Score: 7-4
Location: Founding Fathers Jr. Field (Arlington, VA)
Due to the continued suckiness of Butler Holmes Park - Field 2 we decided to try to make peace with the trailers that had once colonized our beloved Founding Fathers Field. The result was a harmonious integration of the trailers as homerun markers into a beautiful new Founding Fathers Jr. Field.
What looked to be a hitter-friendly park turned out (on this day at least) to be very offense minimizing. Any time you felt like you got a hold of one it would seemingly catch some dense air in left field and float around, giving the outfielder plenty of time to track it down for a flyout.
To start the game off in the top of the 1st I hit one such deadened line drive to shallow left that Paul made an old-man lumbering run at but couldn't quite get to before it dropped in for a single. Then A-Man followed up with a high pop-up that landed just a few feet behind Bluth -- we all watched (including Bluth) as Paul hustled in from deep left to try to make a play at it but it was apparent it would drop in for a single. [Bluth seemed to have forgotten his footwork fundamentals from his Chaparral days, and any time a pop-up went behind him (no matter how close) his legs and feet seemed to resist the impulse to turn around or back-pedal to try to make a play on the ball.] After that fortunate start, A-Man and I managed to put 3 runs up on the board.
When it was Paul's and Bluth's turn to bat they strung together some walks and singles to manage 1 run in their half of the frame.
Both pitchers (Bluth and myself) settled in for the next few innings and adapted to allow the field to help us out on defense. The Bluth approach was to toss in a bunch of lob-balls that were generally not over the meat of the plate -- either intentionally or not. These tantalizers induced a good amount of deadened left-field flyouts, jam-shots, and bad-footwork grounders. Over the next 3 innings A-Man and I managed 1 run to Paul and Bluth's 0.
By the top of the 5th however A-Man and I had seemingly cracked the code, and we rode a rhythm of intentional alternating left-field grounders (Pace) and opposite field dinkers (A-Man) to tack on 3 more runs, putting us up 7-1 going into the bottom half of the final inning.
Paul and Bluth however would not go down easy as they came out roaring to start the bottom of the 5th. With a runner on 1st Paul hit an absolute laser to left which went right to A-Man but ate him up for an assisted triple off the deflection off the hands -- this was the first extra-base hit of the day. Immediately following, Bluth hit a deep high one to centerfield. A-Man attempted to track it down but was flustered as he tried to negotiate through the obstacle course of Lambert kids. He was able to get there in time but only managed to do a sort of arm-scooping motion at the ball and inadvertently batted it backwards into the wall of the garden box for a 2-run dinger. Thankfully, I had a big enough cushion of runs to work with that even though I labored on the mound and gave up a few more walks and singles I was generally able to keep the ball in the zone and eventually get Bluth to fly out to left on a full-count 12-6 curveball for the final out.
We then all convened at the mound to recap the game. Paul and Bluth took some comfort in the fact that at least they were winners off the field. When I pressed for some details on this Paul chided me for asking unnecessary follow-up questions. After some good discussion, we all made our way to District Taco for the RC-Willey Postgame Celebration.
Game Highlights
- Bluth warned Paul (accurately) at the beginning of the game that his team hasn't won a wiffle game in 15 years.
- For the first time, a folding stool was used as a sitting place for the catcher. This decision was universally and enthusiastically lauded; though it also occasioned some regret for the many wasted years of squatting.
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| Wishing you a merry Christmas |
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| Training the next generation |
Game report by Pace Barker
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