Pre-Game
So we haven’t had a game since May 10, and it’s now May 23rd, meaning it’s been almost two weeks. When we last left you we had notched our first victory of the year in a lightening shortened game. We had a practice on the 16th but we haven’t seen some kids since the 10th, or before, so Steve and I are very nervous about people showing up.
We anticipate no Fuller, due to Hebrew school, but otherwise think we’ll have a full squad. Of course I know there’s the possibility that Fuller will be there because Hebrew School might be over. So what we do is put together a full lineup for 11 players, without Fuller, and do a lineup with just pitchers, catchers, and subs for all 12 players. We also have several blank sheets so we’re ready for any eventuality.
This is a game against the Cardinals, a team considered to be in the bottom three teams in the league with us. Steve and I want to use the rainouts to get a little momentum going and so we decide to throw Trey for the first two, Avi for the third, have Avi and Percy split the fourth, with Percy pitching in the 5th and Everett closing it out. We also decide it’s time to give Brendan some time behind the plate so he will catch Avi, our slowest throwing pitcher, in the third.
We have a harried dinner and get to the field about 55 minutes before the first pitch. And who should be there awaiting us but Trey. Seems his brother had soccer practice at the same park so his mom just dropped them both off at the same time. This ruins our ability to do the “pick who gets there first” contest. Which is a shame because I am TOTALLY kicking Steve’s ass. There’s only one time I’ve had a bad pick and in that case Steve’s was even worse. Steve has only won one time we’ve done this and it’s a shame we didn’t put any kind of wager down on it. Anyhow we throw and talk with Trey for a bit. It’s time well spent.
Jim is one of the first players to show up. Later on I hear him make a disparaging comment about the team. I pull him away from the other player he was near and talk about how if you expect bad things to happen it’s more likely to happen. He tells me about his bad day. So I say, “Let’s put that behind us. What’s something good that’s going to happen on the field today?” I expect him to say something like “We’re going to win” but instead he says “I’m going to leadoff with a bunt and they’re going to make an error so I’m going to be at second base”. This catches me off guard but I say, “OK then I want to see you go up there and do it.”
By the time their coach arrives we have 6 players and we have 9 players before they have 4. He asks if he can use one of our players as an outfielder, and I of course agree. Turns out he also called up the younger sibling of one of his players. And this kid is SHORT. I mean even Jim is taller then this kid.
The complete lack of arrival of his team lets us sneak onto the field so I grab Bobby and we do some pitching from the mound. And he looks just HORRENDOUS. Can’t get ANYTHING over. The umpire is there and we BOTH try giving him some tips. And progress is made. Instead of throwing the ball extremely high or extremely low and off the plate he just throws it extremely high over the plate. Frankly, I’m at my wits end as to what I can do to help him. I’m hoping Steve’s brother, Scott, will be able to make it either tomorrow or Saturday to work with Bobby and perhaps catch something I’m missing.
So as I am working with Bobby I see that the whole team has shown up. It’s amazing. Terrific. And all that. And so I grab the right lineup master and go to work. I am SO glad we had this possibility covered as the lineups pretty much fill themselves in. Also helpful? Having Brendan catching. Hopefully it’ll work out, I think.
The Game
We’re the home team. Trey goes up, strikes out the first player, walks the second player, who gets to third on steals eventually, but then strikes out players 3 and 4 and we’re out of the first inning.
Jim attempts to do the bunt he told me about. He does so and lays down the most perfect bunt. Right down the line. The pitcher is absolutely caught off guard and there isn’t even a play at the base. So far, so good. Trey falls into his typical trap and gets too excited against a bad pitcher and hits ends up hitting a ball back to the pitcher, advancing the runner. Everett then pops up to the shortstop who makes the play look routine. Brendan, not surprisingly, strikes out to retire the side. 0-0
Trey strikes out the first batter. The second batter gets hit by a pitch. Trey walks the next batter. This is followed up by Jesse bare handing a wild pitch and nailing a guy attempting to steal third by about 40 miles, with Fuller once again making the play perfectly. It was a well executed fielding play, especially by Jesse. And it’s a good thing as that batter rips a double scoring a run. Trey then strikes out a player to end the inning. 1-0 Cards.
And in the bottom of the inning, we jump all over the bad pitcher. Percy hits a singe and steals second. Jesse walks. Percy steals third and is driven home by Bobby on a single. Fuller walks. Avi hits a single scoring Jesse. I tell Bobby that he is to try and steal home, if at all possible. He does an excellent job of trying to draw a throw from the catcher, as the third basemen is completely not holding him, but despite a valiant effort, scores only when Kelvin walks, after Ethan strikes out (including having fouled off a ball extremely hard which just barely goes foul). After Kelvin walks they pull the pitcher. I tell Fuller that if he gets a chance to score he should take it. On the second pitch the new pitcher fails to cover home plate for the second time and Fuller takes advantage of it. Unfortunately we can’t get anything else going as this new pitcher is a great pitcher and easily strikes out Jodi and Jim. All together it’s a great 4 run inning. 4-1 Marlins.
