Another week (or so)

First, I'd like to announce that Jessie was selected for the Reading Rumble team at school. This is a competition where they have a list of books they had to read, and then they will answer questions about the books. I don't know a lot of the details, yet. But Jessie has really enjoyed most (if not all) of the books on the list, including some she didn't think that she would. She has worked hard to make the team, going back and re-reading books where she found herself forgetting parts of it. The first competition is next Saturday, and if they do well there, apparently there's a later one as well, but we don't have any details on that.

Brennan and Jessie both had field days this week. One of Jessie's events was a mini-marathon, and she came in fourth among the girls. Brennan (among other things) was on a relay team, and ran the anchor leg. When he took the baton, his team was behind, but he made up the difference and they won their race. His class also won the tug-of-war.

In baseball news, we had a game last Wednesday. It was the early game, which I've noticed often seems hard to get as energized for. We were playing the Diamondbacks, who had the best record in the league. Our first game against them was one of our better games, but we lost. I wish that I could say the same this time, but it was easily our worst game. For example, considering the fact that Brennan is the leadoff hitter, the fact that he only had two at-bats tells you a lot... Not a lot of hitting (although Brennan did get at least one hit--I think he was thrown out on the other), not a lot of defense, and the whole team just never really seemed to be in the game. The final score ended up 13 - 3.

We were supposed to have a game Friday night, and Dee was scheduled to work in the concession stand before that. Our plan was to go to the library (right across the street from the fields), then Jessie, Brennan and I would eat a picnic lunch while watching the early game while Dee was at the concession stand, and then we'd have our game. It was a rainy day, but not too hard. We got ready and headed toward the library, and on the way got a phone call that "all the games were canceled" So we figured we'd go to the library, then go home and eat a picnic lunch in the living room while watching a movie. But, when we emerged from the library, the concession stand looked rather open, and there appeared to be a game starting on the big field--it turns out it was only all the machine pitch games that were canceled. (And the general opinion was that our field was in good enough condition and that we could have played). So Dee ran over to the stand, the rest of us ate our dinner (in the car, because it was so wet) and then went to watch the big kids play. It was an 11 - 12 year-old game. It was interesting to see the differences. Somehow, Brennan managed to get dirtier watching a game than playing in one... And after the game, we were amused when he went over to "listen in" to the winning team's post-game meeting. Picking up pointers, I guess...

I'll also digress here to mention that starting on Monday at batting practice, our coach introduced a new game. The players are divided in to three groups that come at different times, so that they don't all have to stand around. Now, at the end of each group's turn, we play a two-strike game. Each batter gets a turn. If he gets a hit, it's the next player's turn. If he fouls, he gets another pitch. If he misses, he has to put down a fair bunt, or he's out--and each player only gets one bunt in the game. The second missed pitch, and you're out.

Brennan's group is him and the two All-Stars from last year, and our biggest hitters. One of them has gotten out relatively quickly all three times we've done the game now, but with Brennan and the coach's son it has turned into a marathon. Usually, the coach has ended up adding to the rules by giving them specific locations they have to hit, because neither one of them shows any signs of ever missing the ball. The first two times, Brennan ended up losing, but the last time he emerged victorious.

OK, back to the real games. Last night was our next game, against the Braves. The last time our family saw the Braves was in last year's city championship game. Now, we're still trying to win our first game. I was umpiring the early game--which happened to involve the Diamondbacks, who beat us so easily last week. This week they played like we did last week, with the same end result--they lost, 13 - 3. I couldn't help wishing they'd played that way the week before...

We had really stressed the importance of effort and intensity after that last week, and it payed off. Brennan led off the game with a single, and later scored. We ended up scoring 4, despite our power hitter striking out. In the bottom of the inning we had several good plays, and held them to one run. The next inning we didn't score (I think). Brennan was narrowly thrown out on a ball he hit to the pitcher. I don't remember everything in the second and third innings, but we still had the lead--better hitting, and a lot better fielding. Brennan had a few balls just out of his reach, but was hustling. He had another good hit, but the pitcher made a great play and again, just threw him out. In the fourth inning, with a runner on third, our shortstop tried to throw a runner out going back to first. The ball got by the first baseman, then his throw made it past the second baseman, and his throw was over Brennan's head at third as the runner kept advancing. Brennan grabbed the ball and quickly threw home, but just behind the runner. (Or maybe all that was in the third...) After that they settled down again. The Braves did get a towering home run, but in the top of the fifth we had three balls hit to the fence, giving us a 13 - 5 (or maybe 6) lead--and when time expired in the bottom of the inning, with a 6+ run lead, the Phillies had their first win of the season.

Next game is Friday.