, throwing them off their rhythm and sending them back to the dugout with 3 more strike outs to add to his total of 4 for the night. He sucked up a hard hit short-hopper at his knees, turned to a waiting ManHenry at 2nd who threw a frozen rope to Dig Dug for another double play.
Of course, as easy as this game may have sounded, it wasn’t over yet. The Better Half gave it their all and came back to tie up the game going into the 5th inning and was poised to regain the lead. The Vitaman reached way down in his gut and pulled out yet another KO but the Better Half bats loaded up the bases and all of the sudden, things looked nasty. One out, bases loaded and we were in trouble. But then a serendipitous pop up to short and a fancy back handed grab of a hot hit to Kerstyn at 2nd and it was over.
I started the night thinking hard about whether or not we would be able to keep up with the flat-bellied youth of the Allen Co-Ed Friday night league. But good news is we’re not old yet and we can still swing a bat and make a play like we were 20.
Craig Gump – Chapter One
Let me say this: Havin a fro ain’t no box of chocolates. People laugh, point fingers, gasp; ‘cause it’s awful fright’n. Now they says folks ‘sposed to be kind to the afflicted, but let me tell you, it ain’t always true. Even so, I ain’t got no complaints cause I done lived a pretty interestin’ life, I ‘spose.
Momma always says there’s an awful lot you could tell about a person by their hair style. Where they’re going. Where they’ve been. I’ve had a lot of different hair styles. I bet if I think about it real hard I could remember my first hair cut…
Now, when I was a baby, Momma named me after the great Civil War hero, General Nathan “Crazy Legs” Hammy… She said we was related to him in some way. And, what he did was, he started up this softball club called the Screamin Hamsters. They’d all dress up in ugly green t-shirts and act like a bunch of clowns or crazy-eyed Brett Favres or something. And anyway, that’s how I got my name. Craig Hammy. Momma said that my first haircut was to remind me that sometimes we all do things that, well, just don’t make no sense.
At first, growin’ up, momma would let me go out and play with all the other boys but then she found out they’s teasin’ me and all on account of my haircut. After that she told me not to play with them boys. So I tried playin’ with the girls but that weren’t much better cause they’s always runnin’ away from me. Seemed no matter where I went, I’s always runnin’.
Momma thought that it’d be good for me to go to the city so we’s moved to a place called Los Anglis… an let me tell you, it was weird. It was like they’d gone all around collectin all the funny fellers they could find and put em all together in one place. It weren’t all bad tho. I made some friends who made some fancy music and wore their hats on they heads all cockeyed and crooked. They’s always wearin’ gold ‘n jewelry an such. And they didn’t care none ‘bout my haircut cause some of them had hair just like me. Momma says it was good I found a place to fit in. I stayed in that there city for six or seven years.
When I got to be thirteen or so, some pretty unusual things started to happen. First off, I started to grow. I grew six inches in six months, an my momma was always havin to let out my pants. By the time I’s sixteen, I’s grown to six foot and three inches and 220 pounds. I know that cause they took me in and weighed me. Says they jus’ couldn’t believe it.
What happened next changed my life. One day this man in a car pulls up besides me and asked me my name and how come he ain’t seen me around at the schools. When he asked me if I’d played the softball I just shook my head. I guess I mighta tole him I’d seen kids playin it, but they’d never let me play on account of my haircut. Three days or so later, these folks done come and took me to the softball field. Turns out that feller in the car was the coach of the softball team and they wanted me to play some softball.
Now you may not know this from lookin’ at me, but I can run like the wind blows. And those folks on that there softball team sure did take a likin’ to me. They was always givin’ me stuff like bats and gloves and shoes n such. An all I’d do is hit that little ball as hard as I could and I’d run. I’d run and run and run.
Later there was this nice young man that joined up on our softball team and he was always a doin’ fancy stuff out there n the field. He’d dive n catch balls, he’d hit that ball hard and run around them bases. But he ran kinda diff’rent from the rest of us. He kinda ran like he was being shocked or somethin’. His legs would get all sprawled out n such that it was just the funniest sight I’d ever seen.
