8 July 2006 - It's Holiday Season Again

ONES: DY, Heidi, Geok, Rugburn, Clark
TWOS: DT, Indiana, Sandman, Diana, Jonathan

Game ONE:
ONES 18 : TWOS 14

It's July and that means many of the regulars have gone off for summer holidays or gone home. We usually manage to get by, and this week was no different. Numbering only 10, we brought in the foul lines ala Indiana Rules, and instituted scoring from second, aka Prof Zen Rules. We also rotated our fielding positions to keep the game interesting, but that was more for fun rather than a real rule. I think these two rules have added a new dimension to the game, previously, with 10, we automatically played double or nothing. But that was hell on the batter to get on base. Reversing the double makes it a lot more interesting and we can get more forced plays.

New guy showed up this week, Jonathan, a lecturer from NTU. No one asked if he knew Chew Shit Fun, but I'm sure Rickey will ask him that next week. We figured we'd save that little titbit for when Rickey gets back. He can hit and throw and frankly, I'm really grateful to the influx of skilled players to the SAS fold this year. The standard of play has improved faster this year tremendously. Everyone who has joined us can hit, throw and field, and best of all, they know what to do with the ball when they get it. The games are a hella lot more fun as well.

With the short numbers and the smaller field, we decided we wanted a lower scoring game. So we used a rubber ball to slow everything down. Little did we know that this ball, though soft and bouncy, was easily carried by the wind. The dimpled surfaced aided it's flight, and made it erratic when caught in a crosswind. The ball carried as well, going a long ways before it hit the ground. Outfielders had to stand extra deep just to avoid getting burnt, and even at that depth, there were several homeruns scored.

Heidi seems to have carried over her big bat from the tournament. She was hitting deep into the gaps, and she even hit one over DT's head in CF. The wind took the ball high into the sky and it landed just before the cricket bowling turf. Strangely, when it hit the ground, instead of carrying further outfield, it bounced sharply up and DT was able to field it immediately and throw it in to stop Heidi at 2nd. Rugburn had a case of bullydianaitis. We're pretty sure he didn't do it on purpose, but it was hard to tell. Since we were rotating, Diana started off at second base. First two innings, Rugburn did not hit into the outfield with DT and Sandman out there. He did hit a gounder to Diana at short in the second inning. In the 3rd inning with Diana taking LF, Rugburn hit a boomer over her head for a HR. In the 4th inning, he hit one (you guessed it) into CF, over Diana's head again. He did not (he claims he has yet to learn the opposite field stroke) hit at Diana again till the 7th inning when she was back at short.

In the 8th inning, there was a spectacular crash in the OF between DT and Sandman. Clark hit a blooper high into the air in short right-centerfield. Sandman, DT and Jonathan were all going for it. Sandman called it first, 'MINE!', but DT didn't hear him and yelled 'I got it!'. Jonathan being slightly slower, yelled 'LOOK OUT!', and then crash. I have no clue how Sandman survived that impact with DT, but he did (He's Wirey). Both were keeled over on the ground and play was stopped. Sportingly, Clark did not run home, so we gave him a double instead of a single (he would've probably be caught out...I felt the ball go into my glove before going unconcious). Ironically, this was the first time the Sandman had ever called for a ball...

BBQ in 4 weeks. Make a note on your calender. August 5. It's going to be a Hawaiian theme. Guys have to wear floral shirts and ladies floral skirts (coconut tops optional). I'll be emailing everyone to get a list of the menu, but we are thinking of ordering Lechon (roast pig), flown in from Philippines. It'll probably cost about $130, so if we can get $5 donations from everyone, that'll be great. Details to be worked out later. Think of what you'd like to prepare or bring to the BBQ and get back to me.

So Say we All