Saturday, January 12, 2019

Championship Game Saturdays

The camp plays two games on Saturday in beautiful Hammond Stadium here in Fort Myers -- the Red Division game and the Blue Division (names of colors instead of "Upper" vs "Lower") -- all four teams that won on friday were squared off for Saturday. We played the Wins & Saves team led by Frank Viola and Jeff Reardon -- I played for them last year and had a great week.

Jacques Jones and I in the dugout

Pre game Photo Op with Slats

Bennett - Slats - Westphal - 2010 & 2019

I was pitching on the mound and got things going in fine fashion by getting out of the first inning by striking out "the cleanup" (and one of the best hitters in camp) hitter and we end up scoring 2 runs in the bottom of the first.  We hold on to that lead through three innings -- they end getting an unearned run in the top of the 4th and we matched them by getting one in the bottom -- so Top of the 5th is here and it is now 3-1 -- I am facing the top end of the lineup and can get through this I should be ok. The leadoff batter gets a single and things are going -- but for some reason on the next pitch he tried to steal 2nd - but the ball stayed on the dirt (you can advance bases when the ball near home plate finds some grass) - a well placed umpire kept the ball from scooting away - well instead of being patient and advancing to 2nd - the runner went - and he ended up being out since he was not able to advance - part of the strange rules at camp and/or strange plays - that was a big break for us - the next batter gets on by an error -- but I strike out the next batter with a great changeup for 2 outs -- I get the next batter to ground out and the inning is over.  We end up adding 2 runs in the bot of the 5th inning for a 5-1 lead -- I now have 8 remaining hitters to get the final 6 outs.  The top of the sixth is a good one, gave up one hit, but got 3 outs in 4 batters -- we get to the 7th inning, I struck out the first guy, the next guy grounds out to 3B, the next batter hits a weak grounder to 2nd, the 2nd basement flips the throws, its low and the first baseman couldn't hold on -- ugh.....sometimes fantasy camp is tough.  I end up striking out the last guy and the Weapons of Destruction wins the game.

The afternoon game was good -- #1 undefeated Warriors vs. #2 Shake It Up -- Warriors won the game 4-3 by taking advantage of all the hits and walks they -- Shake it Up had 11 hits but could only muster up 3 runs - they left a lot of runners and had a 1-0, 2-1 lead early on.  Randy Lott (odds on camp MVP) closed the game out for them. Warriors finish the week undefeated -- I think that is the first time I had witnessed that.

A great week -- the best part is I feel in good shape other than some sore legs.

Will post some pictures later -- off to the banquet as they hand out the Hardware (MVP, Cy Young, etc) and say our goodbyes.

An early flight home tomorrow means an early night to bed.

~~ "You can observe a lot just by watching." - Yogi Berra ~~

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