| 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | 5 | R | H | E | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Pats (Black) | 1 | 4 | 5 | 1 | 3 | 14 | 6 | 3 |
| Pats (Green) | 0 | 0 | 1 | 4 | 0 | 5 | 3 | 5 |
For those of you anxious to get you match report in time for your first coffee / tea of Monday morning, I’m sorry it’s taken so long. For some strange reason I said “yes” to helping out in 3rd Grade who were expecting to be 3 players short. As it turned out, they were only 2 short, but Sharks were one short, so Bob Camilleri graciously volunteered to help out Sharks by playing for them himself and left the lower grade Pats players play for his team in an attempt to bring home the victory. The game against Sharks apparently has some history, with the last loss against Sharks in the 2005 Grand Final. The Pats team was very keen to notch up another one victory. More on this game later at the end of this report (if you can be bothered reading that far).
Playing the Pats Green side, recently promoted from 8th grade, was always going to be a surprise. We didn’t know what we were going to get, even though we knew a few of their players one way or another. A couple had played with us last season. Some had been coached as juniors by our team. We knew they had some game. Actually our game is always a bit of a surprise. Did anybody water their bats or do whatever they have to do to their gloves before the game?
In the top half of the first innings, our reluctant leadoff made his way to the plate. A walk, a baulk and a couple of productive outs later and our first run was on the board. We were away and never headed.
We “enjoyed” the spectacle of the man in blue. (The game within the game). With runs on the board, we could afford to see the lighter side of the performance of this person paid to officiate. When the opposition catcher apologises for a strike call, you know it’s not just your opinion of a questionable call. And when I’m catching and hear a strike call on something 3/4 of a bat length off the plate, the best I can offer is “he’s been calling a few of those today”. Fortunately I didn’t get one of those calls on my trips to the plate. My philosophy when I have no confidence in the official is – if I can reach it, hit it! Don’t give him a chance to make a decision you aren’t going to like.
The only hot head that got spoken to during the game was Pete, while standing in the coach’s box at third. (What did you say to ruffle his feathers?) Though I think, Adam W got a bit of a pre-emptive warning before the game. Adam didn’t mention it but that’s what it looked like to me. The only other bit of contention was when the perennial hothead Ross was going into second and took out their shortstop. Our opposition was calling for the anti-collision rule to be invoked. From where I stood (or sat) in the dugout, it’s hard to see how that rule could have been relevant. Ross was running a straight line to the base, he was outside sliding range and the fielder came at him from the left side attempting to catch and tag. No malice, poor technique by the fielder and no certainty the umpire was watching. Result – no warning, no foul. I think Ross showed great sportsmanship to accept the call of out despite the ball on the ground. Perhaps the shortstop lost it “in the transfer”. Why he would transferring I’m not sure as it wasn’t a potential double play. IMHO he didn’t have control of the ball.
Making my way through the stats last night and this morning, it was not difficult to notice 11 outs records at first base – a season high. Then I looked a little further. All 15 of their outs were made in the infield. I can’t recall that happening any time recently. The final tally was 11 outs at first, 3 at home (2 Ks and a foul popup) and a put out at 3rd. Way to go guys. No wonder there is some sharing of the MVP votes around the infield. The spongy infield surface may have helped us, but it was the same for both teams. We made better use of the opportunities.
Final MVP voting saw Mike with the narrowest margin ahead of Ross. Well done guys you deserved it. I must confess I wouldn’t have minded a few more votes to hand around this week. There lots of significant contributors and for lots of different reasons and not just the hit, throw, catch reasons – sitting the bench without a quibble (even offering to sit the whole game if required), consoling the still fuming victims returning to the dugout, making all the plays on offer, or just waiting patiently in the outfield for long stretches of time hoping to be able to make a contribution when the time comes.
Despite the flashing leather, we should not overlook the other contributions. Well done to our pitchers. Combined they threw 5 innings and conceded only 5 runs, only one of which was earned. Our hitting may not have been the strong part of our game this week, with only 6 safe hits (2 each to Mike and Adam F, giving us 4 from 4 in the leadoff spot – table setters doing their job work). Despite complaints about the strike zone, we still managed to secure 12 walks and a hit by pitched ball. Add those 13 runners, to 4 who reached on errors and 6 safe hits gives us 23 base runners. So maybe we should have won by a bigger margin. Then again it’s always hard to put the sword into someone wearing the same uniform as you. The important part is we made use of the opportunities presented to us – making outs with our defence and while on offence putting the ball into play and forcing them to make the plays to get us out.
To round out my thoughts for now, the smilies were awarded this way
– happy: 2 Mike, 1 each to Peter and Ross
– sad: 2 each to Dave and Ivan
– “ouch”: 1 to Mike (how’s the bruise on your hip?)
And while there is no marking of it in the scorebook, I think a couple of the recipients of “close” [Editors note: quotes used to indicate sarcasm] called 3rd strikes deserve, honorary, sad icons as a small consolation for not throwing the bat or helmet at the umpire, despite what I’m sure was an almost overwhelming temptation.
Back to 3rd Grade. The Pats team was very much a patchwork composition, with 3 lower grade players starting on the infield – Chip at 3rd (where else does someone with that nickname player), Adam F (just call me Robbie, why else does he wear 12) at 2nd and some guy who should have retired years ago behind the plate (where else do you hide someone who struggles to move in the first game of the weekend and this being the second game). We took an early lead, but gave it up in the middle innings, and started the bottom half of the 2nd last innings down 2-5. Between some inspired hitting, some lucky breaks and good base running, the lower grade players contributed with (from memory) 4 hits, 2 runs and maybe a stolen base (that might have been the innings before – yesterday was a long time ago). We finished the innings with the lead at 9-5. Now we only need to defend; and defend we did. 3 quick outs and Pats had secured another to keep the streak alive and payback a little more the last defeat that hurt so much.
Thanks to Bob and the boys for letting us have a run and making us feel welcome. Congratulations to Todd for pitching a great game. And thanks to Ian for getting me out from behind the plate after 3 innings. By that stage I was lucky if I could throw the ball back to Todd underarm.
