As told by Truman Capote, via the voices in my head.
Well, what can I say. What looked to be an early exit for the defending Champion Orioles, turned out to be a wacky extra innings affair at the A-Diamond in Schenectady on Friday night, with the Orioles limping their way into a game 3 Saturday morning by a score of 8-7. Luckily, he rain held off until 5 minutes after the game ended, unluckily ruining several cooler gatherings.
Pologa vs Fitzgerald, figured to be a pretty low scoring affair. Unfortunately, nobody told the Oriole defense, or the Cubs bats, and we once again suffered a 2nd inning from hell. (6 runs last game, 4 this one) With Barnum and Bailey on hand to scout the Oriole defense, (with many players playng out of position, to be nice), the Cubbies hung a four spot on the board, with hits from Johnny Martin, Dave Van Wormer, Bryce Cutler, Dan Ryan and Andy Hoyle. Please excuse any wrong name placements, I'm going by memory, slightly inhibited by alcohol. Anywhooo, inning three brought us to a 5-2 tally, with the Orioles scoring on a single by Nardacci, an error, and a couple of sacs by Scutieri and myself. (King of the Sacs)
The Orioles were more bark than bite as usual, until an eventful 5th inning in which a couple of hits and a couple of walks brought the score even at 5-5. Que the late inning drama. Each of us had runners on in the 6th, the Cubs had them loaded, and we had a couple of runners on, but Pologa and Sheperdsen closed the doors on any of that nonsense. The Cubs loaded the bases with one out in the seventh, but a strike out and a pop out to the "cat like" Musella ended the rally. Ok, huge momentum going into the bottom of the seventh for the Orioles. Sheperdsen shuts us down 1-2-3. SH&%!
Top of the 8th, the Cubs sandwich a Walter walk with a couple of Martin brother hits, and end up scoring 2 to put the score at 7-5. I'll say it. I thought we were toast. With 2 outs and Pologa at first in the bottom frame, Scutieri laces a single to left. I draw a walk to load the bases, and Joe Careccia rips a single to left to bring the score to 7-6. Topino draws a walk to tie the score and I score on a wild pitch to end the game. Well, what do you know. Hurry home to wash the uniforms. If the weather holds up, game three will take place at 10 am at New Scotland. As T.O. would say, somebody should bring some popcorn. It's gonna be a good one.
