May 13, 2023: Third Game was a Charm

posted in: Cubs, White Sox | 0

Friday night was our 2nd baseball game of the season; of course, there was some more rain in the forecast. We ended up losing 9-4, but I didn’t feel that bad about it. Their first six runs were all earned, meaning, they weren’t due to us walking or hitting a batter; seven out of the total nine runs given up were of that variety. I can live with that. Sure, should our defense had made a play or two more, yes, but in general, they hit the ball where we weren’t; that will happen. On the flip side, we didn’t; we had plenty of chances to score more runs, but couldn’t seem to get the big hit. One of the best parts of the game was that we found another pitcher, actually two pitchers. Kid pitched for the first time, and threw strikes; I was satisfied. Then the big kid on our team, literally 5’10” came in and dominated for 2 innings; he’ll literally be our ace in the hole come playoff time… as long as travel baseball doesn’t interfere; we’ll see. But, we have options on the mound; Saturday would bring another option.

The team we played on Saturday was good; at least, that’s what everybody kept telling me. This team has more travel players than anybody else. This team is stacked. This team is loaded. Well, OK then… I guess we’re going to get steamrolled? I think that’s what the other team thought too, but… Saturday morning brought us another example of why we play the games; yes, the third game was a charm, as we got our first W of the season 7-3. We started a kid that had pitched in a previous game; he was outstanding, shutting them out for 3 innings. Next up, was a new arm to the rotation, an old arm to me; yes, my son would pick up the ball for the bottom of the 4th inning. I was looking for him, hoping for him, to pitch the rest of the innings. I told him… look, I’m not expecting you to shut them out… just throw strikes… and that’s exactly what he did. He did allow 2 runs in that first inning he pitched, the first one was of the “free pass” variety. The next inning he bounced back, going 1-2-3, with a grounder back to the mound and 2 Ks; he was zoned in now. In the bottom of the sixth inning, a leadoff walk came around to score, before he told me his arm was hurting. Now, my son complains about ailments from time to time; was your arm really hurting? He told me he could get through the inning. He struck out a batter for the 2nd out, but then looked like he was in pain; had to take him out… guess he WAS hurting this time. Can’t mess around with that. With only 4 outs remaining in the game, and kids unavailable to pitch due to pitch counts, we went to another 11 year old to bring us home… and he did. Yes!!! And about that hitting… we couldn’t get the big hit on Friday; we got a bunch of big hits in this one. A 2nd inning double that brought home 2 runs, and two 2 out, bases loaded singles that brought home 2 each. My son was on base all 4 times he came up, and scored 3 of those runs. Awesome!

The kids were pumped and so was I. This game where we were going to get slaughtered had turned into our first win. Now that we’ve gotten that out of the way… let’s start stacking them! 2 more games next weekend on tap. Let’s go!

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