A few days later I was thinkin’ about my new friend and how he moved his legs like he’s getting shocked n all and I started a movin’ my legs side to side like him. It made me feel kinda funny inside. My hips and body just started jigglin’ an’ movin’ to and fro’ like I was being ‘lectrocuted my own self. And wouldn’t ‘cha know it, some girls done seen me makin’ my moves and came over and asked me where I’d learned to dance like that and if I’d like to help them make a movie they’s makin’ about dancin’. Well I didn’t see no harm in it so I nodded yes. I never saw the movie they made but I heard it caused quite a stir. They tell me it even started some sort of dance craze.
Game 8 Recap – End of an era.
So here we are my friends,fellow Americans and bat-swinging comrades. The end of an era. Over. Finite. El Fin. Das ende. Kaput. Da caboose.
Softball has come to a close. Before we head back to the cave to start our long winter slumber, we can rest assured that we are still a freakishly good softball team. Sure, we weren’t able to defend our World Championship title from summer, but the way we ended the season is proof that what we experienced mid-season was an anomaly, an abnormality, a glitch. We can enter the winter fat-building phases of life knowing that we are still the 800 pound gorilla (discovered in 1902 by the way) in this league and we should awake from our softball slumber next spring with expectations of domination.
But before we commiserate the end of our year, let’s not forget how we thrashed the previously undefeated 2ndplace Bluepers Friday night. The Bluepers came into the game 6 and 0 and had only allowed 18 runs the entire season. We hung almost as many as that on the Bluepers Friday night alone! Bats were in order once again.
We were able to go through the order over 3 times. Hammy hit a spectacular, opposite-field 3 run homer; Jet Li smacked several hard, down and dirty grounders and ran like a woman possessed. You’d have never guessed she had a bum hip. Could it have been the Vitaman’s juices that gave her the superhuman speed? Colonel Sanders showed the world why he was taken in the first round of the draft this fall. Again, I will take 100% credit for finding him. Thanks entirely to a freakish form of ESP that I possess that allows me to root out the one person on earth guaranteed to bring maximum drama and minimum productivity to whatever job is at hand. Oh wait. That’s my work ESP. My softball ESP, however, was dead on about Kris. It’s a gift. I didn’t ask for it. I never try to profit from it. I just have it.
The better half of the Ward clan was also on her A-game at the plate. Lori was knocking the snot off the ball and had, what I think, may have been one of her best games offensively this fall. That girl can play! All in all, everyone hit well again this week. It’s becoming a trend. A good trend.
Defensively, our outfield was perfect. They “pitched a shutout,” holding the Bluepers to singles instead of doubles, keeping runners on the bag during pop flies with their monster arms. The Bearded Lady had a great catch that he initially over ran but, because of his uncanny athletic ability, he recovered and stuck his glove up awkwardly to make the grab… all while doing a very lovely pirouette. Special K also showed strong focus in tracking down a mile-high shot that swirled all over the night sky. And Johnny was Johnny. Stopping everything, making dead-eye bullet throws, being a stud. Jet Li and Lori just plan scared everyone else out of RF.
The infield played like Vitaman commanded all night long… “tight!” And it all started with The Belly Itcher. She’s back to form, pitching strike after strike after strike. As if that weren’t good enough, the woman fielded her position perfectly. She did an uncanny “Cool-hand Luke” impersonation by casually grabbing a 213 mph line drive at her face, and then turning to the Vitaman for a double play. It happened so fast that I couldn’t even scream, “Throw to first!” Proof positive that light is faster than sound… which is also I seem brighter to people until they hear me open my mouth.
The Toughman award this week goes to Shumway or the Highway, who took more body shots than Lindsey Lohan at her all-girl sleepover. Shumway is a tough one that girl! I think Kris will be well protected in Vegas. (warning: the next couple sentences get all sciencey) Evil Eye didn’t get much action at 3rd but her synapses were firing on all cylinders when a foul ball was hit up in the air behind 3rd. Utilizing her superior brainial cavity space, she wisely knew not to touch the ball, ensuring the batter would be called out. Thankfully, the Incredible Pulk, more of a physical brut than mental giant, slipped on the wet grass and was unable to reach the ball he was so desperately trying to get to. I’d like to see a CAT scan comparison of those two brainial cavities. (breathe easy: sciencey stuff is over).
As for me, well, I had a decent game. But I don’t like drawing attention to myself. (sorry, forgot to warn you of the sarcasm) One or two spectacular plays, a few screams at an umpire and the next thing you know, TMZ is cracking wise in a caption of your photo on their website. I like to lay low. Modesty is my motto.
