Eight Men Out

I found myself actually starting to ask other teams if they had enough players. I arrived today to play against a team I’ve known for years, went to the Phoenix World Championship with 3 of them, and asking how they were doing. They might be a team that I  move over to if mine dies this offseason.

We’ve had 9, mostly 10, and 11 or 12 a few times, but today we had two new guys I’ve never seen and 4 others that I normally play with. With me that was 7, and we got a player from the other team, who had 9. Someone’s son played right field, so we were 8 on 8, with a forfeit from us. That made me a little down from the go, since I thought we might not play.

We started out OK, holding them in the top of the first, and played OK after that. I was on third again, with the shortage, and didn’t do myself any good. I caught a throw to third for a guy going 1st to third on a hit, but that was it. I had a line drive to me, a little tall that I jumped for, and it hit my glove and popped over the top. I also fielded a grounder cleanly, and then threw it to the second baseman. Unfortunately he was 5 ft off the bag and the shortstop was looking for my throw. Bad throw, and I looked at the wrong guy.

At the plate I wasn’t much better. A weak popup to second, a smash to deep right center that was high, hung up, and was caught on the warning track. Another smash that hit the fence, but was foul, and a walk. So 0-2, BB. I was once again up to end the game, with 2 outs 2 on, bottom of the seventh. A foul, 3 balls, and a miss, and with the full count, the runner got picked off second to end the game. So in three weeks, I’ve been on deck watching the game end, strike out to end the game, and now standing there with a pickoff. Bad 7th inning karma for me.

Not a great game, but good to chat with friends and get out there.