Welcome Back Salter (not Kotter ;-)

Whole lot of highlights!! I hope I can capture them all:

Keith joined us again after his long respite and playing like he never missed a day, except maybe the side of the field he hit to - but his 2 long HR balls were caught by Roger playing the opposite field as Keith exclaimed: "looks like nothing has changed" (the honorable mention Quote of the Day) Apparently Roger is a magnet for Keith's long HR shots.

Speaking of Shots, as we were getting started, Manny wanted to take a few practice swings to which Bill T. stated the Quote of the Day: "Let's give it a shot" as he pitched the ball in to Manny who promptly gave Bill a shot off his bat right at him, tattooing his arm - how's that for a shot ;-)

Mitch had the game of his life, as Gordon put it - "Mitch had a swollen head" from his play today and hopefully wore out for the softball game to come that evening between the opposing Mitch and Gordon's teams. (Spoiler Alert! Mitch's team did eventually defeat Gordon's bunch by a mere 2 runs in a very close game that many of us stickball players were spectators of - watching Manny, Mitch, and Gordon have a good game of softball as well in the hitting and catching departments.) Stickball Mitch had a day of 2 HR and a single with 4 RBIs to help his stickball team to victory. Not to be outdone, Stickball Gordon contributed 3 RBIs on a Triple, while adding a double and a near great hit that was nabbed in the gut by Bill T., much to the dismay of Gordon!! Both Mitch and Gordon playing on the same stickball team that, again, spoiler alert, wound up winning the game. NOTE: I'll leave the softball stats to the softball writers ;-)

I'd be remiss if I didn't mention Manny's stickball exhibition on the day as he bagged ALL!! the RBIs (7!!) for his team!! Although in a losing effort, Manny provided plenty of action as he BLASTED!! 2 Automatic HRs, a Triple and a Double. One of his Automagics resulted in Dwayne turning to attempt a play and twisting his ankle. This from Dwayne on his current status after I let him know all of us at the softball game were concerned about his wellbeing:

I had some swelling yesterday I iced down a couple of times. Feeling better today swelling down a little. No real pain so far, thank all for your concern hope to be back in a couple of Mondays.

We had 19 players, yes 19 players today!! We are on a roll, hope everyone continues to participate. next week, especially it being a Holiday weekend :-) A new player was added as Charlotte, Bill Baker's wife decided to partake. At first only wanting to be in the field but after little prompting picked up the bat and proceeded to hit every time she got up, Way to go Charlotte!! We weren't going to count her outs this game while Chuck nabbed a couple as his glove gets broke in (nice plays Chuck!) She put Chuck on her list, and she will definitely be counted as she showed she is ready to play!! Chuck had some hard-hit balls off his own bat that netted him only one single on the day but definitely made the defense work hard.

Who else came to play today, well Bob Ley (pronounce Lie) No lie today as he hit a HR in his second at bat, following a single and in his next at bat put a sky ball out to the patting gloved hands and waiting arms of Manny in center field who rarely misses one - he demonstrated the same catching skills with the big glove in his softball game ;-).

Not to be forgotten, Dani, "you dropped my hits on purpose", went 4 for 4 - batting 1.000 on the day with a Triple to boot!!! (Driving in an RBI) Also, Bill T. after getting hit by the Manny liner wound up with a terrific day of defense along with a Triple, Double, and single. Missing the cycle only by being robbed of a near homer by Roger on his last at bat.

The Game ...

We all had a great time as the weather was great, we started in the shade that slowly turned to sunshine with the visiting Raw Talent (RT) getting off to a slow start with a 1st twinning total of 1 run. The home team Perilous Posse (PP) answering back with 3 runs of their own on a Gordon triple drove in Mitch, Dani, and Rick who had loaded the bases with singles.

The next twinning for the RT garnered them twice as 'Manny' runs as, you guessed it, Manny blasted one of his automagic shots over right center field - no one gonna get that one ;-) scoring Bill T. who had tripled. Not to be intimidated by the Manny long ball, PP answered back with 6 runs on a max 4th inning 5 run which followed single run in the 3rd - a product of a Mitch homer followed by stranding the bases loaded by singles!! The fourth innning capitalized on a 2 out rally initiated by Chuck and Dwayne singles followed by a Mitch HR. These 3 runs were then added to by a Roger single, Dani driving him in with her Triple and Bob L - yes Bob L. finding the hole in the outfield for a HR!!

Manny had his Triple in the 5th for the RTs to score 3 runs on bases loaded by singles from Mark Norm and Bill T. The 6th was a quiet one for the RTs netting zero runs with Denis getting the only hit, one of the 3 singles he had for the day. The PPs must have run out of ammo as the 5th and 6th came up empty with only a Gordon double and 2 singles by Dwayne and Dani - unfortunately, in different innings :-0

Would 9 runs be able to hold up against the visiting RT's 7th inning attempt with 6 runs in the well? Would there be a need for a 7th inning stretch by the Posse? After Bill T. flied out to Roger on a HR depth ball, Manny blasted his second automagic shot that Dwayne literally turned on :-0! The bases were loaded with 2 outs but the Posse's defense prevailed on some grounders leaving the game at:

Perils of Posse ... 9

Robbed Talent ... 7

Stickball Y’all,

be there for the NEXT game ------>

SCP Labor Day Extravaganza !!!

MONDAY ----- September 5 @ 9 AM -----