Recap 4/10/05 - 14-13 Win vs. "The Heat"

For a change, this didn't suck too bad. A 9th inning come-from-behind win over a quality opponent... nice job guys.

Where to begin with the recap.... should I start with my second-inning two-out, 2-RBI hit to knot the score at 5-5, or should I hop forward to my seventh-inning, 2-RBI hit to put us ahead 13-12? Or perhaps my 9th inning "walk-off" 2-run infield "single" (thanks Mike for the generous scoring)... Seriously, even though I was one of the many Sox lucky enough to have a memorable game personally, it was a TOTAL team effort and LOTS of players made major contributions. In all, we had 17 hits, 6 doubles, and every player got at least one hit.

Pitching

On a windy day when The Heat was swinging well after a morning romp over the Classsic Cards, Huffy gave us a gutty 8-inning performance, even though he may not have had his best stuff after an extended layoff. As anyone who was there knows, many of those runs were not earned -- it seemed that The Heat made us pay dearly for every mistake we made in the field early. Plus, the strong wind to right carried one 2-run HR out (with McGaha settled comfortably under it but no more room to move back), and resulted in a couple of bloop singles that normally wouldn't have been.

Dennis came on to close out the 9th with a gutty two-pitch performance. It's a little complicated to explain (the 2-pitch inning), so I'll just leave it at "you had to be there." If you weren't, sorry.

Hitting

In all, we had 17 hits, 6-doubles, and 6-walks. We had 6 strikeouts. Everyone got a hit today. Individual highlights:

• Dennis - 2/4 (2 doubles). On-base 4/6. Huge double in the 9th, plus scored the game-winning run.
• Doug - 2/5, on-base 3/6.
• Mo - 3/5 (2 doubles), on-base 4/6.
• Dan - 3/5 (5 RBIs), on-base 4/6.
• Mike G. - 2/4 (2 doubles), on-base 3/5.
• Mike C. - 2/5.
• Huffy - On-base 2/5, scored the tying run in the bottom of the 9th.

Defense

Even though defense was less than 'sterling' overall, everyone contributed with only 9 bodies available and a couple of players deserve mention for outstanding efforts: Mike G. played an outstanding game at catcher, with our starter, Steve P. out. Mo Wrighten looked like Brooks Robinson with a brilliant diving stab at third base in the bottom of the ninth. Our outfield was generally solid again, with a couple of tremendous diving tries by Kevin and Jim on a really tough day with the wind. Mike C. gave us solid play in his first game this season at 2nd.

It wasn't a thing of beauty, especially at first, but we played better as the game wore on. As with Huffy's effort on the mound, I am really proud of the effort everyone put forward today.

Upcoming

Next week we play the Lugnuts, who are 3-1 (pending today's result), 1:30 at Mar Vista HS. Mike Clay will be out, but I am hopeful that Steve P. will be able to play in at least a limited capacity and also there is a strong possibility that the one and only Leon Muhammad will be in a Black Sox uniform joining us for the game. Those of you who have played with Leon have an idea of what is in store... the rest of you are in for a treat. I can guarantee that. I also expect Ron Wood to be joining us and possibly Joe Burdo and/or Joey (JROD) Hernandez. I will be working the phones trying to make sure we have 11+ players for this one. Hang in there guys... we have quality players coming on board when Steve and Bob get back from IR and with one or two more key pieces added to the puzzle, we WILL be a solid team in this division.

Mike Clay, have a great time surfing in Hawaii next week and I'll see the rest of you next week.