Twice this season, the first-place, over-62 Yankees, beat the third and/or fourth-place Americans in the last inning.

We're talking game's end folks! When things were nearly done. That's twice, as in two straight times. Both times
los Americanos were ahead with a half inning to go.

And then Yankees hit and we lost.

It's enough to give old ballplayers a condition.

Send them to the shrink.

Give 'em hives.

So, on a night when the game-time temperature at Watervliet high, was 94 degrees, two hours later, a new hope
rode on the hot air in the Americans' dugout: As the seventh and final frame started, the 5-4-1 Americans
led the 9-1 Yankees by a thin 2-1 score.

So maybe those heads under 11 A's caps, and the 10 under NY caps were all thinking: "Here we go again?"

The thought, if it were there, came and went fast: With one out, things taut turned tense: the Yankees Kevin Carpenter singled
and then stole second, whereupon, Ron Smaka does what he has done before: the clutch hit. He doubled to right center, scoring Kevin.

But Americans reliever Don Ball stayed cool, which, if you think about it, was as important as where his pitches
went, and he induced a groundout to himself and then finished with a strikeout, as the game ended 2-2.

Afterwards, it could very well be that those brain cells under Americans caps were forming the words: "We're
getting there. Each game, a little closer. One day. One day."

For now, the A's will accept an unusual posting in the league's standings: We're 5-4-2. We've tied the two teams just above us, the
9-2-1 Arachnids and the now 9-1-1 Yanks.

I don't have the scorebook here, but the few jottings I took in my own notepad, tell me that Americans' starter Mike Kane went four (or five)
innings, holding the Yanks to just one run.

The Americans scored their two runs early thanks to hits by Mike Kane (a double), and singles by Rich Garbarino, Steve Lounello, Jesse Braverman
and Anthony Torre. Tony had a 2-for-3 night.

John Weber pitched a terrific game for the Yankees, going the whole way on a hot and steamy night and giving up a paltry few hits.
He, not just the heat, was en fuego! with pitches that moved.

Taut and warm as the game was, it had its light moments.

Among them, a sighting of longtime CDMSBL player Pete Zamory, who had a knee rebuilt over the winter. He's not playing yet,
but he's here, getting psychically ready. The often long-ball socking catcher/third-baseman said he couldn't
tear himself away from over-62 ball, even though he and his family have moved to one of the Carolinas. Forget which one.

So Pete said his wife told him (one of the sweetest things any married ballplayer could hear): don't be moping
around here all summer. in his Carolina territory, Pete's wife knew he'd be teased by just watching the only
adult ball they have there, an over-30 league. So she said, wisely, this, more or less: " Why don't you go rent a
room up north for two months where you can watch games and bother your friends?"

Turns out one of the Americans' players, Jim Konstantakis, had a space to let, so Pete took it, leaving him free to go from
game to game now, seeing what he would have missed. It's not clear if Pete will get into a game before the season ends,
but knowing him, he's been swinging a bat.

There's more good news: The new Carolina resident expects to travel somewhere between 650 and 900 miles (depending on
which state he'll exit from) to play here next season.

And one more yet: Pete mostly hung out around the Yankees' third base dugout, but he did make a visit to the Americans' rest stop.
After sharing his news of his surgery with guys on the bench, Pete turned to me and said, "How much you want
to bet, you go down this bench and you'll find it's surgery row, here?" Very likely true, I said, and then I turned to
watch six of my teammates shout, with pleasure, something at a player running to first. I suspect these guys would
say their cuttings, repairs and therapies have been worth it. Where else can they still shout at a gray hair running to first
some fifty feet in front of them?

There were two good one-liners during the game that I can't not jot down here. They reveal characters.

First, there's our starter Mike Kane. After about three or four innings on the hill, where mostly he toiled untouched, he came
into the dugout, looked around, sat, and said, "Whew!" Someone else said, "Yeah, hot." Then Mike thought for a moment
and he suggested he's gassed not so much from the heat, but the passage of time.

"You know, years ago," Mike said, "when I was just getting into the league, I didn't feel like I was ready for the day,
unless I got up in the morning and ran six miles." Mike paused and thought back to those days. Then he said,
"Now, if I have to play a game and the lawn needs mowing on the same day? The lawn waits a day."

Then, as I was leaving the park after the game with the Yanks' Angel Rodriguez, I said to Angel, "Good game,
eh, Angel?"

Angel nodded. "Real good," he said.

Why, I asked, do you think its real good?

"Because," he said, smiling, "nobody lost."


- Mike Hart




-- Edited by mikehart on Wednesday 17th of July 2024 12:41:24 PM