Thanks for your kind comments, Tony. Da Bums bats finally came alive last night , led by Mark Gleason with 2 hits and a walk, an RBI, and a run scored. Mark caught the entire game, as our regular catcher had a prior commitment. Rich Frank was also 2-3 with 2 runs scored and an RBI, and al Tawardi had 2 hits in 3 trips with a run scored. Jim Saint came out of his hitting funk, going 2-2 with a walk, a run scored(by his replacement runner), and an RBI.
Unfortunately, our pitching somewhat let us down. Ed Rogers, who started and pitched well for 2 innings, suffered leg cramps and had to leave the game. Walks and shoddy defense rose up to bit the other 2 pitchers.
Congratulations to the Vets, who, except for one inning, played a good, tight ballgame, and deserved the win.
Now for the bad news.
It isn't often that players our age allow their stupidity to show, but unfortunately it happened last night. One of the Vet players ( I know who it is, but I"ll take care of it myself) made a comment right in front of a group of our wives: " I don't know why these jerks bother showing up. They don't know what they're doing". Let me address that now, and I hope the moron involved reads this. Without making any excuses about Da Bums being an expansion team populated by players other teams didn't want, and by people who haven't played baseball in a while(in some cases years), we show up because we love the game. And say what you will about Da Bums, there isn't a player on the team who knows how to quit. Whether we're down 2 runs or 16, we keep playing as hard as we can for as long as we can. I'm very proud of every member of Da Bums. May I suggest that if you have any more STUPID comments, that you have the grace, or the courage to come and make them to me.
As my good friend Dennis Miller says: "Thats just my opinion, I could be wrong"