To understand how the over-62 Americans rallied from a 7-0 deficit in the third frame to edge the Pirates, 10-8, in seven innings on Monday night at New Scotland, it probably helps to overhear what Don Ball said to me as we were sitting on the bench watching our team rally.
And to do that, it's necessary to understand a little unintentional team comedy that precedes it.
At every game, manager Mike LaBarge fills out the team's batting order not long after he arrives at the field and, like nearly all the managers, he does so from memory. Mike appears to have a fine memory, but it's hard to recall all the names on the team's 14-man roster, especially given a manager's busy pre-game duties.
Which leads us to the "forgotten man" on the roster. So far, I'm guessing, about a quarter of the team may have earned the honor.
It usually follows this path: A player will check the posted batting order, not see his name, and ask Mike, who bats everybody, what's up. To which Mike will respond, "Oh! It looks like you're the 'forgotten man' tonight." Everyone smiles. A moment later, Mike will say. "OK, you're batting last." And the player's name gets tacked on.
So Don Ball, who usually bats high in the order, "won the award" Monday night, batting 13th.
Midway through the game, Don sat next to me on the bench after he'd just gotten a hit. He was nodding, appeared to be musing something over.
"You know what?" Don said, turning to me. "Batting at the bottom of the order isn't so bad."
Why's that, I asked.
"Because you see a lot of fastballs."
I laughed. I knew what he was talking about. It's probably the case that lots of pitchers in the league think, as they cruise past their opponents' ninth batter, that they can blow by batters in the 10th through the various teen spots, relying on the old hummer.
So, Don, batting after 12 others, saw fastballs and liked them. His bat helped the bottom-of-the-order rise.
First the game, which for the Americans, was teeter, then tauter.
Initially, it was the Pirates who were hitting, and their batsmen helped the team to a 7-0 lead after three innings. Among their boppers were centerfielder Jim Jasiewicz who went 3-for-4, with a run scored, left fielder Ken Shaw who was 2-for-3 and a scored run, right fielder Rick Knipper put up a 2-for-4 night, crossing the plate twice, and shortstop Paul Peters was 1-for-2 with two walks.
But in the bottom of the third, the upper part of the Americans order, in particular Mike LaBarge (1-2 with two walks) and Rich Garbarino (1-for-3), began hitting and sending runners around the bases.
The Americans put up four runs in the third, four in the fifth, and two in the sixth to take the lead with, then, a 10-7 score. The Pirates threatened in the later innings, but were able to plate just one run in the sixth.
It was in the fourth, fifth and sixth frames that the bottom half of the Americans order rose, accounting for seven of the team's 10 runs.
In that group, Anthony Torre earned 3 base on balls, with a run scored, Ben Patrone, who continued his good hitting after a 2-for-2 night in Saugerties on Friday, went 1-for-2 with a walk, and 2 runs scored; your scribe had a 3-for-3 night with two runs scored, and the aforementioned Don Ball went 2-for-3 and crossed the plate twice, a memorable night for a "forgotten man."
-Mike Hart
-- Edited by mikehart on Wednesday 2nd of August 2023 02:24:03 AM
