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Yesterday’s “Showdown in the Storm” was a victory. But now I’m sick. Nose is running, muscles are aching, and I am constantly sneezing. But… it was all worth it!

All day at work, I looked out the window, hoping that the rain will stay away long enough for me to play. All my coworkers thought that I was crazy for being so obsessed about softball. The truth is, I was excited about seeing how well I would do after a long layoff and a trimmer frame. Thanks to the rain gods, I had a chance to see it briefly…

My game was at 9 p.m. Got to park (Moscone 1) by 8:30 p.m. Went through my usual routine of warming up, which is often not the case, as I usually peruse around and check out the competition.

9 p.m. - Game Time.

We batted first. Our lead-off hitter, Louis took a walk. The next two batter popped out. I came up and hit a wicked line-drive between the right fielder and right-center fielder. Ball rolled for a while. I got on my horse and made it to third. When I got to third, I was somewhat amazed at my speed. You see, I’m pretty slow (actually, I am one of the slowest guys on my team). However, today, I think I had a extra step, or even two!

2nd at bat came with two outs, men on 3rd and 2nd. Pitch came right down the middle. WhaCha! The ball travels all the way to the other field and takes two bounces to the pitcher’s mound. 3-run HOMERUN!!!

3rd at bat. I led off and hit a long drive to the same location as my second at bat. Too bad, the defense was pulled back to the dirt of the other field. The right fielder took 5 steps back and caught the ball easily. Oh well…

4th at bat. It is coming down hard. The wind picked up as well. The rain was travelling sideways (to the east). Being a leftie, I was “fortunate” to have the rain come straight to my eyes. Nonetheless, I tried to hold back and swing a little slower in hopes that I could drop or line one against the pulled-back defense. But unfortunately, I got too much of the ball, and again I hit a fly ball to the right fielder only to have it caught. This time, he took only two steps back.

So, final stats were…

4 ABs (At-Bats)
2 Hits (Batting Average: .500)
1 HR (Homerun)
1 3B (Triple)
4 RBIs (Run Batted In)
2 R (Run scored)

Final assessment…

Power and speed has improved. Still need to improve on bat control (which I have always struggled throughout my entire softball career).

In case you were wondering, we won the game 14-10!

Still recovering from watching the Ten Commandments on ABC. As always, I enjoy the story, but I thought this version was too drawn out (it seemed like they provided explanation for every trial that the Jews went through) and plagued with over acting. Nonetheless, I had to watch the two-part premiere.

Latest news regarding softball… well, the news is there is no news. The weekly onslaught of rain has flooded all the fields. I’m on three teams this season (Wednesday, Friday, and Sunday). The season started 3 weeks ago and I have had 8 rainouts. Not a single game played. I’ve been working out pretty consistently as of late, even at work (walk up 25 floors in the morning, and another 25 in the afternoon)… all in hopes to keep the body from breaking down during the season. Lost 8 pounds in the process too!

Movie recommendation for those that are not willing to watch crap like Basic Instinct 2 and Benchwarmers… Check out Thank You for Smoking.