MoreTboltSnapshots

Baseball is a game of situations ... and during the past few weeks, between far too much rain, I've enjoyed seeing the Silver Spring-Takoma Thunderbolts [1] in quite a few wonderful situations:

• 15 June 2003 --- the Tbolts triumph 7-2 over the Reston Hawks, on a cool and overcast evening. Thunderbolt pitcher Frank Viola, Jr. does a good job throughout the first 7-1/3 innings, and most notably snags a sharply-hit 5th inning grounder to the mound. The Tbolts almost bat around the order in both the 2nd and 7th innings, thanks to an unfortunate (for the visitors) sequence of walks and hit batsmen and errors, which lead to multiple runs ...
• 21 June --- the Herndon Braves win 1-0 , as seas of mud in front of both dugouts force batters to tiptoe to the plate. A light rain fails to stop play during the 5th inning, but when the chief umpire sees lightning in the 7th he suspends the game for half an hour until storm clouds move away ...
• 26 June --- a double-header versus the Vienna Mustangs, who take the first game 5-2. It's a hot Code Red (ozone air pollution) day and the field has finally dried out, leaving a scum of thin scruffy grass on top of cracked earth. Attendance at the first game is only ~5 when play begins, but the crowd eventually grows to 35 or so. During a break at the 6th inning the home plate umpire rubs water into his hair in an attempt to cool off. (After the contest I startle the umps by complimenting them, "You're doing a great job, as always!") Game 2 starts half an hour after the first one finishes, with a silent moment of respect for the late Jim Stewart, a Thunderbolt leader. Firemen from the local rescue squad dangle their legs over a wall behind the left field fence and watch until they are called to go, sirens blaring, on a mission. Teenage girls chat on their cellphones and eye the boys on the field and in the stands. A loud and harsh-voiced fan alternately cheers and jeers. The game is scheduled to go 7 innings but a 1-1 tie persists until the bottom of the 10th when, with two out, Tbolt third baseman Justin McClanahan singles and then blitzes home on a long fly to right field by first baseman Dave Russell ...
• 29 June --- a fast game, barely over two hours long, as pitcher Zack Clark shuts out the Baltimore Pride 8-0, with the help of a couple of powerful 3-run Tbolt innings. On the defensive side:
  • in the 2nd, Thunderbolt short stop Mike Capice isn't able to make a throw in time, gets mad at himself, slams the ball to the ground in frustration, and then realizes what he has done and scrambles to retrieve it, lest the runner advance ...
  • in the 9th, heads-up play by Tbolt catcher Jon Hodach earns a key out. A hasty throw from third base gets by the first baseman --- but Hodach is backing up the play, snags the ball, and throws out the runner who has tried to advance to second ...
• 30 June --- I have the honor of helping the Thunderbolt scorekeeper, who arrives late, reconstruct the first five innings. The initial game of this evening's double header ends with a 2-7 Tbolt loss to the Arlington Senators. They hit steadily throughout the game and score runs in five out of the nine innings. Alas, I have to leave and miss the second competition ...
• 3 July --- on a soggy field after early afternoon rains the Thunderbolts are victorious 3-2 versus the Reston Hawks. This is an evening of double plays --- two by the visitors and three by the home team. In the top of the second inning the Hawk third baseman (Adam Visnic) snags a sharply hit grounder, steps on the bag for a forced out, and throws to first. Tbolt third baseman Justin McClanahan duplicates the feat in the bottom of the same inning. The third inning sees the visiting pitcher (Bryan Pittman) grab a ball hit sharply back into his glove, then toss to first to catch the runner before he can return to base. The seventh and tenth innings, respectively, are terminated by 4-3 and 4-6-3 DPs. On the offensive side the Tbolts are losing until their half of the ninth inning --- when Mike Capice is hit by a pitch, steals second and third, and then makes it home on a triple by Marshall Bernhard. The game ends in the bottom of the 10th as, with two outs, Mark Stanley strokes a smooth one over the left field fence ...

Lovely memories of outdoor summer evening ballets ...

(see also PlansAndSituations (13 Aug 1999), TboltMonkeysOnMyBack (19 Jul 2002), SummerBall2002 (3 Sep 2002), KeepingScore (13 June 2003), The Grand Slam That Wasn't (14 June 2007) ...)

TopicRecreation - TopicPersonalHistory - 2003-07-12

(correlates: TboltSignoff2003, RainedOut, 2007-09-17 - Artemesia Dusk, ...)