a delayed message, ladies and gentlemen, owing to the fact that my scorebook was seven miles from my hands. hard to read that way. got it today.
anyway, the linescore will tell you that our game was a topsy, turvy, not without excitement affair at the knick on a chilly and blustery - oh, call a spade a spade, nearly frigid - night thursday, may 12 at the knick. the game was called after 6 because it was too dark to see and too cold to move.
all of this raises one issue about fair play that the league might want to consider.
as the discerning reader can see, the rockets scored first, the peppers caught up and raced well ahead. but the rockets kept peppering (to use a word) the ball - singles all until, at the end of 6 1/2 innings, it was 8-8.
which is when rigor mortis for us set in. the rockets must have had icy-hot swathered on their bodies. in any case, the peppers went through two pitchers in the bottom of the sixth, and the rockets dished up five singles, a double (by john riozzi, their only extra base hit). they got a walk and on by an error, for seven runs.
with the real temperature at 47, but with 17 mph wind gusts (i checked accuweather), making the real-feel temperature something like -18, the umps mercifully called an end to alaska ball. (my relief pitcher walked up to me on the bench and apologized for his performance - which i thought was fine - and said, "mike, i'm sorry, i just couldn't warm up.")
the rockets had the fine ability to do what wee-willie keeler said all ballplayers should do: hit them where they ain't. 15 of their 16 hits went for singles, most just behind an infielder, in front of an outfielder, though there were a few infield hits and errors, as always, kill us. but i'd argue that all three of our errors, in which balls hit gloves and popped out, were sun-induced. more on that below.
tip of the hat to bo faricau, the rockets starting pitcher - who may or may not have been the one jim preller was referring to in his game: bo is about 6'1, strong, i'd guess in his late 40s early 50s (gray hair visible undert he cap), and clearly someone with pitching experience. the righty has a very smooth delivery in which throws three-quarters to sidearm, and can hit the outside corner of the plate nicely. he mixes his curve with a decent fastball. he went all six innings without signs of strain. nice work.
manager john riozzi had the only extra base hit, a double in the bottom of the sixth, and one of the rockets - roster (1st name?) went 3-4.
for the peppers, mike bintz went 2-3 with a double, 2 rbi and a scored run, and mick mccallen also went 2-3, with an rbi, a run and a stolen base.
which takes us to fair play:it'd be nice if we could play the first half of our schedule in virginia or maryland, but the cold affects everyone equally. some have polar bear hides and can withstand it. but this is an unusually cold spring. next year, it'll 88 this time.
no, my real concern is the sun field we all play in. for two games now, i've played a total of about 4 innings at third base, and could not see the ball at all coming out of the setting sun. i'd guess about six balls were hit my way, i caught two, simply by guessing, and missed - that is, didn't see - four. one, in the last game, dribbled to my left - a child could have picked it up - and despite wearing state-of-the-art, couldn't-be-any-cooler sun glasses, i couldn't see it until it trickled past me about a foot to my left. against the o's, a runner stole third on us. i couldn't see the ball the catcher threw my way - though he bounced it - it scooted into left and the runner scooted home.
we obviously can't erect a sun wall at the field - or at suny albany where it's just as bad - and the sun condition at both fields is somewhat lessened in august.
in our game, both teams missed balls hit at them when the sun was at its worst, from say, 7:10 till 7:50. little can be done about that.
but two suggestions:
for safety's sake, recommend the third basemen play well back. otherwise, someone will get hurt. the pitcher and catcher can handle bunts and dribblers.
that we consider outlawing stealing third during the intense sun times - for the reasons cited above. changing game conditions to account for elements is something lots of teams do - i'm thinking now of wachonah park where they suspend play for 15 minutes at sundown because the setting sun shines in the batters' eyes. i'm sure there are other examples.
if we don't outlaw stealing third in intense sun times then we're giving up at least one base to the sun. you an argue that penalty applies to both teams, but it also handicaps both in that it's not a true measure of the skills of either team: the runner is not pitted against three fielders - pitcher, catcher, third-baseman - in a fair way.
just a thought. meanwhile, i look forward to summer.