Avi starts off promisingly enough by striking out a very good hitter, which I’m not quite sure how he did, as he was not throwing strikes and got the hitter to swing on a strike three that was in the dirt. Avi continues to look poor and after a 6 pitch at bat, gets doubled off of. I don’t quite remember how the inning went down, but Avi just looks horrible. He’s not getting anything across the plate and when he does they’re ripping it. Steve and I debate pulling him but decide it would be more damaging to his psyche to do that then to let him get hammered so we leave him up there. This is the inning where Ethan is playing second base and not doing it the way his father likes. At one point he fails to go out for a relay throw, which would have been terrible had Percy not been aware and gone over from Center to do it. In the end we get lucky as Percy makes a great play in short center and then runs in to step on second for a double play to limit the damage to three runs, when Avi would have had no chance of otherwise escaping the inning without at least 1 or 2 more runs scoring. 4-4
Trey leads off the inning with a single and steals second but a good pitcher strikes out Everett, Brendan and Percy and makes it look easy.
As we enter the top of the 4th it’s clear this will be our last inning. Percy is pitching. First batter hits a hard hit ball to Avi who cleanly fields it to get the out. Next batter hits it right back to Percy who records the out easily. The top of their lineup comes and the guy who hit the double now hits a single. Percy walks the next guy. And the guy after that, to load the bases. The good news is that through all of this terrible pitching Brendan is looking not just OK, but good. It’s clear this kid has been practicing his butt off since the progress he’s made is substantial. Brendan clearly is ready for some more innings, which does the great service of allowing us the opportunity to field Everett, Trey, or Jesse more in the field. The next batter, their callup, hits a ball to Everetty. With the bases loaded, and Everett near second base he can either step on the bag or flip it to Kelvin who comes over. Everett does neither of these and then instead throws it wild to first. Trey makes a great play to keep the ball from being an overthrow but instead of being out of the inning a run scores. Percy refocuses and strikes out the next batter on 4 pitches. 5-4 going into the last inning.
They have the same pitcher as before. I am worried as this guy basically struck out our side and made it look easy. Their coach tells me that he’s never thrown him two innings before. It gives me a little hope, but not much. Jesse starts off with a hit and steals second. Bobby then walks. Fuller hits a play to short that is misfielded putting Jesse at third. Avi strikes out. Ethan, in another solid at bat, walks. This brings Kelvin up. Basically I decide that I trust Bobby to steal home more then I trust KS to get him home, which I realize isn’t what the stats, considering Kelvin’s .533 OBP, would tell me what to do, but there you have it. This looks prescient when Kelvin hits a dribbler to the first basemen. He cleanly picks it up, and despite the loud protestations of his coaches, jogs over to first base for the easy force out allowing BS1 to score on the fielder’s choice. MARLINS WIN!
Post Game and Looking Forward
As we run to lineup to shake their hands, jubilant at our come from behind victory, the other team is absolutely defeated. Just totally down on themselves. Despite the fact that it is 9 o’clock at night Bobby managed to talk to me about going for ice cream if we won. Steve is actually going out with a friend after the game so he can’t make it, and in the end only about half the team shows up, but everyone who does has a good time.
You already know about Wednesday and the Ethan incident. Steve moved into a new apartment over the weekend and tomorrow the cable guy comes so he won’t be in town until shortly before the game starts. We talked a little bit today and following that I sent him the following email:
Ok some straight stats, which change a fair amount each game because we’ve had so few games. So if some guy, for instance Percy, goes 2-2 tomorrow he’ll go from .333 to .400 in BA. Anyway, here it is from top to bottom in BA:
Jesse .500
Kelvin .455
Trey .429
Bobby .412
Fuller .400
Everett .350
Percy .333
Ethan .300
Jim .286
Avi .273
Brendan .154
Jodi .100
And for OBP it is:
Jesse .583
Trey .579
Kelvin .571
Bobby .565
Avi .556
Fuller .550
Jim .524
Ethan .500
Percy .478
Brendan .421
Everett .409
Jodi .182
So using those as a starting point, and putting JM in the #3 spot and building around him, we get the following:
Bobby
Kelvin
Jesse
Trey
Avi
Fuller
Jim
Ethan
Percy
Everett
Brendan
Jodi
Which I think is a very interesting lineup, frankly and would be my recommendation for what we do for tomorrow. As I said stats are likely to change considerably in our last 3 games, but I think that’s an interesting grouping to go off of. Percy and Everett are pretty good hitters, I continue to feel, but their objective numbers have been poor so they don’t merit a high placing, but putting the two of them next to each other could produce good results. If you have a different idea, by all means I would love to hear it.
As for pitchers and catchers I’m thinking along the following:
Percy pitching to Brendan
Percy/Everett pitching to Jesse
Everett pitching to Jesse
Bobby or Jim pitching to Brendan
Trey pitching to Jesse
Trey pitching to Everett
We need two more pitchers for the playoffs besides Everett, Percy, Avi, and Trey. There is simply no getting around that. Do I want to beat the Yankees? Hell yeah but we need another pitcher, with two being ideal. So with that in mind perhaps we take our medicine in the first? I feel like we need to get Everett at least one inning, Percy needs continued chances which doesn’t leave a whole lot for Trey. I mean if you want we could really go broke and pitch Bobby AND Jim, but that almost seems like throwing our hands up in defeat, so I don’t know. Frankly, neither pitcher is “ready” in the sense that neither of them can locate the plate with any consistency. Perhaps have them both warm up and who ever looks better gets the nod? Dunno.
So let me know your thoughts on the batting order and pitchers.
And that’s where we’re at going into tomorrow’s game against the Yankees.
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