If your name was "Mike" on Friday, August 11, and you were at New Scotland field, in an Americans uniform, then the chances were good
that the team manager, also named Mike, would give you hill time.

Because that's what it was, the Mike-Mike battery, three times over in an important game for the Americans. The team needed a win
to end the season above .500 at 8-7 and also to finish in third place, one half game better than last season.

Though the Americans were facing the 2-10 Peppers, victory wasn't, as it never is, preset The Peppers could do damage. On July 24,
they threw a good scare into then unbeaten Yankees when the Peppers lost 3-2 late in the game.

So manager Mike LaBarge's three pitchers, starter Mike Hart, and relievers Mike Kane and Mike Aiello, kept the ball down, got
a lot of grounders that the quick infield scooped up, and allowed only four hits, as the Americans won their finale with an 11-3 score.
This was Hart's and Aiello's first times on the hill this year and only the second (or perhaps third) for Kane.

The game had an emotional pull for Hart because he was facing a club that he'd founded in 2002 and last managed in 2018.
He knows most of the players, managed a number of them, and admires them all. That admiration rises mainly from the fact that
these Peppers keep at the game, they keep coming back, and they keep their spirits up. Afterwards, there were high fives and
back slapping and laughs that were every bit the equal of any good moment in the game.

The Americans bats regularly sent the ball flying, getting 14 hits in 32 at-bats. Leading the hitters were shortstop Vinny Koster, who went 2-for-2
with a walk. Third baseman Mike Kane posted a 2-for-3 evening as did Gibby Travis and Jim Porter, who also shared first base.

The Peppers have one game left, Friday against the 1-11 Pirates.

-Mike



-- Edited by mikehart on Sunday 13th of August 2023 03:07:10 AM