Morning A’s,
Well that sure was a tremendous game last night! As the A’s trickled into the dugout on the mall
between 5:30 and 6:30, it didn’t even look much like we were going to have a game. The Reds
were sparse at best, despite the manager’s repeated claims that “a few more are on their way,”
so the A’s set down to what they do best; drinking. As one beer turned into two then three, the
rest of the Reds finally decided to show up around 7, at which point the nearly-worn out A’s
trudged out to take the field. That first inning wasn’t exactly what I’d call pretty. By their count,
the Reds somehow only scored 9 runs, but I’m fairly certain it was at least double that. To the
casual fan, the A’s might have seemed dead in the water at this point, but this is a team that never
loses hope (because it’s OUR TIME). Rabbi Scott and Sandy “The Dominator” Fulton led off
the game with some clutch base hits, which were followed by the only hit Thomas had on the
day that wasn’t a homerun. MVP Theresa “Tagging is for Wimps” Chalhoub came up next and
punched in two RBIs with a big single, and even though we struggled through the rest of the
inning, the A’s had caught the spark they needed. Building on that momentum, a solid defensive
effort by the A’s behind Lucas Strasburg held the Reds to only 3 runs in the top half of the next
inning. Then it was on.
Boy did we start hitting. Giving himself some run support, Strasburg led off the inning with a
single and was promptly driven in by Chris Calabrese (with the help of some aggressive base
running). Wild Wild Wes was up next, and got on base to be driven in with a 3-run shot by
the skip. Then with two outs the Dominator and Dan LaSalle kept the rally going with singles,
followed by Thomas’s first homer of the day to dead center field, sending screaming tourists
fleeing in every direction. Following two more singles, Alex “the FoE Loaner” Moore came
through with our third 3-run blast of the inning. At that point, the A’s relented because we
felt bad and wanted to give the Reds a chance to bat. Though the defense seemed a bit more
porous than the inning before, the A’s held the Reds to a manageable 7 runs in the following
frame, and came back up to the plate starting at the same spot in the lineup that had given us our
previous rally. In Act II, we one-upped ourselves (literally) as we put 11 runs across the plate,
having more than batted around, on 11 hits (including Thomas’ second home run of the day,
this one a towering bomb to right field that sailed over the hapless redhead they left out there);
Lucas scored twice himself. At this point, the A’s were sitting pretty with a five-run lead as the
daylight was dwindling and the Reds were falling victim to pulled muscles and abashed egos.
Though the Reds only managed to put 4 across in the next frame, they graciously agreed to allow
us to bat out the bottom of the 4th, which, unfortunately for them, turned out to be their strongest
defensive inning of the game. After Thomas’ third and final homerun of the day, this one to left
(thus completing his cycle of homeruns), the Reds succumbed to the A’s in the biggest comeback
in Congressional Softball League history.* When all was said and done, the slugfest ended with
a score of 26-23 in the A’s favor. We’re now officially 2 games above .500! We’re 7-5-1 on
the season, but really that’s 8-4. Everyone had a great game, and I thank you all for coming out,
especially the cheerleaders (who still owe us a dance).
But unfortunately all good things must come to an end. And it’s looking like that end is fast
approaching as next week will be the last game for a lot of the law clerks. I want to let you all
know now that if you happen to be in DC after your time here is done, you are by all means
more than welcome to continue to play with us. For next week’s game, we square off against
the department of Veterans’ Affairs, VA is for Lovers. As far as I know, they have a permit
for a field right in the shadow of the Washington monument (roughly at the green arrow if you
paste this into google maps: 38.890515,-77.037828). The game should start around 6:30. Or just
whenever you all get there since I don’t think we’ve started at 6:30 once this season. Please let
me know if you can make it.
Adios for now, A’s
*note: this is completely unverified and most likely false
Effing A,
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