Sunday, August 04, 2013

Lost & Found


Saturday Evening

My week started with me finding out I lost my catcher's mask.







I thought I had it, but when I got to the field at M Street on Tuesday it wasn't in my equipment bag. I walked back to where I had parked my car. I assumed it had fallen out of the bag and was still in my trunk. Nope. Apparently, I was a dummy and I left it at the field on Sunday.

(I asked around, to see if anyone else picked it up, but no go. Sorry, Frankenmask. You treated me well for many years, saving my face from being caved in at least three or four times. I had hoped we would retire together, but I blew it.)

(This seriously sucks. I don't know that I have enough games left in my life to make it worthwhile to buy another mask at this late date. If I was really flush - had a lot of money to spare, that is - I'd buy one anyway. I can't justify an extra $80 or $100 expense right now.)

On to other pieces of shit from the past week.

If you've been reading my stuff about softball for a long while, then you probably think I write about anything I feel like writing about. That is, you may believe I never hold something back when I really have an urge to let it out. You would be wrong to think that. Sometimes I specifically make it a point to NOT talk about something. This week will be one of those weeks.

Believe me, there's something that happened this week that I'd love to lay out here; unburden my soul, so to speak. I won't do it, though, because it's a mess and I won't be around in the coming week to do my job as manager and clean up that mess. My good buddy and fellow coach, Robby Costello, will probably be the one who deals with it in some way or another. Meanwhile, I'll be down in Connecticut with Fast Freddie Goodman at a Black Sabbath concert.

(I miss a game maybe once every five years, if that. The only excuses I ever use for missing a game are family deaths and/or concerts with Fast Freddie. I'm serious. The reason I use concerts with FFG as a good excuse is because there are only three bands I ever go see in concert and how often will they interfere with softball? The groups, in case you're interested in what an old geezer like me gets off on, are Deep Purple, Black Sabbath, and AC/DC. Those groups don't tour every year. In the case of Black Sabbath, it's been about twelve years between tours. I promised Fred I'd go with him long before the schedule came out. When I saw the schedule, and also saw we had a game on the same night as Black Sabbath, there was no backing out of my promise to my buddy. We'll have a great time. I hope it rains, though, and I still get to play that game later in the season.)

You're probably a bit lost after all of the blather above. Let me give you some scores and I'll let you guess which game is sticking in my craw.

SOUTHSIDE TAVERN - 10  Brewers - 7
SOUTHSIDE TAVERN - 13  Cranberry Cafe - 13

We lost the second game.

Uh-Huh. Read the score again. Yeah, we lost a tie game.

Can I possibly just leave you hanging and not let you know how that was possible? Yes, I can. I have to do so because, as I say, it's a mess I'm not going to be able to clean up myself and I do not want to make it more difficult in any way for my fellow coach by giving details. It would mean airing our dirty laundry in public (which I might do if I was going to be around to face the situation, but would be self-serving and cowardly considering I'll be out of town.)

Sorry about that.

Suffice to say it was not a good night for my softball soul. The actual score went in the books as a 14 - 13 loss, a forfeit. Other than that, no more details will be given. Maybe I'll give the details to you later if the situation deteriorates and I don't think it will affect anything by that point. We'll see.

SOUTHSIDE TAVERN Statistics

 Meanwhile, let's move on to (I hope) happier things.

Sunday Afternoon

Boy, this is not the best week ever.

Titans -  3  BOMBERS - 0
Titans - 13 BOMBERS - 4

Obviously, the games did not make me happier. Our bats were dead, mine included (I went 0 for 3, playing at 1B and C in Game 2, and was rung up by the ump for my first strikeout of the year) and the Titans remain undefeated.

We'll meet them again in the finals, I hope. I'm sick of losing to those guys. I like them, personally, but we're something like 1 and 12 against them now over the past few seasons. And we're really not that much worse than them. We can beat them. I want another chance at it.

Not much to talk about. Dave Nutter had the best day at the plate, going 3 for 5. Jimmy Botting hit a 3-run homer in game two. That's about it. Big Jay Atton did a decent enough job pitching for us in game one, but when we as a team were racking up only four hits it didn't matter.

We get a week off because we still finished first in our division. We await the winner of Renegades - Moe Howard Club in the semi-finals.

Now for the surprisingly good news. Frankenmask lives!



[See him smiling?]


I got to the field at about 7:40am, well over an hour before game time. There are three diamonds at Smith Field, the park where we play. We were playing on Smith 3. Last week, we played on Smith 1, and that's where I left Frankenmask. I put my gear down on the bench at Smith 3, and took a walk over to Smith 1.

I didn't really expect to find Frankenmask still there after a whole week had passed. God only knows how many games were played between then and this morning. But, as I neared the field, I started scanning the bench area, always the optimist. I saw nothing.

