I AM NOT DEAD & I STILL LIKE BASEBALL!

There are two camps on the issue of my existence: Team "HE'S DEAD", and Team "HE HATES BASEBALL". Fortunately for both camps, any participants of said clubs are wrong for becoming members in these "illustrious?" fraternities.

Tuesday Spring League

Phil named his infield glove "Justine"! Oh yeah, Jays' pitcher Kyle Drabek (4) joins
fellow starting pitcher Brendan Morrow on the disabled list.

I had a game last Tuesday, and it turned into an epic contest at that. It was our last regular season game, and we were playing the same team we lost to at the beginning of our campaign. As an added bonus, one of my teammates handed me my infield baseball glove that I lost a couple of weeks before. Unfortunately, due to a momentary lack of poise, everyone on my team knows that "Justine" is the name of my glove -_- Sigh...

So, we played our game, and for whatever reason I played the first half of the contest at second base (Travis, stop laughing)! If there is one thing you must know about me, it is that I never play second base. I can be the shortstop, first baseman, third baseman, left fielder, center fielder, catcher, pitcher, and after what happened last year with my knee maybe right fielder, but never a second baseman. There are too many bad memories of games past where I lined up at to the left of second base, and...sigh, I can't talk about it! T_T

Anyway, we are losing the game 20-12 at the top of the seventh (last) inning, and by the fourth inning I'm back at shortstop. The second baseman experiment was a success, given the fact our opponents hit to my side once to that time, but the patient was near death o_O Most of us felt we were better than this, and that included me. Whatever the result, though, I wanted to finish the game with pride in performance, and with some respect. I was due up to bat first, and from the plate I noticed the right-fielder, who played shallow the whole game, stood too close to the action. I usually swing at the first pitch, so when it hung on the outside part of the plate I cranked it over right field for a homerun. Yes, the score was 20-13, but the homerun then didn't mean too much in the giant scheme of things; I didn't want to let the team down.

Something happened after that home run, because three batters, three hits, two homeruns, and three runs scored later we were back in the ball game. Everyone started hitting, at first into right field where the weakest link stood, and then all over the place! For all the hard work, tough running, and good hitting, we had two outs, runners on first and second, and the score was 20-19. Guess who is up to bat? o_O No, not me?! Are you serious?

It's a moment you dream about, but never expect. Why?

You live for moments like these playing in the backyard sandlot with your friends as a kid, however I doubt anyone really expects to live out that dream. In my experience with similar situations playing Division B rep ball at eleven years old, I never wanted to be the kid others counted on to extend an inning or win a game. I didn't believe I was adequate enough. Even now, I feel inadequate being thrust into those situations in baseball, and in life. "There is no life like a life under the bus" is a saying I adopted this year; it is during those moments of defeat that you find out what life is, who you are, what defines you, and why in that place of defeat you can find peace and joy whatsoever the result. That is where you start living, and where you seize opportunities, like the first pitch I faced.

I didn't hit it that well, and it flew towards left field where the best fielders on the opposition stood. At that moment, the wind picked up the ball, and the fielders went from standing still, to jittery, and then turning right around as the ball flew over their heads! As I rounded the bases with hands pointing to the sky, we retook the lead after clawing back from eight runs down; I stopped on third with what turned out to be the game-winning hit: A triple to deep left field ^_^ I thought the game was over; we won! Unfortunately, according to my teammate and third base coach Don, we were the away team, and there was another half inning left to play o_O Long story short, Misfits 23 (Us), Ball Breakers 20 (Them).

I still can't believe we won, or what happened that night. I heard and witnessed many baseball horror stories about similar reversals of fortune, yet to come out on the positive end was a tremendous blessing, and one we shall remember with great appreciation and thankfulness ^_^

So, that was my week ^_^ How was yours? LOL