Despite missing our fearless leader Larry Rafferty (who was in some Manhattan Speakeasy, I'm sure) and nominally our best player James Del Rio, the rest of us sucked it up and pulled off one of the upsets of the first half over the other Red, er, Scarlet, 21-13.
Now Larry may have trouble taking back the helm when he returns - I heard cries of "Larry Who" after the game. But as much as I would like to take credit for being 1-0 as manager (conveniently omitting the pre-season when Larry also was gone and we were 0-2), it was Al Kidwell who made the managerial call of the game. Al told me after the first couple of innings that he can play infield too and loves playing rover and did I want to switch positions with him? He also very politically said it was because, you know, I am left handed and all and it makes the double play difficult. Ahem. And amen.
Because we then turned four double plays in the next four innings and Al was in the middle of three of them, and that was really the difference in the game. Al was also all over every ball hit up the middle, making numerous outs, one deep from the hole that Lamont Thompson stretched as far as possible while keeping the first base bag. And Al hit our best ball of the day (among a 3-4 day), a two run gapper in left center. Have a day, Al.
And appropriately, with two outs in the ninth, Scarlet's lineup turned over. Bases loaded, one run in. Up came Hank McDermott, who we never get out, no matter how much we squeeze him in right center where he likes to go. Lee Namanny on deck. This game could be 21-18 in just seconds. But Hank hit his liner a little too hard this time, a one hopper to Rich Brown in right center, who fired to Al covering second for the game ending force and all was good in the world. Or rather, Al was good in the world.
We turned five double plays in all and I think they might have been in five straight innings, or close to it. Bill Marthinsen started two, including one on a little blooper he caught at third base and then fired to me covering second. Randy Crase made some great stops all day at SS, and he started two DPs. The other one was on a comebacker to our Mueggster, Bob Muegge that went 1-11-3.
AND - we actually broke 20 runs! Quite a feat for the little Red Engine! Although Scarlet helped us out a few times on defense, several Reds had good days at the plate. Randy was a perfect 5-5 and drove in four, slashing line drives all over the place. Howard Davis joined him with four RBIs on his three hits, and knocked in what proved to be the winning run. Kevin Kane was again a nuisance at the top of the line-up, scoring three times on four hits. Rich Brown also had three hits plus a walk and also scored thrice. LT and Jerry rounded out the list of hitters with three, with LT legging out a couple of booming doubles.
All in all it was a good team game...it started out with the usual set of guffaws at the beginning, surrendering four in the top of the first, but we kept scoring every inning (throughout the whole game, 2-2-2-5-2-1-4-3) and so we were able to not only come back from the 4-0 hole we dug, but take charge of the game once Master Al took over the defense.
Who know - maybe we can compete in this league!
Larry Who?
Now Larry may have trouble taking back the helm when he returns - I heard cries of "Larry Who" after the game. But as much as I would like to take credit for being 1-0 as manager (conveniently omitting the pre-season when Larry also was gone and we were 0-2), it was Al Kidwell who made the managerial call of the game. Al told me after the first couple of innings that he can play infield too and loves playing rover and did I want to switch positions with him? He also very politically said it was because, you know, I am left handed and all and it makes the double play difficult. Ahem. And amen.
Because we then turned four double plays in the next four innings and Al was in the middle of three of them, and that was really the difference in the game. Al was also all over every ball hit up the middle, making numerous outs, one deep from the hole that Lamont Thompson stretched as far as possible while keeping the first base bag. And Al hit our best ball of the day (among a 3-4 day), a two run gapper in left center. Have a day, Al.
And appropriately, with two outs in the ninth, Scarlet's lineup turned over. Bases loaded, one run in. Up came Hank McDermott, who we never get out, no matter how much we squeeze him in right center where he likes to go. Lee Namanny on deck. This game could be 21-18 in just seconds. But Hank hit his liner a little too hard this time, a one hopper to Rich Brown in right center, who fired to Al covering second for the game ending force and all was good in the world. Or rather, Al was good in the world.
We turned five double plays in all and I think they might have been in five straight innings, or close to it. Bill Marthinsen started two, including one on a little blooper he caught at third base and then fired to me covering second. Randy Crase made some great stops all day at SS, and he started two DPs. The other one was on a comebacker to our Mueggster, Bob Muegge that went 1-11-3.
AND - we actually broke 20 runs! Quite a feat for the little Red Engine! Although Scarlet helped us out a few times on defense, several Reds had good days at the plate. Randy was a perfect 5-5 and drove in four, slashing line drives all over the place. Howard Davis joined him with four RBIs on his three hits, and knocked in what proved to be the winning run. Kevin Kane was again a nuisance at the top of the line-up, scoring three times on four hits. Rich Brown also had three hits plus a walk and also scored thrice. LT and Jerry rounded out the list of hitters with three, with LT legging out a couple of booming doubles.
All in all it was a good team game...it started out with the usual set of guffaws at the beginning, surrendering four in the top of the first, but we kept scoring every inning (throughout the whole game, 2-2-2-5-2-1-4-3) and so we were able to not only come back from the 4-0 hole we dug, but take charge of the game once Master Al took over the defense.
Who know - maybe we can compete in this league!
Larry Who?
No comments:
Post a Comment