8.28.2007

Game #16 ... A final

... So we ended our baseball season tonight. First round of the playoffs. A game we had expected to win ended in an 8-4 loss. Done. Season over.

... Sure, we could play a few fall ball games. But it’s fall ball. Unless I’m in the pros and my team is in the hunt for a World Series championship, I’m that interested in playing fall ball ...

Besides, the way my play has slumped the last few games, I’m ready for a break ...

The story of our game tonight is short and not-so-sweet. We played decent ball, but they hit and we didn’t. We had good pitching going for us, but they pecked away at it all night long. They posted a series of one-run innings that we couldn’t match. We left a ton of runners standing on the bases ...

And I didn’t help our cause. Batting in the seventh spot, I struck out my first two times at the plate — both times with runners on. The first time, looking, on a nasty, spinning curve that came in outside and then tailed in over the plate. And the second time, I struck out swinging at a chest-high fastball — after driving the first pitch I saw down the third base line, just (just!) foul!

In my third at-bat, I worked the count again. And again I fell behind with two strikes. Then the pitcher jammed me with a fastball, but I got just enough of it to poke the ball down the third base line. I advanced the runner on first base to second and got an infield single. The lead runner scored and I advanced to third on the next batter’s single, but the inning ended on the following batter’s flyout ...

And when I got up one last time in the eighth — with a runner on — I was anxious. I took a swing at the second pitch I saw and popped it out right field for the inning’s third out.

At least I played well in the field. I played left field for most of the game, gloving all the balls hit to me there, and then moved to shortstop for the final inning.

Sucks that another season is over ... But a wise man once told me it’s not how you play the game, it’s that you have fun doing it. And, dang, we had a fun team and a fun time playing this year ...


My line for the regular season …
.361 average, 13 hits, 6 walks, 7 strikeouts, .488 OB%, 8 stolen bases, 13 runs, 7 RBI

As for our other games …
Game one: We lost, 16-4
Game two: We lost, 13-2
Game three: We lost, I was off for the weekend
Game four: We lost, 5-4
Game five: We lost, 20-9
Game six: We lost, 5-4 (with pictures!)
Game seven: We won, 7-5
Game eight: We lost, 12-4
Game nine: We lost, 14-9
Game 10: We lost, 5-3
Game 11: We won, 14-1
Game 12: We won, 12-5, but I was heading home from KC.
Game 13: We won, 16-5
Game 14: We won by forfeit.
Game 15: We lost, 17-3

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