Friday Retraction: No Relax, Play Ball!
Instead of the 3 R’s that I so dreadfully need on Friday (Relaxing, Resting, Recharging), I was asked to sub for my friends’, John & Will Fung, team, the Swing Kids because one of their players called in sick that day. Maybe it’s just me, but you only call in sick for work, not softball. But hey, maybe it’s just me.
Nonetheless, I rushed home to Burlingame, changed into my sweats and proceeded back to San Francisco to play a 6:30 p.m. game at Jackson Playground. While my lame performances on Wednesday was still in my mind, I didn’t really dread, panic, or change my mindset and approach to this game. Good thing I didn’t. 1st at bat, I laced a hard line drive to the gap passed the right fielder for a 2 RBI triple. While it did not make up for Wednesday’s lapse, I felt somewhat vindicated. John and Will batted me in a critical spot in the lineup (3rd) despite Will witnessing me struggle mightily on Wednesday. And I was determined not to let them down.
As the sun setted and the bright rays blasted into my eyes, I chose to take off my sunglasses for my next at bats. It was twilight, and for a person that is struggling to see the ball at night, wearing shades, albeit to counter some of the sun’s rays, made the rest of the field too dark for me to evaluate. As such, I took them off. My second at bat was a hard grounder up the middle (I was attempting to hit opposite field). The second baseman got to it, but couldn’t field it. I was on for a second time. 3rd at bat was another grounder between first and second. 4th at bat was a wicked line drive right at the first baseman’s jujubes. He caught it and was spared (well, his testicles were spared). My fifth and final at bat was weird. I got an inside pitch that I wanted to hit foul hard (just to improve my timing and work on getting the meat of the ball on the bat). Instead, I grazed the balled and it spun wildly down the 1st base line moving at a 5 mph pace. It stayed foul for two seconds, and long and behold, spun it’s way back fair. Everyone stood somewhat in disbelief until the first baseman picked it up and touched first base for the out. By that time, the game was pretty much over, as we had built an 18-9 lead.
Today, the team I manage, the Loose Cannons, open their season at 12:30 p.m. I hope they’re excited and pumped up like I am now seeing as how we didn’t have a team last summer. I don’t have my best hitter, Savage, for this game (he has to work and make moolah so I can help him save it… if that makes sense), so we’re gonna need to elevate our game and focus that much more.
Well… it’s 9:30 a.m. Breakfast with Frank and then the show!