We had a great season. I don’t know about you, but I had a lot of fun and I really hope you did to. Lots of funny moments, even more fantastic athletic displays and just some good, old-fashioned fellowship. What a great group of people we have. It’s nice to have all our group stay together for another year. Along with the magnificent additions of Kris, April and Saneetra! It’s a courageous thing to step out and join a team that’s been together as long as the Crushers/Weasels/OBI’s have been. But I’m glad they did. Actually, now that I say that out loud, that act of bravery possesses the risk level of playing Old Maid without a helmet. We’re teddy bears.
And that’s all I have. When all the chips are down, the cow is empty. I hope to see you next weekend at our annual year-end softball party and most importantly, I hope to see each and every one of you bright-eyed and bushy-tailed next spring. Lord willing and the creek don’t rise.
Game 7 Recap – It’s all true… I was there!
Just when I think I have things figured out, I get thrown a curve ball. In this case, literally. Wow! I can’t wait for the Fullers, Jet Li and my other half to read this recap. When they see what happened, they just may think I’m exaggerating. Which we all know I never do. But my friends, what you’re about to read is all true. Trust me… I was there!
We took the field against the Furies under the cold Friday Night Lights with the deck firmly stacked against us. We were missing our best hitter, Man Fuller; our stalwart pitcher, Kimmie; our resident ninja, Jet Li; and the fasted cook in McKinney, Special K. Injuries were numerous. The Vitaman had to play through the pain with a back brace. The Bearded Lady was tenderly walking around on a pulled hammy. And I was secretly playing through the emotional pain of having lost more hair follicles during the week. I wasn’t very confident that we were going to have a good outing. After all, we all remembered the Furies soundly whipped us on opening night and had played well during the rest of the season. And it was 57 degrees at game time to boot. But interestingly enough, OBI had never been hotter.
The Vitaman lead the way by securing home field advantage and we took the field with a lineup that had the Bearded Lady at LF, da Realtor at LC, Hammy at RC and Maui Laura at RF. Infield looked a little bit more familiar with Evil Eye at 3rd, Mr. Wonderful at SS, Shumway or the Highway at 2nd, and with the Italian Scallion and the Colonel rotating at 1st. The Vitaman and Saneetra (who I’m granting the moniker, “The Punctual One”) were teaming up at the plate.
When the Furies first batter stepped to the plate, I was a little concerned for Vitaman’s safety. I wasn’t sure how he was going to be able to react to a hot hit right back at him with a bad back. And it didn’t take long before we got to see that. Those Furies can hit. Their women are, how do you say… um, beefy. Eastern European maybe? And their guys have definitely come a long way since a few seasons back when we repeatedly beat them under the Screaming Weasels franchise. The Furies quickly racked up 3 runs before we could get our hats on straight. And then something interesting happened. I don’t know exactly what it was and I can’t pinpoint the catalyst for sure, but I think it originated from RF. There was this relaxing, beach-like atmosphere gently rolling across the field like waves on a beach, coming from Maui Laura. She had just come back from Hawaii early because she heard we were short girls. Now that’s a teammate! Point is, we all just eased up and started to play calm. And then… that was it. Literally. Game over. We got 1, 2, 3 outs and went into the dugout and proceeded to knock the whale snot out of the ball.
Four short innings later, we had put up 20, count ‘em, twenty runs up on the board and held the not-so-furious-Furies to zero, zip, zilch, nada. That’s right Wide World of Sports. Your eyes aren’t deceiving you. We run-ruled those turkeys and thrashed them 20 to 3!
We did it by great pitching, great defense, great base running and the best hitting display I’ve ever witnessed in 4 years of Allen softball. Really! That was undoubtedly the best hitting game as a team that I have been a part of. Everyone hit well and some hit very well! The Bearded Lady had a triple and no sign of his hammy injury. The Punctual One continued her hitting clinic with pinpoint placement opposite-field hits. She is definitely the Ian Kinsler of this team. The girls showed that we really do have the best group of women players in Allen. Every one of them had great hits! Swinging Yandles, the Colonel, Hammy, the Vitaman and even I had good hits. How good you ask? We batted through the order in all but 1 inning. How’s that for a statistic? How do you like them apples?!?!
