Now that's what I was talking about. 10 - 2 against the defending champs, who had lost only two games this year. And there were a lot of heros.
Let's start with Jimmy. As Arch pointed out, he set the tone in the top of the first by singling and then "stealing" third on Arch's smash through the six hole when he saw that no one was covering the bag. M
ike followed with a deep sac fly and Pete drove in a run with another single.
Greenwich tied it up with single runs in the first and third.
I'm not exactly sure how we scored our third run in the bottom of the fifth. Fred had informed me this morning that he probably couldn't play because of a sprained ankle but he was coming to the game anyway to cheer us on. He took BP, though, and said he felt good enough to hit. And that's exactly what he did leading off the inning. I was on deck taking some practice swings and the next thing I knew, there was Fred standing on third. I knew what I had to do — get it out of the infield — and came as far from executing as is humanly possible. But the catcher evidently decided to play my nubber, despite the fact that it was spinning back and would have gone foul. Somehow Fred, bum ankle notwithstanding, scored and I found myself on first.
The sixth was a inning of beauty. With two outs, Jim worked a walk. Arch did the same. Fundamentally beautiful ball. "I knew Mike was due," Arch said later. He was. His screaming double to the left-center gap scored both Jimmy and Arch. Pete followed with a key RBI single, Jason walked, Fred singled for another RBI, as did I, as did Robert. When all was said and tallied, we'd scored seven runs with two outs.
There were some defensive gems, too. Kevin snared a line drive from their leadoff hitter in the top of the first; in the bottom of the seventh, Mike made a leap that would have made Tara proud, grabbing another liner and doubling a runner off second to end the game. Ed caught a ball in moderately deep right then, on the fly, tossed out a runner trying to tag from third. Huge play, as the bases were loaded with one out at the time. Arch played his typically seamless short. Robert made a great tag on my throw from the outfield to nab a runner trying to stretch a single. Jimmy made a tough play look easy on a hard hit liner that was right at him and over his head. I had a dive, and there's nothing more fun than that. Almost. I'm not that old.
Lary was back behind the plate after a two-month hiatus and he and Mark once again teamed up with Jay to keep their big boppers off stride.
Like I said, that's what I was talking about. Did we suck or what?
I know Mike's good to play two games Thursday (7 p.m. start) and I suspect just about everyone else is, too. But please confirm.