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Today's game was against MEPCOM (I don't know if I have that right). Their pitcher had a herky jerky windup. I've seen him pitch before, but it was incredibly hard to follow him. Looked like a cross between Kent Tekulve and Hideo Nomo.
I played short and batted leadoff. I did nothing spectacular in this game, except finally start taking pitches again. I went 0-3 at the plate, nearly hitting a homerun to right center. The guy caught that one with his hand on the fence. I have warning track power, what can I say. I did, however, walk in the last inning, when we were down by a run.
Actually, we were down by 3 to start. Some California rule I'm not familiar with put a runner at 2nd to start the inning. The next batter was Jerry and he cleared the right field fence. I walked despite taking a strike, which is a minor miracle in itself.
The next batter, Eddie, is a left handed hitter. He popped out to 3rd. Very odd, and our first out. The next batter, Philips, hits a grounder to short, which very well should have been a double play. In fact, as I was running to to the second base bag, I was contemplating how I would distract the 2nd baseman from throwing. Instead, the shortstop threw to first for the 2nd out.
Will was up next, and he very nearly knocked one out his last at bat. They intentionally walked him. I'm running on contact when Senior comes up. He hits a flyball to left, which I'm told was dropped. I was running full speed on the play and scored when he dropped the ball. Tie game.
The next batter hit the ball to left center and it fell for a basehit. The throw to second base was bobbled, and Will came home with a nice slide to win the game.
In the field, I made 4 assists and 5 putouts, 4 on pop flys. Smitty, playing 2nd base, actually stepped in front of me on a pop up that I called, which was of a little concern but not much. I made no errors.
I was honestly quite surprised I played short today. My shoulder has been bothering me since those diving episodes in the outfield against the Red Ropers. When I practiced with the other team, my arm felt good, but I stopped when it started getting sore. Today, I wasn't sure of my arm, but Will showed the confidence in me to play me there.
Will played left field, and between the two of us, I believe we were involved in more than 50% of the outs for our defense.
We play Wednesday and Friday this week, due to rainouts. I'll be here for both games. Will, on the other hand, will be playing in the Military World Series with the Red Ropers. Lucky Dog.
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