Something caught my peripheral vision. Way off to the left I saw a bit of silver glinting in the morning sun. I turned my head for a better look. It was Frankenmask!

He was propped up on the furthest end of the outfield fence on a Little League diamond, facing the field like some sort of baseball scarecrow. I was so happy, I ran over there like a little kid. I may have even skipped. If the mask had never been put together with silvery duct tape (thus the name, Frankenmask) I never would have seen it.

God bless the kind soul who propped him up on the pole for me to see. And God bless however many other people saw the mask but didn't take it or throw it away or use it for target practice or whatever else. He was as good as new.

(Well, I mean he was as good as I had left him. Obviously, Frankenmask will never be 'as good as new'. He was pretty clean, though. I guess being left out in the rain a couple of nights didn't do him any harm. As a matter of fact, I can picture him sitting on that pole, the rain coming down, with thunder and lightning flashing all around him, and the winos who sleep at Smith during the night being scared shitless thinking they had some sort of softball delirium tremens.)

The surprisingly good news for you is that this is the last softball post for two weeks. If I write about anything else in the meantime, it will almost certainly be something having nothing to do with sports; maybe part of my Connecticut adventure with Fast Freddie.

BOMBERS Statistics 

Soon, with less batter stuff.


23 comments:

(not necessarily your) Uncle Skip said...

I'd like to come watch you in the playoffs again this year, but circumstances pretty much preclude that.
I haven't had a pastrami sandwich since Jake's, either.
Damn!

OldAFSarge said...

Wow, you had me on the edge of my seat with Frankenmask.

Love the mental picture of the winos freaking out over your mask.

Michelle H. said...

What if a bolt of lightning struck Frankenmask, giving it supernatural powers that won't manifest until your next game when you place it on? Like Thor with his mighty war hammer, may you strike down your enemies during your next games.

messymimi said...

Suldog, i'm sorry about the difficulty with your favorite sport this week. May you have fun at the concert and be rewarded with coming back to a much better situation and in a better frame of mind.

joeh said...

Softball people know...just leave it alone and the owner will find it...but a full week...that is a little surprising.

Jackie said...

Have a safe and enjoyable trip to Connecticut with Fast Freddie. I'm so happy you found your mask.

Ami said...

The least you could do is post a photo of you and Frankenmask together. Spell check doesn't like 'frankenmask' for some reason..hmm.

Safe travels.

Absolut Ruiness said...
This comment has been removed by the author.
Absolut Ruiness said...

There's nothing better than a "Mask and Face reunited " story.(I had missed the word "better" in the previous attempt. Hence the deletion.)

Anonymous said...

Whew! I'm so glad you found Frankenmask!! I'm sorry about the lost tie game. Something really bad must have happened. Have fun at Black Sabbath. I vaguely remember seeing them way back in '78 or '79 on Halloween with KISS...

Buck said...

That's a great lost-and-found story... you lucked out.

Not so much on the outcome of this week's games, though. My condolences.

Maggie May said...

Glad you found it. Looks quite sinister even when its smiling!
Maggie x

Nuts in May

Daryl said...

hooooorah!!!!!!!!! so glad lost is now found

Chris said...

Rough week indeed, but hey, you got the mask back and you get to see Sabbath. Could be worse.

sandyland said...

ah the memories of one destined mask an d its buddy .........I may be working soon

Babs said...

Oh Congrats, that's always a good feeling to find what you think is history.
I never notice sports much at all but the newspapers have been slammed with a lot of things concerning naughty baseball players. I don't know what else to say about that, so I'll not "go there".
hmmm

Craig said...

Yeah, even just sitting there by itself, the mask has a kind of 'cyborgian' vibe about it, doesn't it? Stick it on a pike, in a thunderstorm. . . the mind simply boggles. . .

Just as an aside, I love those little bits of 'technology transfer'; how many years had hockey goalies been wearing masks like that, before some baseball catcher took note, and said to himself, "Hey. . . y'know. . ."

Suldog said...

Best thing that ever happened to me was the wrap-around mask. I have never been able to break myself of the habit of turning my head on a bounced curveball, leading to a couple of instances over the years where I took one off the ear with the old style of mask.

Sandi McBride said...

Black Sabbath? Give me the Pistol Annies lol...my son would go see Sabbath in a heart beat. Great news about Frankenmask...
Sandi

Saz said...

tis great to hear you blether on about the game..even if you lost me at hello!!

saz x

CiCi said...

Frankenmask continues to serve you well. Glad you were reunited. You of course write a story in an interesting way, which is why I have been reading your posts all these years.

Hilary said...

Very cool that Frankenmask was waiting for you to find him. I'm glad for you. Have fun at the concert... I know you will.

Jenn Flynn-Shon said...

Sorry to read about you guys losing the games but the good news about finding your mask at the end was fantastic! Hope you enjoyed the show, heard it was a wild time.