On Sunday, June 28, in the first of two Capital Division games, at roughly 3 p.m. something happened, and we ain't dreaming this.
Nor am I making it up. It really happened:
Jim Jasiewicz, the Cap Division coordinator, saw it happen and he called it "rare."
I didn't see it happen (much to my regret, my game was at 5:30) but I'd call it rare, too. And more.
Just reading about it, the event struck me as rare squared.
This is Jim's account, slightly edited.
"Ryan Visco hit two error-free, inside-the-park home runs to the fence in right center in the first game.
"He hit the solo shot to start the inning."
And then, then, here's the kicker:
"Ryan hit a Grand Slam inside the park shot to end the same inning. It is note worthy. "
Right you are, Jim. Two at-bats, two inside-the-parkers, and five RBI.
What are the odds?
Them's the kinds of stats you take home and tell the dogs about.
Congratulations, twice over, Ryan.
There followed a second game, between, again, the Reds and my club, the Blues and the Reds won something like 20-12, though after three the Blues led by a run, 7-6.
Fortune changes fast, and unpredictably, in this game.
Ask the Brooklyn Dodgers.
Ask the Mets.
Plays of note in Sunday's second game: First, righty Jerry Staves of the Blues hit back-to-back triples to right. They were socked. Nice high rising and bending white balls, crashing at the fence.
And he's a righty.
And I never get tired of seeing guys do more than one thing: So the Blues Mike Navirta played short, pitched and then caught the last two innings, while also socking a single and a double his first two times up. Nice to see that stretch of talent, especially among the young. I'd guess Mike is still in his early 20s.
Representing the middle age guys, the Reds Greg Kennedy, a 40-something, pitched three,- maybe more? -innings littering the scorebook with more than one strikeout on a nice fastball- change combo.
As for this 79-year-old (as of last Wednesday): damn. A lesson for everybody. Arrogance will get you every time. I walked, stole second and had me a nice lead off the bag, when a voice told me, "Go, old man, Run!" There's a difference between thinking you've got a bag stolen and owning that fact. Catcher Amber Ring has a fine arm to third and I got nabbed by a step.
Alas, there's worse. Yet not.
Here's a word about stretching muscles and bones and experimenting when you're playing.
In the process of throwing these old bones at the bag, I felt something sharp pinch the outside of my right knee bone. I've had that pinch before. That knee has twice seen the surgeon's knife (other bones, too; ten surgeries from 2008 to 2018) and it has a funny quality: if I go straight, no pain; but if I spin on that knee, which is my back knee at the plate, there are complaints to attend to.
So I thought: I've got about two more at bats in the game. It didn't pinch me to spring off my back knee, instead of turning on it, which did send out a piccolo of pain. So in my next two at-bats I did something I never did: I experimented in the game. I leapt at the incoming pitch and went 0-for-2, grounding out and whiffing after a decent start.
The lesson here: in-game repairs are hard to make. If you think you need to change something in your swing or your pitch, go backwards. Make fewer not more movements. Be modest and clever with your efforts. The body rules. Tip your cap to it. Don't push it too hard. Your body got you this far. Wait a week before you throw that two-hitter or sock a ball to the fence.
The great Negro Leagues' and American League pitcher, Satchel Paige, who last took the hill when he was 56, pitching for the Royals, put it like so: "I don't generally like running. I believe in training by rising gently up and down from the bench."
He also said: "Keep the juices flowing by jangling around gently as you move."
So let me end with a really good thought (really good thoughts are the secret to not aging - visibly - in case you were wondering; don't need no creams, just good thoughts):
"Ryan Visco hit two error-free, inside-the-park home runs to the fence in right center in the first game. He hit the solo shot to start the inning. Then "Ryan hit a Grand Slam inside-the-park shot to end the same inning. It is note worthy. "
