A World Baseball Classic....

Flint Taylor and me at the Ted Williams statue at Jet Blue Park (Fenway South)

Thank goodness for Team F -- we lost our first game today but came back in the afternoon to beat Team F, Arnie Beyeler's team -- so our record is now 2 wins and 4 losses with both wins coming against Team F.  Another beautiful 80 degree sunny day (is this weather report getting irritating to northern readers?  Probably not since it has been in the 70s the last two days in DC.)  The morning game started very promising against Team D -- one of three teams with a 4-1 record starting the day.  I started pitching and we were leading by a score of 3 to 2 after three innings.  They went ahead in the fourth inning and we went back ahead in the bottom of the fourth.  Going into the last inning we were tied 6 to 6.  Then the roof fell in on the good guys.  A blown call by the umpire at second base (calling a runner safe on a "bobbled catch" that even the opposing team manager granted wasn't bobbled) led to a long inning for our ace Chris Clark and consecutive hits and bloops that we couldn't field.  They scored 5 runs to go ahead by 11 to 6 - we loaded the bases in the bottom of the inning but couldn't score.  I was 1 for 3 at bat and pitched three innings giving up two runs (in part due to sloppy fielding.)  I didn't strike anyone out but did hit two batters -- so they were not digging in too firmly in the batters box.

I have now pitched 8 innings over the three days -- the first time I have pitched in games three days in a row since college.  My arm has felt much better than in previous years, in large part, I expect, because I have been throwing (and hitting) about twice a week since the end of November.  I have been able to strengthen my arm but also to work on my control and rhythm for pitching.  Much as Jackie Howell reports Pablo Casals said when he was asked why he still practiced 6 hours a day even into his 90s, "Because I think I'm making progress."  Not a bad attitude for geezers. 

In the victorious second game, we fell behind at the outset but went ahead by a score of 3 to 2 after 3 innings, following a strong outing on the mound by Adrian Rosati.  We bounced back and forth -- with our fielding steadier than it has been for most of the week.  Fred Kopatich once again had a big hit driving in a run -- I believe he has had at least 5 run-scoring hits so far this week.  Going into the bottom of the fifth inning it was tied 6 to 6 -- but we came up with three runs to go ahead by 9 to 6 and Chris Clark shut them down to hold onto the win.  I was 1 for 2 at bat with an rbi driving in the leading run in the 5th.  We now have three games left and need to win all three to end up with a better than .500 record for the week.  The pressure is on for tomorrow.

Several notes on the day:  I learn a lot on my visits to the trainers room (getting massage and Atomic Balm on my tight quads and on my right shoulder.)  Trainer Larry Bennesse (a trainer in the Twins system) said that the three key areas of the body to take care of are your teeth, lower back and feet -- if any of them feel bad, you will feel bad.  Makes sense to me -- it also is in synch with what I tell my nieces and nephews (and now the next generation) that the secret to life is flossing daily and the miracle of compound interest.

The WAVE!!!  Bill and two of our fans (spouses of players) do the wave on Tuesday afternoon after I hit a double (captured by crack photographer Flint Taylor.)  You just can't believe the excitement that ran through the "crowd.






Speed -- we don't see much of it.  Ponce games are generally played in what to the average fan would look like slow motion.  It is true that the younger you are the faster you are more likely to move.  This week we have had a batter thrown out at first base by the right fielder and by the center fielder on balls that should have been hits.  An exception today, Joe Cardi slammed a ball to deep right center field and turned on the burners and rounded third base intent on an inside-the-park home run, until he stepped into a hole on the third base line and hit the ground.  Too bad, it looked like he would have scored - and it is fun to watch someone who can really run.

Finally, there is no explanation for what people read on the Internet.  I found out in the past year that this blog program keeps stats on pageviews, origin of pageviews, etc.  I have done this blog a total of three and one-half weeks -- each week for the past three years I have attended the Ponce camp and four days this week.  In that time there have been 1923 page views of the blog!  Get a life people - don't you have more constructive ways to spend your time?  I ask that particularly when I learned that 1686 of those views were from the United States -- makes sense -- but the second most views have come from Russia and the top five countries include Germany (hi Christoph!), Canada (hi to the Hedlunds of Canada!) and Ukraine.  Seriously, Ukraine.  On top of that, people in France, Chile, Italy, Egypt, Brasil, Iran and Denmark are among those around the world who have "viewed" the blog (I almost said "read", but I'm a realist.)  It really does make you realize two things:  one, people waste a lot of time cruising the internet, and, two, if you write something that is on the internet, you can't predict where it will be seen. Fun for me, anyway, that anyone reads it.  I wonder what those Russians think "geezer" means.