by pbdotc aka the wayward O
this was the first game of the 2007 season that felt like summer. the sun stayed out late, there was some passing weather, and the turnout was heavy. since nobody names the teams any more, i've gone ahead and named hans's team "the retired police officers" and d. lee's team "the off-duty police officers."
the game featured a good bit of offense and the regular amount of hideously booted ground balls. one especially poor play was mine at short stop; in the "7th inning," with 1 out and runners on first and second, I went to my right to catch a ground ball and -- amazingly perhaps -- came up with it. however, i failed to make the exchange and get the ball to third and the effort was for naught as everybody was safe. the next batter hit a two-run double and the batter after that -- deion sandals -- cranked a three-run, called-shot donger.
the five-run meltdown was the featured offensive outburst in the game, which ended 15-13.
despite the loss, the retired police officers had their moments. after --- jebus --- i got picked off trying to stretch leigh's base hit from first to third, leigh, who had advanced to second on the play, came home to score on a hard slide. i can't remember who the batter was - john quinn probably - but the play at the plate was cold-blooded and javier who was at catcher pretty much never saw it coming. there was a good deal of dust and a lot of cheers and no injuries. the hard slide picked us up and we felt like we were going to sail after that.
but the off-duty police officers had other ideas. and javier would have his revenge later -- both for the slide and a triple he lost in the lights -- with a late-inning called shot home run off --- ummmm .... uh ..... er ..... welll --- ME. said shot was the difference in the ballgame, giving the off-duty police officers their final margin of victory.
essentially, i guess, since i'm writing this recap, it's a bit me-heavy. however, it appears i cost my team 8 billion runs on offense and defense on three separate bone-headed occasions.
their were two controversial plays. they were as follows:
--- matt was in a close play at the plate and insisted he was safe; quinn, the catcher, insisted matt was out. there was some back-and-forth but apparently matt ultimately was called out. i had mixed feelings about the play. i felt like john may very well have put the tag on, but i was far from sure. also, i feel like if you show up late and displace a fresh-faced newbie, you pretty much forfeit your right to argue your cause, at least on the first close play in which you are involved. i'm not sure how ultimately the out was decided upon; from my vantage point in center field i was under the impression that the run counted and the out did not count. i only learned later the out did in fact count. to this moment, the whole thing resides in some weird, metaphysical grey area.
--- the second controversial play was a force out at second in which some dood not only left first base too early (before the crack of the bat) but also was out anyway on the flip to second and nevertheless vehemently claimed to be safe. it was a hideous reminder of why the base runner never should be permitted to umpire the play. he probably went on to score. to make this point more clear: a base runner is entitled to politely lobby his cause; however he's not entitled to insist he was safe despite clear evidence to the contrary, especially after he left first base too early, violating both the spirit and the letter of the law.
one new player, i think his name was j.d., proved to be a pretty good acquisition. he rapped a few hits, scored a few runs, made a few catches and throws, and also got his inaugural raspberry on a slide. that's a solid, all-around night. he lives right in the area ... as do most walk-ups ... and we may see him again.
there were two stand-out defensive plays. one involved james "jungle cat" morris loping in and snaring a seemingly harmless foul pop up in the obstacle-laden area along the left-field line; the second involved jon on a tough chance in deeeep left-center on a long fly ball. jon and james consistently make tough plays look easy.
there were three other home runs besides those mentioned above: d. lee had one, ambrose had one, and i had a cheap scoreboard job, which ricocheted downward from the top of the wall and bounced off the top of the scoreboard. it counted, bitches.
i leave you with rule change, which will become official immediately unless there are strenuous objections: from here onward, henceforth and forth-with, the batter's "called-shot" shall be voided should his at-bat result in a score-board shot home run . in other words, if you call your shot, then hit the scoreboard, you can call it again.
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