Tonight the Liberators took the field for the first game of our slo-pitch season! For the first couple of innings I stayed behind home plate as catcher. Actually managed to catch a few pitches and return them to Tanara's glove. Not bad. Well, bad, but you know...I'm at the scary end of the bell curve for this sort of thing. 
We were outmatched by the other team, seen here looking on with confidence as I react in stunned disbelief. I'm not sure of the exact score, but I think they beat us by a dozen runs or so.
However, on a personal level, I was as surprised as anyone when I managed to connect with the ball all three times I tried. I hit two singles, and the third was a drive between second and third that was caught by the opposing shortstop. So two out of three...I guess that's a batting average of .666! Pretty good for someone that hasn't played baseball since junior high school.
Running to first base. I think it's been a while since my feet left the earth.
Chief of Staff Rick Miller was an able third baseman.
Rick's son Chris Miller was one of our more gifted players. Here he scores a run, fleet as the wind. 
Communications Director Neil Mackie hit a solid shot into the infield, but didn't quite have the legs to make it to first before being tagged.
We didn't bring home a victory this time, but I think everyone had fun. And I got a little exercise, with the bumps, bruises and grass stains to show for it.
I honestly think there is a talented athlete in you Earl, who has been waiting patiently for years to show you what you can do. Way to go with that batting average!
ReplyDeleteApparently dad was a gifted ballplayer back in the day, so maybe there's some skill sitting in the genes somewhere.
ReplyDeleteWas "scary end of the bell curve" also meant to signify the arc of a slow pitch, um, pitch? If so, very clever.
ReplyDeletePosts like this make me want to play baseball again.
Who took the pictures?
Cool, Kim Mitchell is on your team. Check out the guy in the red shirt.
ReplyDelete• http://www.sacbee.com/static/weblogs/ticket/FleetwoodMac.JPG
These baseball blog entries are awesome: well written, and great pictures. Most inspirational.
ReplyDeleteEarl mentions keeping stats. Unfortunately, it gets hard to remember what happens from game to game, win or lose. Even the most casual teams discover that printing out a few scoresheets and scoring the games can add to the fun of the game. Either the stats will show a canny manager how to improve the team (not much use for left-handed catchers, ordinarily), or who gets a free beer at the end of the game (left-handed team leader in BABIP for seventh innings on cloudy days).
Plus, it's really a lot of fun to fill in a score sheet! You can find all sorts of good ones plus instructions on the Web.
Good job, Babe!!!! I'm so proud of you. I had no idea you knew so much about baseball. Impressive.
ReplyDeleteYou look good playing sports.
Sylvia
Sean: "Scary end of the bell curve" was not, sadly, meant to have any sort of double meaning. I am not that smart. I shot some of the photos, and Kim and Neil shot others.
ReplyDeleteJeffos: We do have scoresheets, I just didn't think to look at them before writing about the game. Tanara informed me today that the final score was 22-8. Zounds!
Is anyone surprised that the Swanniacs pull the ball left? I'm only more surprised that Mackie didn't call the Premier's office to see if they could steal the pitch signals for him. After all Mackie is in bed with the Tory machine
ReplyDelete