A tie is like kissing your sister

 

We had our first little league game last night in the freezing cold, and although it rained off and on pretty hard, we still played the longest game of my coaching career: The whole six innings.

Every baseball game I’ve ever coached has either reached the time limit or 10-run rule before the 5th or 6th inning, but last night was a nail-biter.

Here’s the box score:

Team        1    2    3    4    5    6    F
YANKEES   2    5    0    0     1    3    11
METS        0    2    3    6     0    0    11

So, as you can see, we jumped on their opening pitcher for a quick 7-2 lead in the first two innings. He wasn’t throwing heat, nor anything nasty, but we just played fundamental baseball offensively and defensively.

But then came innings 3 and 4.

Our star pitcher started getting tricky, mixing splitters and changeups with his monster of a fastball, thus giving up a lot of walks and easy base hits. Our outfield suddenly forgot how to back up the infield, and the Mets capitalized by turning doubles into run-scoring triples.

As a coach, I should have pulled my pitcher earlier than I did. However, my middle-reliever had been planning to pitch all day. So in the bottom of the 4th inning when I threw him in, he complained of being too cold and his fingers simply could not grasp the ball. I decided to warm up another guy (our 3rd baseman), but the umpire informed us that by rule any pitcher who warms up must pitch to at least one batter.

I was pissed.

This kid was freezing his balls off, couldn’t throw the ball into lake if he tried from a boat, so I made him throw just one pitch – an arcing sky-ball that went 15 feet over the batter.

Needless to say, that inning sucked. We gave up 6 runs to trail 11-7 after using three separate pitchers in the inning. But our final pitcher was a gem. Both teams went scoreless in a blazing fast 5th inning, and we entered the last inning down by 3.

Suddenly, it clicked. Their new pitcher was throwing soft cheeseballs, and our guys destroyed him instantly. We got guys on 1st and 2nd with our first three batters, then scored both of them with our latest pitcher’s 2 RBI triple! A bloop hit into right field scored him to tie the game, before we grounded out twice to end the inning.

Our dugout was fired up. They stormed the field ready to hold the Mets – we knew a win was out, but we could still tie if we held them.

Then tragedy struck. Our guy who scored the tying run was on the mound, and he walked the first batter in an 8 pitch at-bat. Two more wild pitches got their lead-off man to third in the winning run.

I don’t know what happened next, but my voice is still hoarse from yelling. He struck out the next batter with a wild pitch that ricocheted off the backstop. Apparently the Mets’ thirdbase coach didn’t see how hard the ball bounced back, as he sent his runner home to win the game. Our catcher (who had been slightly lagging behind the plate all day), sprinted at the ball, then to the plate to tag the runner just inches from the plate – for the out!!!

Technically, it was a double play: On the same pitch we struck their batter out we nailed the runner stealing home – in the face. After he was done crying and limped off the field, we struck out the final batter to end the game in a tie.

So, even though I was irate that we blew a 7-2 lead, at least we discovered we can come back late in a game. Between clutch hitting and fielding, I look forward to a very successful year hear on out!