Weather - 57 degrees, cloudy with great expectations for rain
The morning briefing started with Steve Blass conducting his usual humorous fine session. Dave Miller from our team was fined for getting picked off second by the hidden ball trick. I was awarded the golden rope, which is awarded to the top player from the day before. I asked to defer the actual award, due to the fact that previous winners did not perform so well after being the recipient. When I made my request, Steve Blass was speechless. He asked you want to do what? The campers all started chanting "take the rope", which I reluctantly did - hoping I wouldn't dread the choice.
We played game #1 against Team Wagner, which we had to beat as they were undefeated. The game was shortened to 5 innings, to avoid rain issues. I pitched the initial 2 innings, taking care of business. The best pitch of the day came to Tom Harmon one of the nicest campers. On an 0-2 count I threw this nasty curve ball, starting it right at him, then it broke about 8" right over the plate for called strike three. We won the game, taking us to 5 & 0. Playoff bound, or so it would seem. Our team allowed the least amount of runs, had the highest batting average, and thought we were in. I went 2 for 3 in the game, don't know the balance of the stat line.
My arm got a little tight, so between games I went to the trainer for some heat & the rubbed it out. I thought great, we can have others pitch in game #2, because we are in. So myself & Dave Miller did not pitch in game #2.
We got the lead in game #2 against Team Waner, going up 2-0. Then some strange events began to take place. We will name - names to identify the guilty parties. Team Waner began having Todd Lowrey run for each hitter, this allowed slower runners to hit the ball, then have Todd leg it out. He is one of the best athletes in camp. Then when Todd would be on base, they would replace him with Dave Miller (not ours), who is also a good athlete. The rule was the last out maker was to be the pinch runner and if the players needed pinch runners, how come they were able to take their position in the field. Thinking we were in the playoffs, I just watched and said nothing. They tied the score at 2, then took the lead 3-2 in the 3rd inning. Thomas Brooks, an excellent pitcher, pitched his 3 strong innings. In the bottom of the 3rd, we took the lead 4-3. We pitched Clyde Warren, who had yet to pitch. When you initially start pitching, it takes a little time to settle in. By the time he did, we were down 6-4. Thought no big deal, even if we lose, we are in the playoffs. The big surprise came in the bottom of the 5th, when it was announced that if we lost, the tie breaker was total runs scored. By that calculation, we had to win. The team was deflated by the news, tough to come back from such news. Rennie Stennett was never explained the rules and he was really hot. All week we have been the best team in camp, and to get bounced due to a rule that was never explained seemed criminal. We gave up a couple more runs going down 8-4. Scored a single run to make the final 8-5. Just like that out of the playoffs. This entire situation smells of the internal politics of Fantasy Camp. Some coaches were made aware of the run rule, ours were not.
To work so hard, play our butts off, then be on the outside looking in. Kind of makes you want to pack your bags and head home today. The entire team is very discouraged by the events and we would have played game #2 differently if we knew we had to win. We could have started different pitchers, used pinch running techniques for all our slow runners, and eliminated them from getting thrown out from the outfield on solid base hits. I fault the event organizers for not providing sufficient information to plan properly. This camp is supposed to be about having fun, but sooner or later the competition side of people surface, and the rules are bent to a teams benefit.
I enjoyed this week, it was even better than I could have imagined. I was fortunate to be on a fantastic group of ball players, who came together as a team. We provided encouragement for each other and displayed the true spirit of teamwork.
In the end, we came up short. We were all excited to get into the playoffs, to do the work to play in a championship game under the lights. But just like everything in life, along came an unexpected curve ball. Too bad it wasn't hanging and we hit it out!
Looks like rain all day on Thursday, which probably means the playoffs will move to Friday and we won't be playing the Baltimore Oriole campers. After what happened to Team Vaughan today - we really don't care...
Matt's team got their first win today. I am happy for him. They get to play us tomorrow.
Matt Laughland is catching, even a bad toe, he was a real tough guy and played through it.
Additional photos are available at Pirates.com, in the title bar look for FANS. Roll cursor over, then in far left of drop down, click on EXPERIENCES & MERCHANDISE. Right lower corner is PIRATES FANTASY CAMP. From there you will be able to view photos from all the various days. Enjoy!
Sounds shady to me too. Particularly the pinch running thing. Look at the bright side, you still get to play Baseball in Florida today. Have you looked at the weather report for Michigan? Congrats on the "Golden Rope".
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