"Just as the common law derives from ancient precedents - judges' decisions - rather than statutes, baseball's codes are the game's distilled mores. Their unchanged purpose is to show respect for opponents and the game. In baseball, as in the remainder of life, the most important rules are unwritten. But not unenforced."George Will

Your Faithful Correspondent 

The championship showdown is set for Hohokum Stadium , the spring training home of the Oakland A's.

The San Antonio Lone-Stars boast solid hitting and defense and the Portland Volcanoes counter with pitching and defense  The day is typical Arizona  weather -bright and sunny -and the outfielders observe that balls in the air will be troublesome as the sun is brightly shining directly in their eyes. But we take the field ready to compete with our best efforts.

Your faithful correspondent gets the ball for the Volcanoes and opens the game with two quick strikes. Their right handed lead off hitter takes the measure of the fastballs and hits the third pitch to right field where it is caught by Craig Beatly for our first out. Up next is a strong looking lefty. With two strikes, he hits a curve ball to right field where it drops in front of Craig who plays a deep right field for lefties.

The next batter hits a routine ball to center field but it is in the sun and our center fielder Russ Bicknell runs in to catch it but looses it and it bounces off his face to left field.  Russ seems ok but he will feel the impact of that ball for a while  teammates resist the temptation to call him “Alvin” and his face swells up immediately.

With runners on first and second we get a ground ball to short which Doug Rosario fields cleanly and tosses to Jack Thompson at second . Jack wheels to first for an inning ending double play!

In our bottom half of the first,  Russ pops out to first and Johnny Mac  hits an easy come backer to the pitcher for two outs . But Dave Kenney doubles with one out giving us a runner in scoring position. This time the sun benefit us as the centerfielder lost that ball in the glare.  However, Steve Heilman grounds out with hard hit ball to third and the threat is squashed.

Following thru 

With one out in the second , the Lone-Stars get  a break with another fly ball to center field that Russ can’t see and the result is a double.  We make a defensive switch and bring out a new outfielder as Chuck Saul goes to left and Steve Heilman moves to center. But this maneuver backfires a bit as the next batter sends a fly ball to left field that spins Chuck around for a 360 ( the Romanian judge gave him a 6.4)  and goes for a double giving the Lone-Stars a 1-0 lead going to the bottom of the second inning.

With one out, Chuck Saul doubles for the Volcanoes down the left field line . A ground ball in the hole is good for a single for Jack Thompson and moves Chuck to third. With runners on the corners, Von Van Allen walks to load the bases

Allen Butler, our catcher, sends a grounder to the hole at short  and they cant make a play and we have a run with the bases still loaded and one out

Greg Baker hits a one hopper to first and they make the force play at the plate and two are out. Russ is up next and hits a grounder to short which is bobbled and the Volcanoes take a 2-1 lead with the bases loaded Johnny Mac then hits into a force play ending the rally and we head to the third.

In our half of the third, Dave Kenney leads off with his second double of the game, a line shot to left center, and comes around to score on a ground ball to second giving the Volcanoes a 3-1 lead after 3 innings.

The fourth passes with no scoring but the Lone-Stars get a one out single in the fifth. An infield hit puts two runners aboard when a fly ball to center field drops in and rolls thru Russ’s legs scoring a run narrowing the score to 3-2 after five innings. 

Upon ending the inning Dave Kenney tells me my day is done and he plans to go out to the mound for the 6^th. After two complete games  this week I understand the move especially since Dave pitched so well yesterday in the semi’s . But after we go out 1-2-3 in the bottom of the fifth with Dave running out a hard ground  ball, I get the nod to go out for the 6^th.

In the sixth,the Lone-Stars lead off and get a hard single to left. They choose to bunt and I field it and take the out but the tying run is in scoring position An infield hit advances the runners to first and third with one out and Dave Kenney comes in to pitch. He gets a pop up but it is just out of reach of our shortstop and the game is tied. Dave manages to get a pop up and fly ball and we go to the bottom of the sixth tied at 3.

With one out, Chuck gets on first on an error by the first baseman. Jack Thompson gets an infield hit to gives us runners on first and second, Von Van Allen hits a ground ball to short and they take the out at second giving us runners at the corners with two out . But Allen Butler hits an easy grounder to third which is fielded cleanly and tossed to second to end the threat. We didn’t know it then but that would be our last chance to get the lead. The 7^th inning passed uneventfully for both teams.

The Lone-Stars send up their big lefty clean up hitter to start the 8^th inning and Dave Kenney tries a breaking pitch . But it fails  to cross the plate and hits the big guy in his hip giving the Lone-Stars the go ahead run on first.  I look around the park to see if the baseball gods are watching as nothing seems to aggravate the baseball gods as much as a lead off walk or HBP. I hear a faint breeze and know the baseball gods are watching intently and will not be appeased. We have all witnessed the wrath of the baseball gods for infractions and giving them a lead off runner via walk or HBP seems to trigger their most severe response  referring to the quote to lead this post :

"Just as the common law derives from ancient precedents - judges' decisions - rather than statutes, baseball's codes are the game's distilled mores. Their unchanged purpose is to show respect for opponents and the game. In baseball, as in the remainder of life, the most important rules are unwritten. But not unenforced."- George Will

There surely is a “rule” about not walking the lead off hitter and the baseball gods are there to enforce it  If there is one thing I have learned over the past 15 years of men’s baseball is walking the lead off hitter leads to DOOM. It seems that runner will score and bring his friends.

Of course, the wrath of the baseball gods is felt immediately as catcher Allen Butler has a passed ball to put the runner at second . Naturally next is a base hit to right center that scores the go ahead run and just like that the baseball gods punish us as they enforce their unwritten rule.

Despite the dagger in his heart, Dave gets two ground balls to keep the damage limited and with two strikes throws a nice breaking pitch that is fouled about ten feet high and 5 feet from the catcher. But Allen Butler drops the ball and the baseball gods are enraged as Allen kneels and bows to the ground  in his frustration . A collective sigh is heard as we had the last out but now must go back to get an out . I can see Dave is frustrated as well . Of course ,no one familiar with the baseball gods is surprised when the next pitch is lined in the right center field gap for a run scoring hit and we trail by 5-3  UGH

We go quietly in the 8^th and the Lone-Stars tack on 3 more in the ninth to win 8-3.

What can we say about this ?  We had a couple chances to score but didn’t . They had a couple chances and got the key hits. That is the primary difference  in the game . They earned the win today .

I have to offer this was my first experience playing with the guys from Portland. They are terrific guys and playing this tourney with them was a privilege . Dave Kenney ran the team ensuring everyone got a chance and urged everyone to do their best  Steve Tucker is the most upbeat guy on the planet helping everyone compete at their best . It was truly a pleasure to play for guys like Dave and Steve

And so ends another season  and as I return  home I am reminded of  an offering from my favorite philosopher Yogi Berra :

“Love is the most important thing in the world, but baseball is pretty good, too.”  --Yogi Berra

Your 2016 Portland Volcanoes