Bottoms Up!

If you look at the stats, you may notice that at the top are Marty and myself, the two August 2nd birthday boys. Now in my case it may be a fluke; Marty is a legit power and average hitter. But the point is that today we sat out with various ailments, threw down the gauntlet and challenged the team to win one for the Leos!

And the Black Shirts responded with a game that was not completely perfect, but was nonetheless a complete game - clutch hitting, clutch pitching, and some very good defense.

Have a game David in the three hole! Five for five, two doubles, a triple, and SEVEN RBIs. And behind him Mike with four for five, two doubles and six RBIs.

But look closer - there were base runners all over the place for those guys. And look at who they were: Brian (2-4, BB) and Dan (4-5), of course, batting one and two, but beyond that Sandy and Chuck were 8-8 between them in the last two spots in the order. Bottoms up! Bottoms on! Bottoms score! And when Steve S wasn't battering himself in the base path to first he was right there in front of them: Three of our four five run innings were started by Steve or Sandy and Brian came up with two or three runners on and no outs.

Now that's a formula for success.

In the mean time there were some very, uh, entertaining plays. Steve S getting out of the box and running into the ball took some real talent. Steve is always entertaining. And on the other end, in the fourth, Johnny G, blinded by the bright sun in left, stuck his glove hand out to where he thought the ball was, turned his head away, and plunk! right there in the pocket. Just like his coaches taught him!

And finally the old 10 (Dave R in right) to 11 (Helen at rover) to 2 (Sandy catching) to 5 (Mike at 3B) putout to get the last out in the second inning. It was almost an afterthought that Team Four scored two on the hit.

David also caught a blast to left center in the sun, also in the second. Steve R made a sliding catch in the same position in the third. Jerry stood tall to snare a line drive to first that no one else in the team could possibly reach to end that inning. On a grounder in the fifth, the throw to get a force at second was off line and Helen alertly came off the bag and managed to tag the runner. In the sixth, David (SS) and Sandy at first made back to back plays with Sandy stretched out to get the close throw. And finally, Helen made a fine play to nail the speedy Doug Hearth in the eighth to keep Team Four from a big comeback inning with the Heart(h) of their lineup up.

We jumped out to a lead, (10-5 after two), withstood their comeback (12-12 after five), and then shut them down (one run in the 6th, 7th, and 8th) while pouring it on with five run innings in the sixth and eighth. Now that's the formula of victory, 22-16!

Bottoms up!