Ball 14: Our Team Blue
Aug. 11th, 2006 05:08 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
penfieldThere are some days when the sun is shining, and there's a perfect breeze, when it's warm enough for ice cream but cool enough for a hamburger, when girls are wearing sundresses and strappy sandals and you can walk to wherever you're going without breaking into a dank sweat. Wednesday, August 9 was one of those days. Everything was perfect.
Perfect, except for the Blue Team's softball game. You have probably heard the well-worn jock phrase, "bringing my 'A' game." Well, we did not bring our "A" game. Our game did not even translate alphabetically; it should be represented in a hieroglyphic drawing of a pitcher being violated by an elephant. The final 19-14 score is a testament to two things: (1) our centerfielder Brendan's incredible night at the plate, wherein he hit two of the most majestic home runs I've ever seen and collected at least ten RBI, and (2) the rhetorical impotence of mere numbers.
There are plenty of plausible excuses for the loss – our three week layoff, questionable field conditions (long baselines, a right-handed batters box that was a foot below sea level), and pure dumb hit-the-ball-where-they-ain't luck. But the truth is, we played like cardboard cutouts.
No one more than me. Aside from my sloppy pitching and my horrendous 4th-inning error – just when we were starting to get close – I was a worthless fart at the plate. It happens every year at some point. Eventually my swing gets all out of whack and I start hitting pop-ups around the infield. My arms felt like the rusty hinges of a screen door; the bat felt like a wet noodle. I was a giant sucking run vacuum in the leadoff spot.
I feel a lot of guilt about the loss. We're 6-3 now, and we were on the playoff bubble even before the loss. It looks like it will be a quiet playoff season for my Blue Team. Maybe at least the weather will be nice, and we can all just go out for hamburgers and ice cream.
August 9, 2006
Blue Team (6-3)
LOSS, 19-14
BATTING: 2-5, 2 runs
PITCHING: 6 innings, 19 runs
FIELDING: 6 innings, 1 error (throwing, leading directly to at least two runs, and possibly more.)
First at-bat: sharp single up the middle, scored
Second at-bat: swinging bunt, reached on what I can only assume was a bobbling error, scored
Third at-bat: jammed, bloop single into short right field
Fourth at-bat: foul pop-up to the catcher, with the bases loaded
Fifth at-bat: deep fly out to straightaway left field
Season-to-Date
BATTING: 70 AB, 46 hits (.657 AVG) 17 doubles, 4 triple, 6 HR (89 Total bases, 1.271 SLG) 38 runs, 31 RBI
PITCHING: 63.2 innings, 171 runs (18.93 RA, per 7 innings; 24.35 RA, per 9)
FIELDING: 88.2 innings, 11 errors
Perfect, except for the Blue Team's softball game. You have probably heard the well-worn jock phrase, "bringing my 'A' game." Well, we did not bring our "A" game. Our game did not even translate alphabetically; it should be represented in a hieroglyphic drawing of a pitcher being violated by an elephant. The final 19-14 score is a testament to two things: (1) our centerfielder Brendan's incredible night at the plate, wherein he hit two of the most majestic home runs I've ever seen and collected at least ten RBI, and (2) the rhetorical impotence of mere numbers.
There are plenty of plausible excuses for the loss – our three week layoff, questionable field conditions (long baselines, a right-handed batters box that was a foot below sea level), and pure dumb hit-the-ball-where-they-ain't luck. But the truth is, we played like cardboard cutouts.
No one more than me. Aside from my sloppy pitching and my horrendous 4th-inning error – just when we were starting to get close – I was a worthless fart at the plate. It happens every year at some point. Eventually my swing gets all out of whack and I start hitting pop-ups around the infield. My arms felt like the rusty hinges of a screen door; the bat felt like a wet noodle. I was a giant sucking run vacuum in the leadoff spot.
I feel a lot of guilt about the loss. We're 6-3 now, and we were on the playoff bubble even before the loss. It looks like it will be a quiet playoff season for my Blue Team. Maybe at least the weather will be nice, and we can all just go out for hamburgers and ice cream.
August 9, 2006
Blue Team (6-3)
LOSS, 19-14
BATTING: 2-5, 2 runs
PITCHING: 6 innings, 19 runs
FIELDING: 6 innings, 1 error (throwing, leading directly to at least two runs, and possibly more.)
First at-bat: sharp single up the middle, scored
Second at-bat: swinging bunt, reached on what I can only assume was a bobbling error, scored
Third at-bat: jammed, bloop single into short right field
Fourth at-bat: foul pop-up to the catcher, with the bases loaded
Fifth at-bat: deep fly out to straightaway left field
Season-to-Date
BATTING: 70 AB, 46 hits (.657 AVG) 17 doubles, 4 triple, 6 HR (89 Total bases, 1.271 SLG) 38 runs, 31 RBI
PITCHING: 63.2 innings, 171 runs (18.93 RA, per 7 innings; 24.35 RA, per 9)
FIELDING: 88.2 innings, 11 errors
