Gold Backs in to First Place, Tying Light Blue 25 Apiece

I won't kiss Gerry Dasey. I won't, I won't, I won't.

Maybe if my sister were in town, I would kiss her, because that is what you do when you tie a game.

But I won't kiss Gerry, the Light Blue manager, no matter how long I have known him. I won't, I won't...I won't.

We've all heard of snatching defeat from the jaws of victory. Well, today Gold gave it up to Light Blue, but they were polite enough to stop tied up in the open ninth inning, and when we didn't respond, it ended in a 25-25 tie. So we snatched a tie from the jaws of victory.

We had leads of 12-2 after three, and after giving up an eight run fourth, we built a 25-18 lead into the ninth. And then blew that. Everything Lt. B hit found a hole and every time we touched the ball we bobbled it.

There are two ways to look at the game. If you are Lt. Blue, down so much of the game, a tie is a win. If you are Gold, not so much. Maybe there is a third - if you play as badly as we did, we are lucky to have gotten away with a tie.

There weren't many defensive plays of note. Tom Gonzales got a strikeout looking in the second. The outfielders made some good running catches, especially Steve Mastronarde and Gary Namanny. That's about it.

The Maestro (Mastronarde - we have too many Steves) had a mini-cycle, going 5-5. That's a single, double, and a triple. Gonzales duplicated the feat.

Namanny hit a three run bomb in the second, but that was it for the power hitters. The Batman (Steve #2, Alvarez) had a double, and Jeff Mertens had two. His last was a bases loaded, bases clearer to give us a five run seventh.

Doug Carlson went 4-5. Bedrock (Steve #3, Bedrick) and Pooch Puccio stayed hot and were a combined 7-8 at the bottom of the order, which usually is a sign of a win. Not today.

We played sloppy enough to lose but by tying, we backed right into first place alone, as Navy was upset by Gray up the road. I've never been as disappointed going into first place before.