Defensively we had the kind of game where everything went our way. Lori and Laura played tough outfield and shut the Furies down, while Craig and Paul played just like you expected them to… perfect. The infield played tight as well. Vitaman pitched fantastic, putting a great spin on the ball that kept the Furies guessing. We almost turned a double play, had a couple line drives that were snagged and communicated to each other like a well-oiled machine. We have truly come together in the dirty part of the diamond.
We only had two errors the entire game. I had an errant throw to first trying to make a double play but it didn’t cost us anything. And we had a base running error when someone from the dugout (Hammy, I promise I won’t mention your name here) hollered at Maui Laura to tag up when she should have been booking around the base path. Is that three games in a row with a bad base running call for Hammy? Someone get that man some duct tape!
But seriously, all told, it was one of the more satisfying games I’ve been a part of. We thoroughly beat a good team and we looked every bit of the Championship caliber team that we really are. Run ruled them with 8 minutes left, 20 to 3. Pretty darn stellar. I think I just grew a few hairs back!
Game 6 Recap – Irrational Exuberance…
I was thinking about how to describe what’s been happening to our team this season. Coming off a 7-1 championship season, won in dramatic fashion, and then falling from grace in such an unprecedented manner would normally be hard to swallow…if it we weren’t having so much fun doing so. Sure, the losing stinks,but it’s the journey, not the destination that counts, right? To that I say, “Ptouie!” Which we all know is baseball speak for “I spit in your general direction!” When I think of where we’re at this season versus last season, I’m reminded of a saying my main man Alan Greenspan once used to describe our chances of a repeat championship season … “Irrational exuberance.”
We were without our two fearless leaders, The Belly Itcher and Vitaman. Kimmie was out of town with the kiddos while Vitaman was going through a Benadryl detox program after being slammed with an allergic reaction. We missed them both and hope to have them back in action next week. Lucky for us, we had the Man Fuller, who can play every position in softball, baseball, football, hockey, soccer, basketball, badminton, rugby, cricket, lacrosse, and monopoly. And I won’t even bring up how you should see him take out children left and right in Candy Land! It’s a rare thing to have two players who can pitch well on a softball team. We have three. John stepped onto the mound and did the Fuller name proud. Great pitching John! And great fielding of the position to boot. He made several outs scooping up hard hits all around the mound.
Our bats were solid the entire night too! Three, count em, three home runs! Well, actually four, but one of those was for the other team. But three for the good guys and gals. Hammy, in a “lame” attempt to make up for injuring the Incredible Pulk last week by sending 3rd base signals like a flashing red light, hit a two run homer! It was an awesome smash! The Incredible Pulk, for those who don’t know, pulled a hammy when the real Hammy sent him home at 3rd after stopping him, no… sending him, yes…run! No, wait! No, go!!! Anyhow, he made up for it in Game 6 and then some! Of course, I won’t bring up who was coaching 3rd base who, in a freaky coincidence, also happened to send Saneetra home when she had a better chance to win the Iditarod in Alaska… I don’t remember who it was. Regardless, Craig had a super game and a super home run. So base coaching be darned! Of course, despite what Kerstyn will tell you, I’m mature enough to know that you can’t have everything. I, for example, only have four and a half fingers on my left hand. I’ve named them after the characters on Different Strokes…the little one is Arnold.
Hammy wasn’t the only one who hit well. Man Fuller helped his own cause by knocking in a home run… but that’s so normal for him, it’s almost a given. But we will never take you for granted John! I swear! Special K followed El Hubbo’s performance last week, the Hub of her universe (me), by hitting a home run this week. She’s a fine, young athlete. And Saneetra… wow! The girl can hit! Last week she had a killer shot to RC, this week, an encore performance with another perfectly placed shot to RF! I will take full credit for recognizing her talent and signing her up. Actually, I think everyone hit great! Risolvato, Jessica (who was AWOL last week and didn’t even email me to tell me so! Well, maybe she did), Colonel Sanders and Shumway or the Highway all hit well.
Speaking of April, those guys on that other team slid into her half a dozen times, taking her to the ground! At first I thought, “Jeeze, lighten up pal.” But then I noticed a pattern… every guy slid into her and every girl spat at her. I think the guys thought she was a looker and wanted to get a little closer and the girls were a little jealous. I expected a cat fight to break out any moment, but the game ended in disappointment.
