Baseball DIY

Every time I say that I'm not going to post, little thoughts just leak out...

I didn't say anything about the Unions first practice this past Saturday, and I know that makes some of you really, really sad (by "sad", I of course mean indifferent). About ten Unions showed up, including two rookies, to the joint practice of Unions and Perfectos. It must have been sixty degrees; absolutely beautiful, sunny, not a lot of wind. My face got some color standing out in the infield for a couple of hours.

The normal sarcastic remarks like "it must be March," "practice much?," or "you're in mid-season form" competed with the chirping of birds for our listening pleasure. It's a challenge to find new ways to say that you or your teammate aren't quite playing up to par. I had problems making strong throws to first from short, eventually getting quite upset with myself and cursing my shortcomings, which is something I usually reserve for game day. A couple line drives bolted through my hands; I made the mistake of trying to catch them from the side instead of getting in front of them. If you're square in front of them and they go through your hands, you've at least got a chance to harness them with your chest/face/arms.

When my turn to take some swings, I appeared to have gotten stronger over the offseason. My trip to the batting cages the day before paid off, as I lashed quite a few deep into the power alleys. Again, I can't really judge if they'd have been bound-outs or what, but they felt good. After one particularly long drive, I shouted "I'm not here today to talk about the past!" There's nothing like an anachronistic non sequitur to spice up a vintage base ball practice.

We practice again next weekend. I'm ready to play today. If I'm going to make mistakes, they might as well count for something.