The Streak is Over

After two straight non-losses, Team Green Tambourine experienced our first bitter taste of losing on Monday night. We were fighting an uphill battle before the game even started, when a variety of scheduling conflicts left us with the forfeit-avoiding minimum of 8 players, and only one of the two mandated female players. Although happy to be playing, optimism was nonetheless in short supply as we faced the prospect of battling a strong SPTR club while short an outfielder and with an automatic out each time through the lineup. In a demonstration of true sportsmanship and camaraderie, SPTR found us a second female and ninth player from the ranks of their supporters, and thus the game began on slightly more even footing. Salute to SPTR! It is always a joy to play against an honorable opponent.

Unfortunately, our lack of a fourth outfielder was quickly exploited by the hard hitting keg tappers and they jumped out to a sizeable early lead, racing around the bases while we chased neon softballs around the outfield like cats after a laser pointer. By the time a 10^th Tambo showed up mid-game (in OSHA-approved long pants and steel-toed work boots), the score was already rather lopsided in favor of SPTR. But TGT doesn’t give up easily! There were several innings yet to be played, and accompanied by the rally tambourine jangling gaily with each at bat, we started to score some runs in an attempt to trim the deficit. Unfortunately we failed to also stop allowing runs. The defense, which has been a strength in the short season, was a bit sketchier on this day. There were a few near misses in the outfield and our late arrival, inserted at 2B, Knoblauched what should have been an easy third out at first base—leading to four more runs courtesy of the subsequent SPTR grand slam. The last-gasp seventh inning rally fell eleven runs short, and that was that.

"Um, Chuck? First base is over there..."

But enough about the half-empty ass-kicking, let’s talk about the half-full beer:

·         BEER! Thanks Mike for buying this week. It was definitely a good game for drinking.

Liquid Courage

·         I’m told Paul had possibly the catch of the season in the first inning, it being some form of diving/sliding high degree-of-difficulty athletic maneuver. Unfortunately neither our intrepid blogger nor our surveillance expert were on the scene to properly document the achievement, so it won’t have the chance to be a viral sensation. The way folks were talking about it, it must have been impressive.

This is not that catch, but we love the effort.

·         It should be noted that Rafter had a very nice sliding grab in center field as well. However, the Russian beautifully captured a similarly daring albeit less successful attempt just a bit later, and so that’s what we’re going to show here instead.

It was that kind of a game.

·        New blood! Thanks Max and Kaelin for filling in and welcome to the team! Hope we see you out on the field again soon.

·        Finally, we thoroughly enjoyed playing alongside our temporary teammate Jackie, who also got off the best line of the night. Following a particularly weak effort from the opposing pitcher, she quipped “You could really use a couple extra inches” and (below-the-)belted the very next offering back to the mound, which he caught on the fly to a chorus of jeers and cheers from both teams. Rumor is that she has some inside information about the man on the mound, but we can neither confirm nor deny the accuracy of her statement as it pertains to anything other than the game on the field. Regardless, that’s the kind of play we always want more of on our team. If SPTR is leaving you unsatisfied, call us… 

Final Score: TGT 7, SPTR 18

No recap for Tuesday’s no-game against Pen & Pencil, which was cancelled due to cold and rainy weather and everyone generally preferring to stay inside and watch the Flyers’ playoff game instead. Will be rescheduled for a date TBD.

NEXT GAME: Monday, 5/5 - Edgeley #8 @ National Constitution Center

We don't photoshop much here, but were tempted to add a tutu to this one.