The umpires were actually fairly somewhat ambivalently lukewarm in mediocrity. Hey, that’s as nice as I’m gonna be to them, especially when they don’t give me a single call to argue against all night. I felt so out of place. The only thing I can think of to say now is that they were really, really wrinkly. Like a pair of shar-pei dogs, or like Joan Rivers without botox and punchlines.
Let’s not kid ourselves. TBB is a very good team. They hit very well, field good, and don’t get rattled. They acted like they’d already won when they walked onto the field. Or they could have been thinking of me. I’ve been told thinking about me has a very calming influence. With the occasional case of indigestion, earaches, heartburn, dizziness and abdominal swelling.
At the end of the day, TBB just hit fantastic. As matter of fact, my limited memory counted only about 3-4 balls hit to John, 2-3 to me, about 2 to Danielle, and the rest to the outfield. The Fighting Risolvato hasn’t had a workout like Friday night since before he mysteriously lost his Richard Simmons’ “Sweatin’ to the Oldies” video set. We played a good, solid game on both sides of the ball. Technically, we didn’t lose, we just ran out of time. We’ll get ‘em next year. Alan Greenspan will eat his words!
Game 5 Recap…
Ouch! Game 5 was a tough one but a fun one! I always say this but I don’t think anyone believes me… I honestly don’t mind when we lose if it’s a close game and if we get beat by a better team. Well, 1 out of 2 isn’t bad. It was close but they weren’t better than us. We just lived up to our “One Bad Inning” moniker. I vote we change our name to “The Most Awesomist Totally Great Softball Team That Has Ever Stepped A Cleat Onto Dirt Before.” Maybe that’ll change our luck? Nonetheless, there were some great highlight moments to point out…
It was fantastic to have Kim and John back in action. I don’t recall John getting much attention in RC but that’s probably because the advance scouts knew he was coming back and turned in their scouting report on him. Most teams have John tailed during the week. Kim looked good on the mound, throwing a couple batters out swinging. We need to bring our large “K’s” to the ballpark and hang them in the dugout when she or Vitaman strikes someone out. Kimmie also had a couple good snags to toss out runners at 1st base. Nice to see them both on the field again.
The Ol’ Evil Eye was back at it on 3rd base Friday night. Holy Cow! She played fantastic! The girl turned into Yao Ming and jumped (I’m not exaggerating here) 8’3″ into the air to grab a line drive that would have surely been a double. And she did it with style. She’s French you know. Don’t hold it against her. Speaking of the French, I heard a great line on TV tonight… “God made the most beautiful city in the world and called in Paris. And then He put the French in there to balance things out.” Just kidding Dannie. “Vous avez joue incroyable,” which is French for either “you played incredible,” or “I have snail in my teeth?”
Our defense played fairly well and consistent for most of the night. Our opponent seemed to spread the ball around the diamond and I think most everyone had a couple knocked their way. But as it turned out, I don’t think our defense was the issue. And yet, batting wasn’t our main issue either. At least, depending on what inning you thought of. Our first at bat was bad; second was great; third was horrific; fourth, not much better and fifth was heading the right direction but we just ran out of time. It was like watching the Dow Jones at the plate.
So now we’re 2 and 3, heading into the down slope of the season. And that only leaves us with 3 more games until our long winter nap! I want to win all of the remaining games and yet, I don’t want the season to end. I have no sports to look forward to. My Cowboys are finished, the Mavs are teases and I can’t understand the Canadian TV announcers well enough to enjoy the Stars! I’m not sure what to do. I feel like a lonely, lost sock left in the dryer…
I digress! We will rally and we will have a blast doing so! If there’s one thing to look forward to in these remaining 3 games it’s that I really, really enjoy having the opportunity to get to hang out with and play with such great folks! Couldn’t ask for better people to be associated with. Kinda brings my reputation up a few rungs just to be seen with you all. So don’t forget, game 6 is this Friday, October 17 at Field 1 (the lowest field) at our permanent game time, 9:30. Do it for my reputation!
That is a great recap. You did forget to mention one thing. How the Incredible Pulk returned after one week of having his Hammy surgically removed from his body so he could be there for his team if needed. Did you mention the 10 hour surgery that could have cost me my life? The things I do for One Bad Inning!!