Old Baseball

One of the guys on our team has been fighting a groin pull for a month. He's been out of the lineup, and was supposed to start back playing first last week. He didn't, but he was ready to hit and take a couple innings yesterday. He managed to hit 4 or 5 times and jog down to first a bit, but a drive to right field in the 7th or 8th was an out at first because he didn't get there quick enough. I thought he was safe, but there was only one ump that called him out. However he was sore after, and may be out next week.

1 down.

Another guy was on crutches when I arrived. Apparently he's fractured his hip, the upper femur, from years of work and baseball. He's likely done playing.

2 down.

One of our pitchers has been fighting knee and ankle issues for a few years, but he's limping more and more as he tries to do anything above a walk. He looked rough hobbling quickly down to first in the last inning. I suspect he'll still be playing, but he's not a runner, and he struggled at first yesterday.

Not down, but not great.

Then there's me. I was feeling good. I'd run in Sioux Falls on Friday, did the elliptical Saturday and some jogging felt good. The left knee was better, and I wrapped it to be safe. Braces on both knees yesterday to start.

I sat the first inning and then played first for a few. The other guy had a rough first, struggling to bend over for a bad throw and just tired, so I did 4 or 5 innings in the field. Made a few good catches, but got a guy on a quick pickoff tag and also caught a popup in the sun. Felt good about that.

At the plate, I popped up in the second. I was sure the throw was going to come in, a curve outside and as it dropped, I swung, not too hard, thinking I'd try to push it to left. It was deceiving and dropped more than expected, which had me dropping the bat and popping it up.

The second time I was ready, moving up in the box and read to wait. A high ball and then a hard swing through a pitch, grounding it hard past the second baseman. Two steps and I pulled something in the left calf. I hobbled down, but fortunately there was someone going second to home, so the throw in was to catch him, giving me time to get down to first base.

That was it. I walked around, stretched, IcyHot, but it was tight. Even as it loosened up, I couldn't really tighten and press off that leg. Fortunately we had 12 there, so I didn't have to try and stand at first for throws. I could have stretched and landed on the left leg, but not pushed off.

I'm glad I walked around a bit. I was at 5500 or so steps when it happened, and hit 10,0000 before the game ended, walking around the sidelines, walking to coach first, just keeping it loose. It's better today, but still limping a bit. I'm not going to be doing much for a few days, but hoping I can get back to some running by the weekend and play.