Dare to dream, the Sequel

Well, Friday's game wasn't looking too good as I made my way down Front St. after work. I had texted Knute around 3:00 pm looking for some insight as to whether we were playing or not. With the way the rain was still falling, I couldn't imagine we were still on. However, that wasn't the case. Knute replied "We're playing". So I resigned myself to another night of playing in the mud. As I made my way onto the Island, it looked like a bigger crowd than I thought was starting to arrive. Not 5 or 6 thousand big, but a lot more than i thought would be here on a rainy night. As I made my way down the field, it looked like they had just taken off the tarp. The warning track looked like a tributary of the Susquehanna and the umpires box behind first base was a quagmire. The rest of the guys were getting things cleaned up in the bullpens and Tim had started to drag the infield. I got my tools and the chalker and started to prep, wondering if it was all going to come together by game time. A light mist was falling, still, so watering the infield was off the checklist tonight. The chalk in the chalker was of typical consistency on nights like these, thick and chunky. Nothing was going smoothly so far, so I prepared to battle the chalker down the first base line, hoping I wouldn't end up with a 'wall' instead of a line. it actually went far better than I had thought it would, and didn't take near as long. Some wet nights like these, it might take 3 or 4 passes with the chalker to get something resembling a line, and not one that's all that straight. As we finished up, we had the now traditional sprinkling of the Turface and left it to the ballplayers. Being a Friday night, there was a long list of festivities on the slate, starting with a marching band to play the National Anthem. They marched right out to center field, non-standard on a night like tonight, to play. More than a few raised eyebrows. As the game got under way, we staked out out spots in the cubby, with full buckets of Turface as seats tonight. The conversation quickly turned to several different off-color subjects, none of which will be discussed at length here. I wondered a couple of things. Could we get the game in? Could we finish at a reasonable hour? And could we win? We were on a roll this week, so I was hoping that tonight would keep the streak alive. Well we did get the game in, although it was in serious doubt at times, with several visits to the mound and plate for the ritualistic sprinkling of the Turface. Finishing at a reasonable hour just wasn't in the cards tonight. The boys fell behind early, but clawed their way back to tie it up. They had some chances in the 7th and 9th with bases loaded, but couldn't push one across, so to the 10th inning it was. The Rock Cats(New Britain) went 1-2-3 in the top half and the the Sens came to bat. The quickly put runners on 1st and 2nd, with Bill Rinehart due up. He punched a ball over the center fielder's head, plating the winning run, touching off a mini celebration at home plate. A good win. 4 in a row. I guess we can dare to dream. Maybe 5 in a row Saturday night? Stay tuned. Afterwards, it was the usual Friday night post game festivities. The first was a dance troupe on the field to perform. All dressed like Heidi or the Von Trappe kids (from the Sound of Music, don't ask why I know this...).Again, if you hang around long enough you see some weird or should I say, out of the ordinary stuff. And then, of course, Launch-a-ball, and my personal favorite, fireworks. All that plus we got to clean up a muddy mess of a field. Just think, all that and we got paid to do it. Things that make you go hmmmmm. I won't be in attendance Saturday night due to a wedding, so I'll do a combined entry on Sunday evening. Until then, later.