Tuesday, January 26, 2016

Racing the Rain - the Sequel

Zach and Drew Nielsen with Victor Rodriguez

I am going to start today's report with something fun because the report on today's games is not very uplifting.  Victor Rodriguez - Red Sox batting coach and a longtime Ponce coach - is a very nice man, who goes out of his way to accommodate people.  This summer he was part of the Red Sox' Fan Appreciation Day, following a Sox game attended by by niece Sherry and her husband Glenn -- and their two boys Zach and Andrew.  My brother Bill - Sherry's dad - is an usher at Fenway and made sure the boys got on the field for fan appreciation activities - where the fans could meet some of the players and coaches.  Here is a  picture of Zach and Drew with Victor at Fenway -- just one way baseball people help make kids lifelong fans of the Red Sox.


Now to Ponce.  On beautiful baseball days, the legendary Cubs shortstop Ernie Banks would step on the field and say, "Let's play two."  Well, it is the prospect of very bad weather for Wednesday and Thursday (up to three inches now predicted) that led the Ponce camp directors to say, "Let's play three."  It was a beautiful Florida day, so the tripleheader was designed for us to get in as much game action as possible in case Wednesday and Thursday are washouts.  Two years ago, Thursday and Friday were rained out - the first full day rainouts in the camp's then 15-year history.  This year threatens to raise more havoc with the usual schedule.  Typically at Ponce camp team batting practice and skills instruction (for pitchers, catchers, infielders, etc.) are interspersed throughout the day with the two six inning games we normally play.  Yesterday and today, instead, have been focused on using all the time we have - with the players who are here and arriving late - to get in games. 

That's a nice thought, but for Darrin Garner's Team C (the good guys!) the only thing worse than losing both ends of a doubleheader is losing both ends and the middle of a tripleheader.  We lost all three games today - and on top of our loss in the second game yesterday - are on a four game losing streak.  When you have only played five games, that's not an impressive record. In my first three years at Ponce camp my team came in last each year.  Since then my teams have won the championship each year, except for one second place finish and another last place finish.  So in 9 previous years - 4 championships and four cellar dwellers.  Feast or famine -sort of like the recent records for the Red Sox (a World Series championship in 2013 followed by two last place finishes!)  So far this camp, Team C (Garner) looks more like famine than feast.

In the first game today we lost a close game to the team managed by Arnie Beyeler.  We got ahead early and then fell behind 7 to 3.  We rallied for 3 runs in the fifth inning to close to within one run, but couldn't push across the winning or tying run in the bottom of the sixth and final inning - losing 7-6.   I pitched one inning - the fifth - to help kept the game close giving up no runs with one strike out and one walk.  At bat I was 2 for 2 with an rbi.

In the second game we played against Stu Cliburn's team - who we beat in the first game on Monday.  A very different result today, we lost 12-2.  We stopped hitting, fielding was sloppy and pitching was inconsistent - not a good formula for success.  We fell behind early and never threatened.  I was 0-2 at bat with an rbi.  As the day went on, more players arrived and our roster expanded.  We started on Monday with 11 players and finished today with 17 on the team.  To give everyone a chance to play, constant changes were made at fielding positions.  With a continuous batting order - 17 in the batting order at the end - it was a long time between at bats, particularly when the team is not hitting or getting walks so not turning over the lineup.  We also have used 7 pitchers, so innings have been pretty dispersed.  (With the new players arriving, Ponce is likely to create two more teams tomorrow so there will be 10 or 11 per team.)

In the third game, against the team managed by Victor Rodriguez, we did keep it close early - behind by a score of 3-2 after 3 innings, but couldn't muster any offense and lost by a final score of 8-2.  With the full lineup, I - along with several other players - only got one at bat and I went 0 for 1.  It was a long day - 18 innings with only 5 at bats - made longer by three not pretty losses.  With the exception of Steve Abbuhl and Chris Clark, no one is hitting consistently.

Arnie Beyeler, Chris, Nick, and Jay Hedlund
A couple of random notes:  In addition to Victor, all the coaches are approachable and accommodating - talking about baseball but also bonding with the players over the years.  All of the coaches have been at the camp for ten years or more - and connect with the returning players at the camp and often during the year.  Chris Clark and I had dinner with Arnie Beyeler on Sunday night after the Patriots game.  Arnie (as well as Victor) has several times provided passes for me and family or friends to get on the field for batting practice in Baltimore or Oakland when we have been there for Red Sox games.  In 2012, when Arnie was managing the Pawtucket Red Sox, he gave Elizabeth and me and my nephew Billy and his wife Rachel and their sons Nicholas and Christopher a tour of the PawSox clubhouse and locker room.








 The fields at Terry Park are named after important baseball people who have been involved at the complex.  This is for Jackie:




We have new trainers this year - Rhonda (from Norwood, MA originally) and Julie (from Montpelier, VT) and both natural born Red Sox fans.  Lead trainer Larry Bennese - who is a trainer in the Minnesota Twins system and has been at Ponce camp for more than 10 years -- had a conflict this year and asked his frequent colleague Rhonda to fill in.
Our Trainer, Rhonda
Rhonda and Julie have applied Atomic Balm regularly to help me with a new tightness in my neck and back - and help other players with pulled hamstrings, bruised hands, blisters and assorted other ailments.  It is important to have trainers for a camp whose participants are - on average - 60 years old (with more than a handful in their 70's)  but that doesn't keep the pups in their 30's and 40's out of the trainers' room.  Medical news overheard: "my new chemo therapy is working great"; "my doctor says its finally time for my back surgery and to stop playing baseball but I think I can put that off"; "my nitroglycerin pills are in this bag"; "well the ball went off this finger, but I don't think its broken - or at least I hope not."  Its a good thing we have trainers on hand!

Finally, this summer several teammates from the Braintree (MA) High School Bay State League 1964 baseball champions got together at our old field, French's Common, to reconnect and reminisce about days gone by.  Again friends and teammates who shared the same baseball experience - and who, whether we are together or alone - smile when we think of coach Lefty O'Connell, beating Joe Coleman and Natick and Richie Hebner and Norwood - or even losing in the state semi-finals to Somerville.  Here is the yearbook picture of those teammates.


And, 51 years later, here are lifelong (although too often out of touch) friends and teammates: Dave Scolamiero, star shortstop and captain of the league championship basketball team; Dwight Chandler, terrific catcher and outfielder and football captain and all-scholastic running back; and Jay Hedlund, baseball captain.
In my mind, whether they are new or old, teammates and friends are the most important things we get from playing sports.

Rain is predicted for tomorrow - we hope to get in two games in the morning, but Mother Nature, who seems to be in quite a state lately, needs to cooperate.



1 comment:

  1. "Poets are like baseball pitchers. Both have their moments. The intervals are the tough things." ~ Robert Frost

    I hope the rain doesn't make the interval that much longer.

    (Did you know that Clemente was a Rule 5 draft pick of the Pirates?)

    Keep your dauber down!

    ReplyDelete