The weather guys had predicted rain all weekend, so I was expecting to not even work. But, like usual, the weather guys were wrong. Although early on it looked like they may be right. When I woke up at 6:30 am for my 8 am game, it was cloudy, damp and a little cool. After calling the league's hotline number to confirm the games were still on, I got dressed and started walking to the Great Lawn in Central Park. The Park is only about a five minute walk from my apartment, so I was happy about that. The Great Lawn is a huge oval of grass and LIttle League/softball fields which is used by ball players, kite flyers and sun bathers alike, and all at the same time. It seperates the Upper East and West Side, and stretches from 77th St. to 86th St., approximately. It is the heart of Central Park and a popular meeting place for the locals who hang out in the city on the weekends. It's also where the New York Philharmonic and Metropolitan Opera set up for their summer productions. And apparantly at 7:30am on a Saturday, the paved oval that surrounds the lawn is a meeting place for dozens and dozens of dogs. How nice.
The morons at the Parks Department do not actually open up the Lawn, however, until 8 am exactly, which makes it pretty difficult to start the game on time. I was shocked and impressed to see though that they dragged and raked the field that early. That was always one of the advantages, as I remember, of playing the day's first game: a freshly dragged infield. It started to drizzle a little bit and I was worried we wouldn't get the games in. The gates were finally opened and I allowed the two teams, the Bobcats and the Coyotes, some time to warm up. I also had to put the bases out and make sure they were 60 feet apart. I used the tape measure to be official.
After the usual meetings with the coaches, it was finally time to play ball. I recognized the light blue uniforms of the Bobcats from last week. I also recognized the short chubby kid who happened to be pitching this week. This kid was a dead on ringer for the fat kid in the movie Little Giants. If you've seen the movie, you know who I'm talking about. If you haven't seen the movie, go see it so you'll know who I'm talking about. Not much to report on this game. The Bobcats took another one on the chin, getting pummeled by a score of 16-3, I think. To be honest, I stopped counting at that point. Fortunately for the Bobcats, the game ended after 5 innings, because we reached the 2 hour time limit. A representative from the league, Elon, was also present and he was the one who enforced the time limit. The rule states that an inning cannot be started with less than 15 minutes to go before the 2 hour max. We were at 10 minutes and because there was a game after this one, we had to be strict with it.
The Pumas and Colts provided a little more excitement in the 2nd game, and by a little, I mean a whole lot. These were clearly the top 2 teams in the league, and it showed in the first inning. The Pumas, wearing black, loaded the bases in the top half on 3 singles. This was a first for me. The pitcher actually threw strikes and the hitters actually hit the ball. And the kid playing SS wasn't bad either, as he turned an impressive unassisted double play to end the inning, catching a hard line drive and touching 2nd to keep the game scoreless. Not bad. The bottom half of the inning was just as impressive as the Pumas pitcher threw nothing but strikes, and the Colts went 3 up and 3 down, even though they put the ball in play all 3 outs. Wow, I thought to myself, finally a well played game.
I was wrong. The same kid who threw nothing but strikes in the top of the first, couldn't get anything over the plate in the top of the second.
I know I haven't played organized ball in awhile, and I'm sure Little League has changed a little since I played it, but the last time I checked, there's a reason why the guy who sits behind the plate and wears all that gear is called a "Catcher". He is supposed to "catch" the ball. Well, someone forgot to explain that to the kid who caught for the Colts. I was waiting for this day to come and thank goodness the balls are a little softer than the real things. I still have a little bruise on my right forearm, also a little swollen, and I have a bruise on my right hip. I also took a foul tip off the face mask, which didn't hurt a bit actually, but knocked the mask right off. This kid who they had the nerve to put behind the plate, not only couldn't catch anything, and I mean anything, he also stood up out of his crouch on almost every single pitch just before the ball crossed the plate. I have to tell you, that makes it very difficult for an umpire to see balls and strikes. I wanted to ask the coach if they had anyone else they could put back there, but that would I have been wrong I think. I was real close to just asking if I could borrow a glove and catch and umpire at the same time. That would have been a lot easier, and probably fun too.
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