"Yours!"

Fielding Gaffes Waste Visitors' Effective Pitching

Blustery winds and temps in the low 40's made play a bit uncomfortable, particularly for defenders standing in the shade. Nonetheless, seven wifflers completed seven innings in a Sunday morning special at Nance Bradds. As the sun rose and the shadows receded, the bats heated up, too: no thoughts of comfort in a taut game.


Glen, making his first appearance of the season on the asphalt, convinced those chalking the lines to move the mound back to the middle of the window - probably a good four feet further back than the standard applied last year. Pleas that such a change was voted down in the Rules Committee last December, fell upon Glen's deaf ears. Besides most wifflers were too sloshed to remember the Rules Committee anyway. The extra four feet seemed to make a difference for most batters (see, for instance, Stats' three triples, and Brent's three hits). But while the bats were truly active, it was defensive miscues that really were the story of the day - costing the visiting three a win over the home-standing four.


And Brent suffered most from the cement hands in the outfield. With two on and none out in the bottom of the first, Brent induced a fly ball off Stats' bat more or less right at Kurt, who dropped it for a 2-RBI triple. If Kurt makes that catch, Brent escapes the inning unscathed. As it was 2 runs would turn out to be all the home team would need.


Later, pitcher Peter Berwald made a miscue of his own. With a lead off triple standing at third, da Commish attempted a double play on a grounder off Dave Eldridge's bat. The throw came in low and missed the strike zone, allowing a run. Not an error by definition, but a poor decision on his part; one that would open the door for another run later in the inning, completing the Homer's four.


The home team had a gaffe of their own in the field. One out, top of the fifth and da Commish sends a medium high liner to straightaway center field, where we find Glen and Zamonski ... engaged in casual conversation. Returning to the here and now, both men begin to converge on the ball, which is headed in between them.  They converge until Glen calls out, "YOURS!" at which point both "outfielders" stop and look into each others' eyes, allowing the ball to drop for a triple. That runner would score in subsequent play on a double by Kurt.


Now. Verily it is so that some wifflers take this pursuit too seriously and others do not. Some kick coffee cups and throw bats, some keep score and calculate slugging averages. Others ... wear capri pants and elfin hats, and critique old films while at play. Neither forms a Platonic ideal, but it is a bit difficult to watch a ball drop between two fielders from the pitching rubber.


Brent, Kurt, Peter - 1
Dave, Eric, Glen, Matt - 4


WP - Lindsay
LP - Mackintosh
SV - Zamonski