It was wet and slippery, just the way Rickey likes it, and he showed it by getting himself stuck in not one, but two hot boxes. I went both ways, and my left hand hasn't seen that much action since I got engaged. Also, Singaporean men (and most men in general) have no clue how to please a woman. Women, take note, you have to tell us... higher, lower, faster or slower. I mean, it's really tough to pitch sometimes.
All signs pointed to a fantastic day, the weather was cool and we numbered six at 2:30. Our usual field was taken by the damn frisbee idiots, even with Heidi's effort to come down at 2pm to place dibs on the field, somehow the frisbee idiots managed to show up earlier. They did us a favour though, because our usual field was in poor condition, muddy and swampy. The far field nearer the road was in much better condition as it hadn't been used as much.
The teams were definitely not that even, even during the count, it was obvious that the ONES had an advantage. And to top it all, Rickey gives Grandpa to an already stacked team. What was he thinking? Ironically, it wasn't the big bats that did the TWOs in, but textbook small ball by the ONEs combined with nonsensical baserunning by the TWOs.
The scores were actually pretty even for most of the game, considering the stellar batting lineup in the heart of the ONEs rotation. The TWOs were playing solid defense for most of the day, and it was only a brief lapse during the 5th that the ONEs managed to string together a series of hits to pull ahead by a 8 run margin. Defense was the name of the game, contrary to the high scores. I've never seen so many textbook plays within the confines of one game in a long time. Throws from the outfield hit the cutoff man, relays were on target, run-downs were performed with textbook precision. It was a fantastic game to be a part of.
Talking about run-downs, Rickey likes the hot box. In the bottom of the 6th, with the TWOs behind 8 runs and Rickey on second base, Heidi steps up to the plate. She hits a monster of a shot to the center-right between Grandpa and Jason. Jason gets to the ball first, but it was easily a 3-bagger by the time the throw came in. When I turned to make the relay home, it was the cutest sight that graced my eyes. Heidi was catching up to Rickey, and when I fired home, Rickey stopped and turned to head back to 3rd base. Heidi, bless her kind soul, was already right on top of the base, and all she had to do was step on the bag and she would've been safe. Instead, she made the split second decision to give Rickey a chance and turned to head back for 2nd base ('oh-shit-rickey-what-are-you-doing' was the cry from Heidi's lips). By this time, Rickey was trapped in a hot box between Indiana catching, and Rube at 3rd. Rube tagged Rickey out, and seeing a chance to get a double-play, threw to me at 2nd and I started the run down on Heidi. Seeing her chance, she turned back for 3rd, but it was too late, as I tossed the ball to Rube for the tag. Double play on a double rundown to end the inning. Brilliant.
You'd think two rundowns in one game would be a SAS record, but no sooner was it set, that it was broken. A third run down would take place two innings later, and a third record was set. 1. Three rundowns in a game, 2. A Double-play, double rundown, 3. Rickey gets caught in two of the three rundowns.... Bottom of the eighth with 2 down, Rickey smacks a beauty into the gap between center and right. Since it's Rickey, he only makes it to first base, but Grandpa boggled the ball, and Rickey courageously turns towards second and tries for extra bases. Grandpa recovers quickly and makes a snap throw to second. Rickey is caught in no mans land. He turns back, but DT fires down the second base line to Lom and Lom chases Rickey back towards 2nd base. Not wanting to smack Rickey in the back of the head, Lom throws a high-arc blooper towards Diana at second. Thinking that the throw wouldn't make it on time and Rickey would run straight into Diana (and probably kill her), DT jumps up to cut off the throw and makes a flying tag on the way down, smacking Rickey right on the head and knocking his hat off. Rickey looked smug on second base, thinking that DT was just messing with him and just wanted to smack him with an empty glove, but when DT opened his glove and the ball was inside, the smiling stopped. Booyah! Now that I look back on that play, if Rickey had actually slid into second, he would've been safe...
The second game turned out to be pretty much the same as the first. First inning saw 1-2-3 outs from both sides, then the ONEs blew it open with a 4 run lead and the TWOs had no answer. I suggested a trade, Grandpa or Kyle II for Clark, but the trade was deemed 'unfair'... godknows why.
The Ladies are still showing some fabulous at-bats. I noticed that the outfield is no longer coming in when Geok and Diana are up at bat. They are standing at a respectful distance, and even then, they still have a make a tough play because the ladies are hitting it deep.
On another note, Indiana never fails to amaze me. This is a guy with a quadruple bypass, over 60 (I think), and he plays shortstop like a 20 year-old on amphetamines.... WITH a first-baseman's glove. He dives for every play and it seems like no ground ball is out of his range. I even had to poach a slow roller in order to finally make a play. That guy is incredible.
More Awards
DY award : Kitty (for coming down to Joes even with a lung infection, lack of sleep and looking like he's about to drop dead at any moment)
Best Teamwork award : The French(Bert) and the American(Rickey) allied themselves(gawddd! who would've thought) to beat the singaporean pair of Heidi and DT back to back in two games of pool (with standard rules I might add, nothing Canadian about it).
Most-in-need-of-a-thicker-glove : DT
Holding-the-most-records-in-a-game award : Rickey (1. Getting caught in the most rundowns in one game, 2. Most career rundowns, 3. Running down into a double-play rundown, 4. Hitting the highest pitch (the ball was over his head and he swung AND made good contact)
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