Monday, Apr. 11, 2005
Home opener victory, posted at 9:58 p.m.
Epiphany in Baltimore has moved to epiphanyinbaltimore.blogspot.com Tonight's victory was the grandest yet. Ostensibly a ten-run stomping, it actually started pretty badly. My starting pitcher walked the first two, hit the next guy, then walked another and hit another. I talked with him after batter #3, and pulled him after batter #5. The next pitcher struck out three in a row to keep the damage to three runs.Still, we didn't get ourselves uncorked for a while. After two and a half innings, they were up 5-2. My third baseman had made two key errors, and we weren't hitting a guy that we really should have been. Our home opener, a game I had expected to win, looked to be falling out of our grasp.
Then we exploded for six runs in the next inning, another three the next, and then six in the next. That third baseman who had made two errors, including taking a linedrive off his head/glove? He hit a bases-clearing triple that broke the game open. Whenever we made a mental error, there was someone else to make up for it.
It was our home opener, and it was a beautiful day and we had a nice crowd. After the victory, parents came up and congratulated me, and I felt a little like a star. I met a lot of parents of some of the kids for the first time. I've spent three hours a day with these kids for the last six weeks, giving them batting tips and rides across town to Mondawmin, and I've never met many of the parents. It was good to. I had to start a 9th grader today because my senior second baseman had a class trip. The 9th grader did fine; I knew he'd be up for the task, and he was. I met his dad, and was glad to be able to tell him that I think his kid is a good player with a good attitude, and that he's going to be an important part of the team for the next four years. The dad was a great guy and we had a good conversation.
I've got another little 9th grade player who's a good one. But he's had a heck of a time of it lately. His dad came to practice on Wednesday - in uniform (he's a cop, as is my dad, so I could relate to seeing a dad come in uniform to practice) - to inform his kid that the dad's sister (the kid's aunt) had had a stroke, and they needed to go to West Virginia to be with her. The dad pulled me aside and said it was serious, and that he didn't know when they'd be back. Well, the kid was back today, so I asked him how his aunt is. Here's our conversation:
"Well, ____, I'm surprised to see you. How is you aunt doing?"
"Not so good, but improving."
"Is she conscious?"
"Huh?"
"Can she talk to you?"
"Yeah, a little. They're moving her to another hospital."
"Is that a good thing for her?"
"I think so."
"Well, good. I'm still surprised to see you back so soon."
"Well, we had a baseball game."
"You're right. I'm glad you made it."
"You know what else? My house caught on fire yesterday."
"Woah - was everyone okay? Were you home?"
"Yeah, we were out mowing the yard."
"Was it big?"
"Yeah, it was big. The fire trucks came and everything."
"Well, did any stuff get damaged?"
"Oh, the baseball equipment is all okay."
We continued talking for a while more. The baseball equipment was farthest from my mind at that point, obviously, but it sounds like a lot of his stuff was ruined. But he really cared about the baseball game. What a kid. He then called me "sir" after I wrote him the pass. He's going to be a good one for the next few years.
Everything felt good about the game, especially that we struggled a bit and had to come together to win. We were intense and came back to win the game handily. That's exactly the kind of momentum I want going into Wednesday's game, which is against our chief rival. This chief rival seems to always win the city championship, and we've never beat them in the four years I've been teaching and coaching. I don't think there's been as good a team as the one we've got now, though. They're undefeated, we're undefeated, so something's gotta give. Let's hope it's them. It would be awesome to beat them. I can't think of much else right now, to be honest.
Except the lawnmower situation. So I go to Home Debot last night, thinking about buying a gs-less push mower. I price them, and they range from $79-$129. The mid-range one, at $89, looks pretty good. I'm pushing it around (I've never actually used one before) and the salesman comes over, laughs, and says that I don't want that. He then points at all the gas-powered mowers. I'm about to explain to him that I just rent, that I just wanted a cheap get-me-through-the-summer deal, and he wasn't having it. So he went off to help another customer and I deliberated in my mind. I might have bought it if I could have figured out if I was supposed to bring the floor model up there or if I was supposed to find some sort of box. I'm glad I didn't, though - $89 seems too steep. I'm going to try to find a junker again, I think.
I have no idea what I'm doing in first period tomorrow. Better get on that.