Game Time

Last week with a very depleted squad, we lost two slugfests to the Dukes
at Utah Park. For those who weren't there, the banks of lights directly
behind home plate and in left field were out, making for some very
interesting fielding by third basemen and left fielders. Fortunately
there weren't any hard hits directly back at the pitchers. Once again we
were missing a lot of our normal starters. This was compounded by Mike
Matoon, Joe and I all suffering from injuries that precluded us from
playing. Then Jeff Donald ran into a conflict at the last minute,
reducing what little positioning flexibility I had. We played the games
with only nine men, including John Gulisano, newly retired from the
Exporters, who I was able to recruit late Monday afternoon by reminding
him that even I could hit the ball out of Utah.

So our lineup was Dave Buttner at catcher, Chris Boniface at 2nd, Al
Boyd in centerfield, Dan Meehan in right, John Gulisano in left, Jeff
Morris at short, Mike Chapman at 3rd, Andrew Kessler at 1st and Alan
Peterson pitching. Though we fought valiantly, we lost the first game
19-17 and the second 16-15, the second in the Dukes'last at bat and with
two outs. In the first game, John had home runs in both the first and
third innings, Jeff Morris was 4 for 4, and Chris and Dan were each 3
for 4. In the second game Al Boyd had home runs in the first and third
innings and Dan had a grand slam in the fourth after they walked Al
intentionally. Unfortunately, despite outstanding efforts by our three
outfielders, the Dukes were able to consistently take advantage of both
the extra large gaps and the short fences.

This week we play Caribbean Breeze, who is undefeated so far this
season. It would be nice to place a reasonable contingent of players on
the field, playing in their normal positions.