A Pleasant Sunday

It was a short softball week, but a pleasant one.

BOMBERS – 12 Moe Howard Club – 9

BOMBERS – 13 Moe Howard Club – 3

These two wins bring our record in the Sunday league to 3 and 1, firmly in third place (of eight teams.) It’s early in the season, but I really like what I’ve seen of this team thus far. We’ve got a strong lineup pretty much top to bottom. Our pitching staff is deep. I have no doubt we’ll make the playoffs, and then we’ll see what happens.

(Quencher, my weekday team, was rained out. With the rainouts piling up, and the season having already been shortened due to a pending re-sod of the field in August, we’ll now be scheduling make-up games on Saturdays, a first for this league. I thought it would be fine by me, since I have no life, but I do have MY WIFE, and we had just made tentative plans for the weekend when the games are now re-scheduled. Ick.)

Anyway, back to the Bombers. We’ve picked up three new players for this season and I like them all. They all bring good things to the team.

Robby Costello is a pitcher and third baseman. Very funny guy with a live fastball. What more could a manager ask for? He’s pitched well so far. There were some control issues in the first game this week, but while he walked eight, he also struck out eight, so it was fun to watch.

Jimmy Botting is either the younger brother or older brother of three-year Bomber, Billy Botting. Being as ancient as I am, I can’t tell who’s older when two people are both under thirty-five. Hell, I’m lucky I can see them at all without my glasses. Even if I was blind, though, I’d be able to tell Jimmy is a good ballplayer.

(Not really. If I was blind, I wouldn’t have any idea. It sounded good, though, huh?)

Jimmy has speed to burn. Every single is a possible double if he’s in the mood. Sometimes, he’s not in the mood to stop at third base when his coach asks him to do so, but he wasn’t out and he understands why it was a mistake, so I still like him. Besides, he’s got everything else you’d want in a ballplayer, just like his older (or younger) brother, Billy – good stick, range in the field, strong arm, and a great attitude.

Speaking of a great attitude, Bennett is the third new player. He’s a friend of Billy and Jimmy (don’t ask me if he’s younger or older) and – this is a compliment – I don’t think he’d say shit even if he had a mouthful. Due to our numbers, he’s been used sparingly. But he understands the situation and he’s raring to go when he gets in. Every team needs good guys like Bennett who are ready to go when their number is called.

Some of you (although I’m not sure why) like to hear about how I did personally. I’m happy to report I feel like I actually did contribute to a win this week. My bat is still about as useful as… well, I could be carting a piece of taffy to the plate and accomplish as much. I popped up and drew a walk in my two at-bats. But I did a good job behind the plate when I replaced Joey Baszkiewicz in game one. As mentioned previously, Robby walked eight. In the final three innings, while I was catching him, he gave up one hit, walked none, and struck out three. None of that is to diss Joey; he’s a fine catcher. But sometimes it works to change the target when a guy is struggling with his control, and it did in this case. Robby threw what I suggested, hit the glove where I put it, and I was lucky enough to hang on to two foul tips for third strikes.

(Guys always come up to you after the inning and say stuff like, “Good job on that foul tip, Sully!” and other nice things. I appreciate the thought, but it’s about 99% chance and 1% talent. If it hits me in the glove, I might catch it. The only talent is remembering to close the glove. It’s not like any catcher has time enough to react to make that play, or the superman-like reflexes it would take to do anything about it even if he had the time.)

I have one last thing to mention before I go earn an actual living. Big Jay Atton pitched game two. It was his first start since being [LINK] hit in the face with a line drive at M Street last Friday. I’m happy to report he pitched well and he didn’t seem to let what happened to him affect his performance. That’s good news. Aside from being my good buddy, he’s been our ace for a while now and we won’t win any championship without him. If he throws like he did yesterday, we’re in good shape.

BOMBER STATS

QUENCHER STATS

Quencher will be playing Tuesday and Friday, the Bombers take the field for another doubleheader on Sunday, and I’ll be back to tell you about all of it a week from today. That’s sad news for some of you, but too bad. I’ll give you something that’s NOT about softball tomorrow, so the words below might still apply.

Soon, with more better stuff.