Game 9 Recap

The last time we played the Mukwonago Phantoms, we lost by one run. This time we lost 19-5. It wasn’t our day.

What I liked:

• Having Sean and Brian play with us. They’re nice kids.
• The great scoring job by Mr. Thomann – he kept track of pitches and all.
• Jackson’s put-out of the runner stealing second. Nice throw, nice tag.
• Henry pitched great in the 5^th.
• Logan turned an unassisted double play (thereby putting me on the ho0k for ice cream), and Henry had the ball pop loose on an awesome sweep tag.
• Putting the kids in different positions. Caleb caught a great force out at second, and having one of our shortest players at first base was great. Caleb is probably the headiest player we have. He very rarely misses an assignment.

What we could have done better:

• Not being depressed about losing by a few. I told the kids baseball is supposed to be fun, and reminded them that they waited all winter to play baseball outside. I should have given that speech in the beginning of the game.
• I think it was a function of being down three coaches, but we seemed to be in a funk, me included.
• Not much else.

I really hate it when umpires do not show up for games.

Hopefully the rain holds off and we can play today and Saturday.

Game 8 recap

It seems live forever since I had to recap a game. The rains came on Wednesday, but thankfully Nevins Field was up for the water. We actually got a game in under the time limit.

We played a team that was 1-11, but you wouldn’t know it. They are well-coached and made some great plays. It didn’t help that we were stale after an extended layoff. The big key was our fifth inning, where we batted around and scored seven runs, thanks in part to some great base-coaching by Coaches Schaefer and Witty. That inning put us up for good, and we added two more insurance runs in the sixth. In the end, we won, 12-8.

What I liked:

• Our pitching was solid. Each boy did a great job settling down and being accurate.
• We didn’t give up and pulled up by the bootstraps when we were down.
• The delayed steals in the top of the fifth
• Nathan being lights-out in the sixth
• The defensive plays by the Yellow Jackets. Of note was the line drive the pitcher caught just above the dirt.

What we could have done better:

• It took us a while to adjust to the delayed steals. As a result, we threw the ball around a lot.
• Not getting upset when we drill a ball to the outfield and it is caught
• Paying attention in general. I think the layoff hurt us there.

I could have done without the mosquitoes and having to peer through a chain-link fence to see anything.

Five Star Thursdays: Neko Case sings a Tom Waits tune

I am very conflicted about this week’s choice. I have a link on my blog to Christian Internet Links and am a Christian. Yet here I am about to discuss a song called “Christmas Card from a Hooker in Minneapolis” as my song of the week.

I was thinking of Neko Case this evening, and I chose this song whilst alone and chilling out. When I wanted to use this song for the blog, I immediately thought that it would be inappropriate. So I nixed the idea. Then the writer in me knew that to be anything but real would be wrong. So here we go…

I own a lot of depressing and dark music, and this may be is the saddest song of them all. The main character in this song is writing to a guy named Charlie about her past, present and future. She used to be a drug addict, alcoholic, and her profession suggests a sordid past. But she has the proverbial heart of gold, and talks about all of the things that she’s learned along the way through a hard life. So far, so good.

Then in a moment of desperation, the truth spills out: it’s all a lie. She doesn’t have it all together, just the opposite.

I’m just like the hooker. I’ve made more than my fair share of mistakes, and even learned from some of them. But deep inside, my exterior is a mask hiding a very flawed person. I completely relate. On some level don’t we all? It’s nice to know Jesus made a habit of hanging out with people like her. It’s even nicer knowing that he died for the worst of the worst. Even people like me or you.