This Sunday's game was amazing. We won 8 - 6 in 11 innings. Our starting pitcher, Dusty, pitched a great game, going all 11 innings(!) in the blazing heat of the San Fernando Valley. I had a very good game too, and finally convinced my teammates that I really can play.
We played an afternoon game at Reseda Park, against the Santa Rita Cubs, the home team. This was another entirely Mexican team. In fact, I think Santa Rita is their hometown in Mexico, so they were representin'. Even the umpires spoke only in Spanish. The whole other team and umps thought I was Mexican, and spoke Spanish to me.
There was a teenaged girl selling grilled jalepeno peppers and hot-dogs wrapped in bacon behing homeplate. Babies kept escaping their parents darting onto the field periodically. There was a photographer taking pictures during the game. Later on his son would come up to you holding a large glossy picture of you printed on a calendar and ask for money. They were hawking them for 5 bucks, and they looked pretty professional.
We had a small cheering section: Toxic-Tina and Angela, who come out to all our games. Toxic-Tina keeps calling me "Gun-It" instead of G-Unit, which Angela's 12 year old son named me. Oh, why is Tina toxic? Angela and her are infamous for downing beers and methanphetamines all afternoon, although this year they've apparently been drug free.
I didn't even start the game, and entered in the 5th inning in right field. Because we went into overtime, I still got 4 at-bats, and managed 2 solid line-drive singles, I think making a good impression on my teammates. I scored the tie breaking run in the 11th too. I spent about a half hour at the batting cages on Saturday to get comfortable swinging and to nail down my timing, and it paid off.
In the bottom of the tenth, with the score tied at 4, the Cubs had a runner at 1st and 3rd (the potential winning run) with one out. I was able to demonstrate strong baseball acumen when I yelled in from right field at our manager to load the bases. I knew he would catch on fast and he held a mini conference on the mound and told the pitcher my idea. Everyone went for it and they gave the batter a free pass. This gave our defence a force out at every base, giving them more options to make outs. And indeed, we turned a double play on the next batter!. So it paid off and I got big congratulations when I came off the field.
Posted by G at April 11, 2004 08:26 PM | TrackBack