Game 8 Update

Hail the mighty Twins!!

Tonight we played the White White Sox -- this would have been the second game with them had we not been rained out last week. Here's what you need to know about them: They have a couple of big girls on their team -- actually the team has a lot of girls, although not as many as the Red Sox. Their big girls play very well. Their not as big girls and their guys are not quite as on the ball, like the pair that kept trading flowers and grass blades with one another out in left field. Their coach finally told the ump, "You go talk to them. I can't do any good." Neither could she, by the way. The White Sox run, but not endlessly and usually just took one base on an overthrow, which I could live with.

I could also live with it because we had all fourteen players show up (a first, I believe) and a good pitcher and a great, super-star, wonderful, smart, fast catcher. (Guess where Luke played tonight!?) They did not get all seven runs any innings and the above named catcher made 8 of 9 outs for us in the game. I had to call him off at one point and say "Luke, when the ball goes all the way out to the pitcher, let him get it, even if you are fast enough to grab it before he does..." They did get us out three times in two of their three innings, but we did get 7 one inning, so it was 1-0.

In all seriousness, the thing that made this so good is that they would hit the ball to Ben, the pitcher, most of the time, and then Ben would throw it to Luke (most of the time) and Luke would field it and touch home. I would guess they made outs on about a third to a fourth of the plays they tried, but they were close on all of them. The contrast of them playing like they were supposed to and last week's having to chase runners around was very refreshing. Luke made some really good fielding plays and also ran out, grabbed the ball, and then got back to home on a couple of occasions. In the three seasons we have played, there has come a moment in each season when you feel like the team had turned the corner and were starting to "get it." This was that game for us. I felt bad for the rest of the players, but Ben and Luke got the ball on all but about 4 hits all game. Teigan got the other out - a foot race from just about at second to third and if Teigan's in a foot race, you can guess who is going to win!!

The only thing that got me was during the first two innings, when no one was on first, I would tell Ben to field it and throw it to first. Our cube player was on first and would have to work hard to field it and get the out, but I was going to play it that way no matter what. Well, Ben would field it and throw it home. Each batter I would tell him again - Go to first. So the runner gets on third and I tell Ben to throw it home now. Guess what he does. Yep - straight shot to first. The third inning on the first batter Ben throws it home. Our other coaches start to yell at him to go to first and I just tell them leave him alone. They will eventually get to third and he will have had three batters of practice. Sometimes coaching is about out-thinking yourself, not the players!!

I was proud of our guys and I think the parents were really enjoying this game. It seemed like everyone was talking more and having a great time. It's hard to believe there are only two more games. We get the Red Sox again Saturday. I would love to "beat" them, just because it shows how far we have come from when we played them the second game of the season. They are fun to play and have great coaches, so I am looking forward to a fun game no matter what.