Red Sox vs. Marlins

Pre-Game
Steve and I had done the lineups for the game the night before. We went with, again, six pitchers. I made a crucial mistake. The twins told me that they would be at the game right on time or a little late. And we still scheduled them to pitch in the first inning. This would prove to be a mistake. We also scheduled Matt S to pitch in the 3rd, rather than 1st or 2nd, since his dad had asked for that inning to give his wife a chance to get to the game to see him pitch.

As I’m leaving the house I feel how cold it is, and think perhaps I should get my jacket, since it’s a little chilly even with my having on a long-sleeved shirt. I then decide I’ll just tough it out. Ohh that was a big mistake.

Anyhow when we get to the field, we do a little warm-ups and then since the Marlins aren’t there we take the field and so some infield practice while Steve works with Matt S on his catching.

The Game

We are the home team. Since the twins are late, I come up with the idea of doing a slightly modified version of the fifth inning. This means Cameron is our starting pitcher and instead of his throwing to Alec, he’ll be throwing to Jared. Cameron, as his is his norm, starts off with a walk. After that, however, he does a better job of getting the ball over the plate. He does allow two runs, but really, in most ways, had the best control we’ve seen from him yet. It was nice to see.

Jeremy Me starts things off with a well hit ball to the outfield, unfortunately it’s right at a travel player who catches it. Jeremy Ma gets things started in earnest for us with a double. I really thought it was going to be a triple, but that same travel player made a great throw to hold him at second. He advances to third when Cameron grounds out to the pitcher. Nick drives him in with a single. After Jared walks, Matt S strikes out to end the inning. 2-1 Marlins

Nick is now up on the mound. I’m hopeful as he’s been our best pitcher. So of course their first batter doubles. He then steals third. After a strike out and a grounder to short, which scores the run, Nick just gets hit upon. In the end he lets up four. He wasn’t throwing poorly, but the ump, who is a guy Steve and I know well, is very inconsistent in his calls so that combined with some good hitting lets up the runs.

Austin and Alec both single, though Austin gets out at third on a fielders choice with Nof getting to first. After Sean hits it to the first basemen for the second out we’ve got runners at second and third. Preaching our aggressive style I send Alec on a passed ball. They can’t quite make the tag, as he does a nice job of sliding and so we score a run. As I thought it might this rattles the pitcher, who’d bene looking good up until that point. Jeremy F then singles home Nof, Jeremey Me doubles and scores after Jeremy Ma singles. Cameron, rockets a ball to the first basemen to end the inning. Still we get the four runs back to make it a 6-5 game.

Matt S is on the mound for us. He looks real good in his warm-ups. After a few rough pitches he settles down. While he does let up two runs he located most of the balls over the plate and even better showed some velocity. He definitely earned some more innings.

And in the third we go wild. Nick walks and ends up stealing home after a single by Jared, who ends up at third. Steve makes a questionable call to send Jared, who gets called out at home. Matt S then grounds it to the first basemen (which would have scored Jared). But we start a two out rally after Austin singles and Alec and Nof walk to load the bases. Sean then hits home two of them with a double while Jeremy F hits a base clearing triple. Jeremy Me singles Jeremy F home, but unfortunately Jeremy Ma ends the inning with a dribbler to short. However, we get six big runs to put us up 11-8

Jeremy Ma comes in and after walking the first batter settles down and takes care of business. By this point it’s bitterly cold. The sun has gone down. A fog has rolled in. There is a lake breeze which rattles through you. It’s miserable. We are also, 12 minutes away from the time limit. I tell the team our goal is simple “12 minutes of hits”. Cameron starts us off well with a double. In an on going theme with Cameron he forgets to slide at second. Nick rockets a ball to the short stop who bobbles it and comes up with the bare handed catch. When Cameron steals third with Jared at the plate he once again fails to slide. I tell him at this point he needs to slide. I also let him know if we play another half inning that he’ll be sitting out (he was originally scheduled to sit the sixth). He’s disappointed at first until I explain that this is so we can Jeremy Me available for relief. He’s happy about that. Anyhow, with Matt S at bat, Cameron takes advantage of a passed ball and, for once slides, causing him to be safe. While that was going on Jared had stolen second and never stops running, coming safely into third on a close play. He scores when Matt S gets an error assisted single. Unfortunately we can’t really get anything else going. We do get a couple of insurance runs to put us up 13-8 and don’t hit the time limit so we’re playing one more.

Austin is up on the mound. He looks like he’s going to be ok as after a couple of bad pitches he gets the batter to popup to him. Unfortunately he then can’t get the ball over the plate and proceeds to walk the bases. I decide to pull him. In comes Jeremy Me to save the game once again. I tell him that I don’t care how many runs he lets up. He asks what the socre is and I tell him again it doesn’t matter, just to pitch. And it’s true. I have no doubt that even if they score 7 (the most allowed) that we can come back and get 3 to win in the bottom part of the inning. First batter hits one right back to the mound and Jeremy Me gets the runner out at home. The bases are still loaded and he does let up a single, but the next guy grounds out to Nick at first and the game is over. 13-9 good guys.

Post Game
Overall despite the bitter cold it was a great game. It was the comfortable victory that Steve and I had talked about the last couple of games. Couple of notes I didn’t work in there. Jared once again displayed bad sportsmanship by rooting for one of their players to drop the ball on a play. I’ve told him before that we root for our team not against the other team and so I, even as the play was going on, let him have it again. Kevin also complemented Steve and I, for what was the millionth time, about how awesome we are. It never hurts to hear nice things. Sean is also agitating to catch two innings, so perhaps we’ll accommodate this request at the next game.

We don’t have a game on Saturday (it’s our bye) so we have six days off before our next practice on Tuesday. I think we’re going to work on sliding and throwing as our primary skills. Rumor has it we’re the only undefeated team, which is nice, though we’re not THAT much better than the rest of the league. So far it’s been a pretty successful season I’d say considering that we’ve used many different players at many different positions. So far things are pretty good in Red Sox land.