There were calls of "Jim (Krochka) who", especially when Tom Caldwell, batting in Jim's third spot, did his best imitation and blasted a shot between the left fielders to make it 3-0 in the first.
And as you will see, we blasted the curse of the first out of the water, and poured it on late, but I am going to start with our defense. Because, after all - a wise man said defense wins championships, and who am I to argue with that?
In the first with the wind blasting out to left, Clay Leche tentatively came in on a hard liner, and it kept rising and rising until he had to leap to corral the ball. Dan Roach (who started the game with a triple), made an even better catch in right center for the third out to keep PH Blue off the board.
In the second, Mark Childress, filling in at SS, went back on a ball like he was patrolling his usual LC position and made an over the shoulder grab for out number two. Pitcher Ed Hendrickson followed that with a swinging strike out to end the inning, and just for good measure got another one to open the third. And Mike Daley closed the inning by grabbing an errant throw in the dirt at first, and deftly tagged out the batter-runner, who had fallen down but was getting back up, before he could reach the bag.
Of course, in that frame we gave up eight runs and our 13-0 lead was cut to 13-8. In the fourth, Brian Goldufsky made a great backhanded grab in the rover-shortstop hole and wheeled to fire to Bobby Vitro who just managed to get to the second base bag on time, and had to reach high in the air to hang on to the throw. Ok, maybe not that high, because like a few of us, Bobby is a little height challenged. Great grab though! He topped that the next inning by snagging a one hop smash like it was routine and got the easy out at first. Roach followed that up with an even better running catch than he had in the first for the third out.
I don't have any written highlights in the sixth and seventh, but I do remember in one of those innings we took the wind out of their sails by turning a Goldufsky to Vitro to Kravin double play.
The offensive explosion begins with our leadoff hitter Roach. He set the tone for the game with a gapper that he turned into a triple when the outfielders were a little slow getting the ball into the infield. He hit a three run bomb in the fourth, and in between and beyond he added a single and double for the cycle. Dan the man!
And it ends with our dead pull hitter Bill Hoffman, known for lacing line drives to left. When he came up in the ninth, when we already had plated six runs, he saw the middle wide open, and drove a line drive between the fielders like the ball was in a fast corvette, and courtesy runner Childress scampered around the bases like he was on fire, and Hoffman had another three run homer.
We had jumped out to that 13-0 lead, but PHB kept coming back at us, and by the sixth (we were only playing seven) the lead was down to only 18-16. Thoughts of our last game walkoff loss were creeping into our heads. We needed to make a statement in the open inning. And we did. Hits by Roach, Hendrickson, Caldwell, a walk to Childress, a run scoring forceout by Clay LeChe, and another hit from Goldufsky started to push us further ahead. But it was Jimbo Wilcox' three run blast, fresh off the disabled list that took away PHB's hope, and when Hoffman followed up with his, it was really over. PHB managed to score one in the last frame, but once again they were left with the feeling, "Who are these guys?" as they walked to the handshake line.
The top of the order - Roach, Hendrickson, and Caldwell (5 RBIs): 12-12, two doubles, two homers, and a triple. Behind them: Childress, 3-3 plus a walk (three doubles (!), LeChe in his Diablo debut, 3-4 with an RBI in each at bat. Behind them, Goldufsky, Wilcox and Hoffman 3-4 each with a home run. After that, everyone had one or two hits, all but two players in the lineup scored a run, and all but three drove in a run.
Not a bad day at the office. Final score 27-17.
And Jim, your spot is still safe. Thank you for giving us multiple performances to try to match.
