Out With A Bang!

Great way to wind up the 2nd half of the season. Open Meadow got straight up gloved last night, barely avoiding another Glove Ahead Rule, 17-8. And not to make any excuses, but those 8 runs they scored were the benefit of some gnarly sun out there in the left field part of the diamond. Props to Ali, Scott, Matthew, Kendra & Dylan for fighting through the elements and giving us a chance to win.

We finished 2-2-1 in this half of the league, and those two losses could very easily have gone the other way. Not too shabby considering we played with a lot of subs and didn't have a very consistent lineup all season long. Despite all that, we can still end up in 2nd place depending on the outcome of the game between Hammertime and Open Meadow on August 5.

Now, on to the top plays...

1. Straight out of an ESPN web gems reel, Ali battled the sun and the wind and gloved a fly ball waaaayyyyy out in foul territory near the fence, through the other team's dugout, over the tarp and in between a couple of fans looking for a souvenir. Big out, bigger catch.

2. Boing! Weird play at home plate last night more out of a George Michael Sports Machine highlight than ESPN... An errant throw from the outfield had Shawna playing the carom off the fence in front of the other team's dugout, a runner tried scoring from 3rd base, but a heads up play by Dan at home plate got the force out saving a run. High baseball IQ on that play.

3. From the mound, two nice catches from the pitcher. Same hitter jacks two line drives right up the middle, Marcus catches them both for inning ending and game ending outs... He makes it look so easy, but he has the bruise on his hand today to show for it. Nice job, Coach!

On that note and at the risk of sounding self aggrandizing (sucking my own dick?), I have to give (accept?) POTG to Marcus who a pretty good game last night. At the plate, 4 for 4 with 3 runs scored and 2 RBIs. On the mound, he showed some very good control of his pitches (not as easy as it looks with the wind blowing and the sun in his eyes) including 4 Ks (strikeouts), 3 put outs at 1st base, in addition to those two line drive catches. But a pitcher is only as good as the 8 people behind him and the 1 person behind the plate; for all the Glovely defense all season long, thanks for making me look good :)

Everyone also deserves another beer and a pat on the back for an awesome 4th inning. We batted all the way around the lineup, everyone got a hit that inning, and we scored 8 runs to lock up the win last night. We smelled blood, and we went for the kill...

Ball game.

Tie

We didn't win. And we didn't lose.

It was close and competitive (we played a very tough team, unlike last week), and despite the unresolved outcome I think every one of us had a great time. So nice to be part of a competitive game instead of the lop-sided ones we've been a part of all too often this year.

And now, without any ado whatsoever I'll jump right into the top plays...

1. The outfield played solid. Despite some very hard hit balls, everyone in the outfield made some timely and aggressive plays. Kendra and Dylan, in particular, charged some low hit balls in the shallow part of the outfield and came up with some big outs. Playing against a very hard hitting and offensive minded team, every out was a big one. Mark and Scott also made some very big outs, rounding out a very solid defensive game for The Glove.

2. Thunder Dan came up with another web gem, diving to his right and catching the ball on the fly for a spectacular inning-ending out. Dan, we're getting used to these...

3. Double plays: Two big ones.
a. Ali to Dan on a 6-3 double play on a very hard hit ball; Ali fielded the ball cleanly for the force out at 3rd and threw a rocket across the diamond to Dan, who had to stretch for the put out at 1st.
b. Top of the 7th inning, with a runner in scoring position, Marcus fields a short hit ball on the infield, leaps through the air and fires a strike (a la Derek Jeter) to Scott for the force out at 2nd who completed the DP on a solid throw to Dan at 1st base saving a run at a critical time of the game, giving us a chance to tie or win the game.

This game was filled with some really good softball, offensively and defensively. A 9-9 tie game through seven innings just goes to show that there wasn't a lot of room for error, and because of that there can only be one unanimous player of the game...

