Well, opening weekend has come and gone here in Western Australia. As you all know I am managing 3 teams here in Perth Hills. It was my debut this weekend as a manager, and 1-2 ain't bad as far as I am concerned. The first game was a bunch of older guys, and I started a young 17 year old pitcher who has no experience. It was a delight to watch him start with an asshole so tight it could have turned a lump of coal into a diamond, to a cool smiling pitcher who struck a couple guys out and had a good time. The older guys are funny as hell. Mostly they are talking about drinking when the game is over and what is going to be on the barbie when we are all through. The other team in this game seemed, better suited as athletes and I started to get worried about the Provincial League game already. It was a crisp morning at 930 when we started and my game did not start until 2:00ish. Its so different managing the playing. When I played I just had to make sure I had my glove and cleats on, the right colored belt and 3-5 advil in my stomach. Now I am turning in lineups and making double switches, all while watching these Aussie's run around thinking that I am something special. Its crazy. Anyways the first game was just for kicks, really. No-one really cared to much except me, and we got pounded pretty good. Our young third baseman Bri tackled a guy trying to get to third then dropped the ball. The umpire kept it live so I said yelled "Tag Him!!" and Bri picked up the ball and smacked the older guy on the head with it. Later I asked Bri if his dad was upset because he had to get up early on a Sunday and bring him to the field. "No mate, my dad is in prison, that is my uncle." he replied scratching his homemade Mohawk.
The second game actually seemed like baseball. I put on several hit and runs, bunts and just kept our guys running as the catcher on the other team was packing a pop gun. We beat them handily 14-2. It was fun. I started the only girl on our team. She is kinda a bad ass. She threw 4 innings, struck out 4 or 5, walked one, gave up one run and then went to second base and made 3 put outs. She only threw 39 pitches. I was really impressed. At this point I was starting to feel good about everything. I was feeling like I knew what I was doing, and I felt like we could hang with these guys. Then I started watching the PL league come in for there team. They just looked like ball players. Not that our guys don't, but you cant just tell how guys carry themselves, these guys had been coached and playing for a while.
So our game was underway. There pitcher looked pretty good, and by that I mean he might have been able to play college ball somewhere when he was younger. He struck out the side in the first inning. Then we took the field, I was playing first and I started to feel the vibe of the day. Our pitching was needing help, a lot of help. I started the guy that people said had the most experience. Understand that I had nothing to base anything off of. He would throw a strike then hit a guy, walk a guy, strike a guy out, then throw 3 pitches behind the next guy, then give up a bomb. I felt so bad, I really just wanted to take the ball and pitch. But I can only pitch every other game and I promised I would start the first home game. The rest of the day followed suit. Another pitcher, and a lot more work to do. Our last pitcher got some people out and looked pretty good. I struck out my first at bat and the grounded out to the short stop and took myself out as we were down by about 12 runs at this point. It was not pretty but gives us a lot to work on this week. Ouch.
The good part about playing for so long is that I have seen worse. And it is usually followed by courageous acts. People stepping up and making plays, pitching there little hearts out, and grinding there way through the seemingly impassable tasks ahead. These guys kept there heads up, and never quit. And that was more impressive than any lead the opposition could build.
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