There's a cliche in baseball - you have to be strong up the middle to field a championship team: Pitcher, catcher, shortstop, second base, and the middle outfield.
Monday we had the old school middle infield, Chuck and Ol' G manning their positions, SS and 2B, and they have both had their injury problems of late. I had to ask the opponent, the Ballbarians, who suspiciously field a team that certainly looks like they are mostly under 40, whether we could send out our middle infielders with some 'helpers'. Chuck had a cane and G had his arm in a sling, and a walker. The Ballbarians looked on quizzically.
Then something happened in the middle of the game: A couple of bad calls by the home team umpires, and Chuck and G got a little hot under the collar. The calls stood - we may be just as competitive but we are old enough to let them go, knowing it will all even out in the end. And then, Chuck lifted his cane, and yelled out "take this, you young whippersnappers," and cast it aside derisively. We all started playing like 39 year olds! He made a leaping catch in the third inning, just like the Chuck of old. G threw off his walker and his sling, and went on to hit a two run double in the gap in the sixth that increased our lead from 13-10 to 15-10, and it was all downhill after that, and we finished 17-11 victors.
Pope led the way as usual with four RBIs on two hits and a sac fly. Larry was 3-3 plus a walk and led with three runs scored. He made the play of the game snagging a foul tip over his shoulder behind the plate. Lefty and G joined him with three hits. Joe got a swinging K, although the fans thought there may have been a foul tip there.
Two more to go, and we are in position to finish with the best seeding possible for the playoffs; we are a half game up on the Old Scouts, just win out and first place is ours.
Milestones:
Pope 50 gw (#1)
Gene 500 rbi (#5)
Gene 1100 ab (#7)
Gene 650 h (#7)
Monday we had the old school middle infield, Chuck and Ol' G manning their positions, SS and 2B, and they have both had their injury problems of late. I had to ask the opponent, the Ballbarians, who suspiciously field a team that certainly looks like they are mostly under 40, whether we could send out our middle infielders with some 'helpers'. Chuck had a cane and G had his arm in a sling, and a walker. The Ballbarians looked on quizzically.
Then something happened in the middle of the game: A couple of bad calls by the home team umpires, and Chuck and G got a little hot under the collar. The calls stood - we may be just as competitive but we are old enough to let them go, knowing it will all even out in the end. And then, Chuck lifted his cane, and yelled out "take this, you young whippersnappers," and cast it aside derisively. We all started playing like 39 year olds! He made a leaping catch in the third inning, just like the Chuck of old. G threw off his walker and his sling, and went on to hit a two run double in the gap in the sixth that increased our lead from 13-10 to 15-10, and it was all downhill after that, and we finished 17-11 victors.
Pope led the way as usual with four RBIs on two hits and a sac fly. Larry was 3-3 plus a walk and led with three runs scored. He made the play of the game snagging a foul tip over his shoulder behind the plate. Lefty and G joined him with three hits. Joe got a swinging K, although the fans thought there may have been a foul tip there.
Two more to go, and we are in position to finish with the best seeding possible for the playoffs; we are a half game up on the Old Scouts, just win out and first place is ours.
Milestones:
Pope 50 gw (#1)
Gene 500 rbi (#5)
Gene 1100 ab (#7)
Gene 650 h (#7)
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