A Big Sloppy Mess

Hey A’s,

We would have had it last night.  After an afternoon filled with portentous cloud cover but only sporadic rain, the A’s felt confident enough to take the field against Pitch Slap! at our temporary home field on the Ellipse.  Though the grass was wet, the sky was dry so we decided to go ahead with the game.  Since the Slappers showed up late, we had plenty of time to get in some BP before the contest, and with everyone warmed up we entered the game confident and started out very strong.

Staunch defensive play through the first few innings helped support K-Dawg’s furious pitching display, which held us close even though we, as always, struggled to put runs up early.  In the third inning, the Pitches got some clutch hitting to really open the game up and the score sat at 7-0 heading into the bottom half.  The A’s got serious and immediately scored 3 runs to almost cut the lead in half, as Charlie Hustle and the Hammer found a few holes in the defense.

But then the rain started, and everything began to go downhill.  It was only a light rain at first, not enough to stop the defensive prowess or offensive barrage of these A’s.  We trimmed the deficit better than any Congressman could do in the fourth, as both Charlie Hustle and Emily Wertz scored their second runs of the game.  By the top of the 5^th however, the incessant rain storm had intensified and the A’s began to get a bit waterlogged.  But still our D held strong and we went into the bottom half of the inning down 9-6.  Skip then stepped up to the plate to lead off what would have been our game-winning rally.  With a mighty swing of the bat, but absolutely no traction on the mud, I blew out my knee and put myself on the DL for the rest of the season.  So yeah good times.  Good times.

At that point, everyone packed it in and the game ended.  The rain had spoiled the fun, and the soggy A’s swam home after a defeat that should not have come to pass.  So I personally apologize for ending our late-season winning streak before it even began.  I didn’t even get a chance to announce last night’s MVP at the game, which was Killer Kelly Trout, who drove in 3 runs on two incredibly clutch hits (and one fielder’s choice).  I’ll have your beer for you next week.

So we’re now down another player for the last few games of the season, and I would really appreciate if you all could expressly confirm to me, via email, the weeks you’re able to play from here on out, since we’ve been pretty low on numbers recently anyway.   Also, I still need some beer sponsors for the last few games, so if you have not yet purchased beers for one of our games, please consider doing so.  Our next game is Tuesday of next week, as we take on The Overdrafts, of the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau.  I hear Elizabeth Warren is their ringer, so we should be in good shape.  We’ll probably be at the same place, same time.  Let me know if you can make it.

Effing A,

Skip