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penfieldDan: Eleven years ago, [Orlando Rojas] pitched a perfect game.
Rebecca: A perfect game.
Dan: Yes, ma'am.
Rebecca: And a perfect game is good?
Dan: Listen, I know there's a lot of jargon, but some of these are pretty self-explanatory.
- Josh Charles (as Dan Rydell) and Teri Polo (as Rebecca Wells) in the Sports Night episode "The Sword of Orion"
Softball Game: June 11, 2008
WON 28-16, record 4-0
I can't even imagine how difficult it would be to throw a perfect game in a slo-pitch softball game. The defense would have to be professional-caliber, probably Dominican, and the opposing offense would have to be a team of clubfooted third graders.
So I won't call my evening "perfect," but it was very good. First of all, we won, mostly comfortably, and we seem to have developed a habit of jumping out to big leads (19 to 1 after two innings, in this case) and then coasting until we can go home. Our defense wasn't as sharp as it was in the first two games, but we managed to avoid big, bloody innings by the other team.
I personally went 4-for-4 with two doubles and my first home run in what felt like a year. The joy and pride I felt after that hit was substantial, mitigated only by the fact that I was winded for 20 minutes afterward.
Fundamental aerodynamics suggest that if you hit the ball with backspin, the air pressure will be stronger below the ball than on top of it, generating lift and allowing the ball to carry, so I've been thinking about that in my at-bats and trying to employ a level-to-downward swing. Of course, that could just be a bunch of flim-flammery to distract my hyperactive brain while muscle memory takes over, especially since most of my outs this year have come on bad pitches, not bad swings.
For reasons that I may elaborate upon tomorrow, I was thinking of my Dad as I was playing tonight, and even scrawled his old No. 31 on my t-shirt sleeve. He was a real athlete in his younger days -- until his skills hit their ceiling in college, anyway -- and I suspect that he viewed his first-born son as the successor to that talent.
I won't say that I disappointed him in that regard, but it became pretty clear pretty early on that I wasn't going to live up to his imagination for me. Nevertheless, he was a devoted and conscientious Little League coach and rarely declined an entreaty to have "a catch" with me or my younger brother (who, by the way, was able to fulfill some of my father's modest athletic dreams). The only time I ever felt his scowl was when he didn't think I was trying hard or having fun.
So it's a little ironic that I'm much more interested in sports now that I'm grown up and out of the house. When I called my father shortly after the game last night and told him how well I did, I felt a shiver of giddiness that made me feel like I was 12 years old again, and the hint of desperation for my father to be proud of me. I wonder if that ever really goes away. I hope it doesn't.
My statistics:
4-for-4, 4 runs, 1 RBI
AB#1: single through the 5.5 hole
AB#2: home run to deep left
AB#3: double down the left field line
AB#4: double to left
6 IP, 16 runs
Season-to-date
9 for 13 (.692), 8 runs, 4 RBI
20 IP, 46 runs (20.07 ERA/9, 16.10 ERA/7)
Rebecca: A perfect game.
Dan: Yes, ma'am.
Rebecca: And a perfect game is good?
Dan: Listen, I know there's a lot of jargon, but some of these are pretty self-explanatory.
- Josh Charles (as Dan Rydell) and Teri Polo (as Rebecca Wells) in the Sports Night episode "The Sword of Orion"
Softball Game: June 11, 2008
WON 28-16, record 4-0
I can't even imagine how difficult it would be to throw a perfect game in a slo-pitch softball game. The defense would have to be professional-caliber, probably Dominican, and the opposing offense would have to be a team of clubfooted third graders.
So I won't call my evening "perfect," but it was very good. First of all, we won, mostly comfortably, and we seem to have developed a habit of jumping out to big leads (19 to 1 after two innings, in this case) and then coasting until we can go home. Our defense wasn't as sharp as it was in the first two games, but we managed to avoid big, bloody innings by the other team.
I personally went 4-for-4 with two doubles and my first home run in what felt like a year. The joy and pride I felt after that hit was substantial, mitigated only by the fact that I was winded for 20 minutes afterward.
Fundamental aerodynamics suggest that if you hit the ball with backspin, the air pressure will be stronger below the ball than on top of it, generating lift and allowing the ball to carry, so I've been thinking about that in my at-bats and trying to employ a level-to-downward swing. Of course, that could just be a bunch of flim-flammery to distract my hyperactive brain while muscle memory takes over, especially since most of my outs this year have come on bad pitches, not bad swings.
For reasons that I may elaborate upon tomorrow, I was thinking of my Dad as I was playing tonight, and even scrawled his old No. 31 on my t-shirt sleeve. He was a real athlete in his younger days -- until his skills hit their ceiling in college, anyway -- and I suspect that he viewed his first-born son as the successor to that talent.
I won't say that I disappointed him in that regard, but it became pretty clear pretty early on that I wasn't going to live up to his imagination for me. Nevertheless, he was a devoted and conscientious Little League coach and rarely declined an entreaty to have "a catch" with me or my younger brother (who, by the way, was able to fulfill some of my father's modest athletic dreams). The only time I ever felt his scowl was when he didn't think I was trying hard or having fun.
So it's a little ironic that I'm much more interested in sports now that I'm grown up and out of the house. When I called my father shortly after the game last night and told him how well I did, I felt a shiver of giddiness that made me feel like I was 12 years old again, and the hint of desperation for my father to be proud of me. I wonder if that ever really goes away. I hope it doesn't.
My statistics:
4-for-4, 4 runs, 1 RBI
AB#1: single through the 5.5 hole
AB#2: home run to deep left
AB#3: double down the left field line
AB#4: double to left
6 IP, 16 runs
Season-to-date
9 for 13 (.692), 8 runs, 4 RBI
20 IP, 46 runs (20.07 ERA/9, 16.10 ERA/7)
