A Butt Kicking

I don’t normally mind losing at baseball. I’m actually used to it, not really remembering the last time I won, which was sometime in May or June last year. However today was a mess, my ankle was still sore, and things went south at the beginning.

I was looking forward to this game, this being the team I’d hit 3 home runs off. It was a hot afternoon, and I’d requested 1st, 3rd, or RF so I didn’t have to move much. I ended up at first, and for some reason struggled to catch the ball cleanly. I caught them, but a bunch hit right on the pad of my index finger, so typing this is a little hard.

In the first inning, top of the first, the pitcher faced 5 or 6 batters. Four walks to start and then a double that cleared the bases. We were down 7-0 before we batted. We managed to bring one across in the first, but after that I was struggling. We had a new pitcher, and he was OK, with us getting a couple 1-2-3 innings, but also a bunch where there were bloopers or gap hits that pushed across a bunch of runs. I came up in the 3rd (walk), the 5th (double), and the 7th (K). The rest of the team didn’t do much, and we wound up in the bottom of the 7th down 18-1. Seven runs needed, I was annoyed, especially with some slack plays by a few people, and I fouled one, missed, and then gripped on a curve coming high and outside-in. It might have been a ball, but I was worried, swung, and missed. That’s a huge hole in my swing anyway, so the pitcher did a good job.

It’s a good opponent and I had fun joking with people. Picked a couple out of the dirt at first, and had an OK game. 1-2, BB isn’t bad, but this was a long, hot game and we sucked from inning one. We were down 5 runs before we got an out.

I have the feeling that there are a few people that won’t be playing with this team next year, maybe a bunch of people. We’re 1-10 now, with a couple to make up and 5 more scheduled. I’ll make 3 or 4 of those, and I am wondering how many others will come. I know 2 guys aren’t very happy with our play, and likely won’t play next year.

A tough day for the baseball team.