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 10th 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.
But enough about the half-empty ass-kicking, let’s talk about the half-full beer:
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| "Um, Chuck? First base is over there..." |
But enough about the half-empty ass-kicking, let’s talk about the half-full beer:
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BEER! Thanks Mike for buying this week. It was definitely a
good game for drinking.
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| Liquid Courage |
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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.
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| This is not that catch, but we love the effort. |
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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.
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| 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.
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
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| We don't photoshop much here, but were tempted to add a tutu to this one. |
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