True Foes vs. El Destructo, 7/21/2010

It saddens me to report that the True Foes suffered a humiliating loss at the hands of El Destructo last night. Now you know.

But good things first: we had a full team of ten tenacious True Foes show up to Commodore Barry Park and Sauna. It was so humid, even the trees were sweating, but for once we got to play on field 2, which is way better than field 1 (it has shade, and it's about 150 yards closer to the bar). Highlights from the game include a smashing home run by Alex Laviola, and a lightning-fast double play by Ryan's friend Dave and Issa.

It was good to have Issa back on first base, and Tyson covered second and caught an infield fly ball like it was nothing. Ryan's friend Dave was on third and made lots of great grabs, and Laviola got plenty of action as shortstop. Casey Moore put the "over" in rover, as in, "If you hit it to me, your time on the field is over." Ryan and Jason had their work cut out for them in the outfield, and really earned their beers knocking it down and bringing it in. El D also kept Mabilon busy over in right field, and he did his utmost to impress his son and his wife, who were watching from the dugout. See, Jason, I told you we'd have fans! And last but not least, a shout-out to Willy Brese who pitched another full game, and is improving by leaps and bounds every time he takes the mound!

For a while there it didn't look so bad. I think we were only behind by one run after the first inning, and then they scored a couple more...then a couple more. We got some bodies on bags, and made a few good hits, but we never quite managed to bring anyone home. Then there was this devastating inning where they scored seven or eight in a row, and you could actually feel the shift in energy on the field. We still had no runs, they still had no outs, and I started to think: "You know, maybe it's time to let go of the idea of winning this one, and just try to get on the board."

Unfortunately, that didn't happen. What did happen is the ump invoked the Mercy Rule and called it a game after five innings. Jason was right when he declared, "That team is not sixteen runs better than we are!" But they sure did score sixteen more runs than we did, and our record is starting to go all pear shaped. Encouraging words don't seem to be accomplishing much lately, so maybe it's time to try a little tough love.

At the bar, the general consensus was that we sucked. We sucked big-time. We aren't an inherently terrible team, but we sure do flush a game down the crapper every so often, and last night was a prime example. Fortunately, this means that turning things around won't be all that difficult. We don't necessarily have to improve; we just have to stop sucking. After careful analysis, and much thoughtful beer-sipping, Jason and Laviola concluded that this will entail:

-making more hits
-catching more balls
-scoring more runs

If we follow this simple, three-point plan, we are sure to succeed! I know that we lost, and then we lost again, and then we had a rainout, and then we lost again, but it's not too late to regroup and recover! Let's reclaim our rightful status as a Team to be Reckoned With. We've got a game next Tuesday on the same field versus "Cobra." Losing sucks, but writing about losing sucks too, and I'm putting my foot down! So suck it up, and then get ready to stop sucking! It's time for less soft and more balls.

GTF