Ali Brown. Ali has been a force at 3rd base all season long. 3rd base is not a position for the faint of heart, and Ali not only plays the position with deft skill and grace but I think she actually loves the pressure that goes along with playing the 'hot corner.' We've played some teams this year that hit the ball hard, and Ali has been up for the challenge every single game. Ali was part of some big plays on Thursday night, a couple of double plays, shagging some hard hit balls to help keep runners from getting more than a single base, plus she went 3 for 4 at the plate scoring a big run during a very important 4th inning. She's not only the first person to take on a challenge, but more importantly she is the first person to cheer on her teammates. I'm happy to be on your team, Ali, and I'm very happy to have you cover my ass at 3rd base.

Special thanks to our subs who came out on Thursday. Andrea and Anna not only filled some very big shoes with a missing Abbey and Jonanna, but they contributed healthily at the plate and on defense. This also meant we could get SG out from behind the plate, and she played an amazing 2nd base. Way to go, SG!

Another valuable sub, Mixmaster Mike who filled in for Leticia on the scorebook. Mike had never kept score before, but we could not have tied the game without him ;)

Special recognition goes to Dylan who celebrated his 43rd birthday with us on Thursday. A few of us celebrated with him long into the night (and paid dearly for it on Friday), and it was nice to know that playing a game with The Glove was at the top of his wish list on his special day.

Happy Birthday, Dylan, aka The Badman.

The Field was Hot, ...but that was about it.

I want to start out by offering a quick apology. I hurled every pitch last night with the intention of throwing strikes (I hope you all know that I would never sandbag The Glove), but it just wasn't my night.

The rest of you put together a very nice comeback scoring 7 runs in a very lopsided game. Under different circumstances, that would have been more than enough to secure a win (especially against those no-bat-swinging motherfuckers), but you take the good, you take the bad, you take them both and there you have... a Run Ahead Rule game that went against us this time.

On the brighter side of life, there were a couple of things to be happy about. Scott stepped in and offered up some solid pitching after a disastrous start to the game. Dylan consistently hit his cutoff man on his throws from the outfield, including a bang-bang fielding play that prevented a double on a well hit ball to right field. Plus, everyone played their best on a very challenging, very hot and very sunny day at the ballpark.

Player of the Game: Sarah Symons-Glegorio (aka SG, as she is known to her entourage) played a very solid game last night. She helped save a run with a force out at homeplate, and she lined a rocket for a solid base hit that scored a run in the middle of that 7-run 4th inning. SG has put together a few solid weeks of play behind the plate and swinging the bat; she likes to fly under the radar, but she does not go unnoticed. Thanks for anchoring our infield, and an extra special thanks for catching my shitty pitches :)

I want to officially welcome Matthew to The Glove. After many weeks of trying to fill that 6th man spot on our roster, I think we found the right man for the job. If you haven't spoken to him yet, introduce yourself and make him feel like he's part of the family.

I also want to thank Julia for filling in on such short notice.

And lastly, I want to thank all of you for the support you give me on the mound; I hear every word from each one of you behind me, as well as every one of you in the stands.

Played Hard and Put Away Wet

I am still wet from the game last night. Physically wet. Emotionally wet. It was a challenge playing in the rain; throwing a wet ball, catching a wet ball, playing on a wet field.

The game never should have been played, but once we got started it wouldn't have been fair to one team or the other to suspend the game because the score was so close, we kept going back and forth. I could sense everyone's frustrations (I'm sure everyone could see my frustration!), but in vintage Glove style we fought through the adversity and pulled out the win against a pretty solid team.

There weren't a lot of highlights, not a lot of web gems. I think it's almost enough that everyone made it through the game last night without getting hurt, but I need to point out two really amazing things:

1. Every single Glover got on base.
2. Every single Glover scored.

As far as I am concerned, I think there can be only one top play, one player of the game: Dylan Magierek. It reads like a childhood dream, and here it goes...

Bottom of the last inning. We're down by 1 run. Bases are loaded. Two outs. The count is 2 balls and 2 strikes... BAM! Dylan drills a line drive up the middle to score two runs, Smell the Glove wins on a walk-off hit. In a game that was wet and sloppy, the last play was perfection.

Great game last night everyone. I know it wasn't easy. Thanks for not giving up, thanks for playing hard.