One For The Ages

When Danny made Majors I was warned: "There is so much pressure!" "They play to win!" "It's nothing like Farm baseball" "He'll have to adjust to not being the best one on the team".

It's all true: People come to watch the games who don't have kids playing that night and parents know who the leading hitters in the league are and who the best pitchers are. Sometimes parents complain about the calls an umpire makes; coaches have been thrown out of games in Majors; and there have been situations that are so pressure filled I am glad that Danny only plays the minimum number of innings this year. But fortunately, Danny has loved being a Cardinal and we are happy that he will stay with his coach for another 2 years.


During the regular season the Cardinals went 14-4, good enough for first place in Majors. Danny's buddy, Thomas, played for the 2nd place Braves. The two teams beat their opponents in the first round of the playoffs and faced each other tonight in Game 1 of a best-of-3 game championship series at the 110 Fields in Chelmsford, under the lights. And what a game it was...or is. I will explain:


The best pitcher in the league is on Danny's team. Jake just turned 13 years old, is in 7th grade, and he can throw absolute b-b's. He is as tall as I am and is virtually unhittable. He also hit 4 home runs during the regular season. Jake was the starting pitcher for Game 1.

The Cardinals took a 2-0 lead in the 2nd inning of tonight's game. The Braves, on a delayed steal home, managed to sneak a run in after a brief lightning delay in the 4th inning. The kids played fantastic baseball - both teams. Great defense, well executed bunts, good hitting, and good pitching is fun to watch. As a baseball fan you couldn't ask for more.

Going to the top of the 6th and final inning, the Cardinals were up 2-1. Jake reached his maximum pitch count after walking the leadoff batter in the 6th, and he was forced to hand the ball over to a teammate. A walk and two infield hits later, with two outs, the Braves went ahead 3-2. The Cardinals were the home team and had last at bats. The lead off hitter went down swinging. Jake, batting 3rd in the order, hit a 2-1 pitch well over 200 feet, over the center field fence to tie the score at 3-3. Danny and his teammates greeted Jake at home plate with a celebration worthy of such an occasion.

After calm was restored, the next batter took his place in the batter's box and immediately lightning was seen in the night sky. The umps are required to send players into the dugout for 15 minutes when this happens, and no sooner had the time passed when lightning was seen again -and then the rain began to fall. At 9:05 pm the game was suspended.

Both teams will pick up where they left off tomorrow night at 6 pm. Then, when Game 1 is finished, they will immediately begin Game 2.

Danny and Thomas are in the same class and I am sure that this will be the topic of discussion tomorrow. I am so proud of both of them - 10 year old newbies in a league filled with older, stronger, and bigger boys. It's hard to want one to win knowing that one will lose.