I think everyone on Transdyn either has kids that watched or for our youngsters, watched hours and hours themselves the fabulous Sesame Street show. On PBS.
It was the PC way to plop your kids in front of the TV when all you really wanted to do was sleep in on the weekend, or do some other nefarious activity. Or maybe you bonded with your kids and watched it yourselves. After all, it was educational. But really it was just a program with puppets, and the kids loved it.
But after hours and hours and hours (in between watching the Lion King for the 300th time), you were so sick of Bert and Ernie that you turned into Oscar the Grouch, who lived in a trash can. You'd be grouchy too if you lived in a trash can. I just learned that he has been since upgraded to a dumpster. Well bully for him.
Not us though. After last Tuesday's game we love our Bert and Ernie (I believe that Ernie is the English form of Rene, as in Rene Banks, Hall of Fame SS for the Cubs).
We were having our problems hitting, and had only five runs after five innings. Our one big inning featured a great hit from Hama - the right fielder was way off the line and he placed it perfectly near the line for a double, scoring Rusty from first. Then Rene powered one to the fence for another double, and with a couple clutch two out hits from Tom and Mario, we were up 5-1.
With our usual great defense, despite the fact that the Brews Bros were smashing the ball, we had them held at one run. Then Mario went out with a bad back and someone else moved behind the plate. Now I won't say that it's his fault because after all it is slow pitch softball, and they were hitting some loud outs before that. But he called some pitch placements from Tom, who actually paid attention and before you knew it three runs came across in the sixth and then four more in the seventh. I'm thinking that you have guessed who the backup catch was.
All we had was another to counter was a two out clutch hit by Coop to plate one more, and we trailed 8-6 going into the bottom of the seventh.
The first two batter made outs and things looked bleak. But Rusty singled, and up strode our own Bert. Bert had gotten under a couple of blasts and hit into a line drive out - very out of character for him, even though every high deep ball hit by anyone was being knocked down by the stiff winds.
And then - the wind suddenly died. Still - who can just dial up a long ball on demand, because that was what was called for. Bert can, that's who.
So he knotted it up at 8-8 and then Hama once again did just what the situation called for- he got a little base hit and then Ernie, er, Rene came up. Right man right time - he has been on fire lately. He then got his third hit of the night, it was a scorcher to the right center fence.
The Bros hustled after it, and Hama was off and running hard. They made a really good relay but our third base coach was sending Hama all the way. In the end, despite the hustle, the throw would have beaten Hama by ten feet. But it was just far enough off the place, and despite the catcher's best effort, he couldn't keep it in his glove, and the run scored and game over!
It seemed like it's been years since we had a walkoff win, so I looked it up in the archives. Turns out it's only been since May 20th, 2014. Mario hit a walk-off double to beat our recent rival the Ringers. That's the beauty of getting older - you forget everything so quickly, every thing seems new!
Still it is the best way to win a game, and makes for a very exciting time even for the losers.
And I think I even saw Oscar the Grouch poking his head out of the dumpster to watch.
Milestones:
5/31:
Mario 200 r (#11)
Brian 10 2b (#29)
Brian 50 h (#36)
Brian 100 ab (#37)
6/14
Coop 300 rbi (#4)
Jas 150 g (#11)
Jas 550 ab (#11)
Rene 50 g (#27)
It was the PC way to plop your kids in front of the TV when all you really wanted to do was sleep in on the weekend, or do some other nefarious activity. Or maybe you bonded with your kids and watched it yourselves. After all, it was educational. But really it was just a program with puppets, and the kids loved it.
But after hours and hours and hours (in between watching the Lion King for the 300th time), you were so sick of Bert and Ernie that you turned into Oscar the Grouch, who lived in a trash can. You'd be grouchy too if you lived in a trash can. I just learned that he has been since upgraded to a dumpster. Well bully for him.
Not us though. After last Tuesday's game we love our Bert and Ernie (I believe that Ernie is the English form of Rene, as in Rene Banks, Hall of Fame SS for the Cubs).
We were having our problems hitting, and had only five runs after five innings. Our one big inning featured a great hit from Hama - the right fielder was way off the line and he placed it perfectly near the line for a double, scoring Rusty from first. Then Rene powered one to the fence for another double, and with a couple clutch two out hits from Tom and Mario, we were up 5-1.
With our usual great defense, despite the fact that the Brews Bros were smashing the ball, we had them held at one run. Then Mario went out with a bad back and someone else moved behind the plate. Now I won't say that it's his fault because after all it is slow pitch softball, and they were hitting some loud outs before that. But he called some pitch placements from Tom, who actually paid attention and before you knew it three runs came across in the sixth and then four more in the seventh. I'm thinking that you have guessed who the backup catch was.
All we had was another to counter was a two out clutch hit by Coop to plate one more, and we trailed 8-6 going into the bottom of the seventh.
The first two batter made outs and things looked bleak. But Rusty singled, and up strode our own Bert. Bert had gotten under a couple of blasts and hit into a line drive out - very out of character for him, even though every high deep ball hit by anyone was being knocked down by the stiff winds.
And then - the wind suddenly died. Still - who can just dial up a long ball on demand, because that was what was called for. Bert can, that's who.
So he knotted it up at 8-8 and then Hama once again did just what the situation called for- he got a little base hit and then Ernie, er, Rene came up. Right man right time - he has been on fire lately. He then got his third hit of the night, it was a scorcher to the right center fence.
The Bros hustled after it, and Hama was off and running hard. They made a really good relay but our third base coach was sending Hama all the way. In the end, despite the hustle, the throw would have beaten Hama by ten feet. But it was just far enough off the place, and despite the catcher's best effort, he couldn't keep it in his glove, and the run scored and game over!
It seemed like it's been years since we had a walkoff win, so I looked it up in the archives. Turns out it's only been since May 20th, 2014. Mario hit a walk-off double to beat our recent rival the Ringers. That's the beauty of getting older - you forget everything so quickly, every thing seems new!
Still it is the best way to win a game, and makes for a very exciting time even for the losers.
And I think I even saw Oscar the Grouch poking his head out of the dumpster to watch.
Milestones:
5/31:
Mario 200 r (#11)
Brian 10 2b (#29)
Brian 50 h (#36)
Brian 100 ab (#37)
6/14
Coop 300 rbi (#4)
Jas 150 g (#11)
Jas 550 ab (#11)
Rene 50 g (#27)
Rene 50 rbi (#32)
