Sometimes you win, sometimes you lose, sometimes it rains

When we last left off, the Defenders had lost 2 games at the hands of our cross town rivals, the Brockton Rox. Our pseudo road trip continued with a four game set in Worcester (pronounced woostah), Mass. Worcester plays on the campus of Holy Cross College at a very nice ball park situated directly underneath a highway which reminded me a little bit of Frawley Stadium.

The first two nights in Worcester were rather uneventful if you are a Defenders fan. In game one the Tornadoes' offensive gave the opening night crowd more than their monies worth beating us A LOT to A LITTLE. Game two of the series was looking like another lopsided win for the Tornadoes when suddenly the Defenders came to life. We went into the top of the 9th trailing 9-1 and had not given any indication that we would put up much of a fight. We made quite a rally in the final frame and I found myself up to bat with the bases loaded, one out and the score 9-6. The interesting thing about this at bat was that I had collected base hits in my previous four but what we needed was for me to get five - no easy task. Worcester had brought their closer into the game so this was shaping up to be an epic battle. I grounded the 1-1 pitch up the middle and for a split second it looked as if it might sneak through for a hit....until the pitcher snagged it. He threw home for the force (2 outs) but his catcher's throw to first sailed high and went all the way into the right field corner. Our 7th and 8th runs score on the play and I'm flying around the bases thinking I might be able to tie the game but was rightly held at 3rd base. Now the score was 9-8, 2 outs, tying run on third. The next batter made an out and our desperate rally was over. It is always a bit demoralizing to make that type of come back only to see it fall short but it confirms the age old adage about the game that says, as long as you keep hitting, keep scoring, your rally can defy time itself. That night we left Worcester in disappointment but there was a feeling among the players in the locker room that we might be able to turn the series around the next day. Despite the loss, the impossible rally had given us hope for the next day.

Sure enough, the next day came. I want to mention the date here- it was June 6th which as we all know marked the 65th Anniversary of Allied armed forces storming the beaches at Normandy. The invasion was largely led by American troops and directly led to the fall of the German strong hold in Europe. I only mention this lesson in history because I KNEW there was no way the AMERICAN DEFENDERS were going to lose on D-DAY. We have shaved our beards, cut our hair, worn camouflage, endured 9:11 delays all in the name of honoring the American Military....something had to give. D-Day was a day when I thought, "if not now, when". Sure enough, when the smoke cleared that evening we had won and it was hard not to wonder if there was some patriotic karma involved. There wasn't much time to celebrate the end of our losing streak however. In less than 12 hours we were back on the bus heading to Worcester for a 2:05pm start Sunday afternoon. On this day it was timely hitting and quality starting pitching, rather than historical hyjinx that allowed us to prevail. After two tough losses we were able to get out of town with a split. Well done Defenders.

On June 8th we had reached a crucial point in the season, our first off day. That's right fans, since arriving in Nashua May 19th, we finally got a day off from work. What do you guys do? Five days in a row?? Must be tough!! HAHAHA Try 20 and come talk to me. I know, I know, we aren't doing anything nearly as strenuous as sitting at a desk and typing but 20 days straight of playing can take a toll on even the toughest ball players. Hey, at least we get properly compensated....we figured out today that most of us probably make somewhere around $2.00 or $3.00 dollars an hour. On top of that we receive $18 a day for meal money when on the road. However, with the trips to Brockton and Worcester being commuter trips, we only get $9. Then, we have to pay the clubhouse manager $2 for each day at their ball park. So, that 18 becomes 16 and the 9 becomes 7. Jealous?? Anyway, my main off day activities are done indoors, usually on a large piece of furniture with either a book or remote control in my hand and this one was no different. The last thing I want to do is anything related to baseball but I will watch something like Sportscenter on tv. I have come to believe that every once in a while the best thing to do is nothing at all.

Following the off day we were scheduled to play a 10:30am game at Brockton. This game was some type of promotional effort with the local schools to drum up support for the Rox. Needless to say, not too many guys in pro ball are wild about morning games. It throws off the schedule, the preparation is different and let's face it, we like to sleep in! Sleep deprived and cranky, at 8am we departed the Holman Stadium parking lot and steered towards Brockton. When we got there we received word that all of the schools had cancelled due to the impending weather. So a crowd of several thousand quickly turned to a crowd of several. As Tripp Keister pointed out, "the fans today will be disguised as green and red seats". The icing on the cake was when we were told that the game was cancelled due to rain and would be made up at a later date - wonderful! So we re-boarded the bus and made our way back to Nashua. All in all it was about a five hour workday, HEY! I made $10.00!! Our record is now 4-7 and starting tomorrow we have a 5 game home stand at the friendly confines of Holman Ball Yard. Let's hope for a few in the win column.

Blogger's note - thanks for all your comments. We might have to get a panel of experts to figure out the "best SMH baseball team" debate. I had no idea it would spark such a controversy.