Speaking of back, the long off-season is finally over for the Orinda Coneheads. Except of course that, outside of Ol' G and Larry and Mark and Bruce and now David (ok maybe not the exact same team), we have all been playing in Walnut Creek for two months.
Still, there's nothing like opening night in Orinda, it's where this team started, and has arguably had the most success. Maybe one evening it will even be warm, and we will be reminded of the days of sitting around on the middle school field in Moraga after the game listening to Chuck's Louie CDs and Mugsy's ("all right!") musings.
As it is, it is usually cold at the still new fields at Wilder, but they are such a joy to play on, we don't care. And Monday night we were not cold, St. Mo's was.
I will have to look it up - I think most of our 'they have our number' losses to St. Mo's have been on the Sports Field, particularly field two over there. I just remember them hitting bad hop gappers over and over in that outfield.
But we play better defense on turf than they do. And it made a difference Monday night as we won big 18-7.
St. Mo's was missing some of their big hitters, but that excuse doesn't fly. We were missing D and Lefty, two of our best.
This was a story of about four moments, if you grant me a little poetic license since one was a team rally.
The first was newcomer Chris stepping up after leadoff man Bruce drew a walk to start the bottom of the first. He promptly deposited the ball between the outfielders and it was off to the races. He rounded third about when they retrieved the ball. He thus got the game winning RBI in back to back nights since we never trailed. He also ignited us and we followed up with six hits and a sac fly to score five more, and it put St. Mo's in catch up mode.
However, they did rally for four in the top of the fourth, and suddenly 8-4 did not seem like a safe lead. Then the second moment - they were threatening more, and their best hitter hit a smash into the left center gap. However, Willie Mays Bruce Reed tracked it down and made the over the shoulder catch.
The third moment was a second mini-Conehead inning as we plated seven again in the bottom of the fifth. It put St. Mo's away. Chris and Chuck had doubles in that rally. The two of them led the team with four RBIs apiece.
And the final moment was, appropriately enough, the last play of the game. Chuck, on the mound for his second save in two nights (might be a stretch with leads of 13-2 and 18-5 when he came in), stretched high for a smashed line drive. And just like that, it was over.
Three hits from Pope, Ol' G, Chuck, and Chopper should have, but there was a slow runner that got forced at second on his hard line drive 'base hit' to center. Payback's a bitch, I have it on good authority that the same thing happened to that guy in his Creaker game Tuesday morning.
Milestone:
Haze 200 h (#22)
Oh, and Gene tied a major league record, getting all three putouts in right center in the second inning.
Still, there's nothing like opening night in Orinda, it's where this team started, and has arguably had the most success. Maybe one evening it will even be warm, and we will be reminded of the days of sitting around on the middle school field in Moraga after the game listening to Chuck's Louie CDs and Mugsy's ("all right!") musings.
As it is, it is usually cold at the still new fields at Wilder, but they are such a joy to play on, we don't care. And Monday night we were not cold, St. Mo's was.
I will have to look it up - I think most of our 'they have our number' losses to St. Mo's have been on the Sports Field, particularly field two over there. I just remember them hitting bad hop gappers over and over in that outfield.
But we play better defense on turf than they do. And it made a difference Monday night as we won big 18-7.
St. Mo's was missing some of their big hitters, but that excuse doesn't fly. We were missing D and Lefty, two of our best.
This was a story of about four moments, if you grant me a little poetic license since one was a team rally.
The first was newcomer Chris stepping up after leadoff man Bruce drew a walk to start the bottom of the first. He promptly deposited the ball between the outfielders and it was off to the races. He rounded third about when they retrieved the ball. He thus got the game winning RBI in back to back nights since we never trailed. He also ignited us and we followed up with six hits and a sac fly to score five more, and it put St. Mo's in catch up mode.
However, they did rally for four in the top of the fourth, and suddenly 8-4 did not seem like a safe lead. Then the second moment - they were threatening more, and their best hitter hit a smash into the left center gap. However, Willie Mays Bruce Reed tracked it down and made the over the shoulder catch.
The third moment was a second mini-Conehead inning as we plated seven again in the bottom of the fifth. It put St. Mo's away. Chris and Chuck had doubles in that rally. The two of them led the team with four RBIs apiece.
And the final moment was, appropriately enough, the last play of the game. Chuck, on the mound for his second save in two nights (might be a stretch with leads of 13-2 and 18-5 when he came in), stretched high for a smashed line drive. And just like that, it was over.
Three hits from Pope, Ol' G, Chuck, and Chopper should have, but there was a slow runner that got forced at second on his hard line drive 'base hit' to center. Payback's a bitch, I have it on good authority that the same thing happened to that guy in his Creaker game Tuesday morning.
Milestone:
Haze 200 h (#22)
Oh, and Gene tied a major league record, getting all three putouts in right center in the second inning.
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