For the first time in their long and storied history, the Cougars started the season with a win, as they bested the Cyclones Sunday at Satellite in the freezing cold, 9-5.
Strong pitching, solid defense, and timely hitting carried the day for the Cats. Starter Mike Hart yielded no earned runs in the two innings he pitched, before leaving the game with a severely lacerated earlobe that he sustained by getting hit by a pitch. Wow-ee, it's really amazing how much blood an earlobe can hold! A trip to the hospital followed, and we were relieved to learn that Mike is fine and rarin' to get back to it.
Mike was relieved by Frank Montagano, who notched the win. All told, Cougars pitching held the scrappy Cyclones to just four hits and four walks on the day, with six strikeouts. The difference in the game was the Cougars new-look defense, which after some early jitters, played errorless ball for the last five innings. Rob Currier was magical behind the plate for the Fightin' Felines, combining deft skills with impressive field generalship. Dennis Newell was smooth at first base, saving a couple of iffy throws with soft-handed grabs. Jeffrey Singer, fighting a blustery wind in left field, made an impressive catch going to his left for what had to be the defensive play of the day for the Cougars.
On offense, the Cougars tallied ten hits, with Mick McCallen, Rob Currier, and Michael Gannon netting two hits each. Jim Tino chipped in with a vicious double to right, and Jeffrey Singer had a two-rbi single in the fifth, as the Cats put up five runs to take the lead.
Don Shultis was the hard-luck starter for the Cyclones, going five strong innings in defeat. If the Cyclones had made a few more plays behind him, it would have been a much closer game. Don was relieved in the sixth by fire-baller Rob Koster.
For the Cyclones on offense, Mark Mitchell had two hits. Brian Quinn added a single and Don Shultis a double.
The Cyclones are a tough bunch and it's always a pleasure to see my buddy Harold Jenkins back in action. Good luck to all of them for the coming season.
thanks, tommy. and frank. first pitch of the season landed in my helmet's earhole. how 'bout that, fans? (and i was at the plate with bases loaded and no outs! now, leaving that really hurt.) frank's right, earlobes have lots of blood. and that was the main cut, but there were three others that added to the flow.
i blame myself for this: though i have a big head, my helmet, believe it or not, was still too loose on it. a tight helmet, and i'd have been fine. the loose helmet's plastic edges slid into my ear. (take note, fellow players, if you have large, air-cooled helmets, you might want to consider turning them into bird feeders.) i got a tight one now. also, the great baseball writer roger angell writes that "baseball rewards attention." if i'd been more attentive, and stepped more lively, i'd probably have dipped my noggin and finished that at-bat. so it's best that i re-learn that lesson early.
mainly, it was messy and i want to thank my teammates and several guys on the cyclones - among them brian quinn, don shultis and cos dibari - for their concern and help. it was especially nice of cos to drop by and ask after me, after i'd plunked him on the shoulder the inning before. (it was cold out there; i coulda used some pine tar.)
at st. peter's, the doctor, a smart woman, looked at me and said, "some water, some ointment, some tape, a tetanus shot and you'll be fine. i mean, tomorrow, you'll probably look like rocky hit you, but in a week or so you'll have your clark gable ears back." hmmmm, i thought, how about that? she compared me to gable. then, when i got outside, i thought, "hey, clark gable had huge ears! only dumbo's were bigger!" what a day.
-mike
p.s. the doctor didn't mention rocky or gable. but it seemed like a good way to end the story. i mean, who wants to end it with the words "tetanus shot?"
Glad you are OK, Mikey. Yeah, where's the pine tar!
On a safety note, if there is anyone in the league qualified to operate a defibrilator, there's one in the first-aid box on the back wall of the shed at the Satellite field. This was brought up, ironically, by Mike Hart several years ago. I don't know who is responsible for putting it there, but hopefully we'll never need it.
it's there, been there all this time. it isn't ours, the battery is low and its beeping like the battery in your smoke detector. . I'll ask about it. in the meantime stay healthy. Jreel
