i frequently start these notes with comments about the weather - because in summer ball that always seems to play some role. but in the two games the catskill rockets and red hot chili peppers have played this season, the weather has gone from playing a role to being a role player.
first, the linescore for wednesday night, 6/29 at cba:
rockets: 0 0 0 1 3 0 x 4 6 0 peppers: 2 1 0 0 0 x x 3 7 3
good defense, singles and stolen bases dominated.
the peppers took a 3-0 lead through 4, thanks largely to the old hit and run. and we kept the good-hitting rockets off the board partly with several fine defensive plays, including one at home in which catcher mark meyers flipped a shovel toss on his knees from the backstop to pitcher matt leinung who snapped his glove down on the sliding runner inches before the plate.
the rockets took advantage of walks - scoring all four of their runs in almost the same fashion: one or two bases on balls followed by a timely single or sacrifice.
for the rockets, bo faviccio (sp?) pitched a fine game, getting three strikeouts and allowing only two walks, while matt leinung and john weber did much the same for the peppers, giving up only six hits between them, but allowing six walks.
and the weather? we had to end this tight game after 5 1/2 innings. it was so dark from the incoming clouds that from where i stood - in left field (about 75 feet from the bleachers, where about a dozen fans made the trek from hudson.it was nice to see them, though a bit unusual: they brought whistles and thunder sticks. we've never had cheerleaders tooting plastic whistles before at cba, but they were having a good time), i couldn't see the ball leaving the pitcher's hand, let alone coming off the bat. the umps were right to call the game when they did - but the sting of missing two innings worth of at-bats was still there. manager john clapper said something appropos at the end, "great game, let's hope the next one is in the sun."
right on: but maybe not too much sun. if we lost this one partly because there was no sun, we lost our first game against the rockets partly because there was too much sun. of course, the rockets also hit the ball very well in that early may game, but many of their hits in the late innings at the knick went to the left side of the diamond - coming out of the setting sun right at our third baseman, shortstop and left fielder, followed by a glove full of errors.
lose in the dark, lose in the sun. to quote casey stengel, "go figure."
still, it was a great game. - mike h.
P.S. one last comment about maintaining cba: teams that have been using cba have been very good about dragging the field after the game and raking and tamping around home and the pitcher's mound. and everything has been nicely stored in the shed - so thank you for that. but i'd ask teams to do one more thing - and that's to police the area and broom out the dugouts after the games. there are brooms in the shed. at our last game, i found lots of dirt, seeds, an empty can of chewing tobacco (please, not at the field), tape, and several half finished bottles of water and juice drinks on the benches or floor. takes about 5 minutes to clean that stuff up. thanks, guys